Action: Personal injury
Injuries alleged: Traumatic brain injury, including skull fracture
Judge: Withheld
Amount: $2 million
Rule 414 medical costs: $88,277
Date: Sept. 22, 2023
Attorney: Bob Whitley of Whitley Law Firm, Raleigh (for the plaintiff)
Plaintiff was a pedestrian in a parking lot walking toward a medical building for an appointment. About halfway between her parked vehicle and the building’s door, she was struck by a vehicle and thrown to the pavement. Her head struck the pavement, resulting in a skull fracture, brain bleed, and traumatic brain injury.
Plaintiff underwent extensive physical and occupational therapy and is now able to walk with a walker on a limited basis. She sustained a stroke because of the brain injury and lost substantial use of her upper and lower right extremity. Her most recent accomplishment was being able to walk, with close assistance, with a three-prong cane in a very limited gait.
There were no eyewitnesses or camera video available of the incident, and plaintiff had no memory from days before the incident until more than a month later.
Defendant driver denied being distracted and testified that she did not see the plaintiff until she hit her with her car. When pressed, she could not offer any reason for not having seen the plaintiff so as to avoid the collision.
Plaintiff’s counsel was concerned that the plaintiff would have the burden of proving the negligence of the defendant driver with only circumstantial evidence. Plaintiff retained Dr. Kevin Ryder, a human factor expert, who prepared a report concluding that the defendant’s inattention to her travel path caused this collision, and the plaintiff could not have reasonably prevented it.
