Our Second Opinion Turns No-Offer Case into A Significant Settlement
Our client was driving in Toledo, with a friend as a passenger. He stopped his vehicle at an intersection, and when the arrow turned green, our client proceeded to make his left turn. As he turned into the intersection, another driver failed to stop at the red light and collided with our client’s vehicle.
The accident left our client with a fractured hip injury which required surgery. To make matters worse, the investigating police officers at the scene talked to the at-fault driver but failed to speak with our client or his passenger to get both sides of the story. As a result, our client was cited as being at-fault for the accident.
Initially, our client was working with another attorney, who specializes in personal injury cases, like us. However, this attorney failed to do a proper investigation of the case. For his traffic ticket, this attorney had our client plea to a lesser violation. Not being satisfied with the representation he was getting, our client reached out to us for help.
Our client told Mr. Boyk that he was certain he was not at fault for the accident, that the turn arrow was green, and he was sure that the passenger in his vehicle would testify to that. Chuck Boyk went to work on the case immediately. He personally visited the accident scene and recorded and timed the sequence of the lights from all directions. He then ordered the responding officers’ body cam footage and copies of the light sequence for the intersection where the accident occurred.
The bodycam footage proved that the officers did not talk to our client or his passenger before citing him for the accident. Mr. Boyk reviewed the traffic light sequence records and talked to our client’s passenger, who also verified the facts of the accident. Chuck Boyk knew that our client’s story was accurate and that he was the unfortunate victim of sloppy investigations and poor representation.
When we were not able to settle the case, Chuck filed a lawsuit. Through discovery and depositions, he continued to build and strengthen our case and made it clear to opposing counsel that not only was our client’s story accurate, but that if the case needed to go to trial, the jury would be extremely sympathetic to our client. A day before the scheduled mediation, the defense offered to settle the case for a very significant policy limit resolution paid by a combination of the other drivers insurance company and his own under-insured motorist coverage.
Our client’s refusal to accept injustice paid off. We appreciate the opportunity to bring justice to this story.
