Washington residents may be interested to hear that the plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit against Verizon was offered a $3 million settlement in July. The suit alleged that the driver of a Verizon-owned bucket truck was distracted at the time of the 2012 accident that caused the woman to suffer a traumatic brain injury. The woman, who had been a nurse for 32 years, was forced to leave her job as a result of her injury.
The accident occurred on Feb. 27, 2012, in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. The Verizon truck rear-ended the plaintiff’s stopped vehicle on Garrett Road. The woman’s mild traumatic brain injury, which doctors and neuropsychologists agreed resulted from the collision, caused diminished cognitive function and memory loss. She also suffered from herniated neck and back discs that required surgery.
People who testified at the trial stated that the driver of the truck was using two cellphones at the same time as he approached the woman’s stopped car. He was on hold to speak with a Verizon employee with his personal cellphone while looking down at his business cellphone when he struck the woman’s car. Verizon settled the suit after court proceedings that lasted more than a week.
Drivers of commercial vehicles who are distracted by their cellphones may cause serious accidents. Victims could suffer debilitating injuries that leave them unable to support their family members financially. In some cases, brain injuries could have severe effects on a victim’s quality of life and require long-term medical care and other treatments. An attorney could guide a victim through the process of filing a personal injury suit against a commercial truck driver and the company that employs that motorist.
Source: Pennsylvania Record, “Verizon pays nurse $3 million for career-ending brain injury from car crash“, Jim Boyle, July 24, 2014