Congratulations to longtime colleague George Choulos and his client on this outstanding settlement. Defendants repeatedly denied liability, had offered -0- up until the week before trial, and then accepted plaintiff’s statutory policy limits offer. Rounding out the plaintiff’s team was Scott Righthand, also located in San Francisco.
The motorcycle-automobile accident that is the subject of this litigation occurred in 2007 in Gilroy, California. The plaintiff was riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle in the northbound lane of travel. The defendant driver was operating his Mercedes automobile ahead of the plaintiff, also in the northbound lane of travel. Defendant admitted that he was unfamiliar with the area, en route to a party, and recognized the party house AFTER he had already passed it. Suddenly and without warning, the defendant made an unsafe, last-minute U-turn. The plaintiff was faced with an emergency situation and in an attempt to possibly avoid the collision, he chose to veer left into the southbound lane of travel. Unfortunately, the motorcycle collided with the Mercedes causing catastrophic injuries to the plaintiff. The defense hotly contested liability on the basis that the plaintiff was following too closely until the very end when Plaintiffs’ team of experts convinced them they were likely to lose at trial.
The plaintiff was rendered a paraplegic and suffered permanent brain damage. Plaintiff incurred out-of-pocket medical expenses in excess of $1.9M. He was unable to return to work and it is believed that he will never be able to maintain gainful employment. Future medical expenses are estimated at $11MM+.
Mr. Choulos is a partner at Choulos, Choulos & Wyle. While handling all types of catastrophic injury cases, the firm is renowned for its experience in handling motorcycle and bicycle accidents, as well as pedestrian accidents and brain injury claims. Clearly, this expertise and experience made a huge difference in this case with the defendant denying liability all the way up to trial. To read more about motorcycle case results and ALL case results by the firm, click here.
Advocate Capital, Inc. is thrilled to support the important work done by trial lawyers around the country and in particular, those like Choulos, Choulos & Wyle who have the experience and wherewithal to fight for injured citizens even when justice is 7 years in the making.
Senior Vice President