Commercial Truck Crash -- Rear-End / Vicarious Liability

Our client was driving to work in Monroe County when a major commercial delivery truck rear-ended her vehicle with catastrophic force. She had slowed for traffic ahead. The truck driver did not. The impact launched her vehicle off the roadway. Emergency responders had to extract her from the vehicle.

The injuries were devastating. She sustained spinal injuries to the thoracic spine, including a burst fracture of at least one vertebral level. Thoracic burst fractures are among the most serious spinal injuries a crash victim can suffer -- the vertebra does not simply break, it shatters under extreme compressive force, with bone fragments capable of driving into the spinal cord. She underwent spinal fusion surgery to stabilize the fracture and protect her neurological function.

The liability picture was clear. The truck was operated in the course and scope of the driver's employment, making the company vicariously liable. Multiple theories were pursued against the corporate defendants -- vicarious liability, negligent entrustment, negligent hiring, and negligent retention -- ensuring every available avenue of recovery was pursued.

The case recovered $2,750,000.

This result was obtained by Adam Santana, Esq. prior to his joining Mausner Group Injury Lawyers.

The liability was ironclad. A commercial truck driver who rear-ends a slowed vehicle with sufficient force to launch it off the roadway has no credible defense. The facts were documented and the force of the impact spoke for itself.

Multiple corporate defendants were pursued simultaneously. Beyond the driver, claims were brought against the corporate entities responsible for the truck under theories of vicarious liability, negligent entrustment, negligent hiring, and negligent retention. Pursuing every available theory against every available defendant maximizes pressure and maximizes recovery.

The injuries demanded full value. A thoracic burst fracture requiring emergency extraction and spinal fusion surgery is a catastrophic injury. It is the kind of injury that changes every aspect of a person's life -- their ability to work, to move, to care for themselves, to live without pain. Building a complete damages record around that reality drove a $2,750,000 result.