Cephyr13
Member
- Joined
- July 9, 2014
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Dallas, TX
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1991 Taurus SHO Plus
The Defendant
He's a nice, black kid, basically. Looked anywhere from 16-19, I'm guessing. It was 6:40am. He was on his way to work. No alcohol on his breath. Seemed like a fairly responsible kid, but really worried that it was his fault.
In court, I don't know how it's going to go, but I fully expect GEICO's lawyer to be very unfriendly. My injury-lawyer relative said to request a jury trial (they almost always rule in favor of the rear-ended party) and to be very kind and considerate in the court, just stating the facts. Anything above and beyond that will scar the way they see me in the courtroom. I don't think character is going to come into it, because it's irrelevant. The court just wants to know exactly what happened, and then decide who's at fault. Whether I'm nice or mean, or whether he's nice or mean, doesn't solve the reason the accident occurred.
My guess is that the lawyer is good at his job, as are the GEICO investigators. So they'll go to Google Earth satellite photos just like me and look at the intersection to see that it's a solid white line. I need to say that the line was a solid white line in court so that I'm seen as completely honest and not trying to cover any facts up. Opposing council will jump all over the solid white line being crossed, then try to prove I was reckless entering the defendant's lane. If I don't mention it, and then he does, he can say, "the plaintiff isn't honest. He's covering up his illegal actions to manipulate the court into ruling in his favor," as he damn well should. LOL I sure would.
The teen accident statistics are staggering. The fact that I'm 34 means this case is already leaning in my favor. The fact that he hit me from behind is in my favor. The fact that he hit me with so much speed is in my favor. The fact that he didn't slow for the yellow or red is in my favor. I have a lot in my favor to start with.
I can prove, strictly from his statement, that he was trying to rush the light. And regardless of his statement, my video of how slow traffic at the light moves in the morning will be enough to establish that he had plenty of time to stop and chose not to run the light. He didn't even prepare to stop. He was accelerating and pushed me into the intersection.
I'll mention that I deserve a ticket for crossing over a solid white line, and I'm more than happy to take responsibility for that and pay the ticket. What I don't deserve is to be the one who pays an ~$3000 bill for my wrecked car due to the defendant's negligence. What I didn't deserve is to be pushed into on-coming traffic where I, or others, could have been seriously injured or killed. That was completely reckless of the defendant. I'll mention that I'm not upset with him, and that I understand it takes a while to really learn how to assess risk when driving and learn not to rush lights, etc. I'll show the teen stats for how likely they are to do such things due to inexperience, and how they're not very good at assessing risk and knowing how to avoid accidents via the article I have with the statistics. I can cite my driving history of no tickets for over 7 years, I think it is. I can cite how my insurance driving record is clean. If absolutely necessary, I can share that I book time at race tracks periodically, and the instructors drill it into the drivers' heads to be aware of their surroundings including the warning signals (flags) and other cars (racers). I also drive for a living, and I've never wrecked a vehicle I've been delivering in the 9 years I've owned my business, because I'm a very good driver. I came into his lane with plenty of room to spare, several car lengths, knowing that when I passed him, he was just starting to accelerate. That's a safe situation...as long as he doesn't decide to rush the light.
If this teaches the defendant a great lesson about being cautious at lights, that'll benefit everyone in his driving future. If he gets out of this, it won't make nearly as big an impact on him when driving in the future.
I have tons in my favor. The deposition may cause them to want to settle before going to court, especially when I state everything I have in my favor.
I hope that's enough info for you guys.
Thanks for the kind responses and help.
He's a nice, black kid, basically. Looked anywhere from 16-19, I'm guessing. It was 6:40am. He was on his way to work. No alcohol on his breath. Seemed like a fairly responsible kid, but really worried that it was his fault.
In court, I don't know how it's going to go, but I fully expect GEICO's lawyer to be very unfriendly. My injury-lawyer relative said to request a jury trial (they almost always rule in favor of the rear-ended party) and to be very kind and considerate in the court, just stating the facts. Anything above and beyond that will scar the way they see me in the courtroom. I don't think character is going to come into it, because it's irrelevant. The court just wants to know exactly what happened, and then decide who's at fault. Whether I'm nice or mean, or whether he's nice or mean, doesn't solve the reason the accident occurred.
My guess is that the lawyer is good at his job, as are the GEICO investigators. So they'll go to Google Earth satellite photos just like me and look at the intersection to see that it's a solid white line. I need to say that the line was a solid white line in court so that I'm seen as completely honest and not trying to cover any facts up. Opposing council will jump all over the solid white line being crossed, then try to prove I was reckless entering the defendant's lane. If I don't mention it, and then he does, he can say, "the plaintiff isn't honest. He's covering up his illegal actions to manipulate the court into ruling in his favor," as he damn well should. LOL I sure would.
The teen accident statistics are staggering. The fact that I'm 34 means this case is already leaning in my favor. The fact that he hit me from behind is in my favor. The fact that he hit me with so much speed is in my favor. The fact that he didn't slow for the yellow or red is in my favor. I have a lot in my favor to start with.
I can prove, strictly from his statement, that he was trying to rush the light. And regardless of his statement, my video of how slow traffic at the light moves in the morning will be enough to establish that he had plenty of time to stop and chose not to run the light. He didn't even prepare to stop. He was accelerating and pushed me into the intersection.
I'll mention that I deserve a ticket for crossing over a solid white line, and I'm more than happy to take responsibility for that and pay the ticket. What I don't deserve is to be the one who pays an ~$3000 bill for my wrecked car due to the defendant's negligence. What I didn't deserve is to be pushed into on-coming traffic where I, or others, could have been seriously injured or killed. That was completely reckless of the defendant. I'll mention that I'm not upset with him, and that I understand it takes a while to really learn how to assess risk when driving and learn not to rush lights, etc. I'll show the teen stats for how likely they are to do such things due to inexperience, and how they're not very good at assessing risk and knowing how to avoid accidents via the article I have with the statistics. I can cite my driving history of no tickets for over 7 years, I think it is. I can cite how my insurance driving record is clean. If absolutely necessary, I can share that I book time at race tracks periodically, and the instructors drill it into the drivers' heads to be aware of their surroundings including the warning signals (flags) and other cars (racers). I also drive for a living, and I've never wrecked a vehicle I've been delivering in the 9 years I've owned my business, because I'm a very good driver. I came into his lane with plenty of room to spare, several car lengths, knowing that when I passed him, he was just starting to accelerate. That's a safe situation...as long as he doesn't decide to rush the light.
If this teaches the defendant a great lesson about being cautious at lights, that'll benefit everyone in his driving future. If he gets out of this, it won't make nearly as big an impact on him when driving in the future.
I have tons in my favor. The deposition may cause them to want to settle before going to court, especially when I state everything I have in my favor.
I hope that's enough info for you guys.
Thanks for the kind responses and help.
