Common sense triumphed in a courtroom in Chautauqua County last month. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. After attorneys John C. Comerford and Neil J. McKinnon displayed our client’s heavily damaged motorcycle to a jury last month in Mayville, the defendant’s insurance company came to its senses and offered a large settlement nearly equivalent to the full amount of the policy covering the defendant’s vehicle.
While riding his motorcycle to work on July 9, 2001, our client, a 53 year-old construction worker, was struck from behind as he pulled off the side of the road in Busti, New York. As a result of the impact of the collision, he suffered lower back disc herniations. The insurance company’s lawyer argued that our client pulled out in front of an oncoming vehicle, causing his own injuries. Comerford and McKinnon presented the testimony of an accident reconstructionist, an expert who offered his educated opinion about how the accident really happened. He made it very clear that the damage to the motorcycle was the result of the action of the other vehicle crashing into our client from behind.
When you show a jury of six reasonable members of the community real evidence of negligence, common sense usually wins out.