Motor Vehicle Crash – Settlement/Recovery – Rental Car

Intersection, Red Light

Emerson Straw represented a Pinellas County, Florida, client in his sixties who suffered spinal injuries in a three-car motor vehicle accident that occurred when the driver of a rental car ran a red light at a very busy highway intersection, US Highway 19 and Ulmerton Road, in Pinellas County.

The at-fault driver initially tried to deny that he ran the red light, and he attempted to blame the driver of the third vehicle involved in the crash for prematurely accelerating from a red light into the at-fault driver’s rental van.  The rental van had more insurance coverage to cover the client’s damages.

The client hired Emerson Straw to investigate the crash.  Using its experience and resources, Emerson Straw proved that the driver of the rental van entered the lengthy intersection under a red light and failed to make it through the intersection before the third vehicle accelerated from a green light.

Emerson Straw filed a lawsuit on the client’s behalf.  A scene recreation using engineering experts that were engaged by Emerson Straw scientifically and legally proved that the rental van driver in fact ran the red light.  The resources dedicated to investigating the responsibility for the crash allowed the client to recover under the rental van driver’s significant auto bodily injury liability insurance.

The initial settlement offers in this case were minimal.  The liability for the accident was being contested and it required a lawsuit, and considerable legal expenses, to prove liability and access insurance proceeds.  This case exemplifies how clients are often not well served when they hire attorneys who are in a hurry to turn their cases over.