Philadelphia, PA, USA, 07/18/2016 /SubmitPressRelease123/
Bicyclists are at the mercy of the vehicle drivers around them. If they’re involved in an accident the result can be catastrophic or fatal. Philadelphia car accident lawyer Rand Spear has represented many victims of bicycle accidents helping them obtain fair compensation for their injuries. He talks about a recent case in a podcast available on YouTube.
In 2014 726 people were killed in accidents involving bicycles and vehicles, according to the federal Department of Transportation, and an estimated 50,000 were injured. Nineteen of those deaths and 1,298 of the injuries were in Pennsylvania reports the state Department of Transportation.
Philadelphia car accident attorney Rand Spear recently successfully represented a 73-year-old bicyclist who was injured in an accident involving a vehicle. It’s an example of a plaintiff who was partially at fault for the accident but was still awarded compensation for his injuries.
“My client was actually operating his bicycle against oncoming traffic and the law states that you should go with the flow of traffic. You want to be going in the same direction that traffic is going,” Spear says, “He wanted to see traffic coming toward him.”
The defense maintained the accident was the client’s fault because he wasn’t proceeding with traffic. Spear argued that even though the client was moving against traffic that didn’t relieve the defendant of their obligation to see the bicyclist and take necessary action to avoid striking him.
Though the client was partially responsible the vehicle driver had the majority of the responsibility, according to accident attorney Spear. The plaintiff had some medical conditions prior to the accident but suffered a lower back injury that required physical therapy. Despite that therapy, he continued to suffer pain and discomfort that limited his ability to function. Spear says the insurance company offered $5,000 to settle.
“We thought that $5,000 was just very unfair. It was an inequitable offer. It forced us to proceed to trial. We picked a jury and we tried the case,” Spear says. “It sort of worked out along the lines that we thought it would work out. They found the defendant to be 60% at fault for causing the accident and our client to be 40% at fault.”
The jury made a gross award of a little over $80,000 and with factoring in plaintiff’s responsibility he received a little over $50,000. “The client was very satisfied with the result. We had the opportunity to try his case in court and to tell his side of the story and he felt that a jury of his peers was fair,” Spear says.
If you or a family member live in Pennsylvania or New Jersey and have been injured in an accident involving a bicycle and a vehicle, contact Philadelphia car accident lawyer Rand Spear today at 888-373-4LAW or through his website for a free consultation. You can discuss what happened, how the law may apply and your best options for obtaining compensation.
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