I am proud to announce that this past Wednesday, a federal jury returned a verdict in the case of Burroughs v. Zurich American Insurance Company et al in the amount of five-hundred thousand dollars.  As a Missouri Truck Accident Lawyer, this was especially gratifying given that the two insurance companies against whom we proceeded to trial thought that they had absolutely no liability.  Of the two insurance companies, one refused to offer a dollar before trial, while the other offered a total of six thousand dollars.  Ironically, before trial, I had told the insurer that offered six thousand that I would recommend settlement to my client if they would pay ten-thousand dollars.  They refused to do so. 

The case centers around a car accident that occurred on March 9, 2007.  At the time, my client was working as an employer for the Flying J.  He was hauling a tanker truck east bound on Interstate 70 near Bryan Road in Wentzville, Missouri.  At that time, he was driving in the far left lane.  In the lane to the right of him was another tractor trailer owned by Mackie Moving Systems Corporation.  They are a trucking company out of Canada.  As the two went under the Bryan Road overpass, the Mackie truck suddenly swerved into my client's lane.  This caused my client to hit the brakes and also swerve over to the left in which he nearly missed the median.  While doing so, he was fighting his wheel and jerking it back and forth to avoid a bigger collision.  There were two eye witnesses from the scene.  One of them explained what caused the Macki e truck to swerve over into my client's lane.  That was a white car that was coming off of the Bryan Road overpass.  As it got to Interstate 70, it swerved left into another lane when it had no room to do so.  When it did this, it caused a red truck to swerve left into the Mackie tractor trailer.  This caused the Mackie truck to swerve left into my client.  The white car kept on going and no one knows the identity of that driver.  Thus, under the law, is considered an uninsured motorist.

Thus, the case proceeded against Mackie Moving Systems Corporation and the two insurance companies.  The reason that we were able to sue the two insurance companies was that both policies carried a type of coverage known as uninsured motorist coverage.  This type of coverage will compensate a person for injuries caused by an unknown motorist-in this case the driver of the white car.

As a result of the incident, my client suffered a herniated disc.  He endured fifteen months of medical treatment  stretching out over fifty-five different doctor's appointments and culminating in a L5-S1 spinal fusion.  At trial, the jury heard about the eighty-eight thousand dollars in medical bills charged to my client as a result of all of this medical treatment.  The trial lasted three days and was very contentiously fought.  During closing arguments, I asked the jury to send my clients home with nothing if they did not believe what I had been telling them throughout trial.  However, if they did believe what I was telling them, I asked the jury to make the insurance companies to pay my clients every last dime of what they deserved.  Specifically, I asked them to return a verdict for five-hundred thousand dollars.  After three and half hours of deliberation, the jury did just that. 

I am extremely pleased with the result and more importantly, I am extremely pleased for my clients.  This was the culmination of two and a half years of litigation during which time they felt like they had been called liars by the insurance company they had been paying over the years to protect them.  This case is just an example that if you fight hard, and have clients who tell the truth, jurors will still award a fair amount.