About three years ago, one of our trucking clients experienced a significant injury loss with one of their owner-operator’s. The owner-operator was in inclement weather in California. His trailer had just been loaded at a shipper’s location and was on his way out of the dock area when he noticed a problem with his brakes. Although the owner-operator was well aware that he was prohibited by the motor carrier from performing any type of maintenance on the company owned trailers, he none-the-less maneuvered himself under the rear trailer axle and proceeded to pound away at one of the brake chambers with a hammer. Soon thereafter, to no ones surprise but his, the brake chamber exploded and struck the owner-operator in the face, horribly disfiguring him.
A lawsuit was soon brought by the owner-operator and even though he was provided full workers compensation benefits by the motor carrier, he sued them for gross negligence alleging intentional disregard for routine fleet maintenance. During the 3 years post-accident, the owner-operator endured a number of subsequent surgeries in an effort to rebuild his face. He incurred approximately $380,000 in medical costs alone. His wage loss approached another $120,000.
For almost 2 years, our file was reserved at $750,000.00, our full policy limit.
The lawsuit defense was assigned to Barry Snyder of Snyder Law, P.C. in Santa Barbara, California.
Through intuitive work, and after a full year into the defense of the case, Barry discovered that there was a co-worker that may have actually witnessed the incident. However, this person was nowhere to be found. For almost a year and a half, his office and ours doggedly tried to determine the location of this supposed witness, to no avail. Finally, right when discovery was about to close, his firm was able to locate this witness in southern Mexico. Barry’s staff hired a bi-lingual detective who persuaded this witness to cooperate with us. The Snyder firm then brought the witness back to the United States and secured what turned out to be the decisive evidence in this case. This elusive key witness testified that the owner-operator plaintiff did in fact repeatedly strike the frozen brake chamber with a hammer and that the plaintiff was warned by the witness to cease what he was doing shortly before the explosion. This witness also testified that the motor carrier had strict prohibitions against drivers performing any type of maintenance on company owned trailers. A better, more persuasive witness could not be found.
Formal discovery was approaching an end and a mediation date was set. Prior to the mediation, the plaintiff was unaware that we had located this key witness. Their opening demand at the mediation was well in excess of seven figures. For strategy purposes, the Snyder firm intentionally withheld the witness input until the day of the mediation so that the plaintiff’s could not prepare a defense.
After almost two years of litigation and a tremendous defense effort by Barry’s firm, we were successful in negotiating this matter at the mediation for $15,000, the approximate cost that the plaintiff’s firm spent in preparing their case. Needless to say, the primary and excess insurers that we represented were exceptionally pleased with the results of this case.
Had it not been for the professionalism and fierce tenacity of Barry Snyder and his staff in locating this key eyewitness, we would not have been able to successfully defend and favorably resolve this matter. The case would have no doubt settled for a much higher amount if not for the tremendous and tireless efforts of this very valuable USLAW member firm.
