On September 27, 2017, RM was driving his motorcycle on Johnson Ferry Road toward Lower Roswell Road in Cobb County, when he collided with another vehicle. RM was struck by a 2012 Volvo XC60 that had pulled out directly in front of RM. RM never saw the Volvo coming and had no time to react. Several eyewitnesses watched RM fly off his motorcycle. One witness later recalled that RM flew at least 15 feet in the air before RM landed on the road, injured and immobile. (See portions of redacted Complaint below. To view the full Complaint, click here).
RM sustained severe personal injuries including: 1) a dislocated pelvis; 2) a dislocation of the right sacroiliac joint (what connects the public bones); 3) a mesenteric contusion (deep bruising and trauma to the abdomen); 4) an open tibial fracture (tibia fracture breaking the surface of the skin); 5) a severely comminuted right distal radius fracture (shattered bones in the wrist); and 6) a left metacarpal fracture (multiple breakings in his finger). (A medical illustration is on the right.)
One of his surgeons was Dr. Douglas Lundy. Dr. Lundy had operated on RM’s back and pelvis. When asked about the severity of RM’s wounds, Dr. Lundy shared: “how often do you have all of these injuries at once? These injuries can and do kill people.” Dr. Lundy explained that out of all of RM’s injuries, his broken pelvis was the most serious. RM’s pelvic injury was “life-threatening, and the surgery to correct it was exceptionally complex.” (A x-ray after surgery showing RM’s pelvis with the hardware is on the right.)
After RM was released from the hospital, he spent months treating with occupational and physical therapists. Both Dr. Lundy and Dr. Netto testified that RM will likely develop traumatic arthritis as well as other medical issues. Nevertheless, both surgeons agreed that RM was making remarkable progress and were confident that RM would recover from his extensive injuries.
Like many of the cases our firm works on, RM was referred to us by another lawyer. The first thing our team did was visit RM while he was still in the hospital.
Our next step after meeting our new client was to track down the witnesses. We sent open records requests to the Cobb County Police Department, and listened to 911 recordings to find the witnesses. The at-fault-driver, an older gentleman who was visiting from out of state, was driving the Volvo with his wife and two grandchildren when the collision occurred.
When questioned in his deposition, the at-fault driver admitted that he took some responsibility for the accident, but he tried to blame RM for speeding. Through the help of witnesses, we were able to establish that RM was not speeding, and that RM had the right-of-way. One eyewitness in particular met us at the crash site and walked us step by step through what happened in the minutes and seconds leading up to the crash. That witnesses’ testimony was invaluable.
In addition to investigating, our team ordered and read all of RM’s medical records. After we had a handle on the medicine, we met with RM’s treating physicians and surgeons. Through the course of litigation, we were able to find a fourth insurance policy.
After several depositions were taken in the case, and as our team began preparing the case for trial, the three insurance companies met the terms of our settlement demands and paid the full policy limits under each insurance policy. The case resolved short of trial for $1,450,000. he settlement thankfully covered all of RM’s medical bills, and RM took him a check for almost seven figures.
After undergoing three successful surgeries and enduring months of physical and occupational therapy, RM has made significant improvement. RM continues to work hard with the goal of getting back on his Yamaha motorcycle.