Insult Added To Injury Following Alleged Road Rage Claim
Crash scene on Fullerton Avenue in Chicago on June 26, 2019.
Nothing fires us up here at FK Law quite like a person who has been the victim of road rage. The fire in our belly burns especially hot where an insurance company refuses to take responsibility for a driver’s actions. Recently, we successfully resolved such a case that had us white hot from the beginning.
On June 26, 2019 at around 6:20 p.m. our client was riding his bicycle eastbound along the right side of the roadway near 605 West Fullerton Parkway in Chicago. The weather was sunny and pleasant. He was wearing a helmet as he rode his bike along the leafy, residential street. At the same time, the driver of a 2018 Honda Civic was stopped in slow moving traffic facing east at the same location on Fullerton. As the cyclist pedaled past the Honda he inadvertently clipped its side view mirror with his messenger bag. The driver became enraged by this and sped after him. When he caught up, the driver angrily demanded at apology. The biker attempted to fix the mirror then tried to leave to avoid further conflict with the obviously unglued driver. Apparently feeling entitled to a pound of flesh, the driver sped after him again and rammed his car into his bike from behind, throwing him from his bicycle and into the road. His injuries were severe enough to require an ambulance to rush him to Illinois Masonic Medical Center nearby. His bicycle was also damaged.
The terror of being attacked and injured in such a way was exacerbated further by the fact that our client did not have health insurance, meaning that not only was he facing a course of treatment and physical therapy, but also very high out of pocket costs for his medical care, not to mention the cost to repair his bicycle. His medical bills in the end exceeded $14,000. Also, because he worked as a bicycle messenger he needed both a functioning bike and a healthy body to earn a living. Without those things for a period of time, he felt it necessary to take out a loan from a company that allows personal injury victims to borrow money on their claims at usurious rates. While we always caution clients about entering into such loan agreements, sometimes it is simply necessary in order to pay the bills until returning to work.
Chicago police responded to the crash scene and ticketed the driver. A witness who remained at the scene supported the bicyclist’s version of events probably made the responding officer feel compelled to issue the citation. It is far from usual for Chicago police to ticket a driver responsible for injuring a person on a bike. At the traffic court hearing, which we attended with our client, the driver, himself an attorney, plead guilty to failing to reduce his speed to avoid a crash. In our view, he was not charged with anything commensurate with the seriousness of his actions. Still, we figured that at least his insurer would probably resolve the matter without a big fight in light of his plea. We were wrong. After he finished all of his necessary treatment and therapy we provided all of our client’s medical records and bills, along with all of the other pertinent evidence we had collected, to the driver’s insurance company in hopes of negotiating a settlement without the need for litigation. In response, we received an insulting offer that would not have covered our client’s medical bills, which he owed out of pocket, let alone for lost wages, property damage, pain and suffering and disability. The offer, $11,000, came in the face of $14,000 in undisputed medical care, a driver who smashed into our client from behind then plead guilty. If you ever find yourself wondering why the world needs personal injury lawyers, this is why. Insurance companies often fail to voluntarily live up to their legal obligations. We responded by filing a lawsuit.
The insurance company fought the case aggressively. Not only did it deny the allegations in the lawsuit, the insurer filed “affirmative defenses,” allegations of supposed wrongdoing by our client. Specifically, the defense alleged that the cyclist was himself at fault for causing his own injuries in that he (i) failed to exercise due care for his own safety, (ii) placed himself in an area of danger, (iii) failed to select a safer place to avoid danger to his person, and (iv) failed to keep a proper lookout. The idea that he had “placed himself in an area of danger,” was ridiculous. He was in the road on his bike and had every right to be there. There was simply no evidence to support any of the defense’s allegations. That lack of evidence became glaring in light of deposition testimony from our client and the witness who saw the whole thing. During his deposition, the driver himself swore under oath that he did not intentionally strike our client. Notwithstanding his denial, we thought the evidence could support adding an allegation of willful conduct giving rise to the possibility of punitive damages being given to our client by a jury were the matter to proceed to trial. Punitive damages are a rarity in American jurisprudence. They are not meant to compensate or make an injury victim whole. Rather, they are meant to punish a defendant and to send a general message of intolerance toward bad and dangerous conduct. We were in the process of preparing a motion before the court that could have opened the door to punitive damages when the insurance company had a change of heart. After several phone conversations and emails with the attorney defending the driver, we were able to settle the case for $42,000, a sum in line with the nature of the harms caused.
Accountability, in my experience, does not happen my osmosis. It takes commitment and work. The driver that struck our client lost his mind in a moment that lead to very significant harm. All involved were lucky that the consequences were not worse. The police that responded to the scene should have recognized the seriousness of what had occurred and issued more appropriate and serious charges. The driver and his insurer should have stepped up immediately and tried to make it right by fairly compensating our client. Because those things did not happen, stress, anxiety, financial hardship and hassle were added to our client’s injuries. We would love to see incidents like this reduced to zero. Absent that, we are here, willing to fight.