Attorneys Paul Rainville and David Hassett obtained a defense verdict after a four-day trial in the Bridgeport Superior Court in Connecticut.
The case arose from a collision between a motorcycle and pickup truck carrying jet skis on an attached trailer. Just before the collision, the motorcyclist was travelling uphill and with the right of way. The defendant pulled out from a stop sign and made a right hand turn onto the roadway as the motorcyclist approached the intersection.
The defendant testified that he stopped his truck at the stop sign and checked both ways for oncoming traffic. Seeing none, the defendant pulled his vehicle forward and was most of the way into his right turn onto the roadway when the motorcyclist struck the rear driver’s side door portion of the truck. The plaintiff and his motorcycle became wedged underneath the defendant’s truck. The defendant admitted that he neither saw nor heard the plaintiff before impact and that his driver’s side window was open at the time.
The plaintiff claimed serious and permanent injuries as a result of the collision. He was hospitalized for about three months and is now permanently and totally disabled as a result.
The plaintiff’s accident reconstructionist testified at trial that the defendant’s view downhill and to the left was obstructed when he pulled from the stop sign. Further, plaintiff’s expert opined that defendant was negligent and should have used more caution when making his turn given the extended length of his truck with the attached trailer. The responding police conducted an accident reconstruction which determined the plaintiff motorcyclist had been speeding and that his speed was a major contributing factor to the collision. The defendant’s accident reconstruction expert concurred with the opinions of the Norwalk Police as to the speed of the motorcycle when the brakes were applied and testified that the collision would not have occurred if the plaintiff was travelling within the posted speed limit.
The jury deliberated for just over an hour before returning a verdict in favor of the defendant driver.