Feb
14
$975,000 New York Car Accident Settlement Reached for Mother’s & Daughter’s Personal Injuries
Posted by Editor | Posted in Personal Injury News
After years of litigation, a New York mother and daughter were recently awarded a combined $975,000 car accident settlement for personal injuries they sustained six years ago when a stolen truck slammed into their van.
Lisa Yeager and her 12-year-old daughter Chelsea were driving to visit a sick relative at a Brooklyn hospital in June 2001 when a speeding, stolen pickup truck being chased by its owner in another truck ran a red light and broadsided their van. According to the story in the Staten Island Advance, Mrs. Yeager entered an intersection after a red light turned green when Robert Thompson slammed into her with a pickup truck from Power House Construction Inc. Thompson had stolen the truck less than a mile before at a construction site, and was being chased by Samuel Benitez, the President of the construction company.
In addition to sustaining serious back injuries, Mrs. Yeager suffered hip injuries requiring surgery and was hospitalized for four days. Chelsea Yeager suffered a lacerate spleen and concussion, and was in the hospital for 30 days. The family later filed a personal injury lawsuit against Thompson, Benitez and Power House. Benitez denied liability and stated that the pickup truck was stolen.
However, the family’s personal injury attorneys successfully showed that Benitez had left the keys in the stolen truck while it was parked on a public street, and then argued that Thompson was speeding and driving recklessly because Benitez was chasing him. The case was later settled, with Chelsea Yeager receiving $575,000 and her mother $400,000 in the New York car accident settlement.
