PACE Bus Driver Rear-Ends a Pickup Truck in a Low Impact Collision Causing a Neck Injury
The jury found that the PACE bus driver’s negligence was responsible for plaintiff’s neck injury, which resulted in a fusion of his C5-C6 vertebrae. This was plaintiff’s second fusion, as he had previously sustained a neck injury in a much earlier work accident.
At trial, PACE and the driver claimed that the impact was so minor that it could not have caused plaintiff any injury. In support of their argument, defendants showed actual video of the collision and called both an accident reconstruction expert and a bio-mechanic in an attempt to establish that the force of the impact was no greater than normal daily activities. Plaintiff overcame the defense “expert” testimony without even having deposed them and established that the force of the impact was greater than their estimates and was the cause of plaintiff’s current neck injury.
The jury rendered their verdict for the plaintiff. The jury rejected PACE’s claim that all of the plaintiff’s pain was from his prior fusion. Plaintiff was also able to have the court bar PACE from showing “surveillance” videos that it claimed showed plaintiff was not injured as he claimed.
