Pre-Trial Settlement Alert: $3 Million for a Trucking Accident Victim

Managing attorney Dmitry Levitsky, Esq., and Senior Trial Associate Dean G. Delianites secured a $3,050,000 settlement on behalf of a 30-year-old client who was an apprentice commercial truck driver for one of the defendants.  At the time, our client was a passenger in the truck.

Our client sustained severe and permanent injuries while lawfully situated in the sleeper berth of a tractor-trailer traveling near Ottawa, Kansas. The plaintiff was properly restrained in a multipoint sleeper restraint system when the vehicle experienced a sudden and violent rollover, in which the trailer overturned, followed by the tractor, causing the plaintiff to be thrown within the cab and sustain immediate and severe mid and lower back trauma, with inability to stand or ambulate due to pain. 

The plaintiff was transported by ambulance to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with multiple spinal fractures. Due to instability of those fractures, the plaintiff underwent emergent posterior thoracic spinal fusion and stabilization from T5 through T11 with placement of bilateral rods and eight pedicle screws, followed by confirmation of permanent internal fixation. He was discharged and required both a wheelchair and walker for ambulation. As a result of these injuries, the plaintiff was bedridden for approximately six to eight weeks and required a walker for approximately two months.

Despite contested liability and jurisdictional challenges, including the defense’s argument that Kansas law – the state where the crash had occurred – should apply, this matter was successfully resolved only months away from jury selection in Kings County Supreme Court. 

Both attorneys, together with our diligent and hard-working team at Levitsky Law, worked tirelessly on this case, drafting legal documents, conducting extensive depositions, gathering photographic evidence, expert analysis, and conducting extensive legal research.  After years of receiving no offers to settle, this case settled once the defense and mediator were shown our legal analysis – including a multitude of credible expert reports as to the issue of future economic and non-economic damages – and our client’s medical records and the extent of the harm done to him due to no fault of his own.