Jury awards more than $42M to Avon man with brain injury from crash with Tesla employee

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14 thoughts on “Jury awards more than $42M to Avon man with brain injury from crash with Tesla employee

    1. Not sure why you are shouting or what is absurd about the jury verdict. Do you know anything about the victim in this crash, or the impact the impatience of one person has had on the victim and his family? From the article, it would seem this man will have to have 24-hour care for the rest of his life, which could be hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. How about the income he will never be able to earn to provide for his family? How about the pain and suffering he and his family have endured for the past seven years, along with what they will endure for the rest of his life? I hope you nor your family ever have to experience what this man and his family will have to live with for the rest of his life. If so, I am sure you will simply accept an apology from the responsible party and be on your way.

    1. Likely not wearing a helmet and may have been speeding. These would be factors in the assignment of responsibility.

  1. Helmet had nothing to do with the fault. The defense (Tesla) had double-digit, high-priced lawyers from all over the country. They did a good job of muddying the waters, and made it seem as if the motorcyclist acted irresponsibly by pulling out “too aggressively”. It’s unfortunate the jury even awarded the 30%, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Jacqueline (see above), I’m going to go out on a limb and say you have no knowledge of this case whatsoever. If you did, you would understand the true magnitude of what the plaintiff and his family has had to, and will continue to, endure. Tesla had many opportunities to make this right, but chose to fight it out in court. Well, they lost and justice was served. I can promise you, every member of the plaintiff’s family and those around him would gladly give it all back if they could wave a magic wand, turn back time, and erase the entire event.

    1. $40M+ is absurd and it is society that ultimately has to pay the bill in higher insurance rates and overall cost of living. The award amount is indefensible. The only winner in this the greedy scum that will take a contingency fee from this case.

  2. And that’s why most lawsuits settle before going to court. When you go to trial, as my wise mentor once told me, ‘you pay your money and you take your chances.’

    1. Thomas A, Tesla is self insured, so it won’t affect yours, or societies, insurance rates. Nice try though. I truly hope you, or worse yet, a family member never needs help from one of these “damned in hell” trial lawyers. My guess is you’d sing a different tune if you ever found yourself in a situation where you did need help. You seem like such a reasonable, well-informed, sound person though. I’m sure you’d probably be just fine representing yourself in court should that situation ever arise.

    2. Pablo K. seems like someone with good knowledge of the case, so maybe it is true that Tesla was fully self-insured. Many large companies have a self-insured retention with excess policies. So, these verdicts can impact insurance, depending on a variety of factors. A 37 year old has about a 40 year life expectancy. So, $60mm was about $1.5mm/year (and $42mm is about $1mm per year). Honestly, that’s probably about “right,” assuming the catastrophic injuries remain and he cannot be rehabilitated. (And, 7 years after the accident is likely long enough to call the injuries “permanent.”)

  3. Glad he got his money. But if he had been driving a car/truck/van he’d likely be safely home with his family. Don’t ride motorcycles, seriously. Never. It’s never worth it.

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