This is one of the very few cases I’ve ever defended since I’m the person usually bringing the lawsuits. A 16-year-old young man came in, and he said he’d been in a wreck. He wasn’t hurt, but they’d charged him with causing the wreck.
We Learned by Listening to His Story
At first, I told him it wasn’t a case I would normally take, but I still asked to him to tell me about what had happened so I could point him in the right direction. After topping a hill, he traveled down the hill far enough that he could not see anything behind him. He slowed down as he topped the hill and was about to turn left to go to a friend’s house as he went down the hill. At the top of the hill, the tractor trailer behind him slowed down because the truck driver saw this young man put his left signal light on and slow down to turn. An ambulance was coming up fast behind the tractor trailer and could not see around the tractor trailer or over the hill, but still pulled into the passing lane, topping the hill, with a double yellow line. The ambulance driver hit this young man sending him across a field. Now, the 16-year-old could hear the siren, but he couldn’t see the lights because of the hill. It never occurred to him, or to anyone, that somebody would be topping a blind hill in the wrong lane. He was ticketed! That was so absurd sounding that I investigated the case.
Our Investigation Proved Our Client Wasn’t at Fault
After hearing this young man’s story, I investigated his case. I spoke with the witnesses who actually saw what happened and the witnesses who came later but overheard several conversations that led to important information. Most of the witnesses were not interviewed during the official investigation. I spoke at length to the truck driver who was directly behind our client. His account of the wreck matched what our client had shared with me. He stated there was “no way that young man could’ve seen the ambulance.” I requested the insurance company to send me the recorded interview they took with the EMS driver. The recorded statement revealed that the EMS driver admitted to speeding and passing on a double-yellow line, while going up a hill.
The EMS driver reasoned that our client should be charged because she had her lights and siren turned on, even though our client could not she her and no one would have ever expected an EMS driver or anyone to pass a tractor trailer truck while going up a hill on a double yellow line. She thought just by having her lights and siren on gave her a pass for being negligent.
In addition, I was told the law enforcement officer who charged him and ticketed him used to supervise the person who was driving the ambulance that day. I got the case dismissed.
Best Payment I’ve Ever Gotten
Sometime after the case was over, the young man’s mom came walking in the door of my office. I was on the phone, but I saw she had a bag in her hand. She set it on my desk and walked out. When I opened the bag, I found two huge metal dice with the dots on them painted blue. That young man was passionate about metalworking, and he’d made them. Those dice are in my conference room to this day and always will be. That was my payment and probably the best payment I’ve ever gotten – it was from the heart.
