Cyclist secures $21M verdict in Virginia Crash

Michael Sprick, who was struck from behind while riding on the shoulder on Route 100 in Pulaski County, VA, won a $21 million settlement (with $7 million in attorney's fees) in January. 

The settlement is "one of the largest personal injury settlements ever recovered in Virginia" wrote U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert S. Ballou.

The article at Virginia Lawyer's Weekly is behind the paywall and mostly about how hard the lawyers had to work to win the case. Sprick was in Germany, which created language issues and meant the billing was in an unorthodox format, since they're blind to retail cost. At one point they thought Sprick would die and they had to work with the insurance company to get the money to fly him back home. The truck was owned by a subsidiary of Hostess, which went bankrupt during the process. Still, most of the litigation was about damages, not who was at fault. Here's a more available article. 

Witnesses claimed the truck drifted onto the shoulder and hit Sprick from behind, sending him flying 105 feet. The driver claimed that a another vehicle forced him to the right. The driver was convicted of reckless driving and driving on a suspended license, and sentenced to a $500 in fine (with another $100 suspended for good behavior) and a suspended 90-day jail sentence back in 2011. 

Comments

[darren]

I hope Mr Sprick is doing better. I assume Mr Marchant has reacquired the privilege of driving by now.

[Jeffb]

The parties engaged in extensive research and negotiation over compensation issues. One challenge was determining whether Sprick could experience pain and suffering and knew what was going on, Thomson said. Thomson said he felt his side demonstrated that Sprick could appreciate life and people. He is not in a vegetative state, Thomson said.

In other words it would have been cheaper to kill him?

[washcycle]

Oh that's not uncommon. My wife was involved in a case where they were deciding on a settlement involving a child. When he died of pneumonia, the settlement went way day, because he no longer required a lifetime of care.

[SJE]

Whether or not its an "accident" it just seems unconscionable that the driver gets a $500 fine. You'd get hit with worse for an "accident" on your taxes.

[T]

This is the sort of thing the League or someone else should clip and send to the corporate counsel of every major corporation with delivery trucks. Sadly they may not value life, but they sure as hell value the bottom line.

[Smedley Burkhart]

It sounds like Hr. Sprick is what we call "minimally conscious" and there are lots of scary new data suggesting that some of those folks have active, and, one assumes, unhappy, internal lives and thwarted volitions.

As to the size o the payout, his family may have been judged to be damaged, too. Death is not always cheap, either. I once testified for the prosecution in a case where 6 Mil was awarded to the family of a young man who died, substantially as a result of a negligent physician.

[Smedley Burkhart]

Ooh, that was badly written! ...a physician's negligence.

[SJE]

When a physician kills someone,he doesnt just get to call it an accident and get off without repercussions. There are investigations. There is serious ramifications to malpractice insurance.

Now, being a physician is a heckuva lot more difficult than being a driver. How many doctors are there and how many drivers are there?

So, when a driver kills someone, why do THEY get to call it an accident and move on?

[Smedley Burkhart]

SJE, you certainly have a point about the differences between the standards for negligence between drivers and physicians. However, I believe something like 75% of medical negligence cases are decided for defendants, because the jury agreed with the doc that "shit happened." I wonder if drivers would be held to a higher standard if most of them carried millions per occurrence.