$2,469,339 Verdict

In April of this year, attorneys Fred Pritzker and Eric Hageman won a $2,469,339 verdict from a Hennepin County jury in a tragic bicycle accident wrongful death case. They represented the family of a 53-year old bicyclist who was killed when she was run over by the rear wheels of the trailer of a right-turning semi truck at a busy intersection in Minneapolis, MN.

Fred and Eric won the case even though the initial police report stated the truck driver was not at fault.

The consensus of the investigating police officers had been that the bicyclist should have seen the truck and that the accident occurred because she was unable to remove her feet from her new clipless bicycle pedals.  Our investigation of the case revealed, however, that the accident had not occurred as the truck driver had initially claimed.  After obtaining the truck driver’s logbooks, Pritzker and Hageman were able to determine that there were numerous falsifications, which should have caused the driver to be out of service at the time of the accident.  The falsifications in the logbook, which cast doubt on the truck driver’s account of the accident, were compounded when he repeated them under oath at his deposition.  Moreover, the deposition revealed that the truck driver had failed to monitor his right outside mirrors during his turn, which is crucial due to the significant “off-tracking” which occurs.  This failure was compounded by the truck driver’s admission that he believed he was pulling a 48-foot trailer, as opposed to a 53-foot trailer.

“Never give up on a case without doing your own investigation,” Hageman said.  “You can’t fully evaluate a case until you know all of the facts.”

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