The roadways surrounding Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie are some of the busiest in Metairie. And unfortunately, the scene of many crashes. One afternoon, our client was heading to work at a restaurant near the shopping center. He patiently waited for his green light, and when his light turned green, he proceeded to make a turn onto west-bound Veterans Memorial Blvd. As he drove into the intersection, an inattentive or inpatient driver in another vehicle already on Veterans blew through the red-light and crashed into our client’s car. His vehicle damages were significant and he immediately felt the pain from the crash. The responding officers spoke to the other driver first and she reported having a green light. There were no other witnesses who stopped, and the responding officer did not investigate further by searching for videos from surrounding businesses. In the crash report, neither party was placed at fault and our client’s claim was denied by the other driver’s insurance. After being retained, our team got to work. We immediately sought video from surrounding businesses and requested any dashcam and body-worn camera footage from the responding officer. Our client was smart in calling us right away, as we were able to preserve the video evidence before it was erased or overwritten. We prepared a lawsuit as the claim was denied and filed it. Our client received treatment for significant neck and back injuries he suffered due to the impact.
We deposed the other driver who stood by her story of having the green light. Our client was deposed and presented his very credible story. And then – we had the videos. While the videos did not show the impact, they did show the traffic flow just past the intersection where the crash occurred. We were able to establish with the traffic flow – our client likely had the green light at the time of the crash as the traffic was interrupted at the time the crash occurred when previously the traffic was flowing substantially.
Faced with this evidence and the impact of the other driver potentially not being truthful, we were able to secure a policy limit settlement for our deserving client.
