Samer Habbas Settles a T-Bone Semi-Truck Accident Claim for $450,000

San Bernardino, Calif. — Managing Partner, Samer Habbas of the Law Offices of Samer Habbas & Associates secured a global settlement of $450,000 on a truck accident case. Both claimants were riding in the same vehicle at the time of the accident. As they were traveling through an intersection, heading westbound, a semi-truck, traveling northbound, proceeded to drive across the intersection on a solid red light. With no ample time to avoid a collision, the truck t-boned the claimants which caused their vehicle to spiral out.

Major damage was reported on the left side of the claimants’ vehicle, whereas the defendant’s truck only suffered minor damages to the front end. Both claimants, an elderly couple, were transported to the nearest medical facility by ambulance directly from the scene of the accident. 

The driver had complaints of chest pain on his left side, and the passenger had complaints of pain in her chest and lower back Fortunately, after thorough examinations, the claimants endured only minimal injuries. However, because they were both were suffering from pre-existing conditions, the truck accident further aggravated some of those conditions—establishing them as “eggshell plaintiffs”. The passenger was diagnosed with a chronic L1 compression fracture, which did not require any surgical procedures. She was given a brace and ordered to follow up with an orthopaedic spine specialist. 

Soon after the accident, Samer Habbas was retained as the claimants’ legal representation. Liability was inarguable being that the defendant admitted fault for the accident in the police report, and there was also a recorded witness who attested to the defendant’s statement. During the time of the accident, the defendant was operating a company vehicle. So, Habbas opened a claim against the trucking company for the driver’s negligence. Even though the truck driver was clearly liable for the t-bone accident, the defense tried to argue comparative negligence against the claimants—for speeding and not taking any action to avert the crash.   They refused to submit any offers to settle and tried to dispute the extent of each claimants’ injuries because of their pre-existing conditions. Neither one of the clients sustained any fractured bones or required surgical intervention.  At mediation, the defense eventually accepted Habbas’ offer to settle the matter at mediation for a combined global settlement of $450,000.