Motorcycle Accidents

Eric has successfully represented many clients who have been injured while riding motorcycles, mopeds or scooters (even though they are different, I will refer to all of them as “motorcycles” below to make this easier to read). What makes riding a motorcycle so appealing: the open air, the feeling of connection to the road and the countryside, the lack of physical barriers and protection, also makes motorcyclists uniquely vulnerable to drivers who violate the rules of the road. These cases can be particularly tough because most people who drive have seen motorcyclists weaving in and out of traffic and doing other dangerous things. Some folks think that a motorcyclist injured in a crash must have been driving recklessly. So one of Eric’s jobs in pursuing a case for a motorcyclist is to marshal as much evidence as possible to show that his client’s driving did not cause the crash. Some motorcycle crashes are so complicated that it is necessary to hire an accident reconstructionist to make sense of the evidence at the crash scene, which can include skid marks, pavement gouges, debris, and other evidence often found at the scene of a serious crash.

In one case Eric handled, the driver of a car had made a left turn in front of Eric’s client at an intersection with a traffic signal. Eric’s client swore that he had a green bulb the whole way from first seeing the signal through just before he entered the intersection (he was going straight through the intersection in the far left lane directly opposite the car). There were no independent witnesses who had a good view of the traffic signal. The driver of the car said that she had entered on a green arrow that gave her permission to make her left turn. She slammed on her brakes when she realized that Eric’s client was not stopping, came to a stop right in front of his path and caused him to smash into her car with his front tire. This sent him flying through the air about 40 feet. He then slammed to the ground and had multiple broken bones. Eric filed a lawsuit for his client in the Prince George’s County Circuit Court. He then deposed (questioned under oath with a court reporter recording the testimony) the defendant who drove the car. She testified under oath that she entered the intersection on a green arrow. Eric had a strong sense from her behavior that she was being dishonest. At her deposition, she admitted that she gave her insurance company, GEICO, a recorded statement within days of the crash. Eric asked her lawyer to turn over the statement. He refused, so Eric filed a motion to force her lawyer to produce it. Eventually, after the defense attorney filed an opposition to Eric’s motion and Eric filed a reply brief, a Judge ruled that her lawyer had to turn the statement over to Eric. The statement revealed that the defendant told GEICO that she had entered the intersection on a yellow light. A state highway official told Eric—and was willing to testify at trial—that based on the sequencing of that traffic signal, if she had a yellow light, Eric’s client had to have a green bulb. This meant that she had stolen Eric’s client’s right-of-way and then lied about it! This reveal changed the complexion of the case and caused GEICO, for the first time since the crash took place, to make a fair offer to settle the case. It settled shortly before a scheduled jury trial.

Eric also filed a lawsuit in DC Superior Court for a client who suffered a broken wrist and many bruises and abrasions in a crash that occurred when he was going straight on a Vespa scooter when an S-Class Mercedes-Benz turned left in front of him. After depositions took place, Eric was able to favorably settle that case for his client.

If you or a loved one is involved in a motorcycle, moped, or Vespa crash that was another driver’s fault, please contact Eric at 240-467-5741.