The Champion Firm Wins $10.2 Million for Victim of Serious DUI Crash
The Champion Firm wins $10.2 Million for Victim of Serious DUI Crash
In 2019, The Champion Firm was hired to represent a woman who suffered catastrophic injuries when she was hit by a drunk driver running a red light. The defendant was driving a pickup truck with a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when he t-boned our client on the driver’s side going 65mph. Minimally conscious at the scene, our client had to be cut out of her vehicle and life flighted to a local hospital where she remained in intensive care for weeks.
This serious DUI accident resulted in our client sustaining multiple severe injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, multiple broken bones resulting in numerous surgeries and permanent scarring. Even after leaving a local hospital she spent weeks in an in-patient rehab therapy and had to continue receiving regular in-home physical therapy since being discharged. Her past medical bills were well over one million dollars and future medical expenses were estimated to be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Immediately upon being hired, The Champion Firm attorneys and staff went to work conducting a thorough investigation to gather facts while identifying and preserving all evidence. We tracked down multiple witnesses and took their statements and sent Open Records Act requests to local police departments that investigated the crash. This led to irrefutable evidence including video recordings from body cams and dash cams from responding police officers at the scene.
Additionally, our team hired accident reconstructionists to download the event recorder from the vehicles so we could determine how fast the vehicles were going at impact, and whether the defendant took any evasive action to avoid the collision. We had our accident reconstructionists survey the scene of the crash to create a 3D rendering of the scene.
Through our investigation, we were able to determine that, at the time of the crash, the at-fault driver was in Georgia working for an out-of-state company and was driving a company truck. Just months after being hired, The Champion Firm had already built a powerful case against the defendants. We knew that filing a lawsuit was necessary to get our client the best possible result.
In early 2020 Attorney Darl Champion filed a lawsuit against the at-fault driver and his employer in the State Court of Gwinnett County. Because the defendants were not residents of Georgia, their attorneys were able to have the case transferred to federal court. During the course of the lawsuit, despite pandemic challenges, The Champion Firm team continued to build a strong case on liability and damages.
Darl Champion had a 3D animation created to demonstrate all of our client’s injuries. In addition, we had 2D illustrations created that depicted all of her surgeries and a settlement documentary video created that presented the evidence from the crash and statements from family and friends about the devastating impact these injuries had on our client.
As a result of our thorough investigation and aggressive efforts in pursing this case, The Champion Firm was able to obtain a $10.2 million settlement for our client less than a year after her accident.