$950,000 Result for Rear-End Collision with Delivery Truck

$950,000 mediation result for a 33-year-old woman, who was returning home from work as a bookkeeper, when she was rear ended by a Federal Express truck, making a right turn onto Canal Street in Manhattan, during rush hour. The driver, a sub-contractor, typically delivered mail by foot, and had only driven the truck 10 times during the course of his employment. He was never given any training. The plaintiff suffered neck and back injuries and underwent an anterior cervical discectomy at C5-6, where the doctors entered through the front of her neck to install a titanium interbody cage attached with screws. In the aftermath, she found it hard to sit at a desk due to discomfort and had to find other work. She also felt very self-conscious due to the scar on her neck. The defendant argued the injuries weren’t caused by the accident, because the vehicle impact was modest. They also argued that a prior injury, a year earlier, that led to a shoulder surgery, was the cause of her neck issues. The mediator felt otherwise.