Yesterday was deposition day at Dettman Law. My client provided his testimony to the other side and I was able to depose one of the defendants (D2). This is a lawsuit that NEVER needed to be filed. One of the carriers acted stupid and got everyone sued.
Here are the facts:
Client driving straight through a green light. Defendant 2 (D2) driving the opposite direction with a green light. Defendant 1 (D1) driving from my clients left to right. D1 driving from D2 right to left. D1 disregards his red light, smashes into D2. D2 smashes into my client.
Insurance company for D1 denies liability. D1 has a terrible driving history and a colorful past. My client is a well spoken sixty year old man. D2 is a well spoken 70 year old man. Police report had D1 at fault.
The smart thing for D1’s insurance company to do is accept fault because two other parties are pointing the finger at them. Instead, they denied liability and forced a lawsuit
I could have asked one question at the deposition yesterday to D2: Do you agree with everything my client said? I did, and he said yes. However, I still needed to create a record so I had maybe 8 minutes of follow up questioning. It was a very short deposition.
Non-Lawyers are probably asking themself: Why was D2 sued? Lawyers are paranoid. I did not want a scenario where testimony comes out that is different from unsworn testimony I get before a lawsuit is filed. If D2 changes his story or there is a small percentage of fault attributable to D2 (think failure to avoid initial impact) AND I don’t sue D2 then I have a problem. This is probably a case where we now drop D2 as a defendant. D2 is friendly fire slamming D1.
The insurance company for D1 acted stupid and got everyone sued. There are now four (very good) lawyers involved in this litigation. It also means the case draws out longer than necessary and takes up Court resources. Anyone want to guess the insurance company that acted stupid and caused this mess….hint it is not Allstate or State Farm lol. Those are the usual suspects.
I am a personal injury trial lawyer. That is different than just being a personal injury lawyer because I litigate and try cases. 57 to date. Hopefully more soon if insurance companies keep doing dumb stuff!
Written by Brian Dettman of Dettman Law in Louisville, Kentucky. Consultations are always free and I will give you real advice. Email me bdettman@dettmanlawgroup.com for follow up questions.
