Baton Rouge, LA – A St. Gabriel man and his family were awarded $18,946,634.65 in damages by an East Baton Rouge Parish jury after the man suffered severe and permanently disabling injuries, including traumatic brain injury, multiple facial fractures, shoulder, and spine injuries requiring multiple surgeries in a March 27, 2018 motor vehicle crash.
The collision occurred in the pre-dawn hours as the plaintiff was on his way to make deliveries in New Orleans. As he approached LaPlace, the defendant road contractor was late in picking up the construction cones that morning. An employee of the defendant road contractor reversed into the eastbound lane of travel on Interstate 10 and into Mr. Cushenberry’s path just as he was nearing the end of the three-mile bridge. The collision caused Mr. Cushenberry’s box truck to careen from the roadway, overturn and flip before coming to rest in the tree line. The plaintiff was transported by helicopter to a New Orleans hospital where he remained in an induced coma for six days before beginning a long road of recovery.
The fault was contested and, in fact, the defendant road contractor filed the first lawsuit arising from this accident blaming the plaintiff for property damages to the road contractor’s truck which had backed into the lane of travel on Interstate 10. The defense argued for a 50/50 fault. The jury found the construction vehicle 100% at fault for backing into the roadway without the use of a flashing amber light to alert oncoming drivers, proper flagmen, and other safety precautions.
After a nearly three-week jury trial, the jury determined that Mr. Cushenberry’s damages totaled $13,446,634.65 while awarding his wife and two young children a combined $5.5 million for loss of consortium.
The jury verdict was almost five times higher than any offer to settle from the defendant.
Mr. Murphy held strong to his belief that justice would ultimately prevail with a fair result for the clients and that confidence led to the ultimate result.
The courts are the only avenue of justice for injured victims when big insurance companies refuse to treat them fairly,” said Mr. Murphy.
Experience matters when choosing the right Baton Rouge car accident attorney for your injury case. If defendants do not want to settle for fair and reasonable amounts of money, Peyton Murphy will go to trial.
