2 Wrecks 1 Case

Sometimes bad luck comes in pairs.  Over the years, we have had a number of clients who were hit by a vehicle, and then days or weeks later hit by someone else.  While neither accident will by our client's fault, in each case the careless driver will try to point the finger at the other wreck to try to escape responsibility.

Many lawyers will simply turn away these cases because they are too hard.  But at The Cowen Law Group, we don't think it's fair to turn someone away just because they've been the victim of two negligent drivers instead of one.  So we've developed some techniques for handling these cases.

First, we file one lawsuit for both wrecks.  The defendants will scream and try to sever the case for separate trials.  But so far we have been successful at convincing judges to keep the cases together to prevent each wrongdoer from pointing at the "empty chair" at the separate trials.

The next thing we do is to have one of our medical doctors carefully review all of the medical records to determine whether any of the injuries are attibutable to the second wreck.  For example, did the problems start after the first wreck, or not until after the second one?  Did they get markedly worse after the second crash?  Were there any x-rays or MRIs taken between the two crashes?

We also look at the damage to the vehicles.  Was one wreck much more severe than the other?

In some cases it is impossible to tell which part of the injuries came from which wreck.  At that point the laywers at The Cowen Law Group have to use our legal research skills.  Under the "indivisible injury" doctrine, courts have held that when two wrongdoers produce one injury, and it is impossible to determine which defendant caused which part of the injury, then they are both responsible for the entire injury.

Using these techniques, we were able to obtain a nice recovery for a client this week who was in two wrecks two days apart.  While we wouldn't wish this misfortune on anyone, if you or someone you know is injured in a wreck, give us at call at (877) 385-1282.