$287,500 Settlement – United States Postal Truck Runs Over Man

After our client saw the mail truck deliver his mail and drive away, he walked out of his house, down the sidewalk, and crossed the street to his box. His next memory is three days later in the hospital. We developed evidence that the driver of the mail truck realized after driving away that he had forgotten to deliver an item. Rather than turning around and approaching the boxes again, the mailman threw the postal truck in reverse and ran down our client.

On impact the client was knocked to the ground and was, partially, run over by the truck. He sustained multiple injuries including a concussion, a fracture of the nose, fractures of five ribs and lung collapse requiring surgery. He remained in the hospital for eight days. He had short-term memory loss in addition to having no recollection of the accident. His medical bills approached $60,000.00.

We brought suit under the Federal Torts Claim Act, which controls litigation against the United States and its agencies. During discovery, the government admitted liability but the government was resistant to paying our opinion of fair value. Their defense was based on what they thought was a relatively quick and essentially complete recovery by the plaintiff from his injuries. What they failed to recognize was the agonizing nature of those injuries during that time period and the horror of the accident itself – namely the violent striking of the man’s body without warning by the mail truck, being impacted by the truck a second time, and then being hurled onto the road and knocked unconscious. Ultimately, our persistence and persuasive presentation of the plaintiff’s damages prevailed. Faulkner & Graves was able to settle the case against the United States, acting for the Post Office, for $287,500.00.