Amy Bolandis received an $800,000 jury award after her vehicle struck a UniFirst Corporation delivery van that crossed into her path on Hall Street in St. Louis. The delivery driver pulled blindly past a stopped semitruck because the truck driver waved him forward. Bolandis suffered a dislocated and broken ankle requiring surgery during the high-velocity impact. The appellate court upheld the award, finding no evidence that Bolandis was speeding or that the truck driver's wave diminished the delivery driver's fault.
Key points
Drivers entering a roadway cannot transfer their legal duty of care to a third party who…: Drivers entering a roadway cannot transfer their legal duty of care to a third party who waves them forward into traffic.
Operating below the posted speed limit does not constitute comparative negligence without…: Operating below the posted speed limit does not constitute comparative negligence without specific evidence requiring a lower speed.
The delivery driver's admission of failing to yield and pulling out blindly legally subst…: The delivery driver's admission of failing to yield and pulling out blindly legally substantiated the full $800,000 jury verdict.
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A Missouri appeals court has upheld an $800,000 jury award for a woman injured when a delivery van pulled into her path after a truck driver waved it forward. The court found there was no evidence that the woman was driving too fast, and it rejected the defence argument that she shared fault for the crash. The case, Amy Bolandis v. Thomas Bateman and UniFirst Corporation, turned on a simple but important question. Could the driver who pulled out blindly into traffic blame the other motorist for travelling at a normal speed? The Missouri Court of Appeals said no, as per report on Justia U.S. Law. Read more details about it here:
What happened on Hall Street
The crash occurred around 7:05 in the morning on 19 December 2018, on Hall Street in St Louis. Conditions were dry and daylight was clear, with no rain, snow or poor visibility. Thomas Bateman was driving a commercial Freightliner Step Van for UniFirst and was exiting a parking lot. He intended to cross Hall Street, a road with two lanes in each direction…
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