Multiple parties obtain recovery – $691,029

During the early morning hours, four young people were going home from a night of partying in the East Bay. As they drove east bound on Highway 4, the car died–from engine trouble of lack of gas–no one will ever know. The driver pulled over to the shoulder and called 911. While they waited, another reveler, later determined also to be under the influence of alcohol, came along. He was not only drunk, he was texting his family for directions to his own home!  He told the officer that the (parked) car “came out of nowhere.” He slammed into it and knocked it across the verge and into a pole.

Unfortunately, two brothers – passengers in the stalled car – were hurt and they hired Dunnion Law to represent them. One had remained seat belted and sustained only mild injures, but the other had taken his restraint off to stretch. When collision happened, he was knocked unconscious and sustained a serious head injury that will affect him for the rest of his life.

The drunk driver tendered his $500,000 single limit policy to all four parties in the stalled vehicle, and Dunnion Law had to strenuously defend their clients’ rights to the lion’s share of the proceeds of that driver’s policy. It was later discovered that the driver of their own vehicle had also been drinking and Dunnion Law was able to claim against her. Had she been sober she might have noticed something wrong with the car, or made sure the gas tank was full, such that they all would have made it safely home. The firm was able to get an additional quarter million dollars for their injured client from his own driver in addition to receiving the bulk of the first settlement. Finally, as their client had no health insurance, there was anger that his entire settlement would be consumed by medical costs. The firm was able to facilitate the family applying for benefits so their boy could get all his bills paid.