Our law firm represented a family who suffered a life-altering loss on Christmas Day. The patriarch of the family had recently become a grandfather. When all the family gathered at his house for Christmas festivities, he and his adult son ran out to the local gas station to grab soda and chips. It was only a few blocks from his house. The son drove his father there and began the short drive home. Tragically, another driver (a young man headed to his own parent's house for Christmas) blew a solid red light causing a massive T-Bone collision. The son-driver sustained very serious orthopedic injuries and a traumatic brain injury (TBI). His father-passenger spent some time in the hospital before tragically dying as a result of his injuries.
Although the available insurance policy limits were only $100,000/$300,000 our law firm filed a lawsuit and thoroughly investigated the case. Liability wasn't really an issue, as the defendant-driver admitted fault, but we believed he must have been distracted to cause such a terrible crash. After retaining a cell phone forensic expert we learned that the defendant-driver was using his cell phone to search the internet for prostitutes.
We sought leave to amend to seek punitive damages. We demanded a settlement in excess of the policy limits to settle because, in our view, the at-fault driver's insurance company committed bad faith by not tendering the full policy limits much sooner and allowing us to uncover this damning evidence. That insurance company ultimately agreed to pay us $5 Million total ($4 Million for the wrongful death and $1 Million for the son's injuries) without having to try the first case or even file a lawsuit for bad faith.
