Rob Mack and Denise Tremblay recently obtained a defense verdict following a 4-day jury trial in Superior Court. The plaintiff was a motorcyclist who collided with a motor vehicle at an uncontrolled intersection in Duxbury, MA. The plaintiff, the operator of the second vehicle and the local police blamed our client (cranberry farmer/roofer) for parking two large utility trucks on the tree belt, within 20 feet of the intersection, that blocked the view of both operators. The plaintiff sustained an acute burst fracture of the L1 and had T11-L3 fusion surgery. He incurred over $80,000 in medical bills and had not worked since the May 2014 accident.
We disputed the allegations that our client had violated the local parking ordinance and that our client’s trucks were a substantial contributing cause of the accident. The local police officer testified that the plaintiff told him that he had only used his rear brake to avoid the collision. He further testified that the rear brake of a motorcycle provided only 30% of its braking capacity and that, if he had used both brakes, he could have stopped the motorcycle before the point of the collision.
