A Florida woman who was severely injured in a crash caused by her then-boyfriend, who was allegedly texting while driving, has won a $4.3 million lawsuit.
The law firm representing 26-year-old Cacilia Carter told The Daytona Beach News-Journal the verdict was handed down Aug. 5 in Flagler County Circuit Court.
Carter was a passenger in a vehicle driven by her then-boyfriend Joseph O’Guin on Dec. 20, 2010. Carter’s attorneys claimed O’Guin was texting and ran a stop sign. The Florida Highway Patrol says the vehicle slid into a tractor-trailer.
Attorney Luis Gracia says Carter is still impaired and permanently disabled. Gracia says O’Guin did not testify during the trial.
There was no jury in the case, so Circuit Judge Dennis Craig made the ruling.
(AP)
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2 Responses
It is highly unlikely she’ll be able to collect the verdict from her indigent former friend and his insurance coverage likely covered less than a tenth of the award.
I would imagine that the attorneys for the plaintiff took into consideration who would be on-hook to pay for any settlement and how much they could reasonably expect to extract from them, otherwise they wouldn’t bother filing the suit to begin with. Sure, everyone runs for the hills to avoid a hit like this, but the plaintiff will probably have most of her medical bills paid.
However, no matter how much she gets she’s still the loser, since she’ll have to live with these new disabilities for the rest of her life.