On the morning of June 6, 2020, Karla was walking westbound at the intersection of Windsor Drive and Sand Creek Road in the town of Colonie, NY. She was in the crosswalk when she was struck by a car.
The driver, who was working for a company, said the sun was in his eyes and he did not see Karla. The driver agreed that he had a duty to yield the right of way to Karla who was lawfully in the crosswalk.
When the driver struck Karla, he was traveling 15-20 miles per hour, never hit the brakes and felt the front and back wheels run something over. He stopped his vehicle about 100 feet after the impact and exited to see a woman in the road he had run over.
Can an employer be responsible for the acts of an employee that causes a car accident?
The doctrine of respondeat superior renders an employer vicariously liable for a tort committed by his servant within the scope of employment. In other words, an employer is responsible for the injuries caused to someone if their employee was acting within the scope of employment, in the furtherance of the employers business and when the employer is, or could be exercising directly or indirectly some degree of control over the employee’s duties.
Personal injury damages in a pedestrian crash.
As a result of this incident, Karla was taken by ambulance to the Albany Medical Center. She was intubated, required massive blood transfusions, and had multiple complex severe orthopedic injuries. She suffered unstable pelvic fractures which required surgery and screws to fix her pelvis. She also underwent a lumbar spinal fusion surgery at L4-5, L5-S1.
The impact also resulted in a left arm fracture and a left elbow dislocation that caused damage to her ulnar nerve as well as a brachial plexus injury causing numbness in her hand and fingers. She needed surgery to fix her broken arm and now lives with permanently diminished grip strength in her hand. It constantly gets cold and stiffens up and leads to dropping objects around the house. Basic household tasks like opening jars, and washing and curling her hair, are now a daily struggle. Cooking is especially challenging.
Because of the broken arm, it impacted her shoulder which also required her to undergo shoulder replacement surgery.
She spent 10 days in the hospital and 57 days in a rehabilitation facility. She was unable to walk for 2 months, needed a wheelchair and walker for many months and was unable to drive a vehicle for 9 months.
Injury Case Settlement
Prior to trial, and through efforts at a mediation, Karla ultimately decided to settle her case for over 1 million dollars allowing her to move past this horrific experience and avoid having to go to trial.