William D. Robison Motorcycle Accidents Law Blog on Lawyers.com

This is a discussion of an actual case. In this case we suspected liability would be contested based on statements an officer made to the cyclist. We acted quickly to ensure all evidence was obtained and obtained a favorable result. In many cases attorneys with insufficent experience discover that liability will be contested too late to challenge the claim.

An experienced motorcycle rider stopped at a rural "T" intersection. A teenager was "cruising" along the main road that formed the top of the "T". The automobile collided with the motorcycle causing serious injuries to the passenger and minor injuries to the driver. The automobilist claimed the motorcycle had "come out of nowhere" and pulled into his path. The officer placed the point of impact near the centerline of the main road indicating a failure on the motorcyclist's part to yeild the right of way. The investigating officer went to the hospital and charged the motorcyclist with DUI (on the basis of an admission to having had two beers) and arrested him for investigation of vehicular assault based on injuries to the passenger.

The motorcyclist called William Robison Vancouver Washington personal injury attorney. Mr. Robison's first action was to call motorcycle accident reconstruction engineer Larry Tompkins, P.E. and request they meet at the scene. At the scene Larry documented the evidence while Attorney Bill Robison looked for witnesses.  

From evidence Larry gathered at the scene it obvious that the automobile driver had driven far off the roadway to hit the motorcycle. In fact, it was clear that the automobile driver had begun his turn before the intersection far from the officer's point of impact. He had crossed a wide parking strip re-entered the roadway and hit the motorcycle from the right side. The point of impact was adjacent to the stop sign.

Two witnesses were also located. Both were eye witnesses. Both had attempted to tell the officer the automobile driver was lying about the crash. These witnesses confirmed that the teen driver had cut the corner, realizing his mistake he had  attempted to drive behind the motorcycle but struck the rear tire as the cyclist tried to pull away to avoid the impact.

A quick investigation resulted in a recovery of policy limits from the at fault driver and on the underinsured motorist coverage for the passenger and motorcycle. Had this investigation not been undertaken the cyclist could have been looking at large fines or jail time. No charges were actually filed after the investigation conducted by Mr. Robison and Mr. Tompkins was reported to and reviewed by an experienced collision investigator with the law enforcement agency in charge of the investigation. 

Every motorcycle collision is a contested case. For that reason the lawyer experienced in handling these cases will start out by hiring a qualified reconstruction engineer to visit the scene, examine all vehicles and carefully record all information. If possible the visit to the scene will include the reconstrucitionist, investigating officer(s) and witnesses.

It is important that the lawyer understand accident reconstruction. This means, in addition to being familiar with the literature the lawyer understands basic physics as they are applied to reconstruction. Failure to appreciate that every motorcycle case will be vigorously contested can mean the difference between success and failure.