Car Crashes

Ken and Nicole loved to take their three young children on camping trips with their RV. On a hot August Sunday, Ken’s truck that was hauling the large RV, began to sputter. As an experienced airplane mechanic, Ken recognized that the truck’s engine was failing. He pulled to the shoulder of an on-ramp to the freeway to call for assistance. After Nicole called State Farm, she contacted the closes tow service that had the capability of towing the RV.

After almost an hour of waiting in the sweltering heat, Nicole’s mother picked up Nicole and their 14 month, 2 year old, and 3-year-old, while Ken continued to wait for the tow service. Because of the rising heat, Ken moved to the RV where he learned that the service was expected to take at least another hour or so before arriving. While he waited, a white Ford sedan rammed into the rear corner of the RV.

State Farm insured both the driver that hit Ken’s/Nicole’s RV and the Barnett/Lay RV and truck. While it terminated the insurance of the driver who hit the RV, State Farm continued to argue that the crash was due to Ken’s negligent parking of the RV.

After State Farm made an offer to low to accept, Catherine Fleming filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ken and Nicole. She deposed the driver (to learn that she had narcolepsy), the State Farm’s adjuster and an insurance bad faith expert, to support Barnett’s/Lay’s claims against the driver and their claims of bad faith against State Farm. Only weeks before trial was set to commence, State Farm offered a generous settlement without admitting liability.

A published and award-winning author, featured on national morning shows, Meredith Clark is the quintessential writer. She was reviewing some of the contents of the mail that she had just retrieved from the Ballard U.S. Post Office, when, without warning, a Toyota Camry crashes into her prized pickup truck.

The driver of the Camry, Ms. Robertson, was in her 70s, and wanted to park in front of the Ballard Post Office, near a spot by Meredith’s. Because she was on the opposite side of the road from the post office, she needed to drive against oncoming traffic, make a U-turn, and pull into an empty space. However, after making a hairpin turn against traffic she drove her Camry up onto the sidewalk, almost ramming into the post office.
To avoid crashing into the building, she slammed her brakes and made a sharp left turn into Meredith’s pickup truck. Instead of reversing from the truck, Ms. Robertson proceeded to step on her accelerator repeatedly, slamming her Camry about five times into Meredith’s truck, which then repeatedly crashed into the BMW parked on the other side of the truck. Plumes of black smoke engulfed the truck.

Fearful that her truck was about to catch on fire or explode, Meredith banged on her windows, yelling for help. With assistance, she finally managed to crawl out of the rear window of her truck, taking her beloved dog to safety.

The nightmarish incident rattled Meredith for years, long after she had recovered from her physical injuries from the crash. As a successful author, she needed calmness and peace to flourish. However, to achieve that sense of serenity and calm, Meredith struggled with PTSD for years. She is grateful that this chapter is finally behind her with a settlement that validated the emotional toll that the crash took on her

Charles and Manuel were on their way to a hike near Sammamish, WA. On a beautiful day, they spotted an oncoming Jeep Cherokee charging in their direction. The driver of the Jeep swerved over the center line and rammed head-on into Charles' Subaru. After sustaining injuries, which both recovered within a few months, Catherine Fleming obtained a confidential six-figure settlement. She pointed to the pain and suffering and these wonderful men's loss of enjoyment for those summer months.

She was the last in a four car crash, but she was not at fault. The driver in front of her reversed twice on I-5. But Aimee's own insurer and the other parties' insurers did not want to believe her detailed account of the incident. Catherine Fleming painstakingly retreived dashcam footage from the WA State Patrol and interviewed witnesses.

Finally, in the end, everyone was convinced. Even the driver who had reversed into her twice admitted that he had panicked during his deposition. No one wanted to believe Catherine's client because she had MS. The important thing was that Aimee had Catherine in her corner.

She avoided having to file for bankruptcy because of the large confidential settlement that Catherine obtained on her behalf.