$1.6MLeft-turn collision resulting in below-knee amputation

Our client was riding through a signalised intersection on a green light when an oncoming SUV turned left across his path. The impact destroyed his right leg below the knee; surgeons amputated the following morning after two failed attempts at revascularisation.

The driver told police the motorcycle had come out of nowhere and was speeding. The insurer offered its policy limit and nothing more.

A reconstruction engineer used the crush profile and the throw distance to fix the motorcycle’s speed at 41 miles per hour in a 40 zone. Sight-line analysis showed the driver had more than seven seconds of unobstructed view.

We took the case to trial rather than settle into the bias, and put the client’s prosthetist on the stand to explain a socket replacement cycle that runs every three to five years for the rest of his life.

The jury apportioned no fault to our client and returned $1.6 million. The award included the future prosthetic care the defence had argued was speculative.

He has since returned to work as a machinist and rides again on a modified bike.