 
| Excerpt from: Motorcycle Lawyer
|  | | March 03, 2009 | | How Do Juries Value Motorcycle Accidents? | Within days of each other, a Massachusetts court threw out the case of a seriously injured motorcyclist who went into the side of a truck, while another rider won a $1.85 million dollar award in Santa Clara County, California.
B. Robert Allard, the attorney in the latter case, certainly did a good job for his client, who was reportedly only offered a $100,000 settlement.
The most obvious fact is that the case, as presented, must appeal to the jury. That requires the attorney to present the motorcyclist with understanding. I think that is a difficult task for any attorney, but it is far more easily done by an attorney who rides motorcycles, and regularly represents other riders.
I know that I not only ride my own motorcycles, which are at opposite ends of the riding world, but I also read Motorcyclist, Bike, Rider, Cycle World, Robb Report, AMA Journal, and so forth, regularly. I spend copious amounts of time in dealerships, and hours in conversation with safety gear manufacturers. I regularly read books about motorycle safety, and accident reconstruction. This is in addition to my usual fare about practicing law properly, keeping up on new cases, and attending continuing education seminars for lawyers.
With all of this going, it takes every bit of skill I have, and a lot of work, to convince an insurance company that they should pay what I will recommend to a client as a fair settlement. Remember, they have unlimited resources (relative to an injured rider), and it is amazing what they will do to get out of paying a claim. They relentlessly beat on the injured rider using every anti-rider prejudice known to man.
The point is, seemingly similar accidents have very different results. You can't choose your accident, you have no control over how tough the other driver's insurance company is, but at least it makes sense to find a lawyer who has expertise with motorcycle accidents.
As we ramp up for riding season, I am keeping my eye out for good lawyers all across the country, because as summer hits, I know I will be spending a lot of time helping injured riders in other parts of the country to find those few motorcycle saavy lawyers that can make their cases have a happy ending.
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