Hurley McKenna & Mertz (HMM) is proud to announce that partner Michael T. Mertz has achieved a $6,000,000 settlement for a 55-year-old Chicago man injured in a head-on collision with a truck in 2019 in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Collision

On February 4, 2019, the client was driving to visit family in Birmingham, Alabama.  As he traveled westbound on Highway 280 in Birmingham, a truck traveling east dangerously changed lanes without warning and struck another eastbound vehicle. The truck then crossed the center line and struck the client head-on in his Nissan Maxima.  The extraordinary force of the collision brought our client’s Nissan Maxima to an immediate stop and crumpled the entire front of the Maxima back into the driver’s seat, crushing the client in the vehicle.

Once Birmingham paramedics arrived at the scene of the collision, the client began a grueling medical odyssey involving many surgeries, extended hospitalizations in Birmingham and Chicago, confinement in a nursing home, endless therapy sessions, extreme pain, and the need for additional surgeries in the future. The client, through his own hard work and dedication, has made significant progress in his recovery however, he will live with pain and scars from his injuries for the rest of his life.

Proving the Case

A lawyer, who knows Hurley McKenna & Mertz’s nationwide reputation for success in winning truck collision cases immediately referred the injured driver to HMM, and HMM partner Mike Mertz sprang into action.

Mike immediately flew to Birmingham to view the scene of the collision and examine the damaged vehicles. Mike filed suit against the negligent truck driver and his employer in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama, and obtained a Court Order which protected the evidence—including the vehicles and their on-board computer data, surveillance video, and the truck driver’s log books and employment records—from destruction.

Mike took depositions of the negligent truck driver and dozens of witnesses. Mike also hired a top, national expert in truck collisions and obtained the “black box” data from the truck, which proved that the truck driver’s erratic and unsafe driving maneuvers caused the collision and that the trucking company negligently entrusted the truck to the at-fault driver.

The Result

As the case approached trial in Birmingham, the defendant trucking company met Mike’s settlement demand and agreed to pay $6,000,000 to settle the case.  This amount will provide an income stream for the client and pay for care as the client continues to recover from his injuries.

Hurley McKenna and Mertz is proud of the work that Mike and our trial team did to obtain justice for our client. We’ve helped thousands of victims of car and truck collisions throughout the United States, and we’d like to stand up for you, too.

Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation if you or a loved one have been a victim of a truck or automobile collection, to see how we can help you get the justice and compensation you deserve.