“Why did the egg not hatch?

            Because it was a chicken.”

Hopefully, this brings the same grin to your face as it did when our church pastor told this joke to the congregation. While I don’t recall this joke as having had anything to do with the actual sermon/homily, it did serve as a reminder that we need to take some time to laugh and breathe. In speaking with many of you, you are busier than ever. Finding employees is nearly impossible. High gas prices, inflation, decreasing 401k values, and, in Texas, a direct jump from winter to summer, does not help. However, this is not the first time that we have felt overwhelmed. It is just a cycle that we know we will successfully overcome. Until then, it is important to find joy in the little things, whether it is a trial victory, a settled case, or even a timely report from a defense counsel (of course, at FFSS, we pride ourselves on timeliness). Whether it is great legal work or just a wish to laugh, I encourage you to contact any of us at Fletcher Farley. I am confident that our attorneys will bring you a sense of peace during a chaotic moment in the claims/litigation process and when the timing is right, make you smile.

Doug Fletcher and Derreck Brown recently settled a pedestrian fatality case which was pending in Austin, Texas. We were initially contacted by the client immediately after the accident and were able to dispatch our Rapid Response team. Derreck Brown worked with our accident reconstruction partner, Aperture LLC, and we were able to record the accident scene and obtain video footage of the actual accident from cameras mounted on nearby businesses.

The accident involved our client company driver making a right on red turn onto a busy thoroughfare. Unfortunately, at the same time he made the turn, the decedent was attempting to cross in front of his path of travel on a protected crosswalk signal. Obviously, the liability was extremely problematic, but our driver testified that as required by law, he had initially looked to his left, looked to his right, and then looked to the left again to observe oncoming traffic before making his turn. During an inspection of the scene, it became apparent that there were a number of objects along the sidewalk leading up to the crosswalk that would have blocked the driver’s view. Thus, we wanted to be a position to show the jury that the driver could have done everything required under the law and the accident still could have happened.

We produced a reenactment video which included an actual visualization from the point of our driver’s eyesight and included an actual rendition of what our driver could have seen for the ten to fifteen seconds prior to the accident. We were able to have our accident reconstruction expert, using an Oculus visual device, actually display what our driver would have seen. Using this cutting-edge technology, as well as good old-fashioned cross-examination of the Plaintiffs’ accident reconstruction expert, wherein he admitted that based upon the videos the Plaintiff did not exhibit reasonable precaution before entering into the crosswalk, we were able to achieve a successful settlement during mediation.

We plan to discuss this case during our firm’s upcoming Texas Law Update this fall and we think you will be very impressed with the present state of the available technology in the field of accident reconstruction. Once again, our Rapid Response team provided great value to our client and allowed us to achieve an excellent result.