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Welcome to Jersey Justice, a

civil law podcast that shares

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practical tips and stories about

personal and workplace injuries.

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Join two of the brightest New Jersey

injury attorneys, Gerald Clark and Mark

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Morris of Clark Law Firm, as they take

you behind the scenes of justice and civil

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law, but first, a quick disclaimer, the

information shared on this podcast is

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for general information purposes only.

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Nothing on this site should be

taken as legal advice for any

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individual case or situation.

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This information is not intended

to create and does not constitute

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an attorney client relationship.

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Today, I'm here with Mark and

Stephanie, and we're going to be

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talking about how fault is determined

in automobile accidents in New Jersey.

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And also we're going to be talking

about accident reconstruction.

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So welcome Mark.

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Welcome Stephanie.

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Thanks for having us.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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So I'm excited to talk about this topic.

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Mark, why don't we start the conversation

off with the , potential client wants

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to know how is fault actually determined

in an automobile accident because a

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lot of times it can be a he said she

said thing unless there's a dash cam

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or there's evidence like the previous

episode we just recorded, what are your

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thoughts on that from a legal standpoint?

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Sure, so 1 of the 1st steps, like,

anytime we take a case on or we're

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investigating cases, we'll look at the

police report and the police support

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isn't necessarily like a be all end

all of who's at fault for the crash.

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But a lot of times there's a lot of good

things in there that that can be helpful.

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, there's motor vehicle

codes that they have.

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If you ever look at a

police report, there's.

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Numbers all up and down the sidelines

and they're on the sides of the document

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and throughout, and those different

numbers actually mean something like there

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will be a code for driver inattention.

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There will be a code if.

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There was sun in the eyes

or anything like that.

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So we'll almost always start by

looking at the police report.

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You know, again, someone

may have gotten the ticket.

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A lot of times we see a careless driving.

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Sometimes you see reckless driving or

unsafe driving, but again, that ticket's

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not automatically going to come in.

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And a lot of times it doesn't

come in, in a personal injury

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case, that's a big thing.

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There'll be witness statements

every once in a while, but, but

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really it comes down to, there's.

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Only so many different types of

auto cases, you'll have like a

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rear end hit a left hand crash.

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Maybe someone runs a stop sign

runs through a red light or what?

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And just kind of doing it over the years.

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I know Stephanie can talk about it too.

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Is you get a sense like if it's a

rear end collision, it's almost always

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100 percent the defendant's fault.

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I mean, I have case after case now

where it seems to be more of like a

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relatively new phenomenon where instead

of just saying like, Hey, yeah, rear

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end collision, they give an excuse.

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Like one guy says my foot cramped, you

know, someone else was like the floor,

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the mats came up and I couldn't hit

the brake pedal, just things like that.

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But at the end of the day, New

Jersey law is pretty straightforward.

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You're responsible for

what's in front of you.

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You have to maintain a

safe following distance.

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If someone stops in front

of you and you hit them.

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It's almost always still your fault,

but sometimes that will come into play.

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If there's like a stop short

allegation, like say it's a three

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car pile up our cars in the middle.

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If the car in front of them stop short,

and then the person behind our client

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rear ended them, they hit into the car in

front, you know, every once in a while,

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there could be a small percentage of fault

put on the person that stopped short, but.

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That's not automatic, and then as crazy

as this is, even if you're going through

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an intersection where there's a green

light going through an intersection

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where you don't have a stop sign, you

still have an obligation to make proper

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observations before you're going through.

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So, pretty rarely, but every once

in a while, we'll see, like, if the

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case goes to arbitration or something

like that, they could put some fault

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on our client who went through a

green light or went through an.

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Intersection without a stop sign,

just because he's still an obligation

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to make proper observations.

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I don't necessarily agree with that, you

know, and I'm sure Stephanie too, like if

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we go to arbitration and our client's got

a green light mind in their own business,

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and someone runs through a red light and

slams into him, like we showed in that

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video clip before, I don't really think my

client should have done anything different

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or, or what, but that's really it.

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Um, at the end of the day, we've,

we've talked about to a lot, like

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Jerry mentioned on one of the last.

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Episodes, like if it's a rear end hit,

they'll still blame our client, like

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throughout the case, say they should

make proper observations, whatever it

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may be, and then get to trial and say,

Hey, you know what, we admit fault.

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And that's not now because they're

trying to be like good guys.

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There's strategic reasons behind that.

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But that's really kind of it.

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Starting points, the police report,

just from doing this, you know, there's

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different jury instructions on different

mechanisms of how crashes occur.

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And then sometimes too, like we'll even.

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If I share my screen real quick, I could

show you like, there's a diagram every

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once in a while in these police reports

that give an indication of what happened.

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Um, let me know when you can see this.

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All right, can you see what's up there?

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Yeah, now we can.

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All right, so this is vehicles

are numbered, you know,

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vehicle one, vehicle two.

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There's almost always a

description of what happened.

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You know, it says like.

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Driver 2 is traveling east, Highway 36,

vehicle 1 came on Eatontown Boulevard,

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struck his vehicle on the driver's side.

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Vehicle 1 then ran off the

road and struck a one way sign.

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Driver 1 said he was crossing Highway 36.

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Driver 1 said he thought he

had a green light signal.

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So you move down to the police

report, it says multiple witnesses

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in the area say that Driver 2 had

the green light, Driver 1 had the

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red light, so that's a good fact.

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In this case, because we've got driver tip

in this particular case, it says dash cam

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video was also submitted on this case file

showing vehicle to had the green light,

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which again, that's very helpful to us.

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That's rare that that happens.

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But so, in a case like that, where you've

got multiple eyewitnesses, you've got dash

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cam footage, and it seems pretty clear

that vehicle 1 had a red light ran through

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the red light and hit into our client.

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I don't really see that being a case

where there would be much liability

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that that could get, put on our client.

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But again, last episode, we went

through, we read the discovery responses

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from the defendant insurance company.

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And they blame our client up and down, say

they should have watched, you know, where

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they were going, follow motor vehicle

codes, all things like that, which,

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which happens in, in all these cases.

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So this one was a little bit more

straightforward than we're used to,

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but sometimes if it's like a more

complicated case, or if it's a really

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bad crash or really bad collision, like

fatalities or catastrophic injuries,

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the police will bring out like a

fatal crash reconstruction unit that

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does a way more detailed analysis.

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Or we'll go out and hire an expert that

that does something along those lines.

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I think Stephanie had a case

like a few years back, that

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that she can talk more about.

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But my understanding, I just.

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Remember from talking with her about

it like it was a girl that was crossing

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the road I think it was nighttime and

it was a really really like bad crash.

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She got real hurt and I don't know enough

about it Stephanie you could tell like if

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you guys had a good report like this So

I did have one of those cases that were

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similar to what you're saying, which is we

received the case in from another attorney

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and the police report was not really

favorable to our client and the other

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attorney was like, I don't think this is

a case, but Once we started digging into

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it, we realized that there was more to it.

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And so what it involved was a young woman

and her friends were getting off a bus.

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Over in freehold, maybe like three

to three in the morning, maybe

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about three o'clock in the morning

and, , they got off the bus and they

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were starting to cross route nine.

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they were in a crosswalk.

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But it was in dispute of whether

they had the right to cross and

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whether the little person was lit

up telling them they could cross.

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And what happened was a woman, she

worked for a paper delivery and she

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had just picked up the papers and she

was on the way to go deliver them.

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And she hit the first person

that my client was with.

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And then she hit my client.

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They went flying, severely injured.

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They had to be airlifted.

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My client had really bad injuries.

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We got the police report.

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They had to do what

Mark was talking about.

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They had to do a detailed investigation.

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A shoe was found here.

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A piece of clothing was found here.

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And it was all marked off,

and it was all measured.

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And when it came to, it did appear as

if they were in the crosswalk, and they

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were kind of about halfway into the

roadway, which is relevant for New Jersey.

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So even if they would have had, even

if the other driver had the green

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light, it was still relevant that

they were halfway into the crosswalk.

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So we kind of did a little discovery.

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Deposed the defendant and she was

this little tiny, tiny woman who could

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barely see over the steering wheel.

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So when we saw pictures of her car

inside her car, first of all, there was

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just crap everywhere, drinks and stuff.

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Papers were in the back and she had to

sit on a thing just to lift herself up

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So I'm not sure whether she even saw

our clients when she was deposed This

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is one of those cases where sometimes

it goes the right way when you have

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a case that seems clear cut against

your client But this woman this driver

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was not the least bit sympathetic.

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She said I thought I hit a deer I

was the one that was up Meaning her,

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she was the one that was so upset.

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She didn't know what happened.

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She thought it was a deer and, you

know, and I explained to her, well,

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once you found out it was Two people

that you hit then what did you do?

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She was oh, I was just so upset So it

was all about her which is super helpful.

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I'll get to that second We did not have

to go to trial But it was going to be

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helpful that she was not sympathetic

a jury would not be sympathetic to her

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Just cut the way she portrayed herself.

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So as we were doing a little bit more

digging That's when we learned, like I

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said, see, seeing pictures of her car.

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Hey, were you delivering newspapers?

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And so then once that happened, then we

brought in the newspaper carrier and they

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tried to say, Oh, she wasn't within our

control, but you know, you only have.

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Access to her, you know, you're only

entitled to go after her car insurance,

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which was only a hundred thousand dollars

So once we started doing some depositions

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and the questions then surrounded whether

The the paper carrier controlled her

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actions meaning that they told her what

time to pick up the papers They told

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her exactly how to deliver the papers.

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They told her what route to take and

so once we determined that then we were

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able to bring the newspaper carrier

in We also had our own investigator go

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out there and what he did, which was

kind of interesting because the other

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driver was saying, Oh no, I was going

to speed limit, I wasn't going too fast.

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And so what he did is one of the

things he went out and did an

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analysis over like an hour.

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hour and a half for three days and saw

that people normally go a certain speed.

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And so we were able to see, Oh, okay.

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So the normal person is going

10, 15 miles over the speed

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limit during that time period.

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So it was most likely that

she was also speeding too.

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So that was super helpful

with respect to that.

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Our client was a doll.

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She was, like I said, she

was seriously injured.

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She had a hard time getting

through her deposition.

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So we just had to keep taking breaks

and keep walking her through it.

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That case ended up settling for 500,

000, probably could have settled

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maybe a bit more if the liability.

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Was clear cut and that kind of goes along

with what Mark was saying in the beginning

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if that would have been a case where she

was in a car and she was rear ended or

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she clearly had the crosswalk sign and

she was driving and then this, I mean,

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she was walking on the crosswalk and this

driver blew a red light, then it would

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have been a whole different story, but

when you're settling it or when you're

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going to trial, there is some liability

that is assessed against this Mike, our

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client who It appears walked against a

red light, but it was still a very, very

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good settlement for that type of case.

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Yeah.

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And Dimple too, I don't want to, I may

have just taken this for granted, but

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like why it matters, like percentages of

fault, like Stephanie's talking about how,

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like her client could have been blamed

for, you know, going against a red light.

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Like if she was found more than

50 percent at fault, then she

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would get nothing in the case.

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And if there was like, you know,

the case went to trial and a jury

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came back and gave a verdict where,

say they awarded 100, 000 and they

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determined that Stephanie's client

was 30 percent at fault, like

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she'd only be able to get 70, 000.

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So the recovery gets discounted by

whatever percentage of fault you are.

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And that's what.

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The law is in New Jersey, like some

States, it's contributory negligence,

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where if you're one iota at fault,

you get nothing like I had a case one

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time that got transferred to Maryland.

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That was the law down there,

which is really, really tough.

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New Jersey's comparative

fault, which is good.

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So as long as you're not more than 50

percent at fault, you can recover since

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it appears she went against the crosswalk

indicating that she was free to go.

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She could have most likely.

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Then more than 50 percent at fault,

she was very happy with that, but

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that was a case where originally when

we looked at the police report, it

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seemed like, Oh, this is not a case.

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This is not a good case.

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The prior attorney had said now hands off.

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And then once we kind of dug into

it a little bit more, got our own

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investigator, did a lot of depositions.

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Found out some little holes in the story.

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You know, we actually actually deposed

the bus driver and everybody up to that

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point had said, Oh yes, your clients,

they did not have the right away to walk.

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The driver had a green light, but

this bus driver, he let them off.

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And as he started pulling away.

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I asked him, did you look up

and see what the light was?

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And he said, yeah, I think it, I

think the other driver might've

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had a red one, but I'm not sure.

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So it gave me a little bit of a

doubt where it was like, okay,

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everybody else is saying it.

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She, the driver definitely had a green.

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And then this bus driver was like,

no, she might've had the red.

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And so then, which in our case created

a nice little question of fact, because.

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Maybe my client didn't

go against the red light.

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So little nuances like that are super

important and taking depositions and

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finding little nuggets like that,

that can help your client and help

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your case are why we do what we do.

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So I was sitting here as you were

talking about, like doing the deposition,

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this case was way pre COVID, right?

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Like this was back in 2016.

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So I picture because depositions

for the past three plus years

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have all been over Zoom.

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Like if that had been a depth over

deposition over zoom, you may have not

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even known that she was this like five

foot, nothing person, like I'm seven

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feet tall, I'm sitting in this chair

or I'm, you know, four foot eight.

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There's no way to know.

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So that probably made a big

distinction too, because it paints a

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totally different picture, a totally

different analysis of the case.

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Like if you're just picturing

someone going along, you're like,

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what, like, what could happen?

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But then you're picturing some

little old lady or just not

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assuming she's old or what picturing

someone like down like that.

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That's a totally different analysis.

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Absolutely.

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And that's why also discovery is great

when you get photos of the, um, cause the

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police did a really thorough investigation

and they had photos of her car.

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And like I said, it was not only a mess,

but then there was a big pad on her seat.

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I mean, like, like three phone books.

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Big.

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And I remember saying to her, do you,

do you need to sit on that to drive?

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And she was like, yeah.

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And then, So I think I literally

think that's exactly what happened.

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She was this little tiny

lady could barely see.

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And it was dark and you know,

they allegedly had dark clothing

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on my client and a friend.

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Stephanie does.

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And this is like a little hype for

her, but she does such a good job

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kind of peeling off like the layers

of the onion of cases like this.

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Like she's saying, she took it over

from an attorney that rejected it.

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And then goes and gets a half

a million dollar recovery.

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And just even like talking about

noticing that there's a bunch of

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newspapers in the car and like,

were you delivering newspapers?

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Because if you're doing something in

the scope of your employment, that opens

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up another potential layer of insurance

coverage, which is normally going to

300

: 00:16:00

be much higher than someone's just.

301

: 00:16:02

Personal auto coverage, so just to even

get into that ballpark of another layer

302

: 00:16:06

of coverage was a great step because

these crosswalk cases are not easy.

303

: 00:16:11

You talk about like

apportioning liability.

304

: 00:16:13

I had 1 where a girl was

crossing and same thing.

305

: 00:16:15

It was dark out.

306

: 00:16:16

I think she was going against

the light or came out.

307

: 00:16:18

She was going against the light, but

she was like: 8090

308

: 00:16:22

through the intersection when she got hit.

309

: 00:16:25

So that was a fact that

was kind of helpful.

310

: 00:16:27

And the guy that hit her was like 88,

89 years old or something like that.

311

: 00:16:31

So that was kind of another factor

that was like, Hey, look, you know,

312

: 00:16:34

reasonable person probably would have

seen her it's kind of helpful there.

313

: 00:16:37

And then it, it matters to like

what the insurance coverage was.

314

: 00:16:40

I think in my particular case,

it was like a hundred thousand

315

: 00:16:43

dollars policy or maybe even less.

316

: 00:16:45

And she had a ruptured globe to her

eye, which is like a nasty injury.

317

: 00:16:49

And the insurance company, their

analysis is going to be, would

318

: 00:16:52

probably be more expensive to fight

that case than just to pay out.

319

: 00:16:56

Like Stephanie's case, it's like,

that's not like a, ah, here you

320

: 00:16:59

go type of money to give out.

321

: 00:17:01

Like that's a really, really good

result in a, in a tough case.

322

: 00:17:04

But I'll tell you another

kind of funny story.

323

: 00:17:06

I had a client who was also hit

in a crosswalk by another old

324

: 00:17:10

gentleman who was small and he

was properly in the crosswalk.

325

: 00:17:13

And.

326

: 00:17:14

driver that hit him only

had a 15, 000 policy.

327

: 00:17:17

And I remember showing up

at the deposition and I was

328

: 00:17:19

like, what do you people do?

329

: 00:17:20

And why are you not tendering the 15?

330

: 00:17:22

He's like, ah, we probably

will after the deposition.

331

: 00:17:24

I said, all right, I'm deposing

the guy really nice old guy.

332

: 00:17:28

And so I'm kind of asking him

like, what were you doing that day?

333

: 00:17:31

And ended up coming out that

he was delivering auto parts.

334

: 00:17:35

I asked the question, were you in the

course and scope of your employment?

335

: 00:17:38

I phrased it a little bit differently.

336

: 00:17:39

Were you working at that time?

337

: 00:17:41

Had you just had delivering?

338

: 00:17:42

And he was like, Oh, yeah, yeah,

I was working and I remember his

339

: 00:17:46

counsel was like, you were working

and I was like, you were working.

340

: 00:17:49

Well, I mean that case ended up settling

for eight hundred thousand So had we

341

: 00:17:53

not dug that dug into that a little

bit and that was actually a really fun

342

: 00:17:57

one in the respect of the auto parts

place This guy had a punch in like

343

: 00:18:03

an old fashioned time punch card So I

requested all of his punch cards for

344

: 00:18:09

like a year before this incident, right?

345

: 00:18:12

And including the day of the incident,

every other time, every other

346

: 00:18:16

time the guy worked from 8 to 4.

347

: 00:18:19

30, but on this day, and it was an

actual punch out, but on this day,

348

: 00:18:24

he allegedly clocked out at 3 p.

349

: 00:18:28

m.

350

: 00:18:28

And that was the only time

card in all of them that was

351

: 00:18:32

handwritten with the guy's initials.

352

: 00:18:34

So take it as you will, which I took it as

the auto parts place actually, you know,

353

: 00:18:42

it's said that he was clocked out at that

exact time before the incident, meaning

354

: 00:18:47

he wouldn't have been in the course and

scope of his employment at the time of.

355

: 00:18:50

That he hit my client.

356

: 00:18:51

That was like time card, time card.

357

: 00:18:53

It was probably 50, 60 time cards.

358

: 00:18:56

I had to show the guy and

each one was the same thing.

359

: 00:18:59

That was a good one.

360

: 00:19:00

That one settled for,

I think over 800, 000.

361

: 00:19:03

Yeah.

362

: 00:19:04

Like you can't help, but have these

like soapbox moments kind of when you're

363

: 00:19:07

doing this, like to call it, but like

play, everyone thinks plaintiff, you

364

: 00:19:11

picture like, Oh, the guy that goes and

slips on ice and it's like, Oh, great.

365

: 00:19:13

I'm going to go get like money

out of this, that example.

366

: 00:19:16

Just doesn't even really stand out

as something that ridiculous because

367

: 00:19:20

it happens in so many of these

cases, like construction cases.

368

: 00:19:25

You have to file motion after motion

to get like the contract for the job.

369

: 00:19:29

It could be like a multi

million dollar job.

370

: 00:19:31

And they're like, oh, there's no contract.

371

: 00:19:33

Oh, there's no safety plans.

372

: 00:19:34

And then 3 court orders later,

they're like, okay, here you go.

373

: 00:19:37

Here's the 200 page contract.

374

: 00:19:38

Here's, you know, 1000

site photos and like.

375

: 00:19:41

All our safety records, but it takes

like thing after thing after thing.

376

: 00:19:45

And what Stephanie is talking

about, there's sometimes it's

377

: 00:19:47

a jury charge that, that deals

with like spoliation of evidence.

378

: 00:19:50

Like if you get rid of evidence to try

and thinking it will help the case, like

379

: 00:19:54

the jury can be charged against that, but

like fabricating evidence or people think

380

: 00:19:58

that that could be, you know, it's going

to end up helping them out, but you get

381

: 00:20:01

good attorneys that pick up on that stuff

and dive into it and it backfires so bad,

382

: 00:20:07

or like it makes the case so much worse.

383

: 00:20:08

Like Stephanie picking up on that and

going exploring that, like everybody,

384

: 00:20:13

well, you would hope everybody sees

through that, what that is, and

385

: 00:20:16

like, that adds value to the case.

386

: 00:20:18

Like that doesn't mean the guy's

injury is worse or what, but like

387

: 00:20:22

everybody's analysis involves

what's a jury going to do.

388

: 00:20:25

Every way we look at a case is like,

what's going to happen at trial.

389

: 00:20:28

How would a jury perceive this?

390

: 00:20:30

It's one thing that the

guy got really hurt.

391

: 00:20:31

It's another, then that the defendants

in the case are trying to cover up

392

: 00:20:35

evidence to stop this guy from getting

like fair compensation for what happened.

393

: 00:20:38

Like that should piss people off.

394

: 00:20:41

Like that should get jurors like upset.

395

: 00:20:43

And like an angry jury for

us is like, is a good jury.

396

: 00:20:46

Yeah, that's a great point.

397

: 00:20:47

What I love is it's finding the loophole

and Stephanie's so thorough and Really

398

: 00:20:52

noticing the details of what matters in a

case like sometimes It's like the smallest

399

: 00:20:57

thing and someone else may overlook

that can make the biggest difference in

400

: 00:21:01

What's gonna be the outcome of that case?

401

: 00:21:03

So thank you for sharing that

Stephanie Yeah, those like,

402

: 00:21:07

what do you mean by that?

403

: 00:21:08

Or like, like, why do you say that?

404

: 00:21:10

Questions sometimes can open up such

like doors that you would never expect.

405

: 00:21:14

Yeah.

406

: 00:21:15

So that's just awesome.

407

: 00:21:16

And Mark, did you have anything else?

408

: 00:21:18

I think that's really it.

409

: 00:21:19

Like Stephanie talked about, it

looks like this was really thorough.

410

: 00:21:22

The client had taken a bunch of pictures.

411

: 00:21:25

It looks like we sent.

412

: 00:21:26

Multiple investigators out there,

one like early on in the case just to

413

: 00:21:30

document the area and then another.

414

: 00:21:32

I think, did you end up doing a

crash reconstruction in the case?

415

: 00:21:35

Stephanie?

416

: 00:21:35

We didn't have to do a cross

reconstruction because the police

417

: 00:21:38

did a thorough got it direction.

418

: 00:21:41

Like I said, the point that helped

us in their crash reconstruction

419

: 00:21:46

was where the initial impact was.

420

: 00:21:49

was, and it showed the initial

impact was in the crosswalk

421

: 00:21:54

in the middle of the road.

422

: 00:21:55

And in New Jersey, if you are halfway

in the middle of the road in a

423

: 00:21:59

crosswalk, even if the driver has a

green light, they're obligated to stop.

424

: 00:22:03

Um, so it was very important for

us to show that they were in the

425

: 00:22:07

crosswalk and it happened almost

middle of the way through the road.

426

: 00:22:11

It all like comes down to as well,

again, again, I guess just jumping up

427

: 00:22:15

on a soapbox, like it's just fairness,

like who the heck hasn't crossed

428

: 00:22:19

at a crosswalk when there's a green

light, you look like, is it safe?

429

: 00:22:21

So that from what I would understand

about that, like, if you're halfway

430

: 00:22:24

through crosswalk, that doesn't just

give the oncoming driver card bonds

431

: 00:22:27

to the slam into you, you got to

make proper observation and there's

432

: 00:22:30

jury instructions up and down.

433

: 00:22:33

Like the law that the judge would read

to the jury at the end of the case about

434

: 00:22:37

whether someone's in a crosswalk, not

in a crosswalk, whether they've got the

435

: 00:22:40

right away or don't have the right away.

436

: 00:22:42

So it's not like, yup, you automatically

win just cause you're in a crosswalk

437

: 00:22:46

or Nope, you automatically lose

because you weren't in a crosswalk.

438

: 00:22:49

And I do have like, it would probably

take me a second to pull it up.

439

: 00:22:52

So it might not make sense, but the

idea of like what a crosswalk is

440

: 00:22:55

a lot broader than you would think

to, it's not just the actual, like.

441

: 00:23:00

Stephanie, when it comes to determining

fault in accidents, right, what

442

: 00:23:05

type of car accident is the most

difficult to prove who was at fault?

443

: 00:23:10

Is there a particular type?

444

: 00:23:11

Because like Mark was saying

earlier, you get hit from behind.

445

: 00:23:14

It's usually the person who hit him.

446

: 00:23:16

It's their fault.

447

: 00:23:17

But is there a particular scenario where

it is hard to determine who is at fault?

448

: 00:23:22

We actually have a new case right now

where both of them are saying that they

449

: 00:23:26

had the green light in an intersection

with our client saying she had a

450

: 00:23:30

green light, the other client saying

they had green light and they don't,

451

: 00:23:34

there's no cameras, the police, they

actually did not interview a lot of

452

: 00:23:39

the witnesses because they said they

didn't have time apparently, but there

453

: 00:23:43

were some witnesses that actually

witnessed that the other driver went

454

: 00:23:46

through the green light and we're

trying to find one of those witnesses.

455

: 00:23:49

So that one's going to be a

little bit more of a challenge.

456

: 00:23:52

We had an actual witness or a lot of

times they have the video cameras in the

457

: 00:23:56

intersection that makes it much easier,

but that's definitely a hard case.

458

: 00:24:01

A left turn case.

459

: 00:24:02

If our client's coming out and making

a left turn and somebody is coming from

460

: 00:24:05

their left, , I had one of those cases

was a few years ago and it was a really

461

: 00:24:10

nice old guy and he was coming out

and making a left and the other driver

462

: 00:24:14

hit him and automatically off the bat.

463

: 00:24:17

You.

464

: 00:24:17

You would think, well,

your guy was making a left.

465

: 00:24:20

He should have, you know, and the other

woman had the proper right of way.

466

: 00:24:24

But once again, we kind of did a little

digging and she was on her way to school.

467

: 00:24:29

She was a school cafeteria aide.

468

: 00:24:32

And so I subpoenaed the records

for the school and showed that

469

: 00:24:36

she was supposed to get there.

470

: 00:24:37

a lot earlier than she was going

to be getting there, which kind of

471

: 00:24:41

supported our theory that she was

speeding up and over that hill.

472

: 00:24:44

That definitely helped.

473

: 00:24:46

And then we ended up settling

that case for the policy, but

474

: 00:24:49

those are definitely tough cases.

475

: 00:24:50

Yeah.

476

: 00:24:51

I think I covered a

deposition on that case.

477

: 00:24:52

I remember that.

478

: 00:24:53

Which again, that's awesome.

479

: 00:24:54

That's peeling back the onion layers.

480

: 00:24:56

I'm telling you, this isn't like, again,

soapbox and like self promotion, but

481

: 00:24:59

like, there's not a lot of attorneys and

law firms out there that are going to

482

: 00:25:04

take that extra step with an auto case

like that, that Stephanie just talked

483

: 00:25:08

about, like subpoenaing the defendant's

employment records to show that she was

484

: 00:25:12

late for work, that was a case from what

I recall, where like every case it's,

485

: 00:25:16

you know, who's at fault, what are the

injuries, what's the insurance coverage.

486

: 00:25:20

Almost always one of those things

is lacking, like are missing.

487

: 00:25:23

So I would imagine in that case, the

issue, the thing that was like, you know,

488

: 00:25:27

the biggest fight was probably liability.

489

: 00:25:29

So like a lot of people just go, nah,

you know, we'll settle this real cheap

490

: 00:25:33

or be like, we're not going to take

this case or take a deposition, but like

491

: 00:25:37

not go that extra step that Stephanie

went and by getting those records

492

: 00:25:41

again, like, ladies and gentlemen,

the jury, my client pulled out and the

493

: 00:25:46

defendant was speeding and hit her.

494

: 00:25:48

Okay.

495

: 00:25:48

Like, whatever, like says you,

you're trying to get my ladies and

496

: 00:25:52

gentlemen, my client look both ways.

497

: 00:25:54

So no one was coming.

498

: 00:25:55

The defendant who works

at a school, she's late.

499

: 00:25:58

She's rushing.

500

: 00:25:59

She's going downhill, you know,

comes out of nowhere, slams into

501

: 00:26:02

her, you know, slams into the client.

502

: 00:26:04

Like that's way more compelling.

503

: 00:26:06

And that's, again, I imagine probably

a huge reason why the defense in

504

: 00:26:09

that case settled, that's awesome.

505

: 00:26:10

I remember that case.

506

: 00:26:12

All right.

507

: 00:26:13

Cause he was a doll, a nice guy.

508

: 00:26:15

Which again, that matters too.

509

: 00:26:16

Absolutely.

510

: 00:26:17

Yeah.

511

: 00:26:18

The, the insurance companies

are assessing everything.

512

: 00:26:20

Like we tell our clients when

they go to a deposition, number

513

: 00:26:23

one, just tell the truth.

514

: 00:26:25

That's the most important thing.

515

: 00:26:26

You have to be honest.

516

: 00:26:27

There's good facts, bad facts.

517

: 00:26:28

In any case we can deal with

it, but just don't lie because

518

: 00:26:32

that will ruin the entire case.

519

: 00:26:34

So we always tell the clients not to lie.

520

: 00:26:35

And then we explained to the deposition

is as much about seeing how they present

521

: 00:26:40

and like what kind of person they are.

522

: 00:26:42

As it is about finding out like

what they recall and what happened.

523

: 00:26:46

So like, it goes into every analysis

that the insurance companies do, like.

524

: 00:26:50

You know, if we settle a case

or a defense attorney calls up,

525

: 00:26:54

look, now your client's real nice.

526

: 00:26:56

They presented really

well at your deposition.

527

: 00:26:57

Like that matters.

528

: 00:26:58

That adds value to the case.

529

: 00:27:00

Like the guy that's just like,

you know, this, I can't believe

530

: 00:27:03

this jerk slammed into me.

531

: 00:27:04

Like, that's not, you don't want that.

532

: 00:27:06

And you can only prepare people so much.

533

: 00:27:09

Like it's organically going to come out,

what type of person that they are and that

534

: 00:27:12

will add or take value away from a case.

535

: 00:27:14

You can tell we've had a few

of these crosswalk cases.

536

: 00:27:17

If I have this, like.

537

: 00:27:19

Children's book looking diagram of

like what is and isn't the crosswalk,

538

: 00:27:22

but you can see here and a lot of

Mark and I were talking about it.

539

: 00:27:26

It's called the stop and say stopped.

540

: 00:27:28

It's basically the if you're halfway

into the crosswalk, like Mark

541

: 00:27:32

showing you that you got to stop.

542

: 00:27:34

Yes, I had the case actually this guy

who's a retired postal worker and like

543

: 00:27:38

every day he went on the same route

did the exact same walk every day for

544

: 00:27:43

I forget how many years so his career

was spent walking around neighborhoods

545

: 00:27:47

as a postal worker and then like and

his retirement his favorite activity

546

: 00:27:51

was going for like these morning walks.

547

: 00:27:53

And he stepped out in an area like

here where my mouse is where there's

548

: 00:27:56

not necessarily like a white line

crosswalk or crosswalk that looks

549

: 00:28:01

like what's shown there and he stepped

out from behind a telephone pole.

550

: 00:28:04

The defendant said and started

crossing here and he got hit

551

: 00:28:07

and he got hurt really bad.

552

: 00:28:08

I think he was in a coma like for a

couple of days and it was only 100, 000

553

: 00:28:12

insurance policy, but they were like

fighting on that and fighting on that.

554

: 00:28:15

And I yeah.

555

: 00:28:16

Got this little diagram,

I'm pretty positive.

556

: 00:28:18

This is from the New Jersey department

of transportation or website.

557

: 00:28:22

So this is actually

like a legitimate thing.

558

: 00:28:24

I think I used it as a deposition

exhibit and they ended up tendering

559

: 00:28:28

the full policy in the case.

560

: 00:28:30

We've talked about the last

episode, how awesome it is when

561

: 00:28:33

you have like dash cam footage.

562

: 00:28:34

Pictures and all that.

563

: 00:28:36

It's one thing to stand up there and

say, ladies and gentlemen, you don't need

564

: 00:28:39

white lines for it to be a crosswalk.

565

: 00:28:40

Even if you're just crossing at the end

of the street, that counts as a crosswalk.

566

: 00:28:45

It's one thing to say that it's another

thing to put up this illustration

567

: 00:28:48

and be like, here you go, guys,

people go to movies, like they love

568

: 00:28:51

looking at pictures, all that stuff.

569

: 00:28:52

There's a reason they're very effective.

570

: 00:28:54

That's a great example, Mark.

571

: 00:28:56

Yeah, thanks for sharing that

because it just lays it out

572

: 00:28:59

visually for everyone to see.

573

: 00:29:01

Stephanie, is there anything

else that you wanted to share?

574

: 00:29:03

Sometimes it's just a matter of digging

in and finding the little nuances and

575

: 00:29:08

finding the inconsistencies in somebody's

statement or examining a picture.

576

: 00:29:12

And then you, you take it from there.

577

: 00:29:14

Yeah, I would agree.

578

: 00:29:15

I would say I can probably count

on one hand, maybe two, like the

579

: 00:29:20

amount of times we've had to get

like a crash reconstructionist

580

: 00:29:22

or reconstruction expert.

581

: 00:29:23

If it's like a rear end hit,

there's no reason to do that.

582

: 00:29:27

So I don't want people listening to think

like, Oh, you know, I was rear ended.

583

: 00:29:32

Why reconstructionist?

584

: 00:29:34

Because usually it's a lot of money.

585

: 00:29:36

And if it's not going to tip the needle

one way or the other, it's just, it's

586

: 00:29:40

a waste of everyone's time and time

and money, because that's a lot of

587

: 00:29:43

times of balancing in a case like this.

588

: 00:29:45

If it's a close call and if it's like

a, he said, she said, it's not even

589

: 00:29:49

guaranteed that a crash reconstruction

is going to make a difference.

590

: 00:29:52

So you just got to be selective

on, on the case you use them.

591

: 00:29:56

And yeah, I think Stephanie spoke to that.

592

: 00:29:59

Yeah, that makes sense.

593

: 00:30:00

That makes sense.

594

: 00:30:00

Well, this has been a great episode.

595

: 00:30:02

Thank you so much.

596

: 00:30:03

And for our guests out there, if you

do have questions for us, you can

597

: 00:30:07

submit your questions to questions at.

598

: 00:30:09

Jerseyjusticepodcast.

599

: 00:30:11

com to have your question featured on the

show where we will be answering it live.

600

: 00:30:18

And there you have it, folks.

601

: 00:30:19

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602

: 00:30:22

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603

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604

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605

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606

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com.

609

: 00:30:43

And check out our show

notes for more information.

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: 00:30:46

If you're navigating legal issues and

need a guiding light, or just a phone

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: 00:30:50

call away, call us at 1 877 841 8855.

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: 00:30:56

Again, 1 877 841 8855.

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: 00:31:00

Until next time, Jersey justice

warriors stay empowered and informed.