Shepherdsville Jury Awards $115,000 in Rear-End Collision

In November 2008, a rear-end collision occurred on Preston Highway at Maple Spring Road in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. The defendant's vehicle struck a pickup truck carrying the plaintiff, then age 50, and his wife. The impact caused the truck to roll down an embankment and overturn. Both occupants were treated and released from a hospital emergency room for soft-tissue injuries. The defendant conceded fault for the collision. The plaintiff's wife later filed a separate lawsuit in 2014, prevailing at trial in 2019, with the verdict affirmed on appeal in 2021.

In March 2020, almost twelve years after the incident, the plaintiff filed this lawsuit. He alleged chronic and persistent cervical pain since the collision, with medical bills totaling $41,000, confirmed by a treating physician. The defendant, who was elderly and unable to attend the trial, had counsel inform the jury of his absence due to health reasons, as permitted by the presiding judge. While the defendant conceded fault for the collision itself, the defense argued the plaintiff's failure to wear a seatbelt exacerbated his injuries during the rollover, a conclusion supported by an independent medical examiner. The defense also presented a threshold defense, disputing the extent of the claimed injury.

The case proceeded to a three-day trial where the jury rejected the defendant's threshold defense. The jury found that the plaintiff had failed to wear a seatbelt. It then apportioned 80% of the fault to the defendant and 20% to the plaintiff for not wearing a seatbelt.

The jury awarded the plaintiff $15,000 for medical expenses and $100,000 for pain and suffering, totaling $115,000. With medical expenses subsumed by personal injury protection (PIP), the final judgment for the plaintiff was expected to be $80,000. The verdict did not impact a bifurcated underinsured motorist (UIM) claim the plaintiff had filed against his insurer.