$2.5 Million Settlement After Box Truck Strikes Pedestrian From Behind on Rural NC Highway

On a rural North Carolina highway, a 53-year-old man walking along the road was hit from behind by a box truck traveling at about 35 miles per hour. The force of the collision threw him more than 34 feet.

The injuries stacked on top of one another. He sustained a traumatic brain injury with bleeding on the brain, a fractured arm, and a fractured pelvis. Doctors also documented abdominal hemorrhaging, a lacerated spleen, an acute kidney injury, and a C5-6 disc protrusion in his neck. He needed multiple surgeries and a long course of physical therapy. For several months he could not get around without a wheelchair, and for several more he relied on a walker.

He hired DeMayo Law Offices to bring the claim. Michael A. DeMayo and the firm's managing trial attorney, Adrienne Blocker, handled the matter from Charlotte, working with co-counsel James Roberts III and Matthew Quinn of Lewis & Roberts in Raleigh. The distance the man's body traveled, more than 34 feet, helped fix how fast the truck was moving at the moment of impact. The legal team built the damages picture around hard numbers: roughly $700,000 in past medical bills and an estimated $800,000 to $1.2 million in lost earning capacity, since the injuries left him unable to return to his job.

North Carolina is one of the few states that still applies contributory negligence, a rule that can bar a plaintiff from recovering anything if the defense shows the injured person bore any fault for the crash. A pedestrian struck from behind presented a strong liability posture, and the case never reached a jury. On December 31, 2020, the parties agreed to settle for $2.5 million, a figure large enough to land among North Carolina Lawyers Weekly's Top Verdicts and Settlements of 2020.

The terms were confidential. Under that agreement, the name of the driver, his employer, their insurance carrier, the defense attorneys, and even the county where the crash happened were withheld. Because the matter resolved by settlement rather than verdict, there was no award for a court to reduce and no appeal. By the time the case closed, the man was reported to be improving, though he was not expected to work again.