blog home Car Accidents Standing up to the big guys: John Singleton tells us about his toughest case

Standing up to the big guys: John Singleton tells us about his toughest case

By Beth Gibson on September 15, 2019

Our personal injury lawyers at GibsonSingleton Virginia Injury Attorneys take their role as “defender of the little guy” seriously. In a recent interview, partner John Singleton talked about one of his most difficult cases, and the outcome:

 John: “My most difficult case was a guy that was hit by a tractor-trailer, and he suffered some really serious injuries—broke his leg in a couple of places. The difficult part of that case was that it could have been prevented so easily, if the driver of the tractor-trailer just changed one part in his braking system—for about 25 cents. He knew the tractor was defective.”

How did you approach this complex case?

John: “We were never able to find the driver; but we were able to locate the owner of the tractor-trailer, the owner of the load on it, the person who loaded it, and his supervisor. So we ended up having about four or five defendants in that case. We were going up against some very large law firms—large insurance defense law firms—and it was a tough case. They were defending it very vigorously. They felt like it was just a freak accident—it was just ‘one of those things that happen.’”

Notes: An estimated 119,000 injury crashes involved large trucks in the United States in 2016 alone. While the number of deaths from bus crashes decreased 14 percent from 2015-2016, the number of deaths in semi-truck crashes increased 3 percent (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration).

About 4,000 people in the United States died in large truck crashes in 2016: 66 percent of them were occupants of cars and other passenger vehicles, 16 percent were pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcyclists (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety).

Virginia’s Middle Peninsula saw 44 tractor-trailer collisions that were reportable to FMCSA in 2016, according to the Traffic Records Electronic Data System of Virginia.

What was your focus throughout the case? What was the result?

John: “Our client needed our help. He was badly injured; he was never going to be able to work again.

And fortunately, through a lot of hard work, we were able to bring it home for him, and got him a very good result. The case stands out in my mind because it was two lawyers facing eight, and heavyweight law firms that weren’t going to give an inch.”

Note: Big rigs are required by the U.S. Government to have public liability insurance for bodily injury to victims or the environment. That policy will have minimum limits from $750,000 to $5 million, depending on what was being transported (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration).

What made this case so challenging, and how did you overcome the challenges?

John: “It was a case where you’ve got a lot of things going on at once. You have very aggressive insurance defense attorneys. You’ve got a very injured client, who is counting on you for everything—counting on you to take care of his medical bills, to get him the money to pay off all those medical bills, to compensate him for his lost wages.

“That case had a big impact on me, because I felt personally responsible. Because I literally was ‘personally responsible.’ We do everything that we can for the client.”

As our client, you aren’t just a number to GibsonSingleton Virginia Injury Attorneys—you’re our neighbor, and we consider you our personal responsibility. If you want a law firm that is concerned about your well-being and your future, and that won’t be intimidated by large insurance corporations, call us, Virginia truck crash lawyers, for a free case evaluation. Call (804) 413-6777 to begin your recovery.

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Community service

Prevention, empathy, and diligence are hallmarks of everything we do at GibsonSingleton Virginia Injury Attorneys. Our community can see these ideals lived out in our work to prevent personal injuries from happening.

  • Safety Education
    GibsonSingleton launches a “Texts=Wrecks” campaign to reduce the number of people injured or killed by distracted drivers.
  • Annual Coat Drive
    During the fall, our team works to distribute coats to people in need in our community.
  • Hands-on Service
    John and Ken join the Gloucester Point Rotary Club in cleaning up the community.
  • Supporting Local Schools
    The Gibson family participates in Gloucester’s Botetourt Elementary Shuffle fundraiser.