$875,000 Settlement – Delivery Truck Rear-End Collision in Brooklyn
Being stopped at a red light is about as passive as driving gets. You are doing everything right. You are waiting for the signal. And then, in an instant, a commercial truck hits you from behind and your spine pays the price. That is exactly what happened to our client on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn in 2023 – and it took Linden Law to make sure the right people were held accountable.
The Case
Our client was stopped at a red light on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn when a commercial delivery truck struck their vehicle from behind. The collision was significant – the kind where the impact travels through the seat, through the headrest, through the body. At first, our client hoped it was just whiplash. It was not. Imaging revealed two herniated discs in the lumbar spine that required spinal fusion surgery to address. They were out of work for 8 months.
The Injury
Herniated discs are frequently dismissed by defense attorneys and insurance adjusters as “pre-existing” or “degenerative” – a reflexive move that obscures how genuinely debilitating this type of injury is. A disc herniation at the lumbar level compresses nerve roots and can cause radiating pain down the legs, numbness, weakness, and an inability to sit, stand, or lie down comfortably for extended periods. Our client experienced all of it.
Spinal fusion surgery is not minor. It involves hardware, a multi-day hospital stay, and a rehabilitation period that can stretch to a year or more. Even after the recovery, a fused spinal segment changes how the spine functions – adjacent segments take on additional stress, and the long-term implications are real. Our client returned to work, but not without modifications to their duties and ongoing limitations that affect daily life.
How We Established Liability
Commercial truck cases have two potential defendants: the driver and the company. We pursued both.
Driver negligence was the starting point. The truck’s black box data – formally called the Event Data Recorder – showed the driver was traveling at a speed inconsistent with safe stopping in stop-and-go traffic conditions. He did not brake in time. The rear-end presumption under New York law already placed the burden on him to explain why he couldn’t stop – and the black box made that explanation impossible.
On the company side, we pursued vicarious liability: when a commercial driver causes an accident while operating within the scope of their employment, the employer is on the hook. We also investigated the company’s training and supervision records to determine whether there were prior incidents or complaints about this driver. What we found strengthened our position considerably.
Challenges We Overcame
The trucking company’s insurer came in early and hard with a low-ball offer, framing the injuries as soft tissue and questioning whether surgery had been medically necessary. They hired a defense medical expert who opined that the disc herniations were “pre-existing degenerative changes” that the accident had merely aggravated – a distinction they hoped would limit their exposure.
We answered that argument the right way: with our client’s medical records from the years before the accident, which showed no prior complaints of back pain, no prior treatment, no prior imaging. The herniations were not pre-existing. The accident caused them. Our orthopedic expert explained the biomechanics of rear-end spinal trauma in detail that was difficult to dispute.
We also pushed back hard on the “aggravation” framing. Even if there had been some underlying vulnerability – and there wasn’t – New York law holds defendants liable for the full extent of harm caused to a plaintiff, including harm made worse by a pre-existing condition. The eggshell skull rule is settled law, and we made sure the defense knew we would explain it clearly to a jury.
The Outcome
The case settled for $875,000. Our client received compensation for their medical expenses, 8 months of lost wages, and the lasting effects of an injury that changed how they move through the world. The trucking company’s insurer, which had opened at a fraction of that number, ultimately recognized what a jury would have found.
If you were hurt by a commercial truck in Brooklyn, read more about your options on our truck accident practice area page or our Brooklyn personal injury page.
Injured in a similar accident? Call (212) 804-8440 for a free consultation. No fee unless we win.