Our client was driving carefully on the interstate in heavy rain, doing exactly what a cautious driver should do. She slowed to let merging traffic in. A tow truck behind her failed to stop and rear-ended her.
The tow-truck that hit our client was equipped with a dashcam, with footage confirming what happened in the crash. This footage is something many crash victims do not have, showing that our client slowed appropriately for merging traffic and that the tow truck driver failed to stop in time. That video undoubtedly proved how the crash occurred.
Our client suffered multiple spinal disc herniations and tears in a tendon in her left elbow, injuries that required extensive pain management and surgery. The Townsley Law Firm recovered a settlement of over $575,000.
How Dashcam Footage Changes a Case
In many rear-end cases, the following driver still tries to shift some blame, claiming the lead driver stopped short, braked without reason, or had malfunctioning brake lights. Those arguments are meant to chip away at liability and reduce what the insurer pays.
Dashcam footage can end that debate before it starts. Here, the video showed our client slowing for a legitimate reason, merging traffic, and showed the tow truck failing to stop behind her. There was no room to argue she had done something to cause the crash. Objective video evidence is among the most powerful proof available in a collision case, because it replaces competing accounts with a recording of what actually happened.
When a crash happens, dashcam footage can be the difference between a clean liability case and a drawn-out dispute. Even though, in this case, the dashcam footage came from the vehicle at fault, it is a worthwhile investment for all drivers to have a dashcam because of how cut and dry it makes collision cases. Dashcams act as inexpensive insurance in automobile accidents.
Rain Does Not Excuse a Rear-End Collision. It Demands More Caution.
Some drivers treat bad weather as an explanation for a crash, as if heavy rain makes a collision understandable. The law sees it the opposite way. Wet, low-visibility conditions require drivers to slow down, increase following distance, and account for longer stopping distances. A driver who cannot stop in time in the rain was following too closely or driving too fast for the conditions.
Louisiana applies a presumption that the following driver is at fault in a rear-end collision, because drivers are required to maintain a safe distance and a proper lookout. Heavy rain does not rebut that presumption. If anything, it strengthens the case against a driver who failed to adjust to conditions that clearly called for extra caution. A larger, heavier vehicle like a tow truck needs even more stopping distance, making the failure to slow down in the rain that much less excusable.
The Injuries: Spinal Herniations and an Elbow Tendon Tear
Our client’s herniated discs were significant. A herniation, where disc material breaks through the disc’s outer layer, can press on spinal nerves and cause radiating pain, numbness, and weakness, and when it does not resolve with conservative care, it often leads to injections, pain management, and surgery. She required extensive treatment for hers.
She also sustained tears to a tendon in her left elbow. Tendon tears from a crash, often caused by bracing against the wheel at the moment of impact, can cause pain, weakness, and limited use of the arm, and depending on severity may require surgical repair and a lengthy course of rehabilitation.
Together, these injuries meant significant, ongoing treatment and a real effect on her daily function, the kind of harm that a rear-end crash, dismissed by many as a minor event, can genuinely cause.
