American Access Denies a Right Hook.

by Jim Freeman

In this case my client, a bicyclist, was traveling southbound on Clark.  As he approached the intersection of Clark and Deming a pickup truck over took him and made a quick right turn onto Deming, crossing the path of the cyclist.  The cyclist was unable to avoid the truck and struck the passenger side.  My client suffered a fractured vertebra.  He had no health insurance. 

As with almost every case we handle, we gave the driver's insurance the opportunity to settle without the wasted time and expense of litigation.  American Access denied the claim stating, "Our insured was stopped on Clark with his right turn signal activated waiting to make a right turn onto Deming.  While our insured was stopped, your client drove up to our vehicle at a high rate of speed and struck the passenger side of our vehicle with the front end of his bicycle.  It was your client's negligence that caused this loss to occur."

Logically, it makes no sense that a bicyclist would spontaneously run into the side of a truck.  It also makes no sense that the truck would be stopped waiting to make a turn at such an angle that a bicyclist would be able to run into the side of the truck.  Nevertheless, American Access denied all liability and refused to pay anything.  We were forced to file suit to obtain a fair result for the bicyclist.