Chicago Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

Nearly nine years after suffering “full-body whiplash” when the car she was riding struck a dead horse on the road, Nanette Aurdal has been awarded a $2.7 million truck accident verdict by a civil jury. Aurdal, 44, continues to experience constant pain from her injuries, which she sustained in December 2001. Her family-owned gas station had to be shut down because she could no longer work the amount of hours required to run the business.

Telephone company employee John Burston accidentally killed the horse when he struck it with the truck he was driving. However, rather than use the safety equipment (reflective triangles, traffic cones, and flares) that were in the vehicle to warn other motorists about the horse, Burston left the truck accident site.

Although there were two defendants in this personal injury trial, United Telephone Co. of the Northwest, which is a Sprint company, and the person who was supposed to be taking care of the horse before it ran off and got run over, the jury decided to hold only the phone company liable.

Whiplash
Whiplash can be extremely painful and debilitating and is one of the more common kinds of motor vehicle crash injuries. Signs of whiplash include pain, swelling, muscle spasms, difficulty moving, and pain radiating from the affected area to other parts of the body. Although whiplash is normally associated with the neck, other parts of the body may be affected.

It is important that you receive prompt and proper medical care for your whiplash. Some whiplash injuries are more serious than others and can affect the victim’s ability to live and enjoy a normal life or maintain a career or business.

Woman whose car hit dead horse gets $2.7 million from driver who killed it, SeattleTimes, July 7, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Whiplash, eMedicineHealth

United Telephone Co. of the Northwest, Federal Communications Commission