Blog Post

Crash Test Data Leads to Small Personal Injury Settlement


March 11, 2008
Topic: Auto Accidents

Hajrie Hisenaj has reason to feel disappointed in the verdict she received from a jury recently. She was handed a paltry $50,000 settlement for her degenerative disc disease and a herniated disc she says was caused in a fender bender accident on March 2, 1998.

The accident that occurred was a low speed one, and there wasn't significant damage to Hajrie's car, when another vehicle, driven by Amanda Kuehner rear-ended her car. Although there was insignificant damage to the vehicle, the same couldn't be said of Hajrie's health. In the years since the accident, the 58-year-old woman has suffered from degenerative disc disease that has hampered her mobility.

The turning point in the case was the findings of a biomechanical study with human test subjects, which tried to show that low impact crashes do not cause serious physical injuries. Biomechanical engineering uses human test subjects for testing, and studies the relationship of force and its impact on the human body. Hajrie's lawyer did try to block defense testimony from Harold Alexander, an engineer, who based his testimony from a total of 17 studies conducted over a 34-year period. A total of 203 volunteers were used in the experiments. They did not show signs of chronic physical injury, he testified.

Judge W. Hunt Dumont must have known that this evidence, if presented, could prejudice jurors, and that's what seems to have happened. Hajrie received a modest sum as settlement that won't even begin to pay for the kind of struggle she can expect in the days ahead.

Her lawyer argued that the studies conducted included very few women of her age and with a history of degenerative disease. Hajrie went ahead and appealed the decision, arguing that the study only focuses on the change of velocity to her vehicle, and did not take into account other factors in the accident that might have been responsible for her injuries. The Appellate Division found that the studies were unreliable and unscientific and reversed the ruling.

We can now expect the data from these biomechanical engineering tests to be used frequently by defense lawyers to bring down the amount of settlement that the defendant would otherwise have to pay. There is a misconception that exists that holds that accidents that occur at low speed cause no injury to the persons involved, or that if there is no damage to the vehicle, then we can safely assume there is no injury to the person in the vehicle at all. As we know from Hajrie's disc degenerative disease, that worsened after the accident, that is simply not the case. This sort of testimony negated many of the other factors that could contribute to a person's injures at the time of the accident. The study in this case contained data that wasn't representative of Hajrie's profile. Only five of the persons studied were women and only one of them matched Hajrie's age.

This has set an unfortunate precedent for personal injury lawsuits in the future.

If you have been injured in a car accident, you need the help of an experienced California injury attorney. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.


The California personal injury attorneys at The Reeves Law Group represent victims of accidents, injuries and wrongful death throughout California from our offices in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Ventura County, Fresno County, Kern County, Sacramento County, San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Antelope Valley, Torrance, Glendale, Bakersfield, Santa Ana, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Ontario, and Victorville.