On December 7, 2023 at approximately 5:30 p.m., the Plaintiffs, mother,74 and daughter 54, were returning from grocery shopping and heading to the bus stop on Boston Neck Road in Narragansett, Rhode Island.
The Plaintiffs proceeded to safely cross the northbound and southbound lanes of Boston Neck Road, when they were struck by a vehicle operated by the Defendants vehicle resulting in severe injuries to the Plaintiffs.
In this challenging case, the police that investigated the accident and the police accident reconstructionist found that the Defendant was not speeding, the light conditions were poor and concluded in their report that the defendant was not at fault as the Plaintiffs walked in front of the Defendants vehicle without looking.
Brian Cunha and Associates retained their own independent accident reconstructionist, filed suit and discovered that at the time of the accident the Defendant was on a telephone call, albeit a hands free call.
The accident reconstructionist hired by our office, after an extensive investigation, cited a National Safety Council (NSC) published a report more than a decade ago with findings culled from a range of respected researchers that low beam headlights illuminate the road in front of a car for a distance of 200–300 feet and when you can’t see more than 200 feet ahead using low beams, you should switch to high beams, unless another vehicle is approaching you from the opposite direction within 200 feet.
Furthermore, drivers using hands-free and handheld cell phones fail to see up to 50 percent of the information in their driving environment. This is known as “inattention blindness” and causes drivers to miss exits and run through red lights and stop signs.
Drivers using cell phones (again handheld or hands-free) had slower reaction times than drivers impaired by alcohol at a .08 blood alcohol concentration, the legal intoxication limit in Rhode Island.
Listening to the other person during a cellphone conversation decreased activity in an area of the brain associated with driving by 37 percent.
In conjunction with our accident reconstruction report that refuted the police report and the deposition of the Defendant, who could provide no reasonable explanation as to why she failed to observe the Plaintiffs crossing the street, Attorney Brian Cunha was able to convince the insurer that is was likely clear that the defendant was distracted with her phone call with and failed to observe the Plaintiffs crossing the road resulting in the collision and severe injuries to the Plaintiffs.
Based on the above the two cases settled for $2,000,000.00