The Haggard Law Firm’s Pedro Echarte and co-counsel Angel Diaz of Kirshner, Groff & Diaz have obtained a $9,000,000 settlement in a catastrophic injury car crash case.

On March 12, 2021, Defendant Luis Iraheta traveled on vacation to Florida with a friend. Mr. Iraheta rented a Lamborghini Urus from Co-Defendant GoExotics.

That evening, Mr. Iraheta and his friend went to several nightclubs until they ended up at a nightclub in North Miami called the Arena Grill & Lounge. Echarte and Diaz’s client, Abraham Valdez, worked security at the nightclub.

While inside the business, a group of women that Mr. Iraheta had met earlier in the evening got into a fight with another group of women. Mr. Iraheta got involved in the altercation and was thrown out of the nightclub. Mr. Iraheta, who had driven to the nightclub despite drinking throughout the evening, got in his rented luxury sports car and was going to leave the premises when he and his friend got into another altercation in the parking area of the shopping center where the nightclub was located.

After being physically beaten by a group of men in the parking area, Mr. Iraheta got back into his vehicle and attempted to flee the scene. In the process of fleeing, he hit and ran over the victim. Mr. Iraheta failed to stop his vehicle, continued driving, and was ultimately involved in a second collision about a mile away from the original incident location.

Mr. Valdez was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital. He was intubated and in a coma for approximately 40 days. He was diagnosed with fractures to his ribs (6-12) and vertebrae (L5), wrist/foot drop, severe intraperitoneal and retroperitoneal contusions, hemopneumothorax, pulmonary embolisms and a bilateral open book pelvic fracture. He was eventually transferred to Christine Lynn Rehabilitation Center. He remained in the hospital and in inpatient rehabilitation for 87 days until he was discharged home.

For the following year, Mr. Valdez continued intensive outpatient rehabilitation through Lynn Rehabilitation. His therapy was largely focused on regaining his ability to ambulate due to the bilateral open book fractures and heterotopic ossification he developed as a result. It was established that while now able to ambulate, Mr. Valdez will never walk normally.

This settlement was extra-contractual. Mr. Iraheta had his own auto insurance policy that provided $250,000 in coverage. That carrier (which is confidential) tendered its policy limits within 19 days of the incident occurring.

The owner of the rented vehicle had a separate policy that also provided $250,000 in coverage. In addition to insuring the owner of the rented vehicle, the policy also covered Mr. Iraheta as an additional insured. That carrier (which also is confidential) did not tender its policy limits for 396 days, which exposed its insured (Mr. Iraheta) to a potentially enormous verdict. Due to the clear liability and enormous damages, Mr. Valdez’s counsel argued that the tender was untimely and that while the case could have resolved at the inception for the available policy limits that was no longer the case. The carrier ultimately paid $8,500,000  above its policy limits to resolve the case.

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