$12 Million Settlement In 2000 Crash
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
A man paralyzed in a car accident in which his friends left him unconscious in the back seat was awarded $12 million in a judgment handed down recently in Kosciusko Circuit Court.
James Hale, 26, of Warsaw, was found unconscious in a car that struck a utility pole Feb. 25, 2000, on CR 500S between CRs 400E and 500E, near Pierceton.
The judgment - $3 million each in compensatory and punitive damages - was entered against each of the other two men in the car, for a total of $12 million. However, the likelihood of any of the judgment being paid is slim, said Judge Rex Reed.
According to court documents, neither Douglas Rogers nor Brian Bolan Sr. admitted to driving the car the morning of the accident that was discovered about 4:30 a.m. The judgment entered against the two men was by default, meaning they didn't respond to orders for them to appear in court and did not make any attempt to present their side of the story. Both men were jailed on unrelated charges in other venues at some time since the accident, but neither is believed to be incarcerated at this time, officials said. The defendants cannot be located for the judgment to be enforced. It is believed that the men have no assets that could be seized and neither man has an insurance policy that a claim can be made against.
Hale and his wife, Leaila Hale, filed the lawsuit against Rogers, Bolan and Rogers' brother, Dion Rogers, who was the owner of the vehicle involved in the accident. However, Dion Rogers was not found liable in the case because the car was taken without his permission from a friend's house, where the vehicle was left because of a mechanical problem, according to court documents. In fact, Dion Rogers testified in a deposition that he wasn't aware that his car was not where he had left it until he saw a picture of the accident on the front page of the Times-Union. He then reported the car stolen.
Information in the case also indicated that Douglas Rogers and Bolan were intoxicated at the time of the accident.
Hale suffered various injuries, including an injury to his back that left him paralyzed from the waist down, according to the original complaint filed in the case.
The attorney for the Hales is Gary Davis of Schoof, Szilagyi & Davis of LaPorte. [[In-content Ad]]
A man paralyzed in a car accident in which his friends left him unconscious in the back seat was awarded $12 million in a judgment handed down recently in Kosciusko Circuit Court.
James Hale, 26, of Warsaw, was found unconscious in a car that struck a utility pole Feb. 25, 2000, on CR 500S between CRs 400E and 500E, near Pierceton.
The judgment - $3 million each in compensatory and punitive damages - was entered against each of the other two men in the car, for a total of $12 million. However, the likelihood of any of the judgment being paid is slim, said Judge Rex Reed.
According to court documents, neither Douglas Rogers nor Brian Bolan Sr. admitted to driving the car the morning of the accident that was discovered about 4:30 a.m. The judgment entered against the two men was by default, meaning they didn't respond to orders for them to appear in court and did not make any attempt to present their side of the story. Both men were jailed on unrelated charges in other venues at some time since the accident, but neither is believed to be incarcerated at this time, officials said. The defendants cannot be located for the judgment to be enforced. It is believed that the men have no assets that could be seized and neither man has an insurance policy that a claim can be made against.
Hale and his wife, Leaila Hale, filed the lawsuit against Rogers, Bolan and Rogers' brother, Dion Rogers, who was the owner of the vehicle involved in the accident. However, Dion Rogers was not found liable in the case because the car was taken without his permission from a friend's house, where the vehicle was left because of a mechanical problem, according to court documents. In fact, Dion Rogers testified in a deposition that he wasn't aware that his car was not where he had left it until he saw a picture of the accident on the front page of the Times-Union. He then reported the car stolen.
Information in the case also indicated that Douglas Rogers and Bolan were intoxicated at the time of the accident.
Hale suffered various injuries, including an injury to his back that left him paralyzed from the waist down, according to the original complaint filed in the case.
The attorney for the Hales is Gary Davis of Schoof, Szilagyi & Davis of LaPorte. [[In-content Ad]]