Westbrook, MN — There was an accident out in rural Westbrook this past Thursday (October 22, 2015) that left two women with serious injuries, 70-year-old Barbara Paul and 60-year-old Cheryl Broughten.
According to the news reports, Paul was driving an SUV west along Highway 30 yesterday afternoon with Broughten as a passenger while a man named Joshua Hofer, 62, was driving a pickup truck & trailer south along County Road 7.
As they approached the intersection, it appears that Mr. Hofer didn’t stop at his stop sign and drove into Paul’s path, causing a major collision between the truck and the SUV.
Both Barbara Paul and Cheryl Broughten were both injured in the accident and said to be in serious condition at a Mankato hospital, where they had to be flown via helicopter. The driver of the truck, Hofer, may face charges later for failing to stop, but that remains to be seen.
Map of the Accident
View from the Road
Commentary:
their best interest to avoid paying out on claims if they can — so that means they look for ways to blame accidents on other people. When a commercial vehicle or business-owned vehicle gets into an accident, the stakes are higher since the insurance policy limits are much higher, as required by federal law. With more money on the line, insurance companies fight harder to avoid taking the blame for an accident, even if they know their driver/client was at fault.That’s why it’s never good to jump to conclusions and instead have a solid investigation done by some experts, so that no evidence is lost. A police report simply won’t suffice and it’s crucial that you’re able to prove the negligence of the driver who caused the accident in question.
I bring up this point here because there are lots of accidents that seem “open-and-shut” by all accounts, and this appears to be one of them, but things are rarely that simple and the insurance company nearly always finds ways to avoid taking responsibly for their client.
— Grossman Law Offices
