This is the vehicle of defendant driver Antonio Santos, who rear-ended a state Department of Transportation vehicle that Eric Adams was driving. Adams—who recently settled his case for $495,000—suffered injuries to his neck, spine and head. Courtesy photo
A defendant driver's honesty in deposition—following a request for admission that an accident across the highway distracted him, and caused him to rear-end a state Department of Transportation vehicle, injuring the driver—was the clincher in securing a $495,000 settlement for DOT employee Eric Adams, according to Adams' attorney.
The request for admission is a discovery tool and a statement paper in which a defendant admits or denies certain questions.
"Defendant counsel and I had a lot of conversations about distracted driving. The defendant in this case not only admitted he rear-ended my client's vehicle, but that he was looking at the other side of the road at another accident and was not looking at the roadway in front of him," said plaintiffs counsel J. Paul Vance Jr., Adams' attorney. "If you are not looking at the road and admitting it, that, in my opinion, is a little more than negligence. It's recklessness."
Vance, an attorney with Logan Vance Sullivan Kores in Torrington, said that admission "made our case. It put pressure on the defendant to settle. My guy was hit pretty hard and required surgery."
While defendant Antonio Santos admitted to rear-ending Adams' vehicle, he also tried to shift liability to the plaintiff, Vance said Friday.
"Even though he rear-ended my client, he blamed my client for the accident," Vance said. "Blaming my client after you rear-end my client's vehicle that was a bright orange truck and had flashing lights on and was slowing down for traffic is laughable."
Santos was issued an infraction for following too closely.
Vance said he was ready to go to trial and that the defense knew that and also knew that the defendant's admissions coupled with the injuries to Adams could sway a potential jury to award a lot in damages.
Both sides signed off on the $495,000 settlement April 27.
According to Vance and the August 2019 lawsuit filed in Waterbury Superior Court, Santos was driving a work vehicle that Frontline Electric LLC owned. Adams was injured following the rear-end collision on Route 8 in Watertown in September 2018.
The lawsuit alleges Santos was driving faster than he should have been traveling due to traffic at the time. It also states Santos "failed to keep a reasonable distance between the Frontline vehicle and the one in front of him."
Vance said Adams, a Torrington resident in his late 30s, suffered a concussion and had injuries to his lumbar spine and head. In addition, the lawsuit says Adams had headaches following the accident and suffered pain and stiffness in his right upper extremities.
Adams underwent more than two years of injections, physical therapy and chiropractic treatment before undergoing lumbar spine/hip surgery earlier this month, Vance said. Adams missed about one month of work, his attorney said.
Representing defendant Santos and insurance carrier Selective Insurance was Gina Galullo of the Law Office of Jeffery P. Apuzzo in Farmington. Galullo didn't respond to a request for comment Friday.
In court pleadings, the defense echoed the assertions Santos made in that the plaintiff was responsible for the accident.
The pleadings state Adams "brought his vehicle to a sudden and abrupt halt without giving any warning of his intention to do so" and "failed to use his hazard strobe lights to warn of his sudden stop."
Robert Storace
Robert Storace covers legal trends, lawsuits and analysis for the Connecticut Law Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @RobertSCTLaw or reach him at 203-437-5950.