It was an August evening in 2015. Three men in a company-owned SUV cruised around in San Fransisco. Carelessly, they sideswiped a Jeep carrying a husband, a wife, and two friends out enjoying the night on the town. The driver of the company-owned SUV should have pulled over. But he kept driving. The Jeep followed the SUV, desperately trying to get their attention to stop. The SUV pulled over. However, when the driver exited the company-owned vehicle, he quickly became combative. He viciously beat the Jeep driver, traumatized the driver’s wife, and assaulted the others in the vehicle — turning an enjoyable time into a life-altering situation.
During the altercation, the Jeep owner tried recording the incident on his cell phone to document what was happening. Enraged, the SUV driver brutally knocked the phone from his hand and then began to beat him relentlessly. The assailant then approached the Jeep owner’s wife, who was screaming and desperately trying to call 9-1-1. He destroyed her phone — leaving her traumatized and unable to reach out for help. Finally, the SUV driver attacked one of the passengers, leaving him unconscious, and destroyed other phones at the scene. When the dust settled, the driver of the Jeep had a deep six-inch laceration across his scalp, and his fingers had been smashed in. Consequently, the altercation had long-term implications for the Jeep driver, who used his hands for work as a coder.
A host of law firms turned down the case due to a lack of proof. All video evidence was destroyed because the phones were not backed up to a cloud. To make matters worse, the CHP dispatch deleted the 9-1-1 call the victim’s wife made that night. It looked like a he said/she said type of case; the assailant claimed that racial slurs were used to provoke the attack. Attorney D.L. Rencher of the Rencher Law Group was referred to the case by a colleague, who picked it up to preserve some of the fleeting evidence and to get justice for the Plaintiff.
DK Global worked directly with the chief of hand surgery to produce a series of medical illustrations. The presentation began with a depiction of the Plaintiff’s anterior dislocation and avulsion fracture, juxtaposed with a photograph and x-ray of the injury. Next, slides showed how hand surgeons inserted pins and wires to transfix and immobilize the injured finger. The end of the six pins grotesquely protruded from the Plaintiff’s finger as it healed.
The Defense had initially offered a paltry $15,000 to make the case go away. D.L. knew that wasn’t enough and brought the case to trial, at which point the Defense raised their offer to $45,000. D.L. shared the medical illustrations alongside his hand surgeon expert’s testimony. Ultimately, the jury returned with a verdict in favor of the Plaintiff, which after costs ballooned into the high six figures. For a case it seemed no one else would take on, it was gratifying for D.L. to attain justice for his client.
D.L. Rencher is a managing attorney and partner at the Rencher Law Group, which serves the San Francisco and San Diego areas. With over 20 years of experience, D.L. seeks to bring justice to those injured or killed at the hands of others. In addition to law, D.L. also served in the military as an aircraft firefighter/emergency medical technician, which gave him experience on the scene of traumatic accidents. His law firm specializes in personal injury, auto accidents, elder abuse, wrongful death, and more.
