Articles

Injured woman to get millions - Firm that owned van in crash settles
BY ALAN COOPER
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
January 14, 2001

A South Richmond woman who was badly injured in a Northern Village traffic crash has received a $5.15 million settlement from the company that owned the van responsible for the crash.

Temeal R Braxton, 19 could receive more than $19 million over her lifetime because most of the settlement was used to buy annuities to provide payments in the future, according to her lawyer, Jay Tronfeld.

The case had been scheduled for trial last month but was resolved through mediation, Tronfeld said.

Braxton was visiting a cousin and was one of five young adults in a car when the wreck occurred on June 20, 1999.  The van owned by Washington Inventory Service ran a stoplight and struck the right rear of her vehicle.  She was seated in the back seat on the right.

Her injuries included a rupture of her aorta, multiple pelvis and rib fractures, liver lacerations, scars and a closed head injury.  Braxton has incurred $166,446 in medical bills, Tronfeld said.

“She’s come a long way” in recovering from the injuries, Tronfeld said of Braxton.  “She seems to be enjoying life at a good pace right now.”  The extent and permanency of her injuries were the major issues in dispute, he said.

The van contained workers from the Richmond office of the national company that does independent inventories of large chain stores.  They had completed the inventory of a store in Northern Virginia and were returning to its Richmond-area office in western Henrico County.