$600k Motorcycle Accident Settlement in Gwinnett County, Georgia

Butler Kahn secured a $600,000 settlement for a motorcyclist who suffered a serious wrist fracture after a driver failed to yield in Gwinnett County. The driver pulled directly into the rider’s path of travel while the driver was exiting a parking lot, leaving the rider with no way to avoid the collision. The case involved a combination of liability coverage and stacked underinsured motorist (UM) coverage to reach a result that exceeded the policy limits of the at-fault driver’s auto insurance.

1. Facts

In March 2025, our client was riding his motorcycle eastbound on a roadway in Gwinnett County when a driver attempting to exit a parking lot to his right suddenly pulled into his lane of travel and stopped. He had no time to react and collided with the driver’s side of her vehicle. He was thrown from his motorcycle, lost consciousness at the scene, and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital.

The driver was cited for failure to yield and for driving with an expired license. Our client, who was wearing a helmet at the time, was found to have done nothing to contribute to the collision.

He suffered a badly broken right wrist and forearm, along with significant abrasions. He was hospitalized for three days and underwent orthopedic surgery to repair the fractures with metal plates. Because he is right-handed, recovery was especially difficult, and he was unable to work or perform most daily activities for approximately four months. When he did return to his job, he was restricted to light duty work under a medical weight restriction.

2. How the Case was Built

The at-fault driver carried only $25,000 in liability coverage, an amount that we quickly recognized as insufficient given the severity of our client’s injuries and more than $137,000 in medical bills. Because the available liability coverage was clearly going to be exhausted, our team turned to Georgia’s underinsured motorist (UM) framework under O.C.G.A. § 33-7-11.

A key part of building this case was establishing that our client qualified as an insured person under multiple UM policies, not just his own. Georgia law allows injured parties to “stack” UM coverage across applicable policies up to their aggregate limits when damages exceed the at-fault driver’s liability coverage. Because our client resided with a family member who held additional State Farm policies at the time of the collision, he qualified as an insured under those policies as well, which allowed us to pursue a combined UM limit well above what a single policy would have provided.

We documented the full scope of our client’s damages, including his hospitalization, surgery, four months away from work, and the lasting impact of the injury on his ability to perform his job and daily activities. A formal settlement demand was sent to the insurer along with supporting medical records and billing documentation, laying out the case for both liability and damages and explaining why a jury verdict was likely to far exceed the policy limits at issue.

Although we offered to settle for the at-fault driver’s liability insurance policy limits of $25,000, the insurance company failed to timely accept that offer. We recognized that under these circumstances, the insurance company exposed its customer to personal liability far beyond the $25,000 policy limit. However, the insurance company was not willing to settle the case above those policy limits at first.

We filed a lawsuit and sought to apply pressure to the insurance company using this threat of an excess judgment as leverage. After filing suit, we sent a demand pursuant to Georgia’s Unliquidated Damages Interest Act (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-14), which creates real financial pressure on defendants by making delay costly. In other words, by the time a case goes to trial and a verdict comes in, a defendant could owe a year or more of backdated interest on top of the full verdict. On a $1 million verdict, that means $100,000 or more per year of additional exposure to the insurance customer, and ultimately to the insurance company for negligently failing to settle the case when given the opportunity.

3. Outcome

The case settled for $600,000, combining the at-fault driver’s liability coverage with stacked underinsured motorist coverage applicable to our client through multiple policies. Specifically, $300,000 of the settlement came from the at-fault driver’s liability insurance—that is, $275,000 more than the contractual policy limit. The other $300,000 came from our client’s stacked underinsured motorist coverage based on his status as a resident relative as well as a named insured under his own insurance policy.

This outcome is a good reminder that insurance coverage can come from more than one policy, including policies held by family members in the same household. If you’ve been injured in a motorcycle accident and the at-fault driver’s insurance doesn’t appear to be enough to cover your damages, it’s worth having an attorney review every policy that might apply, not just the one tied to the vehicle that hit you.

Matt Kahn State Bar: #279286

Matt Kahn is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer and a partner at the law firm Butler Kahn. Matt has dedicated his career to fighting for individuals and families who had been harmed by the negligence of others. At Butler Kahn, he has had the honor of helping families who have lost children in motor vehicle accidents and people who were critically injured. He helped a family secure a $45 million settlement to provide lifetime care for their son, who was critically injured in a motorcycle accident, a $40 million settlement in a guardrail case, a $30 million settlement in a pedestrian case, a $3.5 million settlement in a sexual assault case. Matt is a graduate of Emory University School of Law and has been recognized as a Super Lawyers’ Rising Star and by Best Lawyers as One to Watch. He has received an Avvo 10.0 Top Attorney rating. Connect with me on LinkedIn