On the evening of June 4, 2005, seventeen year old Jonathan Kristof, a bright, handsome, articulate young man about to enter his senior year of high school, was leaving the fast food restaurant he worked at as one of two passengers in a car driven by a friend. After waiting for their red light to turn green, the boys entered the intersection of a busy urban road and were broadsided by the pick up truck of Henry Wolf, a 46 year old construction worker.

The force of the collision was so great that the driver of Jonathan's vehicle was completely ejected from his car while still strapped in his seat. Our client was seriously injured and none of the boys were conscious when paramedics arrived.

Bill Sublette received the case on a referral from an American Cancer Society colleague. When Bill first met with Jonathan's parents it was unclear whether there would be any insurance against which Jonathan could recover for his extensive injuries. Jonathan had fractured 12 bones in his face and had spent a week in intensive care, during which time he underwent numerous emergency procedures as he fought for his life. Fortunately for Jonathan, his parents had the foresight to carry adequate uninsured motorist coverage, because the driver who hit Jonathan's car carried only $20,000 in liability insurance coverage, which meant that there was inadequate insurance available from the at fault driver.

Initially, the investigating police agency placed all the blame for the accident on Henry Wolf, who ran a red light and whose blood test showed he was under the influence of illegal methamphetimines at the time of the accident. Because our philosophy is to exhaustively investigate all serious bodily injury and death cases, we refused to accept the conclusions of the investigating police agency and conducted our own, independent investigation. After obtaining the cassette tapes of the recorded interviews taken by the investigating officer, we learned that in actuality the witnesses were split on who ran the red light, Henry Wolf or the driver of Jonathan's car. This allowed us to make a claim against the driver's liability insurance carrier and to maximize Jonathan's recovery.

Thanks to a loving family, excellent medical care, and the resiliency of youth, Jonathan has made a full recovery today and is able to enter college financially secure, and at no cost to his parents, as a result of the settlement obtained on his behalf.