Total Injury

Two Nebraska personal injury lawsuits filed against a drunk driver who seriously injured two men have reached undisclosed, out-of-court settlements. Plaintiffs Bryan J. Klimek and Brady Vanicek suffered serious personal injuries during a January 2003 car accident in which Vanicek’s vehicle was hit by a speeding pickup truck driven by Zachary Leach. Court documents detailed that Leach’s blood alcohol content level was 0.219 at the time of the accident, according to a story in the Grand Island Independent. It is illegal to be operating a motor vehicle with a BAC of 0.08 percent or higher in Nebraska.

Klimek and Vanicek both filed their own personal injury lawsuits against Leach and his employer Fortec LLC, which owned the pickup truck. According to his personal injury lawsuit, Vanicek suffered a traumatic brain injury, lacerated spleen, aortic tear, and fractured pelvis and rib. By the time he filed suit in November 2005, his medical bills were slightly more than $200,000.

Klimek was a passenger in Vanicek’s 1994 Pontiac Grand Prix during the accident, which threw him from the back seat of the car. In addition to a traumautic brain injury, Klimek alleged in his December 2005 lawsuit that he sustained fractures and post traumatic vision syndrome which led to permanent vision changes. His medical bills at the time of his suit were more than $120,000.

Leach, who was not injured, was found to be driving more than 50 mph in a 25 mph zone at the time of the accident. He was convicted of felony operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol causing serious bodily injury and sentenced to probation, which he was accused of violating in April 2006 for a second DUI offense and marijuana possession. Leach was also ordered to pay $4,330 restitution to Klimek, $1,000 restitution to Vanicek and $631 to Grant Hansen, who was also in the Grand Prix and suffered minor injuries. Klimek and Vanicek were 16 years old and Hansen 15 at the time of the accident.