Idaho Jury Awards Motorcyclist $1.8 Million for Crash with Dump Truck

By Jim Greene

Published on December 15, 2009

An Idaho jury awarded a motorcyclist $1,826,000 for injuries suffered in a 2006 collision with a construction company dump truck.

On Oct. 4, 2006, Levon Babakhanian, of Idaho Falls, crashed into a dump truck that a prosecutor said was driven through a stop sign. Babakhanian suffered a fractured left leg and hip, a fractured pelvis, multiple hand and arm injuries, and facial injuries that required reconstructive surgery.

After deciding that the dump truck driver, an employee of Cedar Point Construction, was 80 percent at fault in the crash, the jury awarded Babakhanian $441,000 for past and future medical expenses, $580,000 for lost earning capacity, $795,000 for past and future pain and suffering, and $10,000 for the loss of his motorcycle. The trial took place in the Bonneville County Courthouse in Idaho Falls.

According to Allen Brown, Babakharian's attorney, his client was unable to walk for a time as a result of the accident and still has difficulty standing for very long. He said that Babakharian's doctors say he may never recover full mobility.

The jury heard testimony that the motorcycle crash ended Babakharian's ambition to study nursing, since he would not longer be able to stand long enough to do the work.

Comment on this article →