On April 29, 2006, a 37-year-old man suffered a fractured cervical spine and was rendered a quadriplegic, as a result of a tragic car accident. The plaintiff, Michael Chiocchio, was a passenger in a minivan that was struck by another car at a Hamilton intersection, causing the minivan to roll over and hit a tree. The driver of the car accepted some liability for the accident, given that he advanced at a stop sign and crashed his vehicle into the minivan; however, the defendant driver argued that the plaintiff’s girlfriend who was driving at the time, was going too fast and was therefore largely responsible for the accident.