Case Result Type: Car Accident

Arthur, father of six, was on his way to work at five in the morning. A drunk driver swerved into Arthur’s lane and was going to hit him head-on. Arthur took evasive action and swerved to the left. The drunk driver then swerved back and crashed into him head-on. Arthur sustained severe injuries to his leg and had several hundred thousand dollars worth of medical bills. Unfortunately, the drunk driver had no insurance, so we were forced to make a claim for policy limits against Arthur’s own policy.

We were quickly able to secure the $100,000 limit for his injuries, but Arthur had an ERISA health insurance policy with language guaranteeing all of the money was to be repaid to the plan before Arthur would be compensated. Through diligent negotiation by Partner Steve Terry, we got Arthur’s health insurance to walk away with zero compensation, enabling Arthur to receive all the compensation he deserved for his injuries. TSR Injury Law also made sure all future bills would be covered by the health insurance company.

As a pedestrian attempting to cross the street, Patsy was injured. The police report indicated that Patsy was significantly intoxicated and jay-walked in front of the vehicle that hit her. It looked to be a very difficult case.

Partner Chuck Slane worked on this case for TSR Injury Law and our investigation revealed that the crash had actually been witnessed by a Minneapolis police officer. The officer was on patrol in the area and the details that he observed did not end up in the final police report. He observed that although Patsy was intoxicated, she was in the cross walk with the walk signal at the time that she was struck. In fact, this was confirmed: she dropped the can of soda that she was carrying at the point of impact and it was still located within the cross walk.

When this additional investigation was presented, the case was resolved for $118,000.

Jessica, 16, was riding in a car being driven by a friend when the friend rolled the car. Jessica was taken to the ER with immediate complaints of back pain, but it went untreated. Over time, the pain became more severe and an MRI was performed, showing a disc herniation referring down her leg. Because of her age, it was obvious that the injury was from the roll-over crash.

The insurance adjuster from Jessica’s father’s insurance did not agree that the back injury was sustained in the roll-over crash and declined to pay the medical bills. A no-fault arbitration was commenced. The insurance company still denied payment of the bills. A hearing ensued and all of the medical bills were awarded at the hearing and a second claim was made against the insurance company of the vehicle that Jessica’s friend drove. A policy limit settlement of $30,000 was reached. Another claim for underinsured coverage was presented to Jessica’s father’s company and they were forced to pay the policy limits of $100,000, even though Jessica never had surgery.

At a later date, Jessica was involved in another car crash. Her previous non-surgical injury was exacerbated and she required spinal fusion. Even though the crash happened in Florida, Partner Steve Terry was able to secure another policy limit settlement that paid the bills and compensated Jessica for her aggravated back injury.

MB was driving home from Dairy Queen for a birthday party. The day was ruined by a bad driver. MB had some pain but nothing major right away. Unfortunately, after some time, the pain increased and she sought chiropractic care. In MB’s case, the chiropractic care did not help. A referral was encouraged and set up to a pain management doctor who suggested a radiofrequency rhizotomy (nerve burn). MB got 100 percent relief from the RFN. A settlement for $135,000.00 was reached by Partner Steven Terry for past pain and suffering to cover future RFNs that may be needed.

Brenda was injured when she was rear-ended by a negligent driver. Brenda had neck and shoulder pain that showed up a day after she was hit. She had shoulder surgery just 4 months after the crash for a torn rotator cuff. The other driver's company denied that their driver was at fault for the crash.  They argued the collision was unavoidable due to slippery road conditions and said he sneezed while driving. The insurance company also denied that Brenda was hurt because she did not have shoulder pain the day of the crash.  They argued her shoulder surgery was unrelated to the crash and instead was caused by "degenerative changes." The insurance company offered $0 before the lawsuit, and offered $5,000 right before trial.  Lyndsey brought the case to trial and won a verdict of over $150,000.00.

Gina was driving on Highway 94. While heading to work, she was forced to slow down in traffic, and was rear-ended at a high rate of speed. She had immediate neck pain, but decided to go to work. She eventually went to her family doctor who told her to follow up in 30 days because he was convinced the pain would go away. Gina decided to go to a chiropractor who then referred her to an orthopedic surgeon. An MRI showed a disc herniation in her cervical spine, which was causing compression on her nerves. She underwent a neck decompression.

The case was settled for policy limits of $50,000 from AIG and policy limits of $100,000 for underinsured motorist with General Casualty. Partner Steve Terry, who handled the case, encouraged Health Partners to waive the subrogation claim and they complied.

Kelly was a passenger in a vehicle driven by her husband. Her husband was attempting to take a drink of water while driving and began to choke. He lost control of his car and went into oncoming traffic, which caused a tremendous collision. The insurance company claimed that it was "an act of God," and initially wanted to deny all the injury claims to Kelly and her two children, who were backseat passengers. Investigation revealed a different story and eventually policy limits were paid of $100,000 for Kelly and an additional $160,000 for her two children. Steve Terry put her children’s cases together in an annuity with a qualified assignment and they will receive compensation through age 25 on a tax-free basis.

Rachel was driving to work and was almost there when she stopped in a line of traffic at a red light. Out in the middle of the intersection two cars crashed into each other. One of those cars came careening toward Rachel. There was no place for her to go. That car smashed into the left rear of Rachel’s car and spun her around. Rachel was looking to the left watching that car coming at her. At impact her head was whipped from side to side and she struck her head on the side window.

Later Rachel called her insurance company, American Family. They talked about the crash and the fact that Rachel’s neck was tightening up and that she was going to see her chiropractor. She hoped she would not need much treatment. Rachel told American Family that she had some neck and shoulder pain before the accident, but it was really no big deal. In fact, she had an MRI scan done years ago that showed no significant injury to her neck.

Rachel received treatment from her chiropractor, but her pain did not go away. The pain started traveling down her arm and would wake her up at night. Rachel saw a medical doctor and an MRI scan was ordered. This test revealed a herniated disc pushing on Rachel’s spine. The doctors were recommending that she get epidural steroid injections.

Rachel again talked with American Family and told them what was going on. American Family asked her to see one of their doctors for what is called an “adverse medical examination.” That doctor found that the injury was caused by the crash and the treatment to date had been reasonable, but that Rachel would not need any further treatment.

Several months later when the epidural steroid injection wore off, Rachel’s arm pain started to return. Her doctors recommended that she obtain repeat injections, but American Family refused to make payment. Rachel hired TSR Injury Law and an Arbitration proceeding was commenced. After the hearing, the Arbitrator determined that American Family needed to pay the bills for all of the treatment that she had had so far.

Unfortunately, Rachel’s condition did not improve and the pain in her arm continued. She decided to undergo a cervical fusion surgery to fix her neck. The bills for that surgery were submitted to American Family and they were processed and paid. Then something strange happened.

American Family cancelled the check and took back the payment that they had already made. Then American Family asked Rachel to see a second doctor of their choosing for another “adverse exam.” They claimed that this doctor was an expert in cervical fusion surgeries and could give them an opinion as to whether the surgery was related to the accident.

That second doctor gave American Family the opinion that the surgery was not related to the accident and American Family refused to pay. However, American Family did not tell this second doctor that Rachel had had an MRI scan of her accident before the crash which did not reveal an injury, and when that MRI scan was compared to the MRI scan taken after the crash, it was clear that there was a new herniated disc caused by the crash. It was also discovered that the doctor selected by American Family had never performed a cervical fusion surgery in his career.

TSR Injury Law sued American Family for failing to keep their promises to pay for medical expenses and other human losses. American Family agreed to settle this matter for the amount of $175,000, which was more than the insurance coverage that had been purchased by Rachel. TSR Injury Law had asked the Court to allow a claim for American Family’s failure to use good faith in claims handling and the Court allowed the claim to proceed “ which is why American Family agreed to pay more than their policy limits to settle this matter.

April sustained soft tissue injuries in a car collision in which she was rear-ended. There was not much damage to her car, so the insurance company did not take her injuries seriously. Although she had medical bills in excess of $10,000, the insurance company was only willing to offer $9,500. The insurance company only had a minimum policy limit of $30,000.

The case was submitted to a jury. After a 3-day trial led by Partner Chuck Slane, the jury rendered a verdict of over $90,000. We then sued the insurance company for their bad faith decision in failing to settle the case and eventually received three times the amount of insurance coverage that was originally available.

Toni was injured in a rear-end collision. She was driving on the freeway when she encountered a vehicle stopped in her lane of travel. She was able to come to a full stop, but was then rear-ended by the vehicle behind her.

Toni had significant injuries that required major back surgery. There was a concern that there was not enough insurance coverage available to compensate for what she had gone through.

Our investigation revealed that the vehicle stopped on the highway had run out of gas. However, it was the second time that this lady had run out of gas that morning. She had just passed the highway exit near the gas station and was attempting to go further knowing she was about to run out of gas a second time. Based upon these facts, Partner Chuck Slane was able to access a second policy of insurance and resolve the claims for $187,500.