$1,000,000 Verdict for Man Injured in T-Bone Crash
We represented a Scott County man that was injured in a car accident when another vehicle pulled out in front of him. Our client was driving 50 MPH down the highway when a 16 year old kid pulled out in front of him. There was nothing our client could do to avoid the crash and he hit the passenger side of the kid’s pickup truck. It was a really bad accident and our client’s front-end of his pickup truck was destroyed. An ambulance arrived at the scene and transported our client to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Our client injured his neck and back in the crash. After a year of treatment that included physical therapy, chiropractic treatment, massages and painful injections in his neck, our client ended up having surgery on his neck. The surgeon removed the herniated disc in our client’s neck that was causing him radicular pain down his arms and replaced it with an artificial disc. Our client made a good recovery after the surgery and was able to continue working.
We were never able to negotiate a fair settlement with the insurance company for the kid. Luckily, the family had full insurance coverage on the vehicle and we were able to file a claim. Our client’s claim included his medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and the fact that his neck was operated on. The insurance company did not want to pay full value for the claim. Most people don’t realize, but insurance companies never fairly deal with people that are injured and filing claims. They hire lawyers to blame the injured person or say everything was pre-existing. The only thing we have in this country to hold insurance companies accountable is the civil court system where a jury decides what is full and fair compensation for the wrongs done by someone. Sadly, the jury never gets to know about the insurance company, the money offered leading up to trial or the fact that the insurance companies pays the entire verdict.
Luckily for our client, the jury thought his injuries were significant and awarded One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) for the injuries and assigned 30% fault on our client because the defense said our client was going to fast. We were upset by the fact that the jury bought the defense argument that our client was 30% responsible for the crash. We argued that the only reason why this crash happened was because the kid pulled out in front of our client. Unfortunately, the 30% fault the jury assigned to our client reduced his net recovery to $700,000.
Contact Sumner Law Group, LLC, for Help with Your Accident Claim
The car accident attorneys at Sumner Law Group, LLC, have the knowledge and experience to help you navigate the legal process after a car crash so you can focus on healing from your injuries. Contact our firm today for a free consultation.
Brent A. Sumner is the Managing Partner at Sumner Law Group, LLC. He focuses his practice exclusively on cases that involve serious personal injuries. Over the years, he has successfully represented thousands of individuals and families, recovering millions of dollars in compensation for injured accident victims.