Insurance Company Offers Little

On October 25, 2017, our client, Mr. Rodriguez (not our client’s real name), faced a life-changing event. Mr. Rodriguez was driving a 2008 Toyota Tundra and stopped at a stoplight when his truck was suddenly hit in the rear by another driver.

The impact forced the trucker’s trailer hitch into the Audi that struck his vehicle. It took thirty minutes to separate the vehicles, while the other driver was upset and emotional. The other driver was dazed, had hit her head on the steering wheel, and was treated immediately for medical attention.

Mr. Rodriguez, however, refused an ambulance transport, although he had a considerable headache. Unfortunately, the headache did not subside and years later Mr. Rodriguez is still facing the repercussions of the accident.

After over a year of physical therapy, Mr. Rodriguez reported to the emergency room in January 2019 with severe pain that prevented him from working or even moving his head to the right. He has undergone multiple chiropractic treatments, MRI scans, medications, and electrical stimulation.

Yet, to this day he faces regular pain in his neck, upper back, mid-back, left shoulder, and headaches. Furthermore, he struggles to sleep at night and to do basic household chores for his wife and children like cleaning, laundry, or yard work. Although he had no trouble sleeping before, Mr. Rodriquez now only gets 3 to 4 hours of sleep each night, leaving him exhausted and irritable.

Mr. Rodriguez has multiple injuries that make daily life difficult, including:

• Cervical disc displacement
• Concussion
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Cervicalgia
• Whiplash injury and sprain of the cervical spine
• Strain of cervical spine
• Sprain of thoracic spine
• Strain of thoracic spine

As a business owner, a father and a husband, Mr. Rodriguez has been affected in all aspects of his life by this tragic accident. Before the accident, Mr. Rodriguez served in the U.S. Marine Corps for five years, serving tours of duty in Iraq and South America. He did injure his back and experiences anxiety as a result of his service, but it never affected his life as much as the rear-end collision has.

After his honorable discharge, received an MBA at West Virginia University and opened two businesses in construction and real estate holding, which he still manages. Mr. Rodriguez is married with two daughters, 11 and 10 years old, and the accident has made it difficult for him to keep up with household chores.

After consulting with Mr. Rodriguez, we decided to take on the case. His medical expenses totaled $14,990.71, plus he faced future medical expenses of anywhere from $115,000.00-$144,000.00, not to mention the pain and suffering caused by the accident, which is difficult to truly quantify. However, in total, we sought damages for over $300,000.

Obviously, we never want to put our clients through a trial because it is stressful. But when insurance companies make “low ball” offers to our clients, we step into action.

We took State Farm to court after it offered our client $45,000 to settle the case. After the 3-day trial, the jury awarded our client $395,000 for his medical bills and pain and suffering. Take that State Farm! If State Farm or other insurance companies are not willing to pay you a fair amount for the injuries someone else caused to you, call us and we can help you navigate your injury claim and, if necessary, take the insurance company to court for you!