It is finally over.
Some of you know about this but most do not. I post this to maybe help out others that would have to go thru this process.
I wouldn't wish it on anyone but it can happen to any of us at anytime.
My wife was coming home from work in Jan 2007
when a 19 yr old girl ran a red light and turned directly in front of her. The girl was driving a new jeep her Father bought for her, living at home, and under his insurance. Ends up that was the best thing that could have happened as far as this final settlement. .
As she turned left and ran the redlight { texting but never admitted to ] she was t-boned by two cars one containing my wife.
I was at home when my wife called me . It took me 15 min to get there. The cops were still not there. Glass, bumpers, metal, etc all over the intersection.
There were two people laying on the roadway. One was my wife. The jeep and our car were totaled. There was thousands of dollars in total damages to the 3 vehicles.
The young lady was not hurt. She never made any attempt to check on the people whose lives she had changed in a instant. This ended up being a big deal at the trial as she pissed the jury off with flippant answers.
Her parents were on the scene keeping her away from anything further. The cops ended up giving her a ticket. We had citizens who stepped up as witnesses who saw her turn into oncoming traffice at the the red light.
In court she said it wasn't her fault and she did not run the red light. We had to get the cop to testify that she told him on the scene that she ran the light. This made her look very bad in front of the jury.
They asked her why she did not approach the people in the other cars and she said she had her mind on going on vacation to Alabama the next day.
My wife and the other driver were taken in a ambulance to the hospital.
My wife sustained a concussion. She also had dislocated fingers which had to be yanked back into the sockets.
She also had 3 epidurals. A discogram to identify the damaged discs.
We tried accupuncture and herbal stuff, but it just didn't help the back pain.
She ended up having three surgeries
To repair her knee, rotor cuff in her shoulder, and the main problem was damaged discs in her back. She had to have L4 - L5, and L5- S1 discs replaced and titanium disks implanted.
She tried to go back to work before she had the back surgery. She worked in a Dept of Defense company that made electronics that went into cruise missles, nasa stuff. Robotics to weld small welds on to boards. I never did understand any of that.
They fired her when she couldn't sit for long periods and was making mistakes on the equipment. She was on morphine but tried not to take it until she got home. So because of this accident her career was over. She had been there 9 yrs.
My wife was on morphine for 3 years before we could get the surgery done with all the legal crap going on. We lost her company insurance once they fired her so that was a problem
The girl's coverage was with a major insurance company who is known to fight every case hard to the end.
I got a Georgia Super lawyer who are supposed to be the best of the best. We interviewed him and he was very smart and trial savy .The contract was he would get 30% if it did not go to trial and 40 % if it did. Plus expenses.
As we got to the mediation we hired another top notch lawyer that had worked for this insurance company for 20 yrs. They were not happy to see him on the other side of the table against them.
This guy is truly a brilliant lawyer. We also had a person that told the story to the jury thru media presentations. They did a excellant job picking the jury members but what a crazy process that is.
The case went to mediation first after long delays for depositions from all the doctors involved. It had to be refiled once when the girl moved to a differant county.
We were not able to settle it at mediation and they refused every offer to settle from us. Mediation is a joke. The insurance company came in totally unprepared and treated us like numbers.
It was a pathetic process to sit through. It cost us serveral thousand dollars in costs and fees, and I missed a day from work for nothing.
The girls father was paying her insurance and he had excellant top of the line insurance coverage.
They also had my insurance coverage wrapped up in it somehow maiking the case worth more.
DTB told me one time I would regret paying all the legal fees if it dragged on for years. It ended up total lawyer expense beyond the 40% was about 35 K . And the file was 10 inchs thick.
My wifes total medical bills were over 300 K . We had a top neurosurgeon at Piedmont do the back surgery. We interviewed him and trusted what he told us he would have to do.
He ended up refusing to lower or negotiate his fees whatsoever. The lawyer wanted me to change doctors and I told him , uh no we will stay with him. Thank God we did.
We also had to have another doctor present because they did the surgery thru her stomach.
His bill was another 10 k
The only problem we had with the neurosurgeon was he did not like lawyers and he told us that early on. He said he did not like sitting in court and that he was a brain surgeon and didnt have time for such stuff.
He refused to agree in deposition that her back injury occurred during the accident.
even though we had numersous doctors stating the fact he said he would refer to their testimony.
This was one weakness in our case as he was the main surgeon.
They always go after degenerative pre existing conditions to fight these cases in court.
They had a expert witness come on the stand and make statements of pre existing. When it was time for our lawyer to question him, he simply asked him was he being paid to be there today.
That was all that really needed to be asked.
The neurosurgeon said it was two years after the accident before we saw him.
yeh that was trued because the orthopedics were telling us she could be paralized or die during this type of surgery. We were scared.
When she woke up in the hospital after the surgery, I asked my wife if she had any pain. For the first time in over 3 yrs she was without back pain. Her stomach hurt the most where they did the incisions.
I will admit I cried there in that room with her for a long time.
To make a long story short the jury awarded us
well over the amount we had asked for at the mediation.
After all the negotiations with the hospital bills and doctors, and on and on ....
In the next 30-45 days we will be receiving
a check for $ 587,000.00 tax free.
We are just glad it is finally over and we can get on with our lives.
I know I rambled but that is the gist of it.
Some of you know about this but most do not. I post this to maybe help out others that would have to go thru this process.
I wouldn't wish it on anyone but it can happen to any of us at anytime.
My wife was coming home from work in Jan 2007
when a 19 yr old girl ran a red light and turned directly in front of her. The girl was driving a new jeep her Father bought for her, living at home, and under his insurance. Ends up that was the best thing that could have happened as far as this final settlement. .
As she turned left and ran the redlight { texting but never admitted to ] she was t-boned by two cars one containing my wife.
I was at home when my wife called me . It took me 15 min to get there. The cops were still not there. Glass, bumpers, metal, etc all over the intersection.
There were two people laying on the roadway. One was my wife. The jeep and our car were totaled. There was thousands of dollars in total damages to the 3 vehicles.
The young lady was not hurt. She never made any attempt to check on the people whose lives she had changed in a instant. This ended up being a big deal at the trial as she pissed the jury off with flippant answers.
Her parents were on the scene keeping her away from anything further. The cops ended up giving her a ticket. We had citizens who stepped up as witnesses who saw her turn into oncoming traffice at the the red light.
In court she said it wasn't her fault and she did not run the red light. We had to get the cop to testify that she told him on the scene that she ran the light. This made her look very bad in front of the jury.
They asked her why she did not approach the people in the other cars and she said she had her mind on going on vacation to Alabama the next day.
My wife and the other driver were taken in a ambulance to the hospital.
My wife sustained a concussion. She also had dislocated fingers which had to be yanked back into the sockets.
She also had 3 epidurals. A discogram to identify the damaged discs.
We tried accupuncture and herbal stuff, but it just didn't help the back pain.
She ended up having three surgeries
To repair her knee, rotor cuff in her shoulder, and the main problem was damaged discs in her back. She had to have L4 - L5, and L5- S1 discs replaced and titanium disks implanted.
She tried to go back to work before she had the back surgery. She worked in a Dept of Defense company that made electronics that went into cruise missles, nasa stuff. Robotics to weld small welds on to boards. I never did understand any of that.
They fired her when she couldn't sit for long periods and was making mistakes on the equipment. She was on morphine but tried not to take it until she got home. So because of this accident her career was over. She had been there 9 yrs.
My wife was on morphine for 3 years before we could get the surgery done with all the legal crap going on. We lost her company insurance once they fired her so that was a problem
The girl's coverage was with a major insurance company who is known to fight every case hard to the end.
I got a Georgia Super lawyer who are supposed to be the best of the best. We interviewed him and he was very smart and trial savy .The contract was he would get 30% if it did not go to trial and 40 % if it did. Plus expenses.
As we got to the mediation we hired another top notch lawyer that had worked for this insurance company for 20 yrs. They were not happy to see him on the other side of the table against them.
This guy is truly a brilliant lawyer. We also had a person that told the story to the jury thru media presentations. They did a excellant job picking the jury members but what a crazy process that is.
The case went to mediation first after long delays for depositions from all the doctors involved. It had to be refiled once when the girl moved to a differant county.
We were not able to settle it at mediation and they refused every offer to settle from us. Mediation is a joke. The insurance company came in totally unprepared and treated us like numbers.
It was a pathetic process to sit through. It cost us serveral thousand dollars in costs and fees, and I missed a day from work for nothing.
The girls father was paying her insurance and he had excellant top of the line insurance coverage.
They also had my insurance coverage wrapped up in it somehow maiking the case worth more.
DTB told me one time I would regret paying all the legal fees if it dragged on for years. It ended up total lawyer expense beyond the 40% was about 35 K . And the file was 10 inchs thick.
My wifes total medical bills were over 300 K . We had a top neurosurgeon at Piedmont do the back surgery. We interviewed him and trusted what he told us he would have to do.
He ended up refusing to lower or negotiate his fees whatsoever. The lawyer wanted me to change doctors and I told him , uh no we will stay with him. Thank God we did.
We also had to have another doctor present because they did the surgery thru her stomach.
His bill was another 10 k
The only problem we had with the neurosurgeon was he did not like lawyers and he told us that early on. He said he did not like sitting in court and that he was a brain surgeon and didnt have time for such stuff.
He refused to agree in deposition that her back injury occurred during the accident.
even though we had numersous doctors stating the fact he said he would refer to their testimony.
This was one weakness in our case as he was the main surgeon.
They always go after degenerative pre existing conditions to fight these cases in court.
They had a expert witness come on the stand and make statements of pre existing. When it was time for our lawyer to question him, he simply asked him was he being paid to be there today.
That was all that really needed to be asked.
The neurosurgeon said it was two years after the accident before we saw him.
yeh that was trued because the orthopedics were telling us she could be paralized or die during this type of surgery. We were scared.
When she woke up in the hospital after the surgery, I asked my wife if she had any pain. For the first time in over 3 yrs she was without back pain. Her stomach hurt the most where they did the incisions.
I will admit I cried there in that room with her for a long time.
To make a long story short the jury awarded us
well over the amount we had asked for at the mediation.
After all the negotiations with the hospital bills and doctors, and on and on ....
In the next 30-45 days we will be receiving
a check for $ 587,000.00 tax free.
We are just glad it is finally over and we can get on with our lives.
I know I rambled but that is the gist of it.
