I made the mistake of not taking my case to trial, which I will forever regret. Pedersen shared with me during one of our meetings at Whole Foods in West Hartford how he disliked most of his clients (I felt like he loathed them as if they were seeking compensation they did not deserve? ... Why else... would he dislike them? (I never bothered to ask him). ~ When it came time to settle? I expected he would fight for me. He did not.
I even wondered if he settled with the negligent Restaurant Owner off the record (the person responsible for prepping the parking lot for black ice was also the cook & he did NOTHING that morning; zero salt/sand in the handicapped parking space where I body-slammed the pavement that fateful morning after working an overnight shift 1/19/2015).
I also suffered sudden hearing loss in my left ear; a rare side effect of anesthesia (a complication found in orthopedic surgery); when I was in the recovery room, I noticed it immediately telling my sister I was unable to hear out of my left ear; it felt like it was submerged in water.
Attorney Pedersen asked me several times, whenever we met: "Do you think you can get any of your hearing back?" ... which I found to be an annoying and strange question to ask. In all my years being a RN., since when do people gain hearing? I thought, does he think I'm being a malingerer (one of the clients he admitted to disliking?). After the settlement I got a measly 83k ... for the
[1.]severe loss of hearing in my left ear
[2.] 3 months out of work,
[3.] permanent loss of balance, and
[4.] chronic pain.
The absolute WORST part of my dealings with Pedersen, was just minutes after he met w/ the Judge & the Restaurant Attorney (I forget her name; she just so happened to be the best Defense Attorney in the state of CT at the time - the Restaurant Owner had the $ to hire the BEST - but couldn't hire someone to sand the ice on his walkways?
... Minutes AFTER Pedersen had just arranged for a "settlement" ... (I was to get 83k) ... Pedersen felt compelled to open his folder for my case, to show me (I never asked to see; trusting he was doing his job) the photograph he used (to advocate for ME, NOT the Restaurant Owner) ... a photo of my left arm 5 months HEALED ? on page #1 in his folder!!!
... He did NOT use any one of the dozens of photos I had taken that showed the black & blues down in my entire left arm ? ... that leaked all the way down into the tissue of my my left hand ? & the 2 black & blues on my chest wall, where my 2 fists were clenched in my fall, that spared my jaw & head from cracking (my sternum was bruised; making it hurt to breath). No ~ --- he had ONLY the one single photo of my broken arm in 3 places HEALED (5 month after the fall).
MY CONCLUSION? ... I believe Attny Pedersen was trying to "gaslight" me ... I believe I became 'one of those' clients he said he 'disliked' and that he was working in favor of the Restaurant Owner, not me .... I said NOTHING.
10 years forward: I fell last year (as commonly happens due to my severe loss of hearing in one ear) and suffered a hairline fracture in the same left arm near my elbow & now suffer chronic pain in my entire left arm & shoulder (following a minor fall; compared to January 19, 2015.
I think my fall from 'balance issues' last year loosened the screws & plates in my severely injured arm because some restaurant owner started to go to work in the kitchen, because they were too cheap to hire someone to sand & salt black ice in handicapped parking space out front; of all places).
I would not advise anyone to use Attorney Pedersen for any injury suffered ... for some reason he makes "you" the enemy & instead works to save money for the person responsible for your injury.