On Jan. 13, 2013, the plaintiff was operating his motorcycle on Interstate 264 West, near the Tidewater Drive exit in Norfolk. A driver operating a Nissan Altima made a lane change and hit the plaintif...f’s motorcycle, knocking him and his passenger to the roadway.
After a weeklong hospital stay in Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, the plaintiff returned to his home in North Carolina. His follow-up care included injections for his shoulder injury at the Durham Veteran’s Administration Hospital. The plaintiff was back on his bike within two months of the crash, and was involved in a second wreck.
The driver’s liability insurance company tendered their minimum Virginia limits and plaintiff was able to recover additional funds from his UIM insurance issued in North Carolina.
Wrongful death
Woman killed in Oklahoma tractor-trailer accident
Jan 07, 2013
OUTCOME: Settlement $800,000
On March 8, 2010, decedent was driving a 1990 Ford pick-up truck on County Road 3600 just east of Ada, Okla. She was making a right turn on State Highway 1 when an approaching 18-wheel tractor-trailer ...crashed into her vehicle. The pick-up was pushed down the road about 660 feet and decedent had to be removed with the help of hydraulic tools after being trapped in the vehicle for about 45 minutes. An ambulance rushed her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Decedent’s husband was appointed personal representative of her estate, which included two children. Plaintiff filed suit in Oklahoma state court in 2011. The lawsuit claimed that defendant tractor-trailer driver was wanton, willful and reckless due to his actions, which included driving too fast for the weather conditions.
After extensive discovery, the parties agreed to mediation with the tractor-trailer’s insurance carrier. Mediation was held in Tulsa, Okla., on Nov. 12, 2012, resulting in a $700,000 settlement. Plaintiff had previously collected $100,000 from decedent’s insurance carrier. The bulk of the proceeds went into structured settlements for the two children of the marriage.
Personal injury
Crash survivor left with 58 percent whole-person impairment – $5,000,000 Settlement
Aug 16, 2012
OUTCOME: $5 Million settlement
The defendant driver was operating a construction company truck on a narrow, unmarked road in Gloucester, when he veered left of center and struck the plaintiff head-on. Plaintiff, a 41-year-old marrie...d and unemployed woman, had her car’s engine thrown into her lap by the crash. Both drivers ended up with retrograde amnesia about the event. Luckily, there was an eyewitness in the vehicle behind the plaintiff who confirmed that the defendant’s truck came into the plaintiff’s lane. This was also was verified by physical evidence. After probing defendant’s cell phone records and other aggravating factors about liability, defendants conceded liability and admitted that the driver was within the scope of his employment, even though he was on his way to his girlfriend’s house at the time of the accident. The parties entered into a stipulation of liability in exchange for the plaintiff reducing the ad damnum to the available $31,000,000 of insurance coverage.
The functional capacity evaluation showed a 58 percent whole person impairment rating under the AMA guidelines. Plaintiff’s ambulation is limited to household distances with a walker. Her chronic pain requires daily medication. The bulk of the life care plan was for eight hours a day of in-home help to assist with daily living activities.
The mild traumatic brain injury claim in the case was hotly contested. There was not a direct blow to plaintiff’s skull, nor was there clear evidence of loss of consciousness from the collision, although there was disorientation and retrograde amnesia. The psychological injury of post traumatic stress disorder was clear to the treating doctors from early on, but nobody made the diagnosis of mild traumatic brain injury until plaintiff’s counsel sent the plaintiff to the neuropsychiatrist. The mild TBI was of secondary importance in the claim because of the severity of the orthopedic injuries, and because the effects from chronic pain and PTSD often overlap with the pattern of symptoms that result from mild TBI.
Plaintiff’s counsel hired Irvin Cantor of Richmond and Alan Michaelis of Virginia Beach to do a focus group, which included neutral presentation of the facts to two different sets of jurors from the jurisdiction with videotaping of the deliberations. The favorable results were brought to the attention of the defense at mediation as additional evidence of value. The $6,000,000 threshold of the first level of liability insurance policies posed a practical barrier to obtaining a settlement higher than that figure. Given comparable results across the state, the mediator and the parties felt that $5,000,000 was a substantial sum for the case.
One interesting aspect of handling the case was the relative speed with which it was resolved. The accident happened April 15, 2011. The plaintiff got out of the rehabilitation hospital once she was ambulatory in September 2011. Suit was filed at that time. Plaintiff reached maximum medical improvement and had functional capacity evaluation approximately one year after the wreck. Plaintiff’s counsel scrambled to get the expert witness reports completed by July 1, 2012, which was the 90-day plaintiff’s expert cut-off before the October trial. The mediation had been set to occur on July 24, 2012. The case was resolved within 15 months of the wreck at the soonest possible time given the severity of the injuries.
Brain injury
Truck Accident Causes Brain Injury
Jul 18, 2012
OUTCOME: $460,000 settlement
A client suffered a brain injury including symptoms such as memory loss after he was hit by a truck in Norfolk, VA.
Personal injury
VA Beach Man hit by an unknown driver is awarded $200,000
Mar 14, 2012
OUTCOME: The plaintiff was awarded $200,000 by a jury
On March 31, 2010, the plaintiff, a 23-year-old resident of Virginia Beach, suffered injuries when his vehicle was forced off the road by an unknown motorist on I-64 and slammed into construction equip...ment parked on the shoulder. There was no contact with the John Doe vehicle. After a brief investigation, the investigating trooper issued a summons for reckless driving to the plaintiff without a comprehensive discussion with the plaintiff because he was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.
Plaintiff suffered a minor concussion, a small displaced fracture in the neck and an open gash in his left knee which required about 20 staples. His medical treatment only lasted about two months, and he made a complete recovery without any partial permanent impairment per his treating doctors, Dr. Anthony DiStasio and Dr. Grant Skidmore.
Plaintiff’s reckless driving charge was dismissed in Norfolk General District Court. The insurance companies did not make an offer in the case, so the plaintiff moved forward with a lawsuit.
Prior to trial, the insurance company’s last offer was $50,000 and the last demand was $77,500.
The original trial started on Jan. 26, 2012, and during the trooper’s testimony he volunteered (though told not to before called) that he issued a summons to the plaintiff, which lead to a motion for mistrial. After careful consideration, Judge Jerrauld C. Jones granted the motion. The Norfolk Circuit Court reset the trial for six weeks later on March 14, 2012.
The firms of ALCAR multimedia with Alan Michaelis and Legal Video Solutions, Inc., with Tim Koehl, did a great job with trial support. The jury started deliberations at the end of the day and came back the next day with their verdict of $200,000. The total insurance coverage for this case was exactly $200,000, and this amount has now been paid.
Brain injury
Traumatic brain injury alleged in rear-end collision – $900,000 Settlement
Feb 24, 2010
OUTCOME: Settlement $900,000
On Sept. 17, 2007, defendant’s tractor trailer smashed into the rear of plaintiff’s vehicle and several other cars waiting at a stop light in Nassawaddox, Va. Counsel was able to obtain a video of the ...actual crash from a convenience store surveillance camera, which was adjacent to the intersection.
Defendant’s driver admitted to state police investigators that he had fallen asleep at the wheel.
Toxicology tests revealed a 0.57 mg/L concentration of Oxycodone in the defendant driver’s blood.
The state police were also able to download the data from the tractor’s ECM or “black box.” Plaintiff’s ECM expert testified that the defendants’ tractor trailer was traveling approximately 64.5 mph (in a 50 mph zone) at the time of initial impact and had not applied his brakes prior to the collision.
At the time of the crash, plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle traveling to the local community services board for substance abuse counseling. As a result of the impact, plaintiff’s seat was broken and he struck his head on the headrest. Plaintiff was transported to a nearby hospital by ambulance.
The ER physician diagnosed the plaintiff with a closed head injury with edema to the occipital portion of his head, a cervical strain and a right shoulder contusion.
Plaintiff followed up with an orthopedist on two occasions for his neck and shoulder injuries, but he continued to suffer from daily headaches. Plaintiff was subsequently referred to a local neurologist, who diagnosed plaintiff with post-concussion syndrome and prescribed medication for his head pain.
Plaintiff also complained of problems with attention and concentration and visual disturbance when reading. Plaintiff returned to work as a laborer tying steel in November 2007.
By February 2008, plaintiff’s post-traumatic headaches had improved with medication therapy. In May 2009, plaintiff returned to his neurologist with renewed complaints of headaches. The neurologist referred plaintiff to a neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Gregory O’Shanick, for consultation and treatment.
Plaintiff’s primary complaints continued to be short-term memory problems, headaches and blurry vision when reading.
O’Shanick diagnosed plaintiff with a mild traumatic brain injury from the crash, attention-deficit disorder, post-traumatic headaches, post-traumatic stress disorder and orbitofrontal syndrome related to the MTBI. A 3.0 Tesla MRI study of the plaintiff’s brain revealed several non-specific hyperintensities in the deep white matter and also at the gray-white matter junction.
The defense expert would have associated these spots as well as the continuing cognitive symptoms with plaintiff’s pre-accident use of cocaine. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), however, also showed reduced fractional anisotropy in the right occipital portion of the plaintiff’s brain. The plaintiff’s radiologist would have testified that these DTI findings were consistent with the contusion noted in the emergency room immediately following the wreck.
The other significant issue was that plaintiff had previously been convicted of two felony counts of distribution of cocaine. Plaintiff’s counsel had filed a motion to exclude this evidence under Rule 609 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. However, the case settled at mediation before a ruling could be obtained from the court.
Type of Action: Personal injury
Injuries Alleged: Mild traumatic brain injury
Name of Case: John Walker v. William K. Buck and Re-Steel Supply Company, Inc.
Court: U.S. District Court – Eastern District, Norfolk Division
Case No.: 2:09-cv-419
Case Tried Before: Mediation
Mediator: Thomas S. Shadrick
Verdict or Settlement: Settlement
Special Damages: $14,073 – past medicals; $773,250 – life care plan
Amount: $900,000
Date of Settlement: Feb. 24, 2010
Personal injury
Railroad worker with back injury awarded $750,000 at trial
Apr 06, 2000
OUTCOME: $750,000 Verdict
The plaintiff hurt his back on two separate occasions in late 1995 and returned to work until late 1996. At that time, his back condition prevented him from working for the railroad. The first incident... involved a switch area where the plaintiff slipped because of standing water and the second incident involved a broken locomotive door where the plaintiff fell back upon trying to open said door. As such, liability was not a huge problem.
The case revolved around the ability of the plaintiff to return to work. The plaintiff’s treating doctors said the plaintiff could return to light duty work with certain restrictions. However, the plaintiff’s vocational rehabilitation expert stated that no work existed in the area for those restrictions. The defendant’s rehabilitation expert stated that the plaintiff could return to gainful employment and, as such, would not incur any type of wage loss. Moreover, the defendant brought out the fact that the plaintiff had prior back problems dating back to high school and, in fact, had seen a chiropractor only a few months before the initial injury because of back problems.
Personal injury
$758,000 Settlement
N/A
OUTCOME:
$758,000 settlement. Tractor trailer rear-ended the vehicle which the plaintiff was a passenger in, causing her death and very serious injuries to other family in the vehicle. They were on their way to... a baby shower.
Personal injury
$1 Million Settlement
N/A
OUTCOME:
$1 million settlement - Callers father's car broke down; tow truck was called; he was hooking car up to tow truck when defendant struck rear of his vehicle causing caller's head to be smashed between c...ar and tow truck. Worked with Bill O'mara on case.
Personal injury
$758,000 Settlement
N/A
OUTCOME:
$758,000 settlement. Tractor trailer rear-ended the vehicle which the plaintiff was a passenger in, causing her death and very serious injuries to other family in the vehicle. They were on their way to... a baby shower.
