Lynchburg, VA
Personal injury Lawyer at Lynchburg, VA
Practice Areas: Personal Injury, Wrongful Death ... +4 more
OUTCOME: Won
Brandon represented the Plaintiff in a Virginia Consumer Protection Act case where the trial court erroneously instructed the jury that the burden of proof was clear and convincing evidence instead of ... preponderance of the evidence. Virginia Supreme Court reversed the trial court and remanded for retrial. At retrial, the defendants agreed to settle the case for a total value of around $50,000.00
OUTCOME: Settlement $500,000
A truck driver was walking to his truck at a truck stop in the rain. It was dusk outside. Another truck driver drove carelessly through the parking lot of the truck stop and struck the man ultimately ... leading to his death.
OUTCOME: $100,000 Settlement
Brandon Osterbind obtained a $100,000 policy limit settlement after a homeowner’s insurance coverage dispute and court battle. Our client was a 10-year-old boy who was playing in the woods with his ... friends behind their neighborhood, as kids are expected to do. While many days kids these days spend more time playing video games than playing in the woods, this is not so for our client and his friends. Hearing them recount the events of that day will take even the youngest jurors in Lynchburg back to the fondest memories of their childhood. While our client and his friends were playing in the woods, the defendant was playing with a 13-year-old boy who lived in the same neighborhood, which was adjacent to our client’s neighborhood. The Defendant knew that our client was in the woods and he knew the general location of where they were. Nevertheless, he began shooting a pellet gun in that general direction. Our theory was that he did not intend to shoot our client but he intended to scare him and his friends. One of the pellets entered the side of his stomach and became lodged in his abdomen near his colon. He went to Lynchburg General Hospital and was transferred to UVA for surgery that same day. The defendant told the detective that he could hear the boys playing in the woods. He also told the detective that he saw three boys when they came out of the tunnel in the woods and he saw them go toward the tree house. The defendant ultimately admitted that he saw two boys leave the area and then decided to “shoot at birds” in between the tunnel and the treehouse. The defendant knew that the boys were in the woods. He admitted that he saw two leave but did not see the third leave, but he assumed that he went somewhere else. They had not; however, and our client’s 11-year-old friend testified in the criminal trial that he and his brother were 5-10 feet from the tunnel when they heard the shots. The defendant, who admitted to the detective that he is not a good shot, fired his pellet gun into the woods. According to the boys, several shots were fired, and one struck our client in the side. According to the defendant, both he and his 13-year-old friend were shooting into the woods, but the 13-year-old friend was reloading when the defendant fired the last shot and they both heard a loud scream. In exercising reasonable care under the circumstances of this case, the defendant knew or should have known that, as a natural and probable consequence of his act, he created a recognizable risk of harm to all of the boys putting them in danger of receiving an injury from the negligent conduct. The resulting injury could have been reasonably foreseen by the exercise of reasonable care and prudence. By failing to ensure that the boys were out of the area of the danger he created, the defendant was negligent and breached his duty to all would have been in those woods. Our client incurred $36,908.75 in medical expenses as a result of this accident. Additionally, the emotional effect of this accident on our client was significant. We sent a demand to the defendant’s homeowners insurance policy because every homeowner's policy has a general liability coverage to it. It is not limited to just injuries that happen on the insured premises, but also for general liability that is not covered by auto or commercial insurances. The insurance company denied coverage and argued that the insured’s conduct was intentional and criminal and therefore excluded from their coverage. We briefed and argued this issue in Lynchburg Circuit Court and the judge ruled in our client’s favor holding that the homeowner's insurance policy had to defend the defendant and indemnify the defendant for any loss caused therefrom. After winning the insurance coverage case, the homeowner's insurance tendered their policy limits of $100,000.00. If you don’t know if insurance is available, one of your attorney’s jobs is to find as much coverage as there can be to compensate you for your injuries. Contact us if you need help.
OUTCOME: $123,000 Settlement
After a couple of years of litigation, the Osterbind Law team settled a personal injury case for $123,000. In this case, our client was driving through an intersection in downtown Lynchburg, Virgini ... a when a tractor-trailer blew through the red light and caused a wreck. The actions of this professional driver were surprising after the accident because he maintained that he had a green light but several witnesses were prepared to testify otherwise. Initially, our client had back and neck pain that, with the help of some physical therapy at Rehab Associates of Central Virginia, resolved fairly quickly. Our client also complained at the hospital of shoulder pain. This shoulder pain remained fairly constant and the only thing that made it better was modified activity. He kept returning to OrthoVirginia where ultimately he was sent for an MRI which showed tearing in his rotator cuff. The doctors related the shoulder injury to the car wreck because it was clear that our client’s complaints of shoulder pain began with the wreck. The doctors operated on our client’s shoulder with significant success. His shoulder, after rehab, began feeling like it used to although every now and again he is still reminded that it is not like it used to be. Our client is a very active person with a very active job. He needs to have full function of his arms and his shoulder. This surgery gave him that function. We had to file suit while the client was still treating because the statute of limitations was approaching. We withheld service initially to let the client finish treating and to attempt to resolve the case. After treatment finished, our client had incurred over $37,000 in medical bills. We made a demand and the insurance company only offered $37,000. So we began the litigation process. The insurance company later offered $50,000 but said unequivocally that they were not considering the shoulder injury in the evaluation even though the doctors all related the surgery to the wreck and the insurance company didn’t have any evidence of a pre-existing injury. After receiving this response, we dug a little deeper and realized that the insurance company was not being truthful. Excluding the shoulder, the medical bills were around $7,000. A $50,000 offer on $7,000 in medical bills for a soft tissue injury will never happen. Perhaps with the right jury, one could get a verdict, but for the second offer of settlement, it was unheard of. So we discerned that the insurance company was playing games with us. So we pushed the litigation and discovery harder and simultaneously worked to force the insurance company to put real money on the table so we could negotiate in good faith. During that process, we were able to illustrate the significance of our client’s injury and the reasonableness of his treatment. Working as a team, Brandon focused on the discovery and litigation and David Abraham focused on discussions with the insurance adjuster. The pressure to produce more information and the constant push from the Osterbind Law team forced the insurance company to increase their offers incrementally leading up to a $123,000 settlement. Insurance companies play games all the time. The question is will you recognize it when they play the game on you? If you are uncomfortable dealing with the insurance companies, give us a call we will sit down with you for free to discuss your case.
OUTCOME: $224,400 Settlement
Brandon Osterbind represented the claimant in a Workers’ Compensation case that resulted from a car accident while at work. Our client was driving down Route 221 in Forest when the sun blinded her eyes ... and caused her to rear end the car in front of her. Our client was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital where she was treated for a right hip fracture. She was also treated and ultimately had surgery on her right knee after her orthopedic doctor identified an MCL tear. All of these injuries were accepted as compensable injuries causally related to the October 28, 2014, motor vehicle collision. Prior to this motor vehicle collision, our client suffered from reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) in her left leg and in her right arm. After her knee surgery, her RSD doctor diagnosed her with RSD in her right leg as a result of the car accident. Our client filed a claim asking that the RSD in her right leg be included in her award order, the employer denied it, and this case was set for hearing. On September 1, 2015, our client underwent a defense medical exam by an insurance company doctor who questioned the legitimacy of our client’s diagnosis and opined that she did not have RSD in her right leg. He opined that there is “[n]o objective evidence to substantiate the examinee’s subjective pain complaints regarding a persistent injury to the right leg were identified.” He also stated that our client’s ketamine treatments that she had been receiving were ineffective and questioned the medical necessity and reasonableness of that treatment. He further opined that because our client’s knee and hip injuries had resolved, she could return to work without restrictions. Our client did not agree with the conclusions and believed that the accident caused the spread of RSD to her right leg. That notwithstanding, the parties agreed to utilize the Workers’ Compensation Mediation Program to attempt a full and final settlement of all of the outstanding issues in this case. At the mediation, both sides voiced their opinions regarding the potential outcomes of this case were it to be litigated. After several hours of back and forth, the parties agreed to resolve the case for $224,400.00. Once the case is settled, there are no other benefits that can be awarded from the workers’ compensation commission. Every settlement, however, must be approved by the Commission as being in the best interest of the employee. The Commission approved this settlement without any complications.
OUTCOME: $500,000 Settlement
Brandon Osterbind resolved a personal injury case on the verge of trial for $500,000 for a client who was involved in a car accident. Our client was working for Southern Air on a job in Roanoke. One ... the way back to Lynchburg one evening, our client was driving but felt tired. He pulled over in Montvale, VA and let another co-worker drive. Our client got in the back seat, buckled his seatbelt, and started dozing off as they made their way back home after a long day of work. Not long after the driver switch, the Southern Air crew entered into the S-curve just east of Montvale in Bedford County, Virginia in the left-hand lane. There was a car to their right and a rock wall to the left. As the Suburban entered into the S-curve all appeared normal. However, as they reached the top of the S, the driver noticed a person running towards them on in the left-hand lane waving his cell phone. The driver turned to the left to avoid the man, hit the rock embankment, and the Suburban went airborne landing on the passenger side. Everyone woke up at that point. The man in the road had, just seconds before, spun out of control and his car was sitting perpendicular in the left-hand lane of the road just past the top of the S. That man estimated that he spun out about 20 seconds before the Southern Air vehicle crash. We sued the man in the road and alleged negligent driving and obstructing the roadway proximately causing the Southern Air suburban to crash. Our client was visibly injured at the scene and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He suffered a displaced broken clavicle and torn rotator cuff injury. His treatment was extensive with several surgeries and his shoulder never fully recovered 100%. He was unable to continue working. Because he was working at the time of the injury, the client received workers compensation for his time missed from work and his medical treatment. Brandon represented him on the workers' compensation case as well and the client received over $440,000 in workers compensation benefits. Whenever workers compensation pays for injuries caused by a third party, it is entitled to reimbursement for what it paid. However, Brandon was able to negotiate a reduction in that reimbursement and the client only had to reimburse the workers' compensation insurance carrier $213,000. The personal injury case resolved at $500,000. So all put together, the client received $940,000 in recoveries for his injuries. After fees and lien reimbursements, the client received over $500,000 in combined proceeds from the workers' compensation benefits and the personal injury proceeds. If you’ve been injured at work by a third party, you need an attorney to represent you through the process because it can become very complicated. Give us a call for a free consultation.
OUTCOME: $50,000 Policy Limits Settlement
On December 1, 2014, our client was driving with his wife to go to CrackerBarrel for breakfast. Traveling in the left hand lane going east on Timberlake Road, our client first stopped at the the stop l ... ight at Leesville Road when he noticed that the Defendant was looking at what appears to be her phone. When traffic started moving our client, who was pulling a utility trailer behind his Ford Explorer, signaled a lane change to position himself to enter the bypass exit to get to Wards Road. The Defendant did not begin moving forward when the light turned green giving our client plenty of room to merge. After he merged, our client stopped for the red light at Timberlake and Wards Ferry Road. The stop light was red, there was another vehicle in front of our client, and our client came to a complete stop. His wife was looking into the passenger mirror and noticed the vehicle coming towards them at a high rate of speed, not slowing down. Our client’s wife then screamed while bracing for the impact. The trailer they were pulling behind their vehicle went up into the air causing our client’s vehicle to hit the vehicle in front of him. The cars came to rest in the road. Our client’s wife checked on him and the people in front as they were out of their vehicle. She then dialed 911 as she was approaching the defendant’s vehicle to check on her. When the officer approached the scene, our client’s wife informed him that she had seen the defendant on her cell phone. The officer stated the defendant said she was giving her infant a bottle and it fell. The Defendant was driving while distracted. Whether it was a cell phone or an infant’s bottle, distracted driving causes car accidents. Our client treated for some time for an injury to his neck that will probably require future treatment too. The defendant only had $25,000 in insurance coverage and our client had over $20,000 in medical expenses. We asked for our client's insurance declaration page and it appeared that our client also only had $25,000 in underinsured motorist coverage. That did not end our inquiry, though. We also inquired as to whether any other people lived in the household and whether those people had a separate insurance policy. Most people don’t know that a resident household member can qualify as an insured on an insurance policy even though they are not listed as one. In fact, in this case, our client’s adult son was living in the household had his own insurance policy for $25,000 limits for underinsured coverage. If there are separate policies, these two $25,000 limits can be stacked one on top of the other in order to increase the total underinsured motorist coverage to $50,000. To make things easier, both policies were issued by Nationwide with differently named insureds and different policy numbers. After demanding the policy limits from Progressive, the insurance company for the defendant, we turned our attention to the underinsured motorist carrier, Nationwide. About six months after we made our demand on Nationwide, we were able to obtain the full policy limits for our client. Underinsured motorist coverage applies only to the extent the injured person is underinsured. So Nationwide received a credit for the $25,000 Progressive offer and was responsible to pay the remaining $25,000 for a total settlement of $50,000. If you are unsure whether you have sufficient insurance coverage to pay for your injuries, come in for a free consultation and let us help you make that determination.
OUTCOME: $100,000 Policy Limits Settlement
On November 8, 2016, our client was riding as a passenger in a vehicle owned and operated by her sister. The vehicle in which our client was a passenger was traveling east on Route 40 in Pittsylvania C ... ounty, Virginia when a young 17 year old boy was traveling on south Route 640, Renan Road toward its intersection with Route 40. The 17-year-old boy had a stop sign and, instead of obeying the traffic sign, drove straight through it at 50 miles per hour colliding with the car in which our client was a passenger. There was no reason for the defendant to blow through that stop sign and strike the vehicle in which our client was a passenger on the driver side. The impact could easily be described as violent. The collision sent the car in which my client was a passenger into a spin where it struck a stop sign and a street sign and came to rest on the south shoulder of Route 40. Our client was transported by EMS to Centra – Gretna Medical Center for evaluation. According to the EMS report, our client was found sitting in the passenger seat of the vehicle with major front end damage. The ER physicians took x-rays and discovered that our client suffered an oblique fracture of the distal fibula with a traverse fracture of the medial malleolus. She was then transported to Lynchburg General Hospital for admission. She was supposed to be discharged on November 12, 2016, but she developed complications from the surgery and she developed hypertension, tachycardia, and mild leukocytosis. She was placed on IV antibiotics and her symptoms resolved within 24 hours. Our client was discharged on November 15, 2016, after seven days, and transferred to Heritage Hall in stable condition and she was non-weight bearing on both feet. At that point, her pain was being managed by Dilaudid and she was given orders for physical therapy and occupational therapy. She was transferred to Heritage Hall for acute rehab where she stayed until she was discharged on December 7, 2016. Our client followed up as directed with OrthoVirginia several times after her surgery and she has slowly improved and was released to bear weight on both of her ankles on January 4, 2017. However, she was ordered to continue using her moon boot on the right ankle. Her pain will continue indefinitely. Our client incurred $47,149.76 in medical expenses and $8,865.20 in lost wages due to her injuries relating to this car wreck and this young man’s avoidable negligence. The young man who caused the wreck was on his dad’s insurance policy (Progressive) which had limits of $50,000. He also lived back and forth with his mother and her insurance policy (Esurance) carried with it another $25,000 in liability policy limits. The car in which our client was a passenger was insured by State Farm but it only had $50,000 in underinsured motorist coverage. Our client was insured by Allstate for another $50,000 in underinsured motorist coverage. All of this just might make your head spin, but there is a reason I tell you all of this. Two separate liability insurance policies, in this case, dad’s and mom’s policies, can stack on top of each other to create $75,000 of liability coverage. For underinsured motorist coverage, you can only recover to the extent you are underinsured. In this case, our client was insured up to $75,000 because the Progressive and Esurance policies stack on top of each other. However, we were able to stack the two $50,000 UIM policies together to add up to $100,000 in coverage. When it comes to recovering financially, our client needed us to find all of the available insurance policies and force each company to pay to the maximum extent. If you need help making sense of it all, give us a call to discuss your case.
OUTCOME: $235,000 Settlement
Brandon Osterbind settled a workers compensation case for $235,000.00 for the remaining benefits for a client who was injured on the job in 2008. Workers comp was ordered to pay for all of the claimant ... s medical expenses and 2/3 of his average weekly wage from 2008 until the final settlement order was entered this year. Over the past six years, the Claimant recovered over $200,00.00 in wage and medical benefits and with the settlement, the Claimant’s total recovery was over $440,000.00. During that six-year period, the insurance company fought several treatments and prescriptions of the Claimant’s treating doctors and Osterbind had to file several requests for hearings to compel the medical benefits which are guaranteed by Virginia Code § 65.2-603. After the claimant reached maximum medical improvement, his doctors opined that the Claimant would never work again and that he would have to treat his pain for the rest of his life. The Insurance Company denied that the Claimant was permanently disabled and claimed that he was able to do less strenuous work and earn a partial living. After a long mediation, the parties agreed to fully and finally settle the claim for $235,000.00. In Virginia, if an employee is injured or dies because of and during the course of his employment, the worker or the worker’s dependent spouse or children, are entitled to recover from the Employer for the medical expenses for life and, if deceased, funeral expenses. Additionally, if the claimant is temporarily disabled either totally or partially, he is entitled to a portion of his average weekly wage to help him get through his injury until such time as he is physically able to return to work up to 500 weeks. Unfortunately, the Workers Compensation Act does not provide employees with compensation for the emotional loss caused by your injury or caused by the untimely death of your loved one. In most instances, workers’ compensation is your exclusive remedy. However, if you were injured or your loved one died during the course of his employment and as a result of the negligence of another person who does not work for the employer, then you may have two claims, one against the employer and another against the person causing the injuries. I offer free strategy sessions to all personal injury and workers compensation victims. We will review your case for free and advise you regarding the proper steps you should take to protect your interest.
OUTCOME: $65,000 Jury Verdict
Brandon Osterbind tried a personal injury case to a jury and received a $65,000.00 verdict for our client. On March 23, 2012, the Defendant, a truck driver, had made a delivery to home depot in the ... Roanoke area and was on his way to make another delivery at the home depot in Lynchburg. He got off Route 460 onto Candlers Mountain Road. He changed lanes to get into the right hand lane. As he approached the traffic light at Mayflower Drive, the light was red. There were two cars stopped in the right hand lane at that light. The Defendant rear ended the second car. The impact threw the car forward at least 8-10 feet. Our client’s purse was thrown into the front passenger floorboard and its contents strewn about the floor. And our client, who was driving, was wearing her seatbelt and she, too, was thrown forward. After a rear-end wreck, our client started feeling back pain and neck pain. She sought treatment from the ER doctors the same day and was told to follow up with her primary care doctor at Medical Associates of Central Virginia the following week. Being a good patient, she did just that. Her primary care doctor gave her prescription medication and told her to follow up in two weeks if the pain was still present. She did that. Then her primary care doctor referred her to OrthoVirginia in Lynchburg for physical therapy, which she did for four months. When she was released, she was about 80% better and she was told to do home exercises to continue progressing. A month later, our client returned to her primary care still complaining of pain. Her primary care told her to keep with her exercises and if the pain doesn’t go away, try more physical therapy or chiropractic treatment. She went to Palmer Chiropractic Center of Lynchburg and tried chiropractic treatment for 5 months, which helped reduce her pain. When she was released, she still had pain of 2/10 in her neck, 3/10 in her mid-back, and 3/10 in her low back. She returned for more chiropractic treatment in July after her pain started increasing again. By August, her chiropractor thought an orthopedic consult was warranted and made her an appointment at OrthoVirginia. Our client treated with Dr. McCowen for several months. She received injections in her back and was given multiple medications to treat her back pain. The medications helped until September of 2015 when her low back pain started to get worse. Our client went back to Dr. McCowen and, after another MRI, was given another set of injections, which significantly helped her pain. Our client incurred $22,792.22 in medical expenses. The jury awarded my client a full and fair verdict of $65,000.00 for her harms and losses caused by this wreck. Here is the backstory: Before trial, the insurance company only offered $9,985.00 as their last and final offer. We had made a demand and counsel for the parties agreed to mediation. The mediation was a complete and utter failure and the insurance company only offered $8,500.00 at the mediation. We stopped negotiating at all at that point. After the mediation, we never made another demand to settle the case. The insurance company increased their offer by what we consider pennies a couple of times ending just shy of $10,000.00. Well, as you know, we didn’t settle for $9,985 like the insurance company wanted us to. We kept going and our client trusted Brandon Osterbind to present her case to the jury in a way that would obtain a fair result for her. If you have a personal injury case that you would like our attorneys to evaluate, send us a message here and we’d be happy to sit down and talk to you about your case free of charge with no obligations.
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