David represented a city waterworks employee who was sitting in her pickup truck on a city street doing her paperwork when a negligent driver lost control of of his vehicle and slammed into her head on with great impact. She was in her 60’s at the time. Injuries to her back eventually got better but she had lingering problems with her hand/wrist that make it difficult to open heavy manhole covers or lift meters or other equipment. Her orthopedic surgeon said that the wreck damaged her hand and wrist. A carpal tunnel operation helped but there was some continuing nerve damage. The insurance company for the at fault driver hired a doctor from Blacksburg who testified at the trial that the wreck did not cause any damage to the client’s arm, hand, or wrist and that the carpal tunnel was the result of her job. David cross examined the doctor proving he was paid thousands of dollars for that opinion, and he had only reviewed records for the defense.
The client’s medical bills were $16,000. The insurance company only offered $6,600 to settle the case claiming her hand and wrist were not injured in the wreck. (State Farm again—do you see a pattern here?)
The jury awarded $115,000. Again, David’s client would have settled for $75,000.
