What happened?
In June of 2021, we were able to settle this complex injury case. The accident happened February of 2019, when the Plaintiff was crossing the street at a cross-walk. At that same time, the defendant was stopped at a blinking yellow arrow attempting to make a left turn, which required him to cross the same crosswalk. He proceeded to make his turn but failed to see the Plaintiff and struck her.
Due to the impact, the Plaintiff suffered multiple fractures to include left hip fractures, a coccyx fracture, a non-displaced fibula fracture, L1 vertebral compression fracture, as well as a bladder rupture and a foot wound.
Fortunately, the Plaintiff did not require surgery. She was hospitalized for approximately a week and a half and, transferred to inpatient rehabilitation for a week, and discharged home. The Plaintiff then underwent physical therapy and wound care.
Ultimately, Plaintiff made a remarkable recovery. Aside from limited flexibility in her hip when exercising, Plaintiff returned to full daily activities. Plaintiff’s expert did opine a 5% impairment rating for her hip and that she would be more vulnerable to lower back pain later in life. All told, she incurred approximately $250,000 in medical bills and lost wages.
This case also highlighted a few things you and your family should consider if you have your own catastrophic injury case here in Virginia.
Far too often, insurance companies refuse to negotiate in good faith until you show them you’re willing to go to trial.
Here, we attempted to settle this case multiple times before filing suit. But we did not even receive a response to our demand. Only 6 months before trial did we get our first response, and that was only for $250,000.
This case settled a few weeks before trial, after we conducted two de bene esse video depositions of our expert witnesses. (De bene esse depositions are when we have our doctors testify by video for trial, and it’s pre-recorded and then played at trial.) So, we essentially had to begin our trial testimony.
They will try to blame for the accident even when it was clearly not your fault.
What’s more, despite our client being in a cross-walk, the insurance company tried to take advantage of Virginia’s contributory negligence law, which holds that if an injured person is just 1% at fault for an accident, they are barred from recovery. Only after we were able to find an eye witness through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request for phone records and have that person testify at deposition did they accept that our client did not contribute to this accident.
This is why it’s so important that, when possible, you take steps to preserve the evidence about how your accident happened as soon after the accident as possible. Here’s an article we’ve written to provide you a few ideas of what to do immediately after a Virginia car accident, if you’re physically able.
Still have questions?
Make sure to check out our Personal Injury & Criminal Defense Practice Pages where we’ve answered many other questions you likely have. Abrenio Law is a Personal Injury & Criminal Defense Law Firm representing individuals in Northern Virginia and throughout the Commonwealth. You can learn more about Abrenio Law by visiting our About Us page. You can also read about some of our Prior Results, and Read Our Reviews. Make sure to contact us at Ph. 703-570-4180 for your Free Consultation.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Every case is different, and the results depend on the unique facts presented. Nothing in our reported results is intended to imply that we would reach a similar result in your case. For every case that we accept, we complete a detailed evaluation for you (in most cases in writing) to provide you our analysis regarding what we think your case is worth. The only promise that we can make to you is to give you 100% effort and work with you as best as we can to attain the right result for your case.