Settlement Negotiated at Mediation: Our client’s father was unnecessarily killed while he worked on a construction site at OHSU. He was walking along the only exit route from the site when he was crushed in a “pinch point” between the counterweight of a large track mounted drill rig and a concrete wall adjacent to the walkway. He died shortly after the accident. The company failed to barricade, tape off, or otherwise warn workers against walking in the unsafe “pinch point” area. The man’s children are left without their dad due to this negligent act.
Jury Award: Our client was working as a traffic control supervisor on a MAX light rail construction site around midnight when she tripped over an unmarked obstruction protruding several inches from the sidewalk and fell on her head and knees. The obstruction was a 2×4 piece of wood that had been left on the sidewalk and had no warning devices set up to protect our client or the other workers from this obstruction. It was impossible to see it as it was dark out due to the late hour. Our client suffered serious injuries to her neck including a herniated disc and spinal cord compression requiring urgent surgery to repair. The at-fault company refused to accept responsibility and the insurance company claimed that her neck problems and severe pain were due to a chronic degenerative disease and did not result from the accident. Our attorneys fought hard to show that these symptoms had not been present prior to the accident. Our client was an active, hardworking person who enjoyed the outdoors. Her activity level and range of motion in her neck were greatly diminished due to this accident.
Policy Limits Settlement: Our client was involved in a low speed, rear-end accident resulting in serious injury that required two neck surgeries. While some low speed impacts cause minimal damage to the car and the person hit, this case involved severe injury. The insurance company did not understand how severe injuries were caused with no material property damage. Due to the positioning of our client at the time of impact, he sustained very serious injury. He was waiting to merge into traffic and was leaning forward and looking over his left shoulder to assess traffic at the time of impact. In this particular case, our client had over $100,000 in medical bills and nearly the same in wage loss and lost earning potential. Our client had been dealing with the insurance company himself for over a year before contacting our personal injury attorneys. The insurance company was not taking his claim seriously, going on the assumption that all low speed impacts cause little or no injury to the person involved. Our attorneys presented a strong case by using an accident reconstructionist, a forensic economist, a thorough analysis of the facts of the case and our reputation as strong trial lawyers to demand a policy limits settlement in this case. Our client not only had to have two surgeries and recover physically from them, he lost precious time with his wife and three small children that he’ll never get back. We were able to secure a policy limits settlement for our client without needing to take the case to trial.