$1,975,000 SETTLEMENT – TRACTOR TRAILER SIDESWIPES CAR CAUSING LOW BACK INJURY WITH FUSION SURGERY

We represented a 30 year-old woman that was sideswiped on the highway by a tractor trailer.  While our client did not report any injuries at the scene or receive any medical care on the day of the crash, she began to experience pain the next day.   Just over five years prior to the crash, our client treated briefly for low back pain that was due to a pre-existing condition.  After the brief medical care, her pain resolved and she had no problems or further medical care until the crash with the tractor trailer.   Following the surgery, she made a good recovery and returned to exercising and working her job as a nurse full time with a promotion.   We focused our damages claim on the possibility that she would develop adjacent disc disease, which is a problem at the level in her low back either above or below the surgical site.   The medical literature showed a low chance of that occurring over ten years, however, we argued that our client had a life expectancy of 50+ years making her chances of developing a problem at the adjacent levels in her lower back higher. 

The defendants also argued that half of our client’s problems were due to her pre-existing condition.  Our legal argument was that under Connecticut law, since our client had been symptom free for five years before the crash that any argument or testimony by defendant’s expert orthopedic surgeon that half of our client’s problems were due to her pre-existing condition would not be admissible.   After an unsuccessful mediation, the parties engaged in depositions of the parties and their experts.  Following this additional discovery, the case settled at a second mediation and about a month before the trial of the case in Connecticut Federal Court.