It was a cold day in February and our client, a young woman in her twenties, was called into work early and had to catch a Lyft rideshare instead of taking the bus as usual. She recalled dozing off while looking at her phone and the next thing she could remember was the Lyft driver’s seat being shoved back into her, and the driver was having a seizure. Our client had pain in her jaw and mouth, which was bleeding, and she had broken teeth.
The Lyft vehicle had been driving on the freeway and was rear-ended at a high rate of speed, causing them to be pushed into another vehicle ahead. The Lyft vehicle was smashed front and back and completely mangled. Both our client and the Lyft driver were lucky to survive.
Our client suffered post-traumatic stress over the trauma of the collision and the condition of the driver, who had to be extricated while she sat there with him practically in her lap. She was then taken to the hospital where it was determined she suffered from mandibular fractures and malalignment of her teeth.
Surgery was required after which her mouth was wired shut, necessitating feeding through a tube for six weeks and keeping emergency wire cutters nearby in case she needed to vomit to prevent choking. Once her jaw healed, she found that she had lost her sense of smell and taste. After consultation with a neurologist and an MRI scan of her brain, it was determined that she had injured her olfactory nerve and there was a possibility this would never fully return.
Our Client Never Dreamed She’d Get Enough Money to Buy a House!
The case was negotiated and settled for policy limits of $1.1 million dollars, which included an excess policy. Our client was shocked at the amount since her treatment concluded within ten months and her medical bills were a few thousand shy of $90,000.00 which means her settlement was more than 12 times the amount of her medical bills – this is outside the norm in personal injury and when compared to jury verdicts of similar injury cases. She said she thought she’d get a good amount of money – but not enough to buy a house!
Early on, as our general practice, we identify where a case needs extra substantiation to get full value. In this, it was the psychological component from the trauma of the car crash itself, believing the driver was going to die right in front of her, and her own physical suffering. We hired a neuropsychologist expert, who evaluated our client and provided a report that helped us to get the best possible result.