30-Year-Old Woman Suffers Serious Neck Injury in Rear-End Collision with Uninsured Driver

Our client was 30 years old, driving for her job with a railroad company, when she stopped for traffic in a busy part of town. An uninsured man who was driving behind her failed to stop in time and struck our client, causing a significant impact. Our client immediately went to the emergency room with neck pain. She underwent physical therapy and chiropractic treatment for months without experiencing significant improvement in her pain, and she continued to experience discomfort related to a popping in her neck even a year after the collision occurred. Unfortunately for our client, in addition to the ongoing pain she suffered after being struck by an uninsured driver, she was also off work for approximately a year and a half because with her occupation, the physicians could not release her to work until her condition had substantially improved.

Because our client was struck by an uninsured driver, we got to work right away to pursue a claim with her own uninsured motorist coverage under her personal auto insurance policy. Initially, the insurance company denied coverage. It claimed that because she was on the job at the time of the collision, itdid not have to cover her for her injuries. By researching the issue thoroughly and presenting arguments in favor of our client, we were able to persuade the insurance company that its initial assessment was wrong. It agreed to cover our client and offered the policy limits of $100,000.00 to settle her uninsured motorist claim.

Unfortunately, the hurdles to a good result did not stop after the policy limits offer. Our client’s employer claimed that it was entitled to a huge portion of her settlement that would have essentially left her with nothing. When attempts to negotiate with the employer went nowhere, we filed a lawsuit on our client’s behalf naming the uninsured driver, our client’s uninsured motorist carrier, and the entities that were claiming they were entitled to compensation out of her settlement. By forcing the issue by suing the parties claiming subrogation rights, digging deep into Ohio law, and strongly advocating on our client’s behalf, we were eventually able to negotiate a settlement that put our client in a substantially better position than she would have been if no one had been willing to take on the subrogation battle.