Auto Accident Cases
Situation:
Did Chicago truck car tollway accident aggravate a pre-existing condition?
Our client, a 70 year-old grandmother, was driving on a tollway in the Chicago area when a catering van apparently missed its turn and tried to cut across three lanes of traffic, directly in front of our client who broadsided the van. Upon impact, our client’s knees struck the dashboard of her vehicle. After many months of treatment, she eventually required arthroscopic surgery on one of her knees, and later had a total knee replacement surgery on the same knee.
After we filed a lawsuit, the defendant’s attorneys obtained medical records from doctors our client had seen prior to the accident which showed that she had serious knee problems before the accident. Therefore, the insurance company for the defendant driver refused to make a reasonable settlement demand, claiming that the two knee surgeries that our client had after the accident were not related to the accident, but instead, were for a condition that “pre-existed” the accident. We ended up taking the depositions of the orthopedic surgeons that performed surgery on our client and they concluded that there was no way to know whether our client would have eventually needed both surgeries based upon her condition prior to the auto accident. Instead, it was their opinion that the auto accident probably aggravated her pre-existing condition to the point where she needed the surgeries.
Successful Resolution: $100,000
After hearing the deposition testimony of our client’s surgeons, the insurance company finally agreed to settle for close to its coverage limits of $100,000.
