Auto Accident Injury Cases
Situation:
Did the auto accident cause the knee injury?
Our client was a 36 yr. old male, married, and father of two, referred to us by another law firm for injuries sustained in an auto accident in suburban Chicago. He had been employed for several years as a sheriff with the Cook County Forest Preserve District, on his way home from his nighht shift at work when the accident happened.
When our client was a teen-ager, he tore the meniscus and acl in his knee playing basketball, and had surgery. He made a good recovery, and resumed playing sports and working out in a gym. Occasionally, he would feel some pain. About 3 months before the auto accident, he had some swelling in his knee, and went one time to a doctor for a cortisone injection. He lost no time from work, was placed on no restrictions, and given no medication.
As our client was driving down a four lane road, another car made a sudden turn to enter a gas station. To avoid contact, our client slammed on his brakes, extending his right, previously injured knee. He immediately felt pain and swelling, and was taken to a local hospital. He followed up a week later with the orthopedic surgeon who had operated on his knee years earlier. An MRI was taken which showed a torn meniscus, and torn acl. He was referred to another surgeon who specialized in reconstructive knee surgery, which occurred a year later.
The defendant denied liability for the auto accident, and further denied that the accident resulted in damage to our client’s knee. The insurance company for the defendant hired an expert witness - an orthopedic surgeon - to testify at trial that our client’s knee had undergone degenerative (ie. arthritic) changes, and while he found no fault with the decision to operate, believed the reason for the surgery was due to degeneration, not the car accident.
Successful Resolution: $300,000
The case was presented to a jury. We called our client’s former and current surgeons as witnesses, who agreed that since he had been doing well for so many years before the accident, and became symptomatic immediately afterwards, that the car accident had resulted in damage to his knee, and the need for surgery. We also learned, and explained to the jury, that the defendant’s expert was somethng of a professional witness, earning seveal hundred thousand dollars a year from testifying in legal cases. The jury found for our client.
