Linda is a breast cancer survivor who underwent a double mastectomy. After she recovered, she received breast implants to return to her pre-surgery appearance. She was driving to work one day when another driver pulled out in front of her, crashing into her car. The seatbelt and airbag ruptured one of Linda’s implants, forcing her to undergo two surgeries to remove and replace it. BBGA attorney Michael Ruppersburg secured a $200,000 settlement for Linda from Allstate Insurance Company and The Hartford Insurance Company, which was the total amount of insurance – and nearly three times her medical bills and lost wages.
THE WRECK
Linda was driving to work when another car pulled out in front of her. She hit her brakes and tried to avoid the car but crashed into the side of it. Here’s what her car looked like after the wreck:
The police found the other driver at fault for the wreck and gave him a ticket for failure to yield.
THE INJURIES
Linda was wearing her seat belt and while it restrained her during the wreck, it pulled tight across her chest and shoulders, leaving a bad bruise in the shape of a seat belt. After the wreck, she had chest, neck and back pain. She was taken to the emergency room by ambulance and diagnosed with a traumatic injury to her chest and strains and sprains to her neck and back.
While the neck and back pain went away after a couple of days, Linda continued having chest pain and went to her see her doctor. The doctor ordered an MRI of her chest, which showed one of her implants had torn and was leaking material. Linda underwent surgery to remove and replace the torn implant and the leaking material and several months later had to have a second surgery to revise the injured area.
THE LAWSUIT & SETTLEMENT
The other driver had $100,000 in insurance with Allstate and Linda had $100,000 in add-on uninsured motorist coverage with The Hartford for a total of $200,000 in insurance.
We initially tried to settle the case without a lawsuit, but when Allstate refused to pay its $100,000 in insurance, we filed a lawsuit. During the case, we provided evidence and testimony from Linda’s doctor that her injuries and surgeries were caused by the wreck. After nearly six months of litigation, Allstate and The Hartford both agreed to pay the $200,000 in insurance.
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