Joe was riding his motorcycle to work in Newnan, Ga. A tractor-trailer driving the opposite direction turned left in front of him. He braked but couldn’t stop in time. He laid his motorcycle down and crashed into the tractor-trailer’s rear tire. Joe hurt his neck in the wreck. His doctors diagnosed him with a bulging disc in his neck, cervicalgia, myofascial syndrome, and aggravation of degenerative disc disease. He required more than a year of treatment including physical therapy, facet joint injections, and radiofrequency ablations before he recovered.
BBGA attorney Michael Ruppersburg secured a $90,000 settlement for Joe, which was three times his medical bills. The result is significant because the lawsuit was in Coweta County, Ga, a conservative county with juries who do not return large verdicts.
Review by: Joseph
Reviewing: Michael Ruppersburg’s Motorcycle Accident Legal Services
Date published: 2016
Rating: ★★★★★ 5 / 5 stars
THE WRECK
The state patrol investigated and found the tractor-trailer driver at fault for failing to yield while turning left. The truck driver and his company admitted they were at fault, so the case was about Joe’s injuries and fair compensation for them.
THE INJURIES
Joe’s neck and back hurt after the wreck, but he didn’t think he was seriously hurt. He went to an urgent care clinic later that day, which gave him prescriptions for his pain. When he didn’t get better after a week, he went to see a chiropractor.
The chiropractor ordered X-rays to make sure Joe didn’t have any broken bones and recommended that he start physical therapy.
Joe did several months of physical therapy and his back pain went away, but his neck pain did not. The chiropractor referred him to an orthopaedist, who ordered an MRI of Joe’s neck. The MRI showed that Joe had a bulging disc in his neck at the C5-6 level.
The orthopaedist recommended that Joe have facet joint injections for his neck pain. Facet joints are the joints between the vertebrae in your spine. Trauma like a car wreck can inflame the facet joints, making them painful. Facet joint injections involve injecting an anesthetic and steroids to numb the pain.
The facet joint injections helped Joe’s neck pain, but it unfortunately came back. His doctor then recommended Joe have radiofrequency nerve ablations. Radiofrequency nerve ablations burn away the nerves in your neck that are causing pain, making the pain stop. The nerves usually grow back over time and the pain sometimes returns, requiring another ablation. The ablation greatly reduced Joe’s pain. While he may need more treatment in the future, he’s back to leading an active and healthy life.
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