$50,000 Car Accident Settlement – Adding Good Faith Value to Claims Involving Concussions
Injury claims involving concussions can be real wildcards, because oftentimes there is no objective evidence of injury, the treatment is sparse, the bills are low, and insurance adjusters disregard your client’s subjective complaints of memory loss and headaches.
However, at Burger Law, we know how to add value to these claims and persuade insurance companies to compensate concussions in good faith. For example, Genavieve recently obtained a $50,000 policy limits settlement for her client Amanda who suffered a concussion in a car accident, and we are currently pursuing an underinsured claim as well.
Concussion Treatment – The Impact on A Case
It is crucially important for a concussion patient to be evaluated by a neurologist. Unlike a herniated disk or broken bone, concussions cannot be diagnosed through X-rays or MRIs. Insurance adjusters tend to discredit symptoms that are only based on what a patient says, such as memory loss or headaches.
However, a neurologist will utilize specialized cognitive testing that leads to the best care for your client AND that will show the real legitimacy and harm from a concussion to an adjuster (or jury!).
Burger Law helped coordinate Amanda’s appointment with a neurologist, who diagnosed her with post-concussion syndrome caused by the car accident and then referred her to cognitive rehabilitation where she treated for three months.
Concussion patients often assume that there is nothing that can be done to treat these injuries and don’t have any treatment or bills apart from the initial ER visit. However, Amanda’s cognitive rehabilitation, which involved speech pathology, eye muscle coordination, visual tracking, and other exercises, helped her recovery and added value to her case due to the documented treatment and medical bills.
Making the Case
The demand letter in these cases is also uniquely important. A concussion is a type of mild “traumatic brain injury.” The phrase “traumatic brain injury” tends to evoke more of a response from adjusters than just “concussion,” so this terminology was used in the letter.
Since the bills were not very high, Genavieve emphasized the severity of the injury in a way that is not captured in the records. She described the difficulties Amanda experienced in detail, such as memory lapses, difficulties with word retrieval, critical thinking, and attention deficits, and illustrated how they interfered with her daily life as a school psychologist, graduate student, wife, and mother.
The tragedies involving players with head injuries in the NFL have shed light on the severity of concussions that were previously ignored. Thus far, the NFL has already paid out nearly one billion dollars to eligible players and their families. With challenges to that settlement rejected.
If there is one thing insurance companies care about, it is their pocketbooks, so it doesn’t hurt to remind the adjuster of these figures.
Burger Law knows how to maximize settlements in these tricky head injury cases. Contact us today to discuss your case.
