There’s more than meets the eye in a commercial vehicle claim
Our client was a passenger in a car in Fort Worth two years ago that stopped at a flashing red light on a wet morning when she and her husband were rear ended by a delivery van. Property damage to their car was minor and there was only a scratch to the front bumper on the commercial vehicle. The driver said that his brakes had locked up on the wet pavement and blamed the light for confusing him. No one reported any injuries, the police were not called, and both vehicles drove off.
End of this story? No, just the opposite.
As often happens after a collision, the woman’s neck and back started hurting. Four days later, her PCP said she had a strain/sprain and prescribed anti-inflammatories.
She filed a claim with the other company but the insurance adjuster said she could not possibly have been hurt in this low speed impact. Further the adjuster told the woman that her husband and the company’s driver were not injured and its driver had a valid excuse. The insurance company made her a paltry offer of settlement of several hundred dollars, referred to in the world of personal injury as a “nuisance offer.”
Adding to the complexity of her case, she had fallen earlier in her life and had just had three vertebrae in her cervical spine fused the year before this wreck. Proving that someone’s current pain is not preexisting can present a problem for a personal injury lawyer. Further, her medical treatment consisted of only two routine visits at her PCP. And she was salaried and did not lose any wages from her job. Her damages were minimal.
She hired our firm a month later after other personal injury firms had turned her case. But we knew we could help her. Mr. Berenson has represented a lot of people who were injured in wrecks caused by a commercial vehicle over the past almost 40 years and knows what to do. Our firm went to work.
We conducted an investigation to attempt to prove that the damage to her car was greater than it appeared to the naked eye. We researched the driving and criminal record of the company’s employee and the safety record of the company. We conducted other research.
We worked with doctors to make sure that our client got the necessary medical treatment she needed — always our number one goal. Mr. Berenson suspected that she had injured her intervertebral discs and paid for magnetic resonance images (MRIs) that revealed that she had two small bulging discs. She had to undergo a series of epidural steroid injections to alleviate her pain which again we paid for, both at greatly discounted rates to help her out.
We filed a lawsuit against the driver and his company when the company continued to deny the claim.
We have just settled our client’s case for a confidential amount.
Our firm then reduced the subrogation lien held by her health insurance company and which lowered the verdict in court: How subrogation affects car wreck claims
We then cut our attorney’s fee to put more money into her bank account.
We relentlessly do everything possible to increase the amount of money our clients receive from the settlement or jury verdict.
Our client was extremely happy with the results and kindly wrote this review on Google:
“The Berenson firm totally lives up to their reputation. We did a fair amount of research looking for a firm that was honest and realistic as I was having difficulty getting the insurance company to do the right thing. I just wanted them to cover my medical costs but all they offered was to cover my copayments. Mr. Berenson and his awesome team surpassed our expectations. We were also pleased the firm got a reasonable payment for their efforts. They earned it. He and I both hope he never has to help us again but would happily do so if necessary.”
If you have unfortunately been the victim of a commercial vehicle or car or truck collision in North Texas and want to read reviews from a car wreck lawyer’s past clients, there are hundreds of others on Google, AVVO, and other sites. Some of those reviews are here.
We have the greatest clients and it is a true privilege to fight to get them the compensation that they deserve.
Please contact us if you need our help with your crash.
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