Case type: Personal Injury, Motorcycle Rider Hit by Car
State/County of Settlement/City: Florida/Duval County/Jacksonville
Settlement Date: 11/13/13
Claimant’s Atty: Justin Ziegler
Insurance Company for Driver Who Received Ticket /Liability Claims Adjuster for Driver’s Insurance/Insurance Company for Car Owner/Claims Adjuster for Owner’s Insurer
Progressive/State Farm
Limits of BI Liability Insurance: $10,000 with Progressive/$25,000 with State Farm
Date of Accident: July 10, 2013
AGE, SEX, OCCUPATION OF CLIENT: 35 years old/ Male /Aviation Mechanic
CAUSE OF INJURY: On July 10, 2013 at approximately 3:29 a.m., our client was riding a motorcycle when a female driver of a car turned in front of him in an attempt to travel south in the left lane of U.S. Highway 17. Our client was unable to stop or maneuver around the car and laid his motorcycle on his right side. He was ejected from the motorcycle.
LIABILITY: Clear. After an investigation by the Orange Park Police Department, the driver of the car was placed at fault for having caused this accident. She made an illegal left turn as well as failed to yield the right of way. A diagram from the actual crash report is above.
NATURE OF INJURY: Among other injuries, our client was diagnosed with a right rotator cuff tear. On October 13, 2013, Dr. Michael Robinson of the Navy performed a right arthroscopic rotator cuff repair with mini open.
MEDICAL TREATMENT/FACILITIES:
On July 10, 2013, our client went to that ER at the Navy Hospital about 30 minutes after the accident whereupon he complained of right shoulder pain as well as pain in other parts of his body. The pain was so severe that he was given Morphine.
He continued to have severe limitation with range of motion following 2 months of conservative therapy and underwent an MRI on August 30, 2013 as the doctor suspected a rotator cuff tear and deltoid muscle involvement.
On August 30, 2013, he underwent an MRI of his right shoulder which revealed:
- 2 cm Rim rent tear in right rotator cuff at the junction of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus tendons. Subscapularis degeneration vs. partial tear.
- Posterior inferior labral tear.
- Mild acromioclavicular arthrosis.
- Limited evaluation of the intracapsular portion of the long head biceps tendon.
On October 21, 2013, he was placed under general anesthesia and underwent a right arthroscopic rotator cuff repair with min open. The operative diagnosis was a right shoulder rotator cuff tear. Michael A. Robinson, CDR MC USN, was the orthopedic surgeon.
A picture that was taken of the inside of his shoulder during the surgery is below.
MEDICAL EXPENSES/LIEN
The Navy paid $7,786.84 in medical expenses and they sought reimbursement of this amount from the settlement. After the case settled, it literally took 8 written requests over several months to get the Navy to reduce their lien to $6,000.
Our client was on a motorcycle in Florida at the time of the crash so he was not entitled to PIP.
WAGE LOSS:
This accident took a great emotional and financial toll on our client and his entire family. Even after returning to limited duty at work his wife had to adjust her work schedule so that she could drive him to work and to his doctor appointments including physical therapy appointments through at least February 2014 – three days per week. As of May 2014, he was not receiving physical therapy.
This caused his wife to lose a significant amount of money and she almost lost her job. His job has been put in jeopardy due to the accident. He was scheduled to go on deployment with his squadron on November 14, 2013 and he would have returned in July 2014; but was unable to do so due to this crash and was transferred out of the command.
If he would have been able to go on deployment, he would have received his current pay plus a per diem of $66 per day. Due to this crash, he did not receive the $66 per day for a period of 8 months, which equals approximately $2,270.40.
Now he was unsure of where he will be assigned or even if he will be allowed to remain in the Navy.
FUTURE MEDICAL TREATMENT: All other future medical treatment is unknown at this time.
LIFE EXPECTANCY: Approximately 42.86 years
INTANGIBLE DAMAGES:
The last time that I did an in-depth check on my client’s status was on May 2014. As of May 2014 he was no longer able to:
- Take the kids camping and riding ATVs.
- Do maintenance on the house. Either his son needs to do it or he needs to hire someone to get it done. He is not able to do the yard work or change the oil in his vehicles. It is difficult for him to do much anything that requires the use of my shoulder or arm at all. So many activities of daily living are limited because he does not have full use or strength of his arms.
His injuries have left him with deep scars and pain that runs from moderate to severe at times, and a loss of range of motion that will never be the same again. The pain keeps him from getting an adequate amount of sleep at night. He is only allowed to lift up to five pounds with the injured arm. This has put a large burden on his wife and children to assist with these tasks.
He is unable to do the things with his children that he did prior to the accident. This has caused a great deal of stress and issues with his self-confidence because he can no longer take care of his family the way he feels he should.
Before the accident he and his family had a great life, his children and wife were happy and his life was very productive. The accident has caused a large amount of pain and stress in addition to significantly reducing his activities of daily living.
Other important things to note:
Even though my client’s motorcycle was uninsured, we looked to see if we could make an uninsured motorist claim. This is because many motorcycle riders are entitled to uninsured motorist coverage if injured while on a motorcycle in Florida. This is true even if the motorcycle rider is driving a motorcycle that is not insured such as this case.
Tip: Do not assume that just because you are riding an uninsured motorcycle that you are not entitled to uninsured motorist coverage.
Unfortunately, my client could not make an uninsured motorist claim because his motorcycle was uninsured and he was not considered an insured under any uninsured motorist auto policies.
This case settled about 5 or so months after the crash, which is relatively quick. Over 13 factors may affect settlement value of a car crash. The limited insurance and fact that our client had shoulder surgery were 2 reasons for the quick settlement. Limited insurance is one of the reasons that motor vehicle accident cases generally, but not always, settle faster than slip and fall cases as a whole.
Because of the limited liability insurance, this was one of my lower shoulder surgery settlements.
Check out some of the many Florida injury cases Florida that we have settled, including but not limited to car accidents, slip and falls, and cruise ships accidents. We want to represent you if you were injured in an accident in Florida, on a cruise ship or boat. If you live in Florida but were injured in another state I may be able to represent you as well.
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