Multiple Motor Vehicle Accidents: $150,000.00 and $14,600.00
Type of Action: Automobile Accident (x2)
Injuries Alleged: Lumbar spine injury
Case name: withheld
Court/Case no. Both Cases filed at Middlesex County Superior Court/ Case Nos. withheld
Amount: $150,000.00 for the first case and $14,600 for the second case
Date: First case resolved March 2011; Second case resolved May 2010
Attorney: Adam H. Becker, Sheff Law Offices, Boston, MA
Sheff Law Office represented a man involved in two motor vehicle accidents, the second of which occurred only three months following the first. The case became complicated due to the second motor vehicle accident which very often rules out a significant recovery in the first case due to the fact that the injuries resulting from each accident become difficult to distinguish. This was particularly problematic because the insurance coverage for the tortfeasor in the second case was only $20,000.00, whereas it was $250,000.00 for the tortfeasor in the first case. As a result, it was particularly important to attribute the majority of the client’s injuries and damages to the first accident.
Sheff Law Office was able to locate and hire expert physicians to prove that the more serious of the client’s injuries, a non-surgical, partially herniated lumbar disc, occurred during the first accident whereas the second accident only caused a minor aggravation of said condition as well as a neck strain. The insurer for the first case claimed that the majority of the injuries were due to the second case because the majority of the diagnostic tests done for the first case did not occur until after the second accident occurred. However, through the use of expert testimony, working closely with the client’s treating physicians and through the development of evidence to demonstrate three months of time missed from work following the initial accident, Sheff Law Offices was not only able to procure a small recovery for the second case but a significant recovery from the original claim, as well.
