Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
Chicago car accident lawyers at Abels & Annes have received a good award for one of their clients by way of binding arbitration.
The case stems from an auto accident where the plaintiff was stopped for a red light on southbound River Rd. at Devon in the City of Rosemont, Illinois. As she was sitting stopped at the light she was struck from behind by a vehicle that was driving too fast for conditions.
Our client was seen in Lutheran General Hospital’s Emergency Room on the date of the collision with complaints of back and neck pain. She had no prior history of back or neck problems. She was diagnosed with sprain/strain and instructed to seek follow up care.
She initially sought follow up treatment with a medical doctor later that week. Because of her complaints, the doctor ordered a Lumbar MRI which was performed on March 31, 2008 which identified disk herniations at L5-S1, T12-L1 and T11-T12.
Based upon her condition the plaintiff was prescribed and underwent a lengthy course of physical therapy. Due to her ongoing pain and limitations as a result of her injuries she was referred to a pain specialist who performed bilateral L3-4, L4-5 and L5-S1 intraarticular facet joint injections on June 12, 2008.
Based upon her good response to the injections and physical therapy, her doctor determined that she reached maximum medical improvement on June 27, 2008.
We recovered $20,000 insurance policy limits from the defendant’s insurance carrier, and then moved forward on an under-insured motorist claim against our client’s own insurance carrier, State Farm.
Because we were unable to reach a fair settlement, we proceeded to a binding arbitration hearing at ADR Systems. The Judge awarded the plaintiff $49,500.