I represented a gentleman who had attended a family graduation party in New Jersey and was driving home to Maryland when he was rear-ended on the New Jersey Turnpike. My client was driving the speed limit in the middle lane of the turnpike when a taxi-cab driver behind my client in the left lane realized he was about to miss his exit and tried to cut over to the far right to make the exit. When the taxi-cab swerved to the right, his commercial vehicle rear-ended my client and caused a significant motor-vehicle crash. The time of the crash was 1:00 a.m. and the taxi-driver was late and speeding when he caused the crash.
My client was transported from the crash on the turnpike via an ambulance in a C-Collar to a local hospital Emergency Room. As a result of the crash, my client suffered a severe injury to his left shoulder. He underwent an MRI of his shoulder and the findings disclosed a grade 2 SLAP tear. A grade 2 SLAP tear is characterized by a detachment of the superior labrum and the origin of the tendon of the long head of the biceps from the glenoid resulting in instability of the biceps-labral anchor. This was a serious injury and it required surgery.
My client was surgically diagnosed with rotator cuff tendinopathy, grade 2 SLAP lesion/tear of the left shoulder and adhesive capsulitis of the left shoulder. His doctor performed the operation under general anesthesia. The surgery consisted of arthroscopic debridement of the labrum of the left shoulder, biceps tenodesis of the left shoulder, and left shoulder arthroscopic subacromial decompression.
After the surgery, my client required almost a full year of physical therapy. In addition to the severe injury to my client’s shoulder, he was also unable to work in his occupation as a heavy mechanic. My client was only able to lift 20 pounds and he could not lift anything overhead with his left arm over five pounds. My client lost his employment and source of income after the crash. As a result, we made a lost wage claim for his significant loss of income, in addition to the permanent and severe personal injuries.
The insurance company for the other driver did not want to settle the case despite the rear-end accident and severe permanent injuries and lost wages suffered by my client. This case had to be litigated in court. My firm retained a medical expert to diagnosis his shoulder injury. We obtained surgical illustrations to illustrate the surgery to the left shoulder. We obtained a Functional Capacity Expert to diagnose the occupational therapy and inability to work as a heavy mechanic due to the injuries. We also obtained an economic expert for the lost wage financial impact to my client from the accident.
This case was assigned a trial date. Once the trial date was scheduled and the experts were lined up, the defense finally agreed to settle my client’s claim for $312,500.00.
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Have questions? Need answers about an injury that occurred in New Jersey as a result of someone else’s negligence? If you or a loved one suffered an injury in an accident, you should contact an attorney familiar with handling these claims. My NJ Injury Lawyer Howard P. Lesnik, Esq. offers free strategy sessions to address any issue or questions you may have about your injury, medical bills or your accident claim.
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