The Rotatori Law Firm recently settled a soft tissue cervical strain/sprain injury for $33,000.00. The case was settled after suit was filed in the Waterbury Superior Court. The plaintiff was a tax analyst from Watertown, Connecticut. She was rear ended in Woodbury, Connecticut by a Woodbury defendant. The plaintiff had her automobile turn signal on and was waiting to make a left hand turn down a public roadway. She was operating a mini van. The defendant admitted he was looking at a home under renovation immediately before the collision. Hence, the plaintiff had an admission by a party opponent that the defendant driver failed to keep a proper lookout. The impact resulted in defendant air bag deployment. The plaintiff missed no time from work. The plaintiff had no cervical priors. Treatment consisted of chiropractic care with a well respected local chiropractic physician. The liability insurance carrier, USAA, dragged its feet reviewing the file contents and made no reasonable offer until suit was filed. It also had difficulty in understanding Connecticut collateral source offset rules. The plaintiff was assigned a "garden variety" 5% impairment of her cervical spine. The Fifth Edition of the AMA Guide was used as the impairment reference guide by the treating physician. The reason for this author writing this blog is to identify that some clients are hesitant about having suit filed on their case. There may be a variety of reasons. Suit, more often than not, is often necessary to ensure that a client receives the proper value for his or her personal injuries by way of settlement or judgment. Any decision to bring suit assume the facts of the case and the damages suffered by the client warrant the expense, time and effort bringing a lawsuit entails.
Regards, Peter Rotatori, III