A car accident lawsuit trial is slated to begin soon in Georgia, where plaintiff alleges he was strapped with a six-figure medical bill after the crash left him with a fused spine.
While many auto accident injuries can be serious, a fused spine is a lasting – and expensive – condition. It’s also extremely painful. When it results from another driver’s negligence, only an experienced injury lawyer should be trusted to handle the claim. Spinal fusion is a type of major surgery, often lasting several hours. It can involve bone taken from other areas and used to form a bridge between vertebrae or metal implants being inserted between sections until new bone can grow between them. Recovery time can take weeks and sometimes months. There are also risks that include:
- Intense pain
- Blood clots
- Nerve injuries
- Graft rejections
- Fusion failure
And of course, the surgery is extremely expensive.
According to reports from Courtroom View Network (CVN), the Georgia lawsuit, Reboulet v. Schlosberg, plaintiff is seeking more than $200,000 in compensation just for medical bills alone.
According to a pre-trial order plaintiff filed, it’s alleged defendant is at-fault for the rear-end collision that caused plaintiff’s injuries.
Plaintiff says he was traveling along a road in Cobb County, GA when a vehicle in front of him came to a sudden stop in order to make a left turn into a country club. Unfortunately, that driver was not using the correct turn lane; instead, he was in the middle. That’s part of the reason defendant probably did not anticipate the sudden stop by plaintiff. Nonetheless, defendant had a duty to maintain a safe and reasonable distance from the car ahead.
However, defense and his attorneys (hired by his auto insurance company) allege it was the plaintiff at-fault, as he was the only one to collide with a vehicle ahead of his in a line of cars behind the suddenly-stopped vehicle. This, they argue, means it was actually plaintiff who was following too closely, not paying attention and who is responsible for his own injuries.
The spinal fusion surgery was necessary due to the car accident neck injury plaintiff sustained in the incident. Plaintiff’s attorney said the case is fairly straightforward and, in many ways, “routine.” The problem was defendant had refused to settle for any reasonable amount. That left him with no choice, he said, but to press for a trial and take the case before a jury.
Plaintiff’s attorney speculated defense lawyers were relying on the “conservative nature” of jurors in the region. That’s a gamble, but many defense lawyers rely on the propaganda sewn by “tort reform” advocates, painting the picture that trial lawyers are greedy and car accident victims are only out for money. The reality is car accident victims incur substantial medical bills and lost wages as a result of these incidents. Through no fault of their own, they find themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hole. It’s not “greedy” to try to recover those damages – particularly from an auto insurance company that promises coverage for just these sorts of incidents.
Insurance companies are always searching for ways to slash their costs, and that typically involves offering to settle for far less than a case is worth. In order to ensure you receive fair compensation after a Fort Lauderdale car accident, work with an experienced lawyer.
Call Fort Lauderdale Injury Attorney Richard Ansara at (954) 761-4011. Serving Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
Additional Resources:
More Blog Entries:
Marshall v. Peter – Rear-End Collision Liability Not a Given, Sept. 7, 2015, Fort Lauderdale Car Accident Lawyer Blog