Plaintiff was seriously injured by a State of Michigan snow plow, which ran stop sign
I’m really proud of the work that our attorneys did in protecting an Ingham County car accident victim who was hit by a State of Michigan snow plow that ran through a stop sign.
This case involved a young plaintiff whose life dramatically changed after a serious auto accident in Ingham County, Michigan. As usual, in a state without bad faith, the defense low-balled a settlement offer through trial.
Here’s a little information about the case:
Brian Silcox was a Michigan Department of Transportation employee driving a salt truck owned by the State of Michigan. He failed to stop at a stop sign and collided with a car driven by the Plaintiff, 22-year-old Heather Hannay, totaling her car.
Negligence was not contested at trial.
Before the accident, Heather was a full time student who held two jobs, loved physical fitness and was engaged. She worked as a dental assistant and as a nighttime manager in a local gift shop, and had a bright future as a dental hygienist.
The accident ended that career path, and inflicted life-long pain for Heather. She sustained shoulder injuries and neck injuries in the car accident. She has undergone four shoulder surgeries and has constant neck pain. Her medical records and treating doctors attested to chronic pain syndrome, weakness, and substantial limitations in the use of her non-dominant arm. The un-rebutted testimony confirmed that her pain would be permanent.
Hannay’s treating doctors testified that Heather would never be able to work as a dental hygienist due to her injured shoulder. Heather’s case also included the testimony of a vocational rehabilitation counselor, who testified that her injury-related physical restrictions would limit her future employability and that she could never work as a dental hygienist due to her extensive shoulder injuries. That’s why Dave and Sarah claimed work loss based upon the loss of her career as a dental hygienist.
The defense did not contest its driver’s negligence, or that Heather was injured in the car crash. However, the defense argued that she was not entitled to recover work loss based upon a dental hygienist salary because she was not yet working in that capacity.
The Ingham County court awarded wage loss with a present value of $767,076, replacement services of $153,872, and non-economic damages of $474,904, for a total verdict of $1,395,852.
Great work in protecting Heather, getting her a result that will help protect her, and in being committed to your client when the State of Michigan first ignored her and then low-balled her auto accident settlement before the trial verdict.
Related information to protect yourselves:
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