Our Results

Pedestrian's Multiple Fractures Lead to Nearly $450,000 Settlement.

The case of a client we will call Jane Doe illustrates how important it is to carefully investigate the policy limits of Underinsured Motorist Coverage. Without an attorney to insist that the insurance company discloses all the details of the UIM coverage, cases like Jane’s settle for far less than their true value.

Jane was walking her dog when she was struck in a marked crosswalk by a 23-year old man driving a Honda Civic. The force of impact threw Jane onto the car, where she broke the windshield with her right shoulder. When paramedics arrived, they found Jane lying in the road, bleeding from the head, with no memory of the accident and no memory of basic information like her phone number. Jane was rushed by ambulance to Harborview Medical Center. Jane’s dog was taken to the city animal shelter.

One of the responding police officers smelled marijuana coming from the driver’s car, searched it, and found a bag of marijuana. The marijuana was seized, the car was impounded, and the driver was cited.

Jane’s injuries included a fractured arm, a fractured leg, a fractured rib, and serious fractures to the bones of her face. Surgeons implanted a metal plate and pins to stabilize her fractured humerus (upper arm bone), and sent her home to begin a slow recovery.

Jane’s follow-up treatment included hand surgery, surgery to remove the hardware in her shoulder, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. Doctors restricted Jane from working in her job as an occupational therapist at all for six months, followed by a limited work schedule.

Jane called Brett & Coats, and Dean Brett drove to her house for an initial consultation, since it was impossible for Jane to drive. Jane’s insurance company, GEICO, had told Jane that she carried only $50,000 in Underinsured Motorist coverage, even though her liability policy limit was $300,000. Since Washington law requires insurers to offer UIM coverage at the same policy limit as liability coverage unless the policy holder affirmatively waives the UIM coverage in writing, Dean Brett demanded that GEICO produce the written proof of UIM waiver. When they could not provide the waiver, the UIM coverage reverted to the $300,000 limit – effectively adding $250,000 in potential recovery.

Brett & Coats recovered the driver’s $50,000 liability policy limit, then demanded GEICO’s $300,000 UIM limit. GEICO responded with a counter-offer of just $129,000. Dean advised Jane to refuse this low offer and demanded mandatory arbitration.

At this point, Jane still had not finished treatment or achieved maximum recovery. To complicate matters, her health insurance coverage had changed, since she had been forced to leave her job as an occupational therapist in a higher-paying school district and begin a lower-paying, less-demanding job, because her injuries prevented her from performing the requirements of her previous position. The deductible on her new insurance would have been $7,000, far too much for Jane to afford, so she could not yet schedule the needed surgeries. With the cost of future surgeries in mind, Dean sent Jane to Dr. Frederic Braun, a Board Certified Neurologist, for an independent medical examination. In his report, Dr. Braun related all of Jane’s injuries to her accident. He rated Jane with an 8% full-body impairment based on the injury to her right upper extremity, imposed a 10-pound lifting limit, and restricted her from working at shoulder level or above. Dr. Braun concluded that Jane had suffered a permanent partial disability rating, meaning that she will not fully recover her pre-accident health status.

Using this information, Brett & Coats presented a new demand letter to GEICO, listing in detail the costs of medical care to date, future medical care, wage loss to date, future wage loss, and future loss in retirement-fund contributions, and again demanded that GEICO pay the entire $300,000 UIM policy limit. GEICO then paid.

Because the UIM limits were raised to $300,000 and then paid, Brett & Coats was able to obtain a waiver of the $48,600 lien against Jane for the medical payments made by both GEICO and the driver’s policy under their Personal Injury Protection coverage, as well as a waiver of the subrogation claim by her health insurance company for the $48,855.73 they paid for medical costs. These waivers significantly increased Jane’s total recovery, bringing it to nearly $450,000.

Insurance contracts are complicated, with many areas of ambiguity. In this case, had Jane Doe not sought out an attorney, she may have unknowingly accepted the initial UIM $50,000 settlement offer, and lost a quarter of a million dollars that she rightfully deserved.

For more information on serious personal injury claims, please see our auto accident page.