$400,000 Car Accident Settlement In Russellville, KY

The Hughes & Coleman Bowling Green car accident lawyers recently obtained a $400,000 settlement for a Russellville client who was injured in a car accident in 2019. The woman, a mother of two children with strong ties to the community, was traveling through Russellville when a corporate van ran a stop sign at an intersection, causing a T-bone collision. Her journey to healing the resulting back injury would prove to be long, painful, and emotionally taxing.

Our Russellville, KY Client

Prior to the collision, our client lived life to the fullest. She worked in the Western Kentucky region managing a grant that helps individuals find jobs and stay afloat. Our client would travel across ten counties, help place individuals in jobs, and coach those who were struggling. Her work helping others gave her a great sense of pride and purpose, and she led a fulfilling career. She also had a tight-knit family. A single mother of two boys, she spent her evenings in the bleachers cheering her son on at football games. She also frequently assisted her elderly parents with work around the house. When not helping others or supporting her family, she enjoyed spending time with her friends and going out for nights of dancing – a hobby she loved that kept her active. She was – and is – a remarkable individual who used each opportunity to give back to those around her.

Russellville Car Accident Causes Severe Back Injury

In 2019, our client was driving through Russellville with her son in the passenger seat. As she came to the intersection, a commercial van approached from a side road. Our client saw the van speeding towards her and realized it wasn’t going to stop. She tried to avoid the collision by changing from the right lane to the left lane, but the van kept coming. Unable to maneuver her vehicle any further due to another car occupying the lane to her left, she was trapped directly in the van’s path. The van struck our client’s vehicle on the passenger side. The speed and momentum the van had as it ran the stop sign also caused it to strike the vehicle directly next to our client. Upon impact, her right knee hit the dashboard, and she was flung with enough force that her seatbelt caused significant bruising across her body.

Paramedics and police officers were called to the scene. They evaluated our client’s son and released him to go to work. Our client, dedicated to her job helping others, got a ride to work from a coworker following the collision. She was in mild pain, but the extent of her injuries was likely masked due to the adrenalin from the accident. She tried to get through her workday, but as the adrenalin wore off, she realized her injuries were much more severe than she initially thought. A pain that had started in her lower back was becoming substantially worse. Meanwhile, her son, who had been in the passenger seat, had developed a severe headache. They both determined a more thorough medical evaluation was necessary. Our client’s mother picked both our client and her son up and took them to the emergency room.

Treatment and Mistreatment

Our client was given X-rays and scans at the hospital. She then made a follow-up appointment with her primary care physician. For her knee pain, she saw a specialist who performed injections to alleviate the pain. She found relief through the injections, and she was able to manage her knee pain without surgical intervention.

She began physical therapy, but as her bruises faded and other parts of her body began to heal, her lower back pain persisted. She was referred to another doctor for evaluation. Our client expressed the severity of her pain and described her course of treatment thus far. However, rather than conducting any kind of physical exam, the doctor dismissed her experience, telling her instead that her pain was due to being overweight. This diagnosis was not only cold and uncaring but was simply wrong. While our client stated she has always been a bigger woman, she has always been active. Prior to the collision, in addition to dancing, she had also participated in a women’s football league. She had never experienced pain like she was currently suffering from. Our client felt humiliated.

She was later referred to another specialist – a doctor who saw the pain she was experiencing and didn’t attribute her suffering to her size. He started our client on a treatment plan that provided her with the relief she so desperately needed. Our client began receiving ablations and injections into her back. The relief was temporary, and receiving the injections and ablations was excruciating. However, she continued treatment despite the pain of the procedures, as they were the only thing that provided respite from the enduring agony she now suffered. More significantly, it allowed our client to reclaim periods of time when she could return to some semblance of her previous life.

Lasting Impacts After the Wreck

Despite seeing improvement in her condition, our client was far from recovered from the collision. She required ongoing treatment just to be able to accomplish day-to-day tasks, and the hobbies she once enjoyed were now significantly more difficult, if not impossible. Her job required sitting in a vehicle and driving for long periods of time – a task that hadn’t caused any issues for her in the past. However, sitting and driving now caused considerable discomfort and pain. Before the crash, she loved supporting her son by sitting on the bench and watching him play football. As a single mother, it was something she took great pride in. However, she now struggled to sit on the bench during his games without being overcome with the pain in her back. The assistance she used to give her parents with household chores became more difficult. She found herself having to choose between certain tasks in order to manage her pain. The guilt weighed heavily on her as her restrictions began to affect not only her but her family and her friendships. She struggled to attend social gatherings, such as evening outings to dance with her friends. Her relationships suffered as a result – a consequence that left her feeling alone and isolated.

400K Russellville Car Accident Settlement

It was clear our client was suffering. While she had found some forms of treatment that gave her relief, she was still unable to return to the state she was in prior to the collision. However, arguments were made that our client should be limited in the compensation she received since she was still able to do some of the activities she loved. This was misleading; our client was far from able to perform her job duties or participate in the hobbies she loved. She was forced to balance her love of helping others with the level of pain she had on a given day. Her son needed his mom on the sideline cheering him on at his game, so she would endure the pain, even if it meant being unable to get up in the morning due to the physical agony. Struggling communities in Western Kentucky needed her assistance to find security and stability in job placement. Her friends needed her to be the lively and fun woman she once was – the outgoing individual who was just as comfortable on the dancefloor as she was on the football field.

Our team entered negotiations with the insurance company. Initially, our client was offered $95,000 to cover her medical bills and pain and suffering. However, our experienced Bowling Green personal injury lawyers knew this offer was far too little. Our client had undergone excruciating medical procedures and missed out on portions of her life that could never be returned to her. Further, her pain was still present. She would likely need continued treatment for the foreseeable future to maintain her health. After further negotiations, the Hughes & Coleman team obtained a $400,000 settlement – 4 times what was initially offered to her.

Get Hughes & Coleman

Serious injuries such as these happen to good people like our client every day. A single mother of two who gives everything she can back to her community was critically injured due to corporate negligence. She experienced real pain, and when consulting with doctors – the very professionals meant to help her – they couldn’t see past her weight and let their own biases get in the way. Finding the right medical professional to treat your injuries is critical for both your long-term health and for the strength of your personal injury case. That’s why our team is happy to work with you and find the right doctors to treat your pain. We can even help schedule appointments to ensure you’re getting the care you need.

The Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers team was honored to be able to help this incredible individual get her life back on track. We fight relentlessly for the justice each client deserves.

If you’ve been harmed due to someone else’s negligence, we’re here for you 24/7 at 800 800 4600.