Articles Posted in Neck Injury Cases

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A Philadelphia jury entered a verdict of $55 million in damages after nine days of trial testimony in favor of Carlos Martinez who suffered paralysis in a car crash when his Honda SUV rolled over. Martinez’s head hit the roof of the vehicle in the rollover. There was evidence revealed during the discovery process that showed that Honda had determined that a seat-belted driver would strike his or her head on the roof in a rollover crash. The Honda vehicle, an Integra SUV, was not further tested by Honda to resolve that defect to protect drivers and passengers in rollover incidences.

The lawyer representing Martinez maintained that the injuries suffered could have been avoided by a safer design of the seat belt that was already in existence. It is hopeful that this verdict would send a message to Honda that it must correct the defect to the seat belt in this Honda vehicle.

The jury’s verdict of $55 million included $25 million for past and future damages, $14.6 million for medical expenses and $15 million that was assigned for the benefit of Martinez’s wife for loss of consortium.

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A 56-year-old woman, Shirley Walker, who was wheelchair-bound, was receiving transportation services from a company known as LocoMotion. LocoMotion was a county-subsidized bus service. While the wheelchair was being loaded onto the transportation van by a mechanical lift, she found that she had been left alone and unattended. Walker released the chair’s brakes believing that she would roll onto the van. But the wheelchair rolled backward and it fell off the lift. She fell with the wheelchair, which resulted in her suffering a fractured neck.

After the incident, Walker was paralyzed from the neck down until her unfortunate death. She was just 56 years old.

The Walker family brought a wrongful death lawsuit that claimed that LocoMotion’s owner was responsible for choosing not to strap Walker’s wheelchair onto the lift or stand behind her as she rolled onto the van. Before the case went to trial, the matter was settled for $500,000.

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On Oct. 2, 2009, the car driven by defendant Monica Carroll, a 57-year-old attorney, rear-ended James Anderson’s car on northbound Illinois Interstate 94 between Lake Cook Road and Route 22.  Anderson was a 66-year-old retiree who alleged that the impact caused neck pain or accelerated a degenerative condition in his cervical spine, which required physical therapy, steroid injections and radiofrequency ablations to alleviate his pain.

Radiofrequency ablation is utilized to reduce pain. An electrical current produced by a radio wave is used to warm up the area of pain usually a nerve tissue, which in many cases leads to decreasing the pain signals from that specific area.

Anderson was told by his treating physician that he would require fusion surgery for a C4-5 disc herniation and degenerative cervical spine with the possibility of a 3-level fusion procedure needed at C4-7. However, Anderson has not undergone the surgery. At trial, Anderson produced past medical expenses of $55,000 although $125,000 for future surgery costs was barred by the court.

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Patricia DeBoo, 61, was shopping at Menard’s when she was struck in the head by a bathroom vanity that was inadvertently pushed off a high shelf by a Menard’s employee. The worker was operating a forklift in an adjacent aisle and attempting to bring down some merchandise from the high storage shelf.

DeBoo alleged in her lawsuit that she suffered a cervical end-plate fracture3 at C-6, right sternoclavicular injury at L4-5, facet arthropathy and sacroiliac joint injury, which resulted in more than $44,000 in medical bills.

The defendant admitted liability, but argued at trial that only the spinal fracture and sternoclavicular injury were related to this incident. The defendant maintained that the low back injury was not related to this accident.

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Walter Rutland, 49, was riding his bike in the right lane of a state road that had recently been resurfaced. He moved to the right to avoid a car approaching from behind him. The bicycle’s front tire came on to a drop-off between the newly resurfaced road and a fringe area that had not been resurfaced. Rutland lost control of his bike and fell.

As a result of his fall, he was hospitalized with spinal injuries; an MRI showed swelling at C1-7. He underwent decompression infusion surgery at C2-7, but the injuries resulted in complete quadriplegia. Rutland is now only able to walk about 25 feet. He requires a wheelchair for longer distances to move about. He also requires assistance with most of his daily tasks.

Rutland’s past medical expenses totaled about $700,000 and his future medical expenses and life-care costs were estimated to be about $4.5 million.

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James R. Fregeau was involved in two separate rear-end motor vehicle crashes within 20 months.  In both cases his car was rear-ended by another vehicle.  Fregeau filed two separate lawsuits that later were consolidated for discovery and trial. 

The first crash took place on April 22, 2009 when the car driven by defendant Anthony Foster rear-ended a vehicle in front of him that was then pushed into the Fregeau car.  The second crash took place on Dec. 4, 2010 when the car driven by defendant Dina Whittier rear-ended Fregeau’s car on southbound Interstate 57 near 167th Street in Markham, Ill.  In that case, the Fregeau and the Whittier car spun out and a second impact occurred when they struck each other.

As for the first crash, Fregeau was 27 years old and claimed he suffered spinal sprains and aggravations of a facet joint arthropathy, which required emergency room visits, doctor visits, CT scans, MRIs, bone scan, physical therapy, chiropractic treatment, facet blocks and future facet ablations. 

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On May 20, 2008, Timothy Balota, 31, was driving southbound on Interstate 55 in Collinsville, Ill., when traffic came to a stop approaching a construction zone near Route 157.  Collinsville is a near east side suburb of St. Louis.  A truck was stopped behind the plaintiff’s car when the semi-tractor-trailer driven by defendant Lewis Casey rear-ended the truck at 20-30 mph.  That crash triggered a chain reaction collision, which included five vehicles. 

At the time of the crash, Balota was on his way to have staples removed from a surgery necessitated by a life-threatening accident just 13 months earlier. 

As a result of the impact of this crash, Balota sustained cervical disc injuries at C5-6, C3-4 and C6-7 with future surgery recommended by his treating physician.  Balota also suffered aggravation of pre-existing conditions in his lumbar and thoracic spine. He claimed past and future lost time as a carpenter of $485,299. 

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A Cook County jury has determined that Brelinda Walker, age 58 and retired, was traveling northbound on Michigan Avenue in Chicago and while waiting to make a left turn on westbound Adam Street was hit from behind by the defendant, Adam Riley, age 21. Those facts were straightforward.  The jury also had to consider the medical evidence and the parties’ testimony about what each believed had occurred in this car crash.

Walker contended that the impact from the crash caused her cervical and lumbar disc aggravations, requiring emergency room care, MRIs, chiropractic treatment and epidural injections into the cervical and lumbar spine.  She claimed that the crash drastically changed her normal life.

The defendant Riley admitted liability in causing the impact. However, he also maintained that Walker merely sustained neck and back strains, which required only a visit to the emergency room, MRIs and 6-8 weeks of physical therapy. 

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Sarah Burns, 29, left work early on June 22, 2010 because she was not feeling well and had a migraine headache. She was driving her car northbound on Route 53 in Palatine, Ill., around 12:40 pm, when she was forced to merge into the adjacent lane in front of defendant’s Lazaro Jimenez’s minivan due to a lane closure for road construction. 

Right after the merger of the two vehicles, Jimenez, 75 and a retiree, rear-ended Burns’s car. Burns and Jimenez disputed the force of the impact. Burns testified that it was a high-speed impact, while Jimenez stated at trial that it was a low-speed crash.

Photographs of both vehicles were admitted into evidence, which showed only minor damage with small scratches to the front of Jimenez’s minivan and a dent to the rear of Burns’s car.  Jimenez reportedly had $2,111 in property damages, while the Burns car had $3,079 in property damage.

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