Broward man gets into car crash with impaired driver and settles UM claim for $250,000.00

Author: Attorney Jason Macri

A 25 year-old Broward man was rammed on I-95 in Fort Lauderdale by an impaired driver while heading home from the Hard Rock Casino. The impact was hard enough to force our client’s vehicle to spin several times. The person who struck him flipped his vehicle and landed on his roof in the middle of I-95. The other driver was suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol however, because he was rendered unconscious from the crash, he was brought to the hospital and no testing was done to determine his level of intoxication. Whether he was intoxicated or not didn’t have a huge impact on the case because it was obvious that the man was grossly negligence regardless of his level of impairment.

Our client was a young former bodybuilder so he initially felt tough enough to walk away from the crash but by the next morning, he was in so much pain that he could hardly move. He began treatment with a chiropractor, hoping for some pain relief. While the chiropractor was helpful, he couldn’t help with the extreme pain to our client’s left knee. A visit with the orthopedist and a knee MRI confirmed that our client had torn his meniscus. The knee doctor felt it was best to perform an arthroscopic procedure for the knee. Unfortunately, our client’s pain never went away.

A second opinion with a board certified knee orthopedic surgeon revealed that the first procedure had not been done correctly, hence the continued pain. The new surgeon recommended a second procedure to fix the issues with the first. It worked! Our client noticed a marked improvement in pain reduction and knee mobility.

Unfortunately, after 2 knee procedures and several months of physical therapy and chiropractic care, our client had some major medical bills. The person who caused his crash had a $100,000.00 Bodily Injury insurance policy but it would not be enough to pay his bills and compensate him for pain and suffering. We made a demand for our client’s $250,000.00 Uninsured/Undersinured Motorist (UM) policy limits but that demand was denied. We were forced to file suit against our client’s insurance company.

We litigated this case for months, taking depositions of every individual who knew anything about the case. We were able to show that this crash was serious, that the impaired driver was grossly negligent and that our client suffered greatly as a result. The insurance company came to their senses and paid the $250,000.00 policy limits. Our client was able to pay his medical bills and receive financial compensation so he could get back on his feet again after being down for so many months. We were happy that we could help our client get every single dollar available to him and help him through this difficult time.