On the afternoon of August 31, 2022, our client, 92 years old, was involved in a violent collision at the intersection of Cermak Rd & Des Plaines Ave. She was attempting to make a left-hand turn, when a vehicle traveling through the intersection T-boned her vehicle, sending her Buick Sedan over the curb and into a tree. At the time of the occurrence the reporting officers “could not determine the at-fault party.”
As a result of the collision, our client suffered a fractured ankle requiring surgical intervention, a lacerated liver, and a right knee laceration that required irrigation and debridement. What followed were several months of painstaking therapy and aggressive recovery.
The vehicle who hit our client was insured by a personal policy with state minimum limits. After inquiries into the other vehicle driver’s whereabouts and reasons for travel, it was discovered that the other driver was actually in the process of fulfilling an order for a delivery service. This discovery meant that the incident was covered not by the other driver’s personal (minimum) insurance but by a corporate policy, not disclosed at the scene of the occurrence.
Our initial demand was met by a strict denial based on the corporate insurance company’s “liability investigation.” Anticipating this, our firm had already taken the statement of an independent witness who saw the collision and described the other driver’s behavior as “speeding”, “out of control”, and “erratic.” Our firm filed a lawsuit and aggressively pursued the matter through the Cook County Court system.
After several months of litigation, including the verification of our independent witness’s statements, the carrier began to change their tune. We were able to bring justice to our client by way of a $350,000.00 settlement. In less than a year and half the case went from a maximum value of $25,000.00 in the face of a denial, to a successful resolution of justice for the full value of our client’s claim.
