What Happened
Our Virginia car accident injury client was a Navy SEAL who suffered extensive soft tissue injuries when a wrong-way driver in Virginia Beach forced him to run off the road and crash. The injured service member was training for a triathlon when he was nearly hit head-on by a driver who had crossed the center line of a four-lane road. Evidence collected by police and eyewitness accounts indicted that the driver had been on the wrong side of the road for some time leading up to the near-miss.
The SEAL had been moving at around 25 mph. When he laid down his bike, he suffered severe road rash of the kind often seen on the bodies of motorcycle riders who crash. Emergency room doctors and nurses treated out client for abrasions and contusions along his left side, across his back and on the palms of both his hands. A CT scan revealed no fractures, but the images did show that the bruising went all the way down to the injured cyclist’s pelvis.
After putting our client on a 24-hour I.V. drip of pain medications, doctors sent him home with multiple prescriptions, instructions on how to clean and dress his wounds daily, and a referral to an orthopedist. Even though the injured man received most of his post-crash treatment for persistent back and neck pain at Boone Clinic on Joint Expeditionary Base, Little Creek-Fort Story, he incurred roughly $15,000 in unpaid medical bills.
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Key Legal Strategy
The wrong-way driver’s car insurance company acknowledged that our Virginia car accident injury client would not have suffered injuries except for the negligence of its policyholder. We also convinced the insurance representatives that as a special forces veteran who had completed several classified missions overseas, our client was not the kind of person to seek unnecessary medical care.
Following brief negotiations, the injured SEAL accepted $40,000 in settlement of all his claims for past medical costs, future medical expenses and pain and suffering.
Our Virginia Beach-based personal injury and wrongful death law firm proudly represents members of the military. We consider it an honor to advise and represent those who serve us in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and National Guard.
Court: Virginia Beach Circuit Court, Virginia Beach, VA
Staff: Richard N. Shapiro, staff attorney