Mrs. S. was involved in a motor vehicle accident in 2008 in which she sustained soft tissue injuries. Mrs. S. had a history of previous neck and back pain from a prior accident, however she was working full-time at the time of the subject motor vehicle accident. Merely months after the accident, Mrs. S’s employer and disability benefits carrier began pressuring Mrs. S to return to work, notwithstanding that she was unwell and not recovered. This pressure and stress was exacerbating Ms. S’s injuries and she retained our office to represent her.
Regarding Mrs. S’s claim against her disability benefits provider, our office was able to get Ms. S’s disability benefits reinstated shortly after she came to us and today, over four years later, Mrs. S continues to be in receipt of long-term disability benefits.
Mrs. S also began receiving income replacement benefits from her auto accident insurer after the accident. After the accident the auto insurer exercised their right to examine Mrs. S for the purposes of determining her ongoing entitlement to income replacement benefits. The last round of assessments in 2010 took an incredibly adverse toll on Mrs. S’s health due to their lengthy and invasive nature. In the interests of protecting Mrs. S’s health, our office refused and prevented any further examinations at all from the insurer. Now, despite that it has been nearly three years since the last round of Insurer Examinations, Mrs. S continues to be in receipt of Income Replacement Benefits and medical treatment.
Despite the fact that Mrs. S was in her 50’s at the time of the accident, was in receipt of (and continues to receive) income replacement benefits and long-term disability, sustained only soft tissue injuries and had a significant pre-accident medical history of similar injuries, we were nevertheless able to negotiate a tort settlement for her of $380,000.00.