A driver in Eugene, Oregon, was recently the victim of a rear-end collision in which her vehicle sustained minor damage and she suffered a serious lower back injury. This driver contacted Dwyer Williams Cherkoss PC to represent her when her insurance company refused to pay her post-collision medical bills, claiming that her injuries were in fact preexisting health conditions. At the time of this accident, the injured driver had already been in treatment for three years for an existing lower back injury. She realized that she needed an expert in car injury law who could help her prove that her injuries were more than mere preexisting conditions. We took her case immediately.
The details of this collision are straight-forward. Our client was sitting in the left-hand lane of a two-way street, waiting to turn as soon as there was a break in oncoming traffic, when she was struck from behind by another driver. She was able to drive away from the accident and physical damage to her vehicle was minimal. The complicating factor that required the attention of an expert car accident injury lawyer was that at the time of the accident our client was already being treated for an injury in the same area of her back that was hurt in the collision.
Even though the property damage that our client sustained was minor and even though she already had lower back pain at the time of this collision, the amount and the nature of the pain and suffering that she experienced after the accident was different than what she experienced before being rear-ended. Medical examinations proved that a difference existed between our client’s preexisting lower-back condition and her post-accident back injuries. Despite this irrefutable proof that our client’s injuries were the result of the collision, her insurance provider did not want to pay her medical bills.
Once our client completed treatment for her injuries, which included doctor visits and extensive physical therapy, we obtained all relevant medical records. We then provided this documentation to the adverse insurance carrier, which ultimately accepted that our client’s need for treatment was related to the negligence of their insured and not to any prior accidents or on-the-job injuries. It took determined negotiation for Dwyer Williams Cherkoss PC, but we were eventually able to secure a fair settlement for our client that included reimbursing her medical providers and compensating her directly for the pain and suffering that she had endured in this painful rear-end collision.