Our client was on the job, driving a company vehicle, when he was rear-ended while entering a freeway. This was a low-speed collision, but it nevertheless caused property damage to the vehicle and the other driver did not dispute liability. Following the accident, our client started to experience lower back pain that ultimately required corrective surgery.
The problem our client faced was that, although the company car that he had been driving was injured, his employer did not carry workers’ compensation insurance. Our client had no motor vehicle insurance of his own. He called the experienced auto accident attorneys at Dwyer Williams Cherkoss for help in this on the job auto accident injury and workers’ compensation case.
The defendant’s insurance company attempted to take the position that no serious injury could have occurred because the accident was low-speed. They also claimed that our client’s injuries were attributable to preexisting health conditions rather than to the accident itself.
We worked with the State of Oregon Workers’ Compensation Division to get a workers’ compensation claim opened through provisions established for non-complying employers. Once we were able to establish this claim for our client, his medical bills and wage loss were paid and he could obtain the treatment that he required. Upon completion of his treatment we obtained documentation from our client’s treating physicians attributing his need for treatment and surgery to the automobile accident rather than to any other cause.
The negotiation process took several months since the defendant’s insurance company refused to abandon its claim that our client’s back injury was unrelated to the motor vehicle accident. Determination and patience, supported by the facts, finally turned the tide in favor of our client. The adverse driver’s insurance company offered him a full policy limits settlement. Our client was satisfied with this settlement given the insurance company’s initial reluctance to negotiate and was even happier when we were able to also establish an uninsured claim on his behalf that paid him the full policy limits.