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Motor Vehicle Accident
Bachus & Schanker, LLC Client Awarded Over $1 Million for Injuries and Damages Suffered in Motor Vehicle Accident
John was traveling southbound on Colorado 285 in the left lane near Wadsworth Boulevard. For unknown reasons, Tim, another driver traveling in the lane next to John, swerved into John's lane and side-swiped his car. Tim, who smelled of alcohol at the time of the collision, was uninsured. Additionally, Tim fled the scene of the collision before the police arrived. After the police arrived and conducted their investigation, John went immediately to the emergency room with rib fractures and back pain. John ultimately had to have two surgeries to repair torn discs in his back.
At the time of the collision, John was a construction contractor and owned his own construction business. Due to the severity of his injuries, however, he was unable to continue working. He couldn't lift heavy materials and he couldn't climb on ladders. John was forced to find other work which did not pay as much as his contracting business.
John made an uninsured motorist claim with his insurance company, American Family, to compensate him for his injuries, his wage loss, and the cost of any future medical needs and loss of earning capacity. American Family refused to pay John anything. John's policy with American Family required John to have his claim arbitrated if he disagreed with American Family's decision on his claim. Because American Family refused to pay anything, Darin Schanker, a founding partner at Bachus & Schanker, LLC filed a request for an arbitration.
In order to prepare for the arbitration, Bachus & Schanker, LLC retained experts to determine the future medical needs and wage loss issues that John would face in his future. These experts determined that John's total future medical needs would be at least $31,092.00, and probably more. Additionally, the experts determined that John would probably have upwards of $250,000.00 in future wage loss as a result of not being able to continue with his own construction business.
In February 2006, the parties attended a three-day arbitration. For three days, John, his wife, his brother, his treating doctors and his experts testified about the seriousness of John's injuries caused by this collision and how these injuries impacted his life and his ability to provide for his family.
After three days, the arbiters awarded John over $1 million including interest to compensate him for the injuries he sustained in this collision.
