Shhh…It’s a Secret

Most of the time, when I achieve a great settlement, arbitration award, or verdict for a client, I want to tell the world. Most of the time, my clients are only too happy to allow me to do that, provided their names and specific identifying information isn’t included.

But there are exceptions.

One of my latest settlements was a great result for a deserving, and very satisfied, client. I suspect the attorney who referred this case to me would also be rather pleased.

However, we cannot really talk too much about it.

Why, you ask?

The specific terms of the settlement provided for a partial confidentiality and non-disparagement clause. Meaning, neither my client nor I can talk much about this great result.

This reminds me of the commercial where the characters discuss whether they can say “x product is the best.” The lawyer character says they can’t do that. They play with whether they can have other characters say it (they can’t), or whether they can whisper it, etc. The fact is, it’s a brilliant commercial, because by the time you realize they “can’t say that x product is the best,” they’ve repeated that about half a dozen times.

So this blog will be a creative way to do something similar without violating the spirit or the letter of any agreements.

The Case

In broad terms, my client was injured when a motorized scooter he was operating got hit by a car. In the bike lane. There was never any question of who was at fault or who would take responsibility for this; it was simply a question of letting my client recover fully and determining the fair value of the case.

The mechanism of the crash caused my client to sustain a serious knee injury, rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, and requiring a long surgery and rehabilitation. As you’ve read, ACL injuries require a serious surgery, in which a ligament or tendon is grafted from either a cadaver or the patient’s own body to replace the ruptured and destroyed ligament.

As it is a grafting procedure, complete with the “new” ligament being screwed into bone around the knee joint, it takes quite awhile for the graft to enmesh into the patient’s own bone. As I’ve written about with my own shoulder surgery, grafts can fail up to a year post-surgery. I also wrote about the police officer whose old ACL surgery didn’t survive chasing a carjacking suspect. Yes, you can go through this awful surgery and still need another surgery down the road to replace that one!

The Recovery

My client did everything correctly in dutifully going to physical therapy, following the therapist’s instructions, doing the exercises, and letting time heal the injury post-surgery.

And yet, life gets in the way. In his case, in the midst of his rehab, he experienced a traumatic personal tragedy. Nevertheless, he soldiered onward with his rehab.

After many months—nearly a year—he was able to return slowly to some of his favorite activities, like social sports, bicycling, and engaging in social activities.

Eventually, his doctors and therapists released him from care and he was good to go.

Or was he? He still had that latent fear that his knee might not hold up during badminton, or similar twisting activities involving stops and starts. I told him to make sure he tried his best to attempt these activities and report back to me with the results. After a few months, he informed me that he was confident that his knee would hold up and then gave me approval to begin working to settle his case.

Resolution

Settling any case involves obtaining all the medical records and bills, analyzing how the injury has affected the client’s daily life and activities, factoring pain and suffering, scarring, and lost income from work. I work with my client to understand what makes them tick; what things they like doing that they couldn’t do, and for how long. Whether they felt pain, how bad it was, and for how long. What their post-recovery physical and mental abilities are compared to pre-crash.

I take all this into consideration and write it into my demand for settlement. And then I talk to the claims adjuster repeatedly and regularly. On this particular case, I spent a good four months working from written demand and medical data to settlement. I talked with the adjuster nearly daily about everything in the medical records, about what could occur at trial, about the risk of the graft failing, and a whole host of other factors.

We started far apart. My client told me what he wanted both ideally and realistically. At first, I did not think I’d approach his ideal settlement at all, but in the end we actually exceeded those expectations. It was a combination of negotiation, willingness to give up some things (confidentiality) in exchange for others (more money).

While I can’t disclose the amount the case settled for, suffice it to say it was a very fair amount that pleased all involved. No one wants to voluntarily undergo knee surgery and rehab in exchange for money. But if you do, there is some satisfaction in making those responsible for the injury pay their fair share.

Takeaways

• We can’t talk about this settlement much, although we’d like to!
• ACL surgeries require long rehabilitations
• Everyday activities are affected by most injuries, and the more a lawyer can accentuate these, the more value a case has

Contact Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Stephen Hoffman

As in all cases involving personal injury, auto crashes, dog bites or injuries, workers’ compensation, medical malpractice, or other injury and potential liability, if you have been hit by a vehicle immediately get medical treatment, report the crash to police and your own insurance company, and contact a lawyer with expertise in your type of case, such as bicycle accidents or pedestrians hit by cars.

If you've been in an accident and have questions, contact Chicago personal injury attorney Stephen L. Hoffman for a free consultation at (773) 944-9737. Stephen has 35 years of legal experience and has collected millions of dollars for his clients. He is listed as a SuperLawyer, has a 10.0 rating on Avvo, and is BBB A+ accredited. He is also an Executive Level Member of the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce.

Stephen handles personal injury claims on a contingency fee basis, which means you don’t pay anything up front, and he only gets paid if you do. Don’t wait another day; contact Stephen now.