A Great Day In Court: By Jonathan Williams

Posted in Car accidents on April 5, 2016

I had a great time trying a car wreck injury case today in the General Sessions Court in Nashville. It was a case that many others lawyers probably would not have taken. It was not a “big” case but it was an IMPORTANT case to my clients, the parents of a 16 year old high school student. Their son was stopped in traffic and violently rear-ended by a careless driver. Father took his son to the emergency room. A few days later they went to his pediatrician. After being diagnosed with a concussion and neck strain, the pain went away in a few weeks. The lost wages were $390.00.

Teenagers usually do not accumulate a lot of medical bills. They often elect to tough it out and wait for the pain to go away instead of going to the doctor or therapy. The medical bills were only $3,777.00, not a lot in comparison to today’s expensive medical treatment. Like I said, regardless of the amount of the potential recovery, this case was important to these parents. They went without a car for several weeks and watched their son struggle with the side effects of a concussion. While some lawyers told them, “I will pass” and I said “I’m in!”

We attempted to settle in good faith with the other driver’s insurance company. We tried to be reasonable. But, we were met with low-ball offers. I offered $12,000.00 to settle the case so that everyone could move on. The insurance company made a final offer of only $6,000.00 and the adjustor told me, “Good luck beating that offer at trial.” I said thank you, see you there.

Today the judge decided the fair value of harms and losses suffered was $15,567.00 and awarded a judgment for that amount. That felt good. Real good. The clients are happy and can now pay their medical bills and still have fair compensation. I was glad to see justice prevail and to know that clients are not forced to take low ball offers from adjustors. Today I made a difference and it felt good to be a trial lawyer.

P.S. Thank you for the luck Mr. Adjustor. Tell Flo I said hi.