$1.19 Million for Brain Injured Teen
Tragedy struck a small town family when a 17 year old boy was severely injured in a car crash on a rural highway. He was riding with a friend, on their way to technical school. The driver barely slowed for a stop sign before crossing over a rural through highway. The large dump truck that was traveling on the highway was unable to stop or avoid impact. The truck careened into the car, pushing it nearly 300 feet, and itself leaving nearly 150 feet of skid. The driver of the car was killed.
The 17 year old passenger sustained a severe brain injury and other internal injuries. He was in a coma for nearly a month, and developed spasticity which led to disabling spastic quadriplegia. Nearly two years after the crash, he was still unable to walk or talk, and required 24/7 care for all needs.
The driver of his car carried only $50,000 in liability coverage. The family owned a $100,000 underinsured motorist policy, and a $40,000 personal injury protection policy. These coverages were massively insufficient, particularly when considering his medical expenses in the first two years were near $1.5 Million, most of it paid by the family’s ERISA health insurance policy. Denise Fullerton had an accident reconstruction done, which alleged that the truck had been exceeding the speed limit by at least 5 mph. According to the reconstruction report, had the truck been traveling the lawful speed limit, the vehicles would have missed impact by 2 feet. On this thread of liability, Denise was able to secure another $1 Million in coverage from the truck company. She then resolved the ERISA lien for approximately $4,600 on a full release.
In this tragic situation, Denise was able to secure considerable compensation in a manner that allowed the family to make use of the funds for their son’s benefit, while still keeping intact their necessary health care coverage.
