Woman settles with insurer six years after suffering brain injury
The $1.5 million settlement came six years after a car accident left the plaintiff with post-concussion syndrome and memory loss.
A Georgia woman who suffered a permanent brain injury after being rear-ended in a car wreck settled her claims for $1.5 million after several years, during which the highest defense offer was $7,000, her attorney said.
Plaintiff’s attorney Bethany Schneider said the defendant driver’s insurer, Liberty Mutual, finally agreed to tender its policy limits of $250,000 as the trial approached.
Frustrated by the insurer’s years of failing to make an offer, Schneider said she instead sent a time-limited demand for six times that much. Liberty Mutual accepted.
“My client cried and praised Jesus when I called to tell her,” said the Schneider Injury Law principal.
According to Schneider and court filings, Crystal Anderson was a passenger in a car driven by her husband, Tracy Anderson, in November 2015 and were about to cross Flint River Road when they saw an ambulance, sirens sounding, approaching the intersection.
Tracy Anderson stopped to allow it to pass but was hit from behind by a vehicle driven by Brandon Wickliffe.
Crystal Anderson had previously undergone surgery for a benign brain tumor, and the impact threw her head back into a headrest at the same spot she’d had the operation, suffering head and neck injuries.
Wickliffe was cited for following too closely.
Crystal Anderson immediately began complaining of headaches and was eventually diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome.
According to the pretrial order, her neurologist concluded Anderson had suffered two traumatic brain injuries during the wreck, one from hitting the headrest and the other from her head snapping forward and back.
“She has recurring chronic headaches, memory issues, mood changes, word-finding issues,” said Schneider.
Now 60, Anderson had been a Realtor at the time of the wreck and attempted to go back to work but was unable to do so, Schneider said.
“Sadly, there was not much treatment that could be given to her other than headache medication,” Schneider said.
In 2017, the Andersons sued Wickliffe in Clayton County State Court.
The trial had been rescheduled a couple of times and was set for trial in April 2020 before Judge Margaret Spencer when the COVID-19 outbreak scuttled it, Schneider said.
Throughout the case’s pendency, the insurer refused to offer more than $7,000, she said.
The case was at the top of Spencer’s trial docket when the defense recently settled Anderson’s husband’s claims, Schneider said.
“Then their adjuster formally tendered their $250,000 limits, but by then we’d asked for the limit several times, and we said ‘that’s just not going to do it.’”
Schneider sent the insurer a time-limited offer to settle for $1.5 million, which Liberty accepted last Wednesday. A USAA policy boosted the total by another $25,000, she said.
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