Ms. W was on her way home from work when a driver made an illegal U-turn in front of her. She crashed into his car, breaking her wrist and requiring surgery to repair it. Michael Ruppersburg, our experienced Georgia personal injury attorney, secured a $250,000 settlement with State Farm, which was the maximum amount of the other driver’s insurance. The settlement was more than three times State Farm’s initial offer, which was $74,000.
The Accident
Ms. W was driving on North Decatur Road in DeKalb County, Georgia, and was in the right lane. Another driver was in front of her, also in the right lane. The driver missed a turn and suddenly tried to make a U-turn. Ms. W braked and tried to stop but couldn’t. She crashed into the left rear side of the other driver’s car.
The Injuries
Immediately after the crash, Ms. W knew her wrist was broken. It was very painful, out of alignment, and she couldn’t move it. EMS responded to the scene, placed her wrist in a splint, and transported her to Emory Decatur Hospital. There, emergency room doctors ordered x-rays of her wrist, which showed a “comminuted intra-articular distal radius fracture with dorsal displacement of the main distal fracture fragments.” Basically, the wreck broke Ms. W’s wrist into multiple pieces, and those pieces were all out of alignment. The emergency room doctors reduced the fracture, meaning they aligned the broken bones, and placed her wrist in a cast, but told Ms. W she would need to see an orthopedic surgeon the next day.
The orthopedic surgeon told Ms. W she would need surgery to repair her wrist. The doctor performed the surgery the next week. It involved inserting metal pins into the broken bones of her wrist and then using an external fixator, which is basically a metal cage that surrounds the wrist with metal pins inserted from the cage into her wrist, to hold everything in place to allow the fracture to heal.
The surgery went well, and Ms. W ultimately made a good recovery, though it required months of physical therapy to regain full strength and range of motion in her wrist.
Lawsuit & Settlement with State Farm
The other driver had a $250,000 insurance policy limit with State Farm. Ms. W tried to resolve the case without a lawsuit by sending a settlement demand for the policy limits. However, State Farm offered only $74,000, which was less than Ms. W’s medical bills. Michael then filed a lawsuit on her behalf, and State Farm agreed to pay its policy limits. We’re glad to have helped Ms. W with her case.
Contact us
If you have been injured in an accident due to someone else’s negligence, contact Ruppersburg Injury & Accident Attorneys at 706.354.1000 for a free consultation. We’re here to listen, advise, and help you get compensation.