Rhode Island Accident Lawyer Blog
Attorney David Tapalian, a Coventry car accident lawyer, recently obtained a $50,000 full policy limit settlement award for a young woman injured in a horrific auto accident in Coventry. The teenager was struck at a high speed by a drunk driver and was very fortunate to survive the crash. The impaired driver, and at fault party, only had $50,000 in policy limits and only after much fighting with Allstate Insurance and finally filing a civil action, was Tapalian Law able to obtain the full policy limits for this terrible impact.
Drunk Driver Cause of Coventry Car Accident
The significant head-on collision occurred on Main Street in Coventry, Rhode Island, when the defendant crossed over the yellow line into the opposite lane of travel. The crash was clearly caused by the highly intoxicated defendant. The responding Coventry police officer provided a very thorough description in his police narrative and took his time to be extremely detailed in describing the defendant’s impairments. Found inside the defendant’s vehicle were numerous empty beer bottles, flasks with fluid, rum bottle with fluid, a cognac bottle with fluid and a full-size police style expandable baton. This individual was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol at the scene of the accident.
The injured victim, our client, was transported by ambulance to Rhode Island Hospital. While at the hospital, injuries were noted to her back, shoulders, face, wrist burns and numbness in both arms. In addition, she experienced temporary loss of hearing with concussion related symptoms such as forgetfulness, nausea, and significant headaches. As a car accident attorney serving injured people in Coventry, Attorney Tapalian always advises victims to seek immediate medical treatment regardless of the severity of their injuries, and be consistent with follow-up care. Our client treated with chiropractic care, orthopedic intervention and physical therapy. MRI examinations performed of her spine and brain after the accident fortunately found no significant findings present. The young woman’s persistent symptoms were neck pain and disabling headaches and she treated with a neurologist, yet there were no objective significant findings.
Concussion Following an Auto Accident
Long-term concussion symptoms can be some of the most difficult cases to litigate and to settle for fair value. The reason is that the insurance company will almost always argue that the client “should not” be in pain and “should have” recovered. Believe it or not, several auto insurance companies now have computer programs that tell them when the client “should be” done treating their injuries. Unfortunately, a computer program cannot take into account all of the factors and uniqueness of the client and the impact and therefore there is no computer that can tell you when a specific client should be done treating. As a Coventry car accident attorney, David Tapalian knows and that each and every accident is different and every individual recovers at a different pace. Tapalian Law has helped countless victims who were involved in auto accidents in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and understands that each case is individualized and there are too many variables involved to accurately predict an “appropriate” recovery time.
The particular challenges with this personal injury case were to convince the insurance company that our previously healthy teenage client, was truly injured. Tapalian Law received an initial offer from Allstate that was less than $10,000. Our client’s medical expenses were almost $20,000! This is a common tactic that the auto insurance companies practice. They think that if they offer a little bit of money that the client will be happy and go away. In this situation, with our client’s injuries and persistent symptoms, there was no way our injury attorney would accept anything less than the full policy limits. With the RI statute of limitations approaching on this case, we filed a civil action. Even once the civil action was filed, the insurance company still argued with our Coventry car accident lawyer that our client couldn’t be hurt and refused to tender the policy limits. Only when the insurance company finally had a defense attorney review the case, did they then tender the full policy limits.
Allstate Insurance finally did tender the policy limits for this Coventry car accident, however not because they are nice and concerned for the injured client, but because they were worried about excess exposure above and beyond the $50,000 policy limit. There is case law in Rhode Island that articulates that if an auto insurance company doesn’t offer the full policy limits and a judgment is granted in an amount above and beyond the policy limits; then that auto insurance company could be on the hook for the entire judgment. What that means for this Coventry car accident case was that if they didn’t tender the $50,000 to our client and for sake of discussion, if we received a judgment in the amount of the $100,000, the insurance company would have to pay the $100,000. Allstate was well aware of this case, as it is known as Asermely vs. Allstate insurance company.
Contact RI Attorney David Tapalian Today for a Free Consultation
If you or a loved one has a similar situation to this victim, please don’t hesitate to call Coventry car accident attorney David Tapalian. With Attorney Tapalian’s over 20 years of experience and personal injury team, you will be able to realize the maximum amount for your settlement. This case had the difficult aspect of proving to a defendant insurance company that our client was still experiencing neck pain and headaches, even with no objective findings. We were able to do that through persistence and the patience and treatment of the client herself. If you are injured in an accident, there is never a fee to speak with Attorney Tapalian. The longer you wait to consult with an attorney the weaker and more challenging your auto accident claim can become so time is truly the enemy when it comes to engaging an experienced injury attorney for your auto accident claim. Call the Rhode Island personal injury team at Tapalian Law today at
401-552-5000
or contact us online to set up a free consultation at our Providence, Warwick, or Seekonk offices.