Minor Impact Accident ~ Back Injuries With Injections | $880,000 Settlement

BATON ROUGE, La. - April 22, 2013 - PRLog -- Plaintiff, a 47 year old furniture deliveryman, was operating his pickup truck on Louisiana Highway One in Port Allen, Louisiana when he came to a stop at the intersection of Rosedale Road. Shortly thereafter, the defendant rear-ended a vehicle in front of him forcing it to strike the plaintiff’s pickup truck and causing plaintiff to sustain significant injuries to his lower back.  Plaintiff suffered a herniated disc, which required him to undergo a number of injections and incur over $60,000 in medical expenses and $64,000 in lost wages. Further, plaintiff’s treating physician and vocational expert concluded that he could no longer work as a deliveryman and would be limited to a job making approximately $9 less per hour.

The defendants contested medical causation by retaining a biomechanical engineer and arguing that the force of impact was too minor to have cause plaintiff’s injuries.  Plaintiff countered by retaining a forensic epidemiologist and set a Daubert hearing to exclude the defendants’ expert.  Shortly before the trial and hearing, the case was resolved at mediation for $880,000.00.      

Gregory A. Lewis v. Edward Lee V, et al., No. 39182, 18th JDC

Plaintiff’s counsel:  Christopher J. Corzo, Brad R. Matthews, and Gordon McKernan, McKernan Law Firm, Baton Rouge

Plaintiff’s experts:  Stephanie Chalfin, Vocational Rehabilitation, Baton Rouge; Randolph Rice, economics, Baton Rouge; Michael Freeman, Forensic Epidemiology, Portland, Oregon.