The Law Team recently settled a case against GEICO insurance for $75,000 after a weeklong trial. Our client, a Brooklyn woman in her 30s, was walking home from work when she was hit by a left turning car that was insured by GEICO.
She sustained a torn meniscus, but did not require surgery. She also developed a condition called Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome, formerly known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD). While her doctor wrote a report stating that her condition was a result of the accident, the doctors hired by GEICO said it was not. They in fact said she was faking her pain, and was not injured at all. The insurance industry position is that Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome or RSD is a phony condition, and they regularly refuse to pay out on these claims.
With the GEICO doctors’ biased reports, the claims adjusters refused to offer more than $10,000 to settle the claim. Attorney Matt Haicken, the head trial lawyer of the LAW TEAM, would not accept such a paltry sum. He took the case all the way to trial. After two and a half years of fighting, and a week in court, the jury came back with a verdict of $75,000. This is 7.5 times more than GEICO had offered!
GEICO insurance knew they had no chance on appeal, so the case settled for $75,000.
If you have been injured in a car accident in New York, it is important to hire a lawyer who will go to trial. If your lawyer won’t go to trial, you have to take the insurance company’s last offer.