Settlement of $1.5M Using Colorizations
Sydney Meriwether Womack’s client felt safe in her office at work. After all, she was surrounded by four walls, inside a building, seated at her desk. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would come to harm there, but one day, another person made a bad decision – to take some anxiety medication, chase it with some alcohol, then go run her errands – and changed Ms. Womack’s client’s life. This other person, the defendant, pulled into the parking lot at the client’s place of work for one of her errands. As she attempted to park, she never stopped, plowing her large SUV into the wall, one of those four walls behind which the client felt safe. Ms. Womack’s client didn’t know what was happening – maybe an earthquake? – as her office collapsed around her, throwing her and her desk across the office while walls and ceiling fell down on top of her. Her co-workers, having felt the building shake and hearing her cries for help, rushed in to find her practically buried. They worked quickly to extricate her before more of the building fell down on her as the defendant fled the scene. The client suffered a TBI and injuries to her neck, back, and knee, plus multiple contusions and sprains, as well as PTSD and other post-traumatic effects. She couldn’t go back to work for a year, had trouble sleeping, and generally withdrew from the normal activities of her family. After being arrested and charged with DWI, the defendant was facing criminal charges, which were eventually dropped, leaving the civil case. Ms. Womack came to Focus Graphics for something affordable to use during depositions and demand letters that would show the insurance company that she was serious about pursuing a trial should they fail to settle. We suggested colorizing the MRIs to show exactly where the injuries were that her client suffered, which is an inexpensive option that helps pinpoint the location of injury for the layperson. We ended up colorizing both the cervical and lumbar spine MRI images for her use.
“This accident resulted in devastation for my client and her family. She was suffering immense pain from her physical injuries, as well as emotional pain from the trauma she suffered. She could no longer drive her children to their activities, or sleep, or work. She felt anxious and frightened, and could never get comfortable. This was all due to one person making a very poor decision to drive under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and we needed to show that we were willing to go to trial, where the defendant would most assuredly lose. The colorizations were a great way to show the most serious injuries without having to invest a lot of money. As part of our demand letter, they helped in securing a $1.5M settlement for my client to cover her medical bills and future medical needs. I wouldn’t go into negotiations without something like these colorizations in my arsenal.”
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