Insurance Bad Faith Case Settles for Over 10X More than Prior Offer
It is the law to have auto insurance although those coverages vary greatly. When a crash occurs and you are not at fault, you expect your insurance company to have your back and ensure you are made whole. In the case of Pit Martin’s client, they ended up having to sue her own insurance company. His client was rear-ended at 52 MPH by a man driving a truck who didn’t notice that traffic ahead of him was braking abruptly. The force of the collision broke Mr. Martin’s client’s driver’s seat, knocking her unconscious, and propelled her vehicle forward from 18 MPH to 32 MPH, impacting the vehicle ahead of her and pushing it into the one ahead of it, as well. Three of the four vehicles were totaled. His client remained unconscious for over five minutes, suffering a moderate TBI, with injuries to her head, neck, low back, wrist, and knee. Her balance and vision suffered after the crash, forcing her to need the assistance of a cane to walk.
The at-fault driver’s insurance company immediately paid his policy limits of $25,000, but it wasn’t nearly enough to cover the damage and medical expenses. Mr. Martin’s client had a $500K underinsured motorist policy with her insurance company, USAA, but they initially only offered $75K despite her permanent and severe injuries. They eventually increased the offer to $120K as full and final settlement. Mr. Martin filed an insurance bad faith lawsuit against USAA alleging breach of contract, statutory delay or denial of benefits, and common law insurance bad faith. He came to Focus Graphics to recreate the crash in an animation, showing how the initial impact and each additional impact affected his client, highlighting each of her injuries. This included colorization of brain imaging to show the brain hemorrhage and axonal injury that she suffered. Mr. Martin believes that this animation was the impetus for USAA to present an offer of $1.25M only three weeks before the start of their trial.
“We selected Focus Graphics for an animation to show the jury the sequence of these crashes. Focus Graphics came highly recommended, and the final result exceeded our greatest expectations. The animation captured all of the vehicle and occupant movements during these horrific crashes. It fully brought these crashes to the viewer, highlighted the rear-end 52 mph crash that broke the driver’s seat, and then showed in vivid detail what happened to my client during the second crash when she was propelled into the car in front of her. This video visually presented what our words could not adequately convey. We credit this video as part of the catalyst for USAA increasing its offer by over a factor of ten three weeks before trial was scheduled to begin. I was hoping we could try this case, but our 77-year-old client elected to accept the increased offer. I was really looking forward to seeing the reaction of the jury to the crash animation, and to the large poster photos of the severe damage to all the vehicles involved.
Many thanks to Focus Graphics for doing such an excellent job in creating this animation. Focus Graphics worked closely with our biomechanical engineer to accurately get the speeds, areas of impact, and the body positions of occupants before, during and after impact so that the animation was accurate, and not susceptible to attack on cross-examination.”
~JC “Pit” Martin, Esq., Colorado Springs, CO | Pit Law
READY TO FIND OUT MORE?
Our team of animators, illustrators and medical professionals are ready to make your demonstratives ready for your next mediation or litigation. Request a Quote or give us a call at (702) 849-0090.
