Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Michael Hammond, a Cobb County defendant in a Marietta personal injury claim, rear-ended a vehicle being driven by Chelsea Haugh on March 23, 2007 the intersection of Lost Mountain Road and Dallas Highway. The impact was described as very minor and resulted in property damage that was very minor with little visible damage to plaintiff 's(Chelsea Haugh's) car. The Cobb County personal injury claimant suffered a hairline fracture that required a fusion spinal surgery by a neurosurgeon. The past medical bills totaled $93,000.00. The liability adjuster from Allstate settled this case with the plaintiff for $300,000.

This case is a huge victory for personal injury lawyers and personal injury claimants since the property damage was minor to both the plaintiff's and the defendant's vehicles. Insurance adjusters and the defense attorneys often offer little or nothing on cases with low property damage because they argue low property damage means that no injury could have occurred. Cobb County personal injury lawyers successfully over came this because their plaintiff did not have a history of any prior injury and because the plaintiff was a very sympathetic and believable person (20 year old single woman who was a student). Even though it is an uphill battle to obtain a fair personal injury claim when property damage is low, the studies do support that serious injury or even death can occur in low impact (low property damage) motor vehicle accidents. In a study performed by the Florida Department Of Highway Safety there 67,602 low speed crashes (less than 10 MPH impacts) that resulted in 55973 injuries and 528 deaths. Clearly it is not accurate to conclude that low impact collisions cannot result in serious injury or even death. However, without being represented by experienced personal injury car accident lawyers, injured victims are often under paid for their medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and even when applicable for punitive damages by adjusters and their defense attorneys.