Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. is proud to announce a recent successful case resulting in a settlement nearly four times the initial offer from the insurance company. In the case, Associate Attorney Matthew W. Tievsky represented a woman who was injured while riding her bicycle. A motor vehicle unexpectedly moved sideways into her lane of travel, striking her and throwing her to the pavement. Our client suffered a concussion and injuries to her neck and the left side of her body. The driver of the motor vehicle tried to claim that the collision was our client’s fault, or the fault of a second bicyclist who supposedly forced the driver to swerve her car into our client.
Mr. Tievsky brought a lawsuit against both the driver and the second bicyclist, but neither defendant offered anything to settle the case. This lasted until a few days before the trial, when the driver’s insurance company offered to pay our client’s medical bills (about $ 7,400) if we would agree not to seek more than $20,000 (including the medical bills) at trial. Mr. Tievsky refused to accept such a limitation, insisting that the case was worth at least $25,000.
Mr. Tievsky refused to accept such a limitation, insisting that the case was worth at least $25,000. Mr. Tievsky persisted even through the first day of trial, and his persistence paid off: On the morning of the second day of trial, unhappy that the trial was going well for our client, the driver’s insurance company offered $25,000, and the second bicyclist’s insurance company offered an additional $1,500, to settle the case. Our client accepted, resulting in a settlement for $26,500 total, almost four times the offer before trial.