On February 16, 2016, Plaintiff was involved in a motor vehicle accident. She was traveling behind Defendant’s vehicle, which was westbound on Newburgh, Gardner town road. At that time, both vehicles were attempting to turn left onto Powder Mill Road. Defendant’s vehicle was pulled off onto the north shoulder of Gardner Town Road partially off the roadway, then attempted to reenter Gardner Town Road, causing a collision with Plaintiff’s vehicle. On the same day, Plaintiff had gone to the hospital for an evaluation of the injuries that were a result of the aforementioned motor vehicle collision. She was diagnosed with left wrist pain. The doctor also observed soft tissue swelling, and was recommended to have an MRI.
Three days later, Plaintiff was examined and was observed to have ecchymosis in her right forearm and the volar aspect of her wrist. She also had mild swelling and tenderness over the contusion of her right forearm. She was diagnosed with contusion of right forearm, other specified sprain of the left wrist and contusion of left wrist. She was advised to take anti-inflammatories as needed and follow up in two to three weeks.
On April 30, 2016, Plaintiff underwent an MRI on the right shoulder which revealed tendinosis, tendinitis, and a small partial tear of the distal supraspinal tendon, along with degeneration of the humeral head and Bursitis.
On May 25th, Plaintiff underwent an independent medical evaluation, where she was diagnosed with cervical spine sprain, resolved; right shoulder sprain, resolving; right elbow sprain, resolved; right wrist contusion, resolving; left wrist contusion, resolving, and left hip/thigh contusion. The doctor also had concluded these injuries were causally related to the aforementioned accident that occurred.
Around six months later, Plaintiff had a follow up with her doctor. Lidocaine, Marcaine, Depo-Medrol, and Toradol injections were administered into her right shoulder subacromial space. She was diagnosed with cervical whiplash-type injury, right shoulder posttraumatic bursitis with partial rotator cuff tear, bilateral wrist sprain, possible soft tissue tear or cartilage injury, and left thigh contusion.
Two weeks after this appointment, Plaintiff had received an Orthovisc injection into her right knee. Over the next 3 weeks, Plaintiff was administered two more Orthovisc injections. Additionally, in this time period Plaintiff was diagnosed with cervicogenic headaches and subluxation; cervicogenic dizziness and subluxation; cervical strain and subluxation.
On November 11, 2016, Plaintiff received the results from an MRI on her cervical spine. The results revealed focal central disc herniations at C3-C4 to C6-C7 levels, most prominent at C4-C5 and Mild spinal cord distortion by C4-C5 herniation.
Through March of 2017, Plaintiff had many follow up visits and had chiropractic treatment through the end of 2016. From February 24, 2017 to March 30, 2017, Plaintiff underwent physical therapy for her right knee, where she was diagnosed with chondromalacia patellae in right knee, muscle wasting and atrophy at multiple sites.
On June 26 and July 5, Plaintiff had received an injection for the pain in her knee. She was also diagnosed with bilateral knee osteoarthritis, worse in the patellofemoral compartment. Two weeks later, Plaintiff was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome.
In October of 2017, Plaintiff had an initial physical therapy evaluation. The following were difficulties she faced due to her lower back pain: Awakened by pain, difficulty falling asleep, difficulty finding a comfortable sleeping position, difficulty walking, loss of function, loss of motion, pain, paresthesia, and weakness.
Plaintiff had continued to undergo treatment and follow ups with her doctors. On October 17, 2018, Plaintiff received a cortical injection to the right subacromial bursa for complaints of right shoulder. About two months later, she received Acromioclavicular (AC) joint injection to the right shoulder. A month after that, Plaintiff received Botox injections for management of her headaches and migraines. She received Botox injections again in June 2019, January 2020, June 2020, October 2020, January 2021, April 2021, July 2021, and January 2022.
On August 30, 2021, Plaintiff was diagnosed with lumbosacral spondylosis, lumbosacral radiculopathy, lumbar post laminectomy syndrome, and other intervertebral disc displacement. A month later, Plaintiff received a left L4/L5 and left L3/4 transforaminal epidural steroid injection for pain in her lower back.
Plaintiff continued to follow up with her doctors for the aforementioned injuries. On May 26, 2022, Plaintiff received a Dexamethasone and 4cc of 0.25% Bupivacaine injection for the management of right shoulder joint injection.
Prior to the aforementioned accident, Plaintiff never had any complaints of pain, nor a diagnosis of any injuries to those parts of her body the defendant damaged: none to her head, neck, shoulder, wrists or thigh. If these injuries occurred before the accident, there would have been a record of it at any of her prior doctor visits. However, there was no report at all of any injury. Nonetheless, the defense had hired experts, who claimed that Plaintiff’s injuries were not causally related to the aforementioned serious crash.
The defendant argued they should not have to not pay anything at all to Plaintiff, pointing to the doctor’s findings. What’s more, they argued that the wreck was solely caused by the plaintiff’s comparative negligence. They pointed to the detailed and very specific certified police, which provided that the accident was caused solely by the plaintiff who failed to yeild the right of way and passing the defendant in an improper lane, wi
rash. Our office remained steadfast in our pursuit of proper compensation for Plaintiff’s life-altering injuries.
