Oregon can be a winter playground. Mt. Hood & Mt. Bachelor trails are great for cross country skiing and snowmobiling. But for one Oregon woman, her family outing turned into a life-changing event.
The other guy was test running his family's snowmobiles. On his third run, he sped about 60 miles per hour on a snow covered forest road outside of a popular snow park. When he zipped around a blind corner, he narrowly missed the husband, but came face-to-face with a teenage girl, who had mom on the back of her snowmobile.
It ended up being a dangerous game of "chicken." Both drivers turned the same way, they collided, and my client "flew like superman" off the snowmobile. Despite wearing a helmet, my client acquired a mild brain injury. Twenty years earlier, she suffered a traumatic brain injury, from which she recovered. But the prior TBI made her much more vulnerable to brain injury from her snowmobile collision.
She and her husband tried to settle by themselves. The other driver's insurance company pooh-poohed her injury and said that it was the daughter's fault, at least 50% worth. So they had to hire me.
Most important for any client is to get proper medical care, and I referred my client to an excellent place for diagnosing and coping with head injuries. We sued the other driver and fought hard. After depositions, we asked the court for permission to seek punitive damages, because we believed the other driver was reckless in flying around a blind corner at 60 mph (or more?). The court granted the motion.
Initially, the lawyer for the insurance company thought the case should settle for $30,000. By the time we worked up the case for trial, they paid the full policy limit of $300,000.
The moral of the story? 1. Be careful of dangerous snowmobile drivers even enjoying the weekend. 2. Be careful of insurance companies who do not want to pay what they should.
If you or your child has suffered a head injury, you ought to consider the signs and symptoms of brain injury. Here's a short list of brain injury symptoms from the CDC and a much more comprehensive resource on traumatic brain injury from the State of Washington.
Jeff Merrick, Oregon Trial Attorney
503-665-4234
