Single Vehicle Accident Injuries Haunt Girl Years Later, $115,000 Settlement

Settlement/Verdict: $115,000.00

Attorney: Cory P. Whalen
Practice Area: Car Accident
Client Injury: Neck Injuries, surgical fusion

Our client was a 14 year old at the time of her accident in northern Minnesota. She was a passenger asleep in the back seat of a vehicle and woke up just as the accident was occurring. The driver came to a T-intersection but when trying to make a turn, he hit the gas and they went through a ditch and up into the woods. Everyone in the car was able to get out and walk back to the road where they got a ride into town. The driver later went to the hospital for stitches. When our client got home, she told her parents she fell on ice so she wouldn't get the driver of the car in trouble. Her parents took her to the hospital and she was treated for neck injuries. She didn't tell her parents her injuries were from an automobile accident until two years later. She had two surgeries to fuse vertibrae in her neck; she had a scar on the front of her neck and a large surgical scar on the back of her neck. She continued to have pain and problems long after the accident.

She hired Cory Whalen just short of 6 years after the accident. (the statute of limitations for an automobile injury claim in Minnesota is six years from the date of the injury) Not only was Whalen able to establish that her injuries were related to the accident, despite what the young girl told her parents at the time. He also had to locate the responsible parties and put the case in suit before the statute of limitations expired. Whalen obtained a settlement from the at fault driver's insurer and also from our client's own underinsured motorist coverage for a total settlement of $115,000.

Contact the law offices of Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey for a free consultation. We encourage you to make this first step toward resolving your legal matters so that you can get back to your life.