Rental Car Company Finally Pays After Three Year Battle

A Dunnion client was out shopping with her mother when they were hit head on by a left turning vehicle. Liability was never in dispute and the rental car company paid a modest settlement to the mother very shortly after the accident. For the daughter it was a different story. She had so much going against her: she had just taken her seatbelt off to look up a phone number; she was already 100% disabled from an accident 20 years earlier; she weighed 400 pounds; she had complained of pain to her knees for all of her adult life. When her doctor decided on bilateral knee replacements, he literally cut away all the evidence of knee injury! After three years in which they never offered a dime, the company agreed to a meeting with a very competent Los Angeles mediator and the parties were able to settle her case for $150,000 with all her medical costs paid. Attorneys will sometimes add the spouse to a lawsuit–after all they are surely put to the test when their partner is injured–but these claims rarely pay off. In this case, however, the husband had to pick up so much of the slack, that he was awarded $50,000 in his own right. The Dunnion clients were surprised and thrilled at the result which will enable them to provide for the wife’s needs.