Disabled Woman Suffers Further Injuries After Being Improperly Secured on County Transport – $700,000
After a debilitating fall at her home in 2015, our 57-year-old client suffered multiple injuries and was forced to retire early from her stable government position. Despite these setbacks, she gradually acclimated to her new circumstances and disabilities, slowly rebuilding her financial and emotional well-being.
To re-introduce social activities back into her life, she and her sister planned a shopping trip into Fresno in March of 2018. When they finished their outing, our client contacted the county’s transport services for elderly and disabled residents so she could return to her rural home. When the driver arrived, he secured her wheelchair to the vehicle, but then failed to secure her into her seat. As the driver moved through traffic, he suddenly hit the brakes which violently ejected our client into the steel driver partition and onto the floor.
She fell onto her left shoulder and right hip which had been injured in her previous fall and re-fractured them both. Though the injury to her right leg was extensive and amputation was considered, doctors ultimately elected to maintain the leg and extensively replace and modify existing hardware in her leg and hip. With the numerous surgical risks associated with her chronic, pre-existing conditions, doctors also opted not to operate on her shoulder, and instead mitigate her agonizing injury with pain management.
Her case faced multiple challenges, including recovery from a public entity; her chronic, pre-existing health conditions; and repeat injuries associated with her previous fall. Because of her extreme and deteriorating health condition, she and Dunnion Law understood time was of the essence. To circumvent anticipated delays and arguments from the Board of Supervisors’ on the resolution of her case, Dunnion Law compelled public counsel into pre-litigation mediation.
Our attorney strategized a plan to obtain the highest possible recovery from the county attorneys and eliminate potential obstacles, in advance. Armed with this strategy and the work of expert witnesses who confirmed our client’s injuries were specifically from this accident, Dunnion Law successfully delivered on its plan, expediting the Board’s approval of a sizable $700,000 settlement for our client.
Throughout the case, Dunnion Law argued aggressively on behalf of our client, retaining medical experts to solidify the relationship between our client’s injuries and the accident itself. Despite the numerous challenges of this case, our attorney negotiated a significant settlement of $700,000 for our client, enabling her to attain some comfort in her newly changed circumstances.