Our client, a 65-year-old cabinet maker, suffered severe lacerations of his hand while working on a table saw. He went to the emergency room where a resident cleaned, stitched, and wrapped his hand. He instructed our client not to remove the bandages until he followed up with an orthopedic surgeon one week later. When the bandages were removed, it was determined that the resident had failed to remove the tourniquet from our client’s middle finger, preventing the circulation of blood to it. As a result, the finger had to be amputated. Our client did not lose any income, but was not able to work at the same speed as he previously had. The hospital admitted liability and the case was settled at mediation in court.
This case involved a motor vehicle collision with contested liability. Our client sustained injuries to her lumbar and cervical spines and both knees resulting in a twelve percent permanent partial disability of the lumbar spine; a 22 percent permanent partial disability of the cervical spine; and a two percent permanent partial disability of each knee.
Our client, an 83-year-old woman who was working as a volunteer at the reception desk of the defendant hospital, was caused to fall when her foot was caught in computer and phone wires that were on the floor below the desk. She sustained a fractured pelvis. The hospital contended that it had no knowledge of the loose wires.
Our client, a 65-year old man, was a passenger in a car that was struck from behind on the highway. At the time of the impact, he was reaching for an item in the back seat. Upon impact, his left elbow was dislocated, resulting in permanent impairment of the arm. Jacobs & Jacobs filed a demand for the $100,000 policy, giving the insurance company thirty days to pay it. The company failed to respond. Six months later the insurance company settled the case for more than the limit of its policy, to avoid a higher verdict and the prospect of a bad faith claim by the driver.
Our client was riding his bicycle on a steep hill. A pickup truck turning from a side street cut off our client and then stopped short, causing a collision. The insurance company refused to pay anything for our client’s ankle injury, claiming that it was our client’s fault for not stopping in time and for hitting the pickup from behind. Attorney Allie Jacobs settled the case for 90% of the insurance coverage.