Driver Receives $200K Settlement After Cooper County Crash

Plaintiff Initially Offered to Settle for Policy Limit of $50K

Plaintiff was on an exit ramp of Interstate 70 when she was rear-ended by Defendant resulting in a settlement of $200,000.00. “She was stopped at a stop sign on the exit ramp of the highway and the defendant came off the highway at a fairly significant amount of speed, hit her and pushed her across the intersection,” said Andrew Mundwiller.

Mundwiller of The Cagle Law Firm represented Plaintiff alleging neck, back and shoulder injuries after the November 2013 crash. Murphy later pled guilty to driving while intoxicated during the accident, according to Plaintiff’s petition. According to Andrew, most of the injuries were related to Ms. Cook’s neck. Mundwiller discussed that Plaintiff had a somewhat complicated medical history and some prior complaints with the same part of the body. Furthermore, the MRI did not show evidence of disc injury or herniation. According to the petition, the injury was primarily muscle strain.

Mundwiller said the defense contended that fibromyalgia or earlier neck issues could have been her source of pain. According to Mundwiller, “I think the reality of it was that if she had some prior neck problems, they were minimal and they probably resolved before it (the crash) ever happened”. Future treatment such as facet block injections may be required.

Initially, Mundwiller offered to settle for the $50,000 policy limit but the offer was turned down. Later, the policy limits were offered, but Mundwiller and Plaintiff declined at that point.

“After the defense medical expert was deposed, they asked if we wanted to restart settlement negotiations”, said Mundwiller. “We felt the case had value in excess of $50K and I would do a disservice to my client by selling her short at that point”.

Furthermore, Munwiller noted, ” I think they recognized the risk and did the right thing by taking care of it and not subjecting their own client to an uncovered judgment”.

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