Practice Area: Rideshare Injuries
Date: 2015
Outcome: $939,000.00
Description: In early 2015, a very nice young man was riding in the backseat of a rideshare vehicle in North Carolina when they were violently T-Boned by a drunk driver going way too fast. The ambulance came to the scene and our client was taken to the ER. He was treated for various injuries but cleared later that same day. However, he soon started to feel significant shoulder, neck, and lower back pain. He also started to suffer from horrible headaches.
This client originally hired an attorney in North Carolina to help him. However, after 2 months he still had not even spoken to his attorney, instead he got the run-around from office staff who seemed to be totally unaware about his case. Luckily for him, his facebook settings were still set to Brickell, since he had recently lived there. He saw THIS EXACT POST later that year and contacted Sibley Law right away. Brent Sibley received his email and was on the phone with him within 30 minutes. Together they terminated the original law firm who had never even picked up a pencil on his case.
Soon, we were able to negotiate a settlement with the drunk driver’s insurance company for his policy limits of $100,000. Luckily, the ride-sharing company carried 1 Million of underinsured motorist company, so we prepared our claim for the underinsured motorist benefits. Around the same time, this client relocated back to South Florida so he could focus on his medical treatment. He required shoulder surgery and many injections to his lumbar spine. He was recommended for a spine surgery and was also diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury.
Brent Sibley successfully brought the lawsuit for insurance benefits in Broward County even though the crash happened in another state. This was a big battle that we won. After that, the next step was getting the case set for trial, and we got a late 2018 trial date. When the insurance company showed up to mediation, they had not properly prepared and did not know about the brain injury element of the case, so they did not bring enough money to settle the case. We politely turned our backs on them and prepared for trial.
However, one month before trial, we issued them a “Last Chance” demand letter, giving them one final chance to pay the policy limits before trial. The deadline for the letter was 5PM on a Friday. Sure enough, on that friday afternoon, at 3PM, we recieved a call that the insurance company wanted to pay the maximum policy for the case. Because the crash happened in North Carolina, their law applies for the calculation of insurance benefits, which is not as friendly as Florida. Under North Carolina law, the insurance company is allowed a deduction for the at-fault insurance payments made, as well as any payments made to other people in our vehicle. So since the drunk driver had paid $100,000 to us as well as $50,000 to another passenger, they were able to get a reduction in those amounts. The rideshare insurance company also paid $11,000 extra to one passenger to finish her claim, leaving a total of $839,000 of Underinsured Motorist (UM) benefits available for our client. This is the amount the rideshare insurance company agreed to tender to us for the settlement of the claim.
It took a long time, just over three years, but in the end this client will be getting every single penny that he was entitled to receive. Hard work, determiantion, and perseverance pays off.
– Case Result from Sister Firm: Sibley Dolman
