As an Oregon Trial Attorney, I see a lot of back injuries in my law practice. The spinal column is very vulnerable to injury from car accidents. Although most cases settle, sometimes we have to try the cases. Two of my car accident - spine injury trials rank among the highest awards for car accident trials in Multnomah County.

The first one involved a man in his fifties who was delivering feed to retail stores. He owned a wholesale feed business in Dallas, Oregon. A truck rear-ended him. He had to have his cervical vertebrae fused, and his ability to handle 80-pound sacks of seeds was greatly reduced. Although defendants offered over $200,000 to settle the case, we did not think that was enough, and took our chances with a jury. When adding in his wife's claim for Loss of Consortium, the jury awarded over $500,000.

Another client was a Tigard, Oregon woman in her 50s. She was injured in two different car collisions, leading to a cervical fusion and also lumbar surgery. One driver was uninsured and the other had only $100,000 in insurance. After getting the $100,000, we sued her own insurance company for the rest of her damages under her own insurance policy for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.

Apparently, the company believed we could not prove which accident caused which injuries. It offered $225,000 to settle both claims. My client could have finished with $325,000 less attorney fees, but we decided to go to trial to seek more money plus have the insurance company pay my attorney fees. The jury saw things our way, awarding enough money to achieve the maximum policy limits, over $500,000 allocated as we needed between the two collisions. Plus, on top of that, we obtained attorney fees, making the value of the case over $750,000.

Although spinal injuries are common, preparing the cases are not easy. There is a lot of strategy that goes into which doctors to testify on medical issues, which economist to testify on damages, and, most importantly, fighting unfair defense medical exams.

There is no substitute for an experienced, tenacious lawyer to fight for you. Please call me for a free telephone consultation at 503-665-4234.