Motorcycle Accident Settlement Achieved through Facilitation
Erlich, Rosen, Bartnick & Cook P.C., litigation attorney Jeffrey S. Cook settled a combined third party bodily injury claim and first party No Fault benefits claim on behalf of an injured client utilizing the Facilitation services of retired Circuit Court Judge James Rashid. The settlement was $115,000 for the Plaintiff’s injuries and $31,000 for outstanding No Fault benefits the insurance carrier had refused to pay.
The facts that gave rise to the lawsuit were that the 38 year old Plaintiff had been negligently struck by a young driver in a SUV while she was riding her motorcycle on a summer evening in July of 2008. She suffered severe fractures to her non dominant left hand that was initially casted by her hand surgery specialist. Four months after the injury one of her tendons in her left hand ruptured as a result of rubbing up against the fracture site which had healed with some bony irregularities.
She underwent surgery to correct the tendon in November of 2008 which left a visible scar. The tendon repair continued to bother her and a second procedure was performed in July of 2009 with the placement of pins to hold both the tendon transfer and the bones together. Six weeks later she underwent a third procedure to remove the pins. Each procedure left visible scarring on her hand and wrist. All three procedures were outpatient without the need for in patient hospitalization.
Plaintiff’s treating hand surgeon prepared a report which indicated that she would most likely have future arthritic changes in her wrist in addition to the permanent surgical scarring. Defendant attempted to have the case dismissed by filing a Motion for Summary Disposition claiming that the Plaintiff did not have a threshold injury to bring a bodily injury claim under the Michigan No Fault Act however their motion was correctly denied by the Circuit Court Judge.
Following denial of the Motion for Summary Disposition and Case Evaluation on the third party claim both sides agreed to Facilitation. During the pendency of the third party claim it became clear that the insurance company was not going to voluntarily pay the outstanding first party benefits therefore a separate lawsuit was filed against the insurance company for these personal injury protection benefits. As the Plaintiff was driving a motorcycle at the time of the accident the No Fault insurance priority for motorcyclists applied and the Defendant drivers insurance company was both the third party carrier and the first party carrier allowing Facilitation and settlement of both claims together.
