Marianne F. and her husband were returning from a Sunday trip in Bucks County in their minivan, when the van was broadsided on the right side by a pick up truck traveling at a high rate of speed. Mr. F., the driver, had just pulled off from a stop sign at an intersection with a partially blocked view on his right. Although Mr. F. was partially to blame for the accident, the young driver of the pick up who was familiar with the intersection, was also to blame. However, the local policeman who investigated the accident gave Mr. F. a reckless driving ticket.

Mrs. F. was seriously injured. Her right hand was resting on the edge of her seat at impact. Somehow her hand was crushed between the door and the edge of the seat, and her right thumb was almost completely amputated by the force of the impact.

Surgeons at a nearby hospital repaired her thumb, but the broken bone at the tip never healed properly. Although the thumb appeared normal, it interfered with many routine tasks.

In order to get a maximum recovery for our client, we had to be able to obtain the full amount of money from Mr. F.’s insurance policy and the policy limits on the pickup truck. The first was easy since Mr. F. had been given a ticket for reckless driving. In order to make a claim for the pickup truck's insurance policy, we had to beat the traffic ticket. We decided to fight the ticket even though we knew the cards were stacked against us - the truck driver’s relatives were friends of the local police and the local judge. In addition, the police supposedly had an independent witness. Nevertheless, we managed to get the charges dismissed since none of the witnesses could hold up under cross-examination.

Although the path was now clear to obtain the total proceeds from both insurance policies, Mr. F.’s company would not put a significant offer on the table. The photos of Marianne’s thumb did not show the problems the non-union of the bone-tip caused her. The thumb looked normal. As with all our clients, we had given Marianne a Daily Diary to fill out, in which she was asked to list every problem she had as a result of the accident. Marianne had done an excellent job with her diary. She had detailed the many problems caused by her "floppy thumb", such as her inability to button a blouse or coat, the many problems she had as a data entry operator at her job, and the many problems involved in routine daily tasks.

We sent a copy of Marianne’s Diary to the insurance carrier.

When they read her poignant account that she had so thoroughly (and touchingly) written, they knew she would make an incredible witness. Rather than risk an excess verdict at trial, they immediately capitulated, and gave Mrs. F. the limits of the policy, $100,000.00. In addition, we were later able to obtain the limits of the truck driver's policy, increasing Mrs. F.'s recovery substantially.

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