The plaintiff was a hairdresser who lived in Bethlehem, Connecticut. She was stopped in traffic on Straits Turnpike in Watertown waiting to make a left hand turn when she was rear ended by an Oakville, Connecticut defendant. The plaintiff was hit by the defendant at a moderate rate of speed which resulted in modest vehicular crush damage. An independant witness who operated a motor vehicle in back of the defendant confirmed that the defendant was engaged in conversation with her passenger immediately before the collision. The defendant operator was negligent in that she failed to keep a proper lookout and failed to keep her motor vehicle under proper and reasonable control. The force of the impact caused the plaintiff to strike the back of the seat.
The plaintiff suffered headaches, cervical strain and sprain and cervical intervetebral disc syndrome. She was assigned a five percent impairment of her cervical spine by chiropractic physician Dr. Steven Levy of Woodbury, Connecticut. She was also treated by neurologist Dr. Jan Mashman of Danbury, Connecticut for her headaches. There was no wage loss or loss of earning capacity.The plaintiff had minimal outstanding medical bills from treatment that were not paid by health insurance.
An offer to settle the rear end collision claim was made by the carrier to the plaintiff for $2,000.00 before the plaintiff sought the assistance of counsel. A second offer of $22,000.00 was made by the automobile insurance liability carrier to plaintiff's counsel prior to suit. This offer was also rejected by the plaintiff on advice of counsel. A lawsuit was then filed in the Waterbury Superior Court by Peter Rotatori, III of The Rotatori Law Firm. After depositions, IME's and written discovery was completed, the case was resolved for the favorable dollar amount of $80,000.00.
Turn to our car accident lawyer in Stamford and Southbury for experienced representation after a motor vehicle collision
