The "Good" Samaritan
When our client, Jimmy, picked up his daughter one afternoon, he had no way of knowing that a routine traffic accident would completely change his life. But as he drove down a busy North Charleston roadway, Jimmy suddenly confronted a car pulling into his lane from the far right - a car that a good Samaritan had casually waved through without regard for oncoming traffic. Jimmy struck the car at full force and, as a result, his neck snapped forward and back-never making contact with the windshield or steering wheel.
At the accident scene, Jimmy complained of a headache, but made his way home. Within a week, the pain had grown more severe and he visited an emergency room, where a smart doctor ordered a brain scan. The resulting image showed a major hematoma on Jimmy's left frontal lobe - the area of the brain that governs social skills and regulates emotions. The doctor prescribed time as the best treatment for Jimmy's injury, and released him.
One month later, Jimmy began experiencing severe seizures. Post Traumatic Seizure Disorder is common in patients with brain injuries, and can occur within hours or months after the injury. Jimmy's was so intense that he was unable to drive, and therefore could no longer work in his sales job. Assigned by his sympathetic employers to a desk job, he still couldn't manage day to day. The area of the brain assigned to "people skills" was permanently injured. Jimmy suffered bouts of intense anger and aggression and memory loss.
How did we help? We sued the woman who pulled out in front of Jimmy's truck. And we also sued the "John Doe" driver who waved her through. Our case was helped by a bystander who witnessed the accident and gave Jimmy his contact information.
In the end, we helped Jimmy secure some financial help for his family as they strove to pick up the pieces of their lives. We developed a case for damages, and helped create a life management plan that secured medical care, occupational therapy and family counseling.
A Bad Fall
When a pleasant bike ride on the beach ended in brain trauma for a young stockbroker, our attorneys set to work to prove that the company responsible for renting the bike was at fault.
Attorney Richard Rosen proved that the case of a New York City stockbroker injured while riding a bicycle owned by a Kiawah Island resort was caused by a multitude of factors. Poor maintenance of the resort's fleet of 1,000 bikes led to a build up of rust on the bike ridden by our client. The corrosion caused the bike's front fork, steering column and metal frame to snap and break, throwing our client over the handlebars and onto the hard packed sand.
By arguing that the resort had not maintained the beach cruiser for optimum safety, we helped our client - who was ironically a former professional cyclist - receive a $1.75 million settlment.
This settlement was key to helping our client get his life back in order. As a result of the trauma he sustained in the bike accident, this Harvard B-School grad was forced to leave his job as a stock and security analyst because his brain injury affected his ability to perform multiple tasks at one time. Ultimately, he hopes to work in the exercise industry - and hopes to one day achieve full recovery from his brain injury.
The Monkey Fist
Workplace accidents can come out of the blue - truly. That was the case for our client, a tugboat mechanic, who was working on a dock beside a crew that was pulling a vessel in for loading. The crew deployed a device called a monkey fist, a ball of rope wrapped around a lead ball, which is used to guide a ship. The monkey fist flew across the dock and struck our client in the head - and sent him on a years long search for medical help, financial assistance and effective strategies for coping with his new disability. The blow to our client's parietal area of the brain left him with long-term vision problems, and worse. He could no longer function on the docks. Left without a job, and saddled with lingering health problems, he came to us for help.
This case has involved the BILG Whole Person program on every conceivable level. While our client came to us because of his vision problems, numerous other medical conditions have arisen over time (this is common in brain injuries). There are third party issues involved with this case, and we are still helping to administer a life care plan for our client.
Silent Killer
When former employees of a closed aircraft manufacturing plant got together a few years ago, they noticed they had something in common. They all felt sick. They suffered from a variety of health problems: memory loss, chronic skin conditions, respiratory problems and more. Many had been left without pension programs when the plant closed, and few could afford the cost of treating their medical conditions.
They suspected their health problems were caused by exposure to highly toxic chemicals in the plant. After years of working with them, BILG attorneys discovered their assumptions were correct.
So we began helping these employees and the survivors of employees whose medical conditions ultimately led to death - receive workers' compensation benefits they deserved under the law. To date we have helped more than 70 of these plant workers - many of whom suffered brain injuries.
