CASE STUDY: Eden Rafferty Attains Large Settlement for Elderly Client Injured in Car Accident caused by Home Health Care Company Aide

Insurance Offered: $20,000

We Got: $525,000

Background

Many of our elderly rely on home health care companies and hired caregivers for necessary medical needs and transportation. But what happens when the people we trust with our health don’t take proper care?

One of our recent clients was an elderly woman with significant pre-existing health conditions. She hired a home health care company to assist with her in-home medical needs and transportation because she could no longer care for herself.

One day, an aide from the home health company was driving our client to a medical appointment. The aide was a young and inexperienced driver and was operating their own personal vehicle.

While driving to the appointment, the aide missed a turn. Rather than turn around, the aide attempted to make a sudden turn at a high speed.

Their vehicle crashed into an oncoming car, flipped, and our client was trapped underneath. Our client suffered serious injuries, including multiple spinal fractures, rib fractures, and a pubic fracture.

Our Approach

Eden Rafferty immediately filed suit against the driver of the client’s vehicle, the home health care company that employed her, and the other vehicle involved in the accident.

We conducted diligent discovery, compiled the client’s medical records from before and after the accident, and took depositions from all the parties, including a crucial witness to the incident.

Furthermore, we engaged experts, including:

• an accident reconstructionist to explain how each of the drivers involved shared fault
• an orthopedist to clarify the impact of the client’s various injuries and how they related to the crash
• a life care planner to give an overview of the significant cost of ongoing healthcare that was necessitated by the injuries suffered in the crash
• an economist to explain the economic impact of these future costs on our client

Results

The home health care company and the driver of our client’s vehicle attempted to deny liability based on a waiver the home health care company required patients, like our client, to sign, and asked the court to dismiss the case on this basis.

Originally, the home health care company and the aide refused to offer a settlement to our client. They moved for summary judgment, asking the Court to dismiss the case based on the waiver. The other involved driver offered a mere $20,000.

After Eden Rafferty filed a strong opposition, the defendants agreed to a global mediation which ultimately led to a favorable settlement. Mediation is a formal process where a neutral mediator helps the parties agree to a settlement that is acceptable to everyone. It’s called global mediation when there are multiple defendants and the parties are attempting to reach a settlement that resolves all claims and includes all parties.

Our client’s total settlement came to $525,000–more than half a million dollars.

But just as importantly, our client told us that going through the litigation process made her feel more in control and less helpless after the accident[4] . Our attorneys and staff regularly updated the client and checked in on her medical process, prepared her to respond to written discovery and to sit for her deposition, and met with her at length to discuss resolution strategy and prepare for the global mediation.