Imagine you are out alone on your bicycle early on a beautiful Spring day, riding your regular exercise route along a narrow, country road.  There are few cars and you are enjoying the day and the ride. The next thing you know, you are waking up in terrible pain in the emergency room.  That’s what happened to our client, an office manager and avid runner and bicyclist in her mid-40s.   The identity of the striking driver was never established, even after an appeal on the local television news. 

Our client was a dental hygienist in her mid 20s and mother of a toddler.  She had just completed dental hygiene school and took a position at a local dental clinic.  While at work one evening, she was assigned to take dental X-rays of a patient.  Like those in most dental offices, this X-Ray unit was wall mounted and was equipped with an elaborate system of arms and joints to allow the X-Ray head to be placed in the correct position while the patient remained seated in the dental chair.  Because it moves effortlessly when the equipment is properly functioning, it isn’t readily apparent that the X-Ray head at the end of those articulating arms weighs approximately thirty pounds.  As our client was positioning the head to take the final set of X-Rays, the unit came apart at one of the joints.  Instinctively our client grabbed the head to prevent it from falling onto the patient.  As she did so, she suffered a fracture in the wrist of her dominant hand.  Although it appeared at first to be a simple fracture which would resolve itself, the injury took a turn for the worse when it was discovered that a major nerve in the wrist area was injured.  Several surgeries were required to alleviate her pain and restore a level of function, however our client was unable to return to the dental hygiene field. 

A motor vehicle accident case between a car and a tractor trailer truck was referred to our Firm.  The case involved a trucking company and complicated issues relating to motor carrier regulations governing driver time in service, training and accident reporting.   The accident resulted in a re-injury and aggravation of a prior back condition which had been surgically treated before the accident.  The case was resolved by judicial settlement conference for a confidential amount, and earning the forwarding attorney a large referral fee.