On a December evening, two pedestrians—our client, Lauren*, and her friend Audrey*—were legally crossing the street at a marked crosswalk near St. Paul Square in San Antonio.
As they passed in front of a stopped vehicle, the driver suddenly accelerated, striking both women and knocking them to the ground. Lauren’s head had a hard impact with the pavement . She briefly lost consciousness, then awoke to a bleeding scalp and severe pain.
The driver stopped and got out of his vehicle briefly to check his vehicle for damage, and asked the women, “Are you good? You’re good, right?” He gave a name—which turned out to be a lie—and then sped away without rendering any further aid and waiting for the police to arrive.
* Names changed for privacy.
Lauren struggles through life-changing post-concussive symptoms
While Audrey was lucky to escape serious injury, Lauren was far less fortunate. In addition to her head wound, which required surgical staples to close, she was diagnosed with a concussion and multiple herniated discs in her neck and lower back.
Lauren continued to experience serious post-concussive symptoms over the following months, including dizziness, nausea, vertigo, double vision, anxiety, and cognitive deficits such as poor concentration, word-finding difficulty, problems with reading comprehension, and short-term memory issues. Lauren’s migraine headaches, which were a pre-existing condition, also significantly worsened after her head injury.
All these symptoms had a significant impact on Lauren’s daily quality of life. They also had an obvious negative effect on her ability to work as a speech language pathologist. Crosley spoke with multiple coworkers who talked about her brain fog, daily pain, and difficulty communicating after the crash.
Recovery timelines after a concussion (medically known as a mild traumatic brain injury) can vary significantly from person to person. Some people fully recover within 3 to 6 months. Others never fully recover.
Unfortunately, because Lauren was still struggling with her post-concussive symptoms more than 18 months after the accident, her cognitive impairments are likely permanent. She also continues to struggle with ongoing neck and back pain related to her spinal injuries.
Lauren was only in her mid-20s at the time of the incident, meaning she could easily be looking at more than 50 years of future treatment for injuries directly related to the crash.
The insurer makes an insulting offer—but Crosley Law fights back
Although the hit-and-run driver had given a fake name and fled the scene, the police were able to obtain plate information and positively identify him. Crosley Law was then able to quickly obtain a full policy limits settlement offer from his insurance company. But he was only carrying $30,000 in liability coverage—far less than what Lauren needed and deserved.
We then turned our attention to Lauren’s own underinsured motorist insurance. Although she had good coverage, the insurance company had classified her claim as a “soft tissue injury” case and offered just $10,000 to settle. This was despite overwhelming medical evidence. After countless physical examinations and tests, no fewer than 11 doctors had diagnosed Lauren with a mild traumatic brain injury and noted her consistent, ongoing symptoms.
There was no way we were going to let the insurer get away with further delay tactics and insulting lowball offers. We gathered the medical evidence and took detailed accounts from Lauren and several of her friends and colleagues. We also reminded the insurance company about several of our recent big trial wins and how they would likely be on the hook to pay our attorney fees if they lost in court.
Once it was clear we were serious, the insurance company came to their senses. Long before the originally scheduled trial date, we negotiated a $245,000 settlement from Lauren’s insurer—more than 24 times what they had offered in prelitigation. When combined with the hit-and-run driver’s liability insurance payout, Lauren’s total compensation was $275,000.
Top takeaways
Lauren’s case teaches us some important lessons about how car crash claims and litigation work in Texas:
- Insurers still love to disregard and undervalue traumatic brain injuries. Although the science on brain injuries is rapidly evolving, insurance companies still deny the evidence and rely on outdated studies far too often. If you’ve been struggling with life-changing post-concussive symptoms after a crash—especially if your condition was diagnosed as “mild” and you only lost consciousness briefly (or not at all)—consider working with an attorney that has extensive experience handling brain injury cases.
- Don’t skimp out on uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage in your own auto policy. If Lauren hadn’t been carrying UM/UIM coverage, her total recovery would have been limited to just the $30,000 from the other driver. UM/UIM coverage is usually cheap compared to the amount you can buy, and we recommend everyone purchase as much coverage as they can reasonably afford.
- Don’t trust your own auto insurance company to do the right thing. Just because you’re the one paying the premiums doesn’t mean your own insurer has your best interests at heart. Once you file a UM/UIM claim, you’re no longer “the customer.” You’re the opponent. They will move to protect their own bottom line. Reach out to a car crash attorney as soon as possible after a crash—ideally before you talk to anybody at your own insurance company.
In past years, it was very common for auto insurance companies to deny or lowball UM/UIM claims in bad faith. Even if they knew they would lose big at trial, they could make the case so time-consuming and expensive for the claimant that no attorney would take the case (or the attorney fees and court costs alone would eat up too much of the award).
That all changed in 2021. In Allstate v. Irwin, the Texas Supreme Court decided that courts could force auto insurers to pay attorney fees on top of UM/UIM policy limits. Our own Tom Crosley argued in front of the high court to help secure this game-changing win for Texas crash victims everywhere.
Car Crash? Call Crosley
Our law firm has a well-earned reputation for delivering big settlements and verdicts in complex cases, especially involving concussions and traumatic brain injuries.
If you or someone you love has been hurt in a crash, talk to one of our attorneys today to request your free case review. You can reach us at (210) 529-3000.
