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Friday 
11 August 2006
Jury Duty, or Pain and Suffering
This has been my world this past week, and explains my absence.
There was a car accident. Two cars and their drivers were involved. One, the Defendant, had a stiff neck for a couple of days and then returned to her softball and basketball teams shortly thereafter. The other, the Plaintiff, had 76 visits with a Chiropractor and 34 with a massage therapist, and testified in court that now, four years after the accident, she is functioning at 95% of where she was before the accident. The Defendant’s car, an older model Toyota Corolla, was totaled and needed to be replaced, the Plaintiff’s, a 1995 Ford Explorer, sustained $2,800 in damage. The Defendant was ticketed for failure to yield to oncoming traffic while making a left turn, which she paid, while maintaining that the accident was partly caused by the Plaintiff having been speeding and not paying attention to cars turning at the intersection.
There was a car accident. Almost four years later, the Plaintiff sued the Defendant, asking for reimbursement for all auto damages, unpaid leave from work, Chiropractic treatment and massage therapy, totaling $10,683, AS WELL AS an additional $60,000 for pain and suffering.
There was a car accident. The Defendant didn’t maliciously attack the Plaintiff. The Defendant may have made a driving mistake. The Plaintiff may have also made a mistake…on the road. However, the Plaintiff teaming up with her Attorney and asking for $70,683 was a HUGE strategic mistake, but NOT an accident.
All 12 jurors strongly agreed that, if the amount for pain and suffering hadn’t been so jaw-droppingly high, we would not have scrutinized the Plaintiff’s case so thoroughly, we would not have instantly been suspicious that her claim that she suffered terrible pain and suffering because of the accident and the permanent injury it caused, a claim simply not substantiated by the evidence, was greatly exaggerated in a shameful play for money, an attempt to bilk the Defendant for a simple driving mistake that almost everyone has made at one time or another, whether an accident occurred because of it or not.
There was a car accident. Four years later I missed most of a week from work, leave was paid but work piled up, all so I could perform my civic duty. I’m back at work and swamped and stressed over it, but as critical as I might occasionally be of the U.S. justice system, I was honored to serve with my fellow jurors and confident, like Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men, that justice was served.
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I dunno, having been in an auto accident in which i was driving on the interstate rearended by a 16-yr-old twit talking to her boyfriend on her cell (back when only rich ppl could afford them), I also ended up with over a year of treatment and chronic pain. Maybe my case was stronger. I had 2 herniated disks. My TMJ acted up to the point where my jaw would lock. I eventually had to drop out of school because I couldn’t stand to sit all day (not to mention becoming addicted to pain meds). And since I was young and dumb back then, I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt (in louisiana, you were a wussy for wearing one). I ate my steering wheel, resulting in the loss of my front teeth.
We settled for $45k, of which I saw about $17k.
I was driving an 82 sunbird. She, a newer car. My rear end was a little banged up. Needless to say, the car was totaled. I loved that car.
Money grab? Maybe, maybe not. Did she suffer? I’d say so, based upon my own experience. I’m curious as to whether she had an airbag and whether it was deployed.
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Hawke, your injuries were WAY worse than the Plaintiff’s. As I said, her claims were greatly exaggerated.
At the time of her accident, a baseline of 10 was established to describe the worst pain she experienced, and at every Chiropractic and massage therapy visit she attended she rated her pain in three areas - neck, mid-back, lower back - on a scale of 0-10, with 10 remaining the level she was at when the pain was at its worst.
Five months after the accident, she was reporting pain in the 0-2 range. An independent Chiropractic expert testified that most Chiropractors would have ended treatment at that point, with recommendations that the patient continue stretching exercises indefinitely. Instead, she went on to have regular (2-3 times per week!) Chiropractic visits for over a year and a half after the accident.
The Plaintiff described herself before the accident as very active and always having a gym membership, so it might reasonably be assumed she could easily incorporate those recommended exercises into her normal workout.
Listen, she suffered, no doubt. People suffer every day from varying levels of physical and other harships. It was an accident, her auto repair, work-lost, and medical expenses had already been covered by insurance, and if it were me, no, having those expenses covered wouldn’t make the physcial pain go away, but it sure would help salve the emotional pain, and I can’t see feeling entitled to anything more than that.
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Yeah, in all honesty, I hate milkers as much as the next person. They may (or may not, in your case) get the money but then insurance rates for EVERYONE go up because insurance companies, like any other business, don’t like losing money, therefore they make up these exaggerated payouts by raising rates.
And frankly, I’d have to think that her car was MUCH safer than mine. So good on you guys for not letting her get away with it.
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Interestingly, Canada’s experience is pretty much the opposite: most provinces here have no-fault clauses. Basically, it means that you can’t sue anyone for anything related to a motor vehicle accident.
Insurance companies haggle over who’s at fault, and pay settlements accordingly. But taking folks to court for damages is virtually unheard of here except for the most egregious of cases.
Sometimes, I wonder if these two extremes - highly litigious vs. non-litigious - are where we need to be. Surely, there must be a happier medium that more appropriately balances the needs of plaintiffs and defendants - and, of course, the public interest.
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