Client Stories

Daniel B.

Dan needed to get to the airport to fly to LA for a business meeting. He called a Lyft to take him from his home to SeaTac airport. As they were driving to the airport, the Lyft driver kept tailgating a car in front of them in the Route 99 tunnel. The car in front got annoyed with the Lyft driver and rather than changing lanes to let him pass, the driver then slammed on his brakes and came to a stop, causing the Lyft vehicle to rear-end the car in front of it.

The entire incident was caught with the Lyft driver’s dash camera. Upon impact, Dan’s was thrown forward and hit the head rest in front of him. He was later diagnosed with a head injury by the urgent care center he went to. He received a short course of physical therapy and chiropractic care for his orthopedic injuries. After 2 months, his ne.ck and back problems were under control, but his cognitive issues continued to bother him along with headaches, light sensitivity, sleep disturbance, mood irritability and on-going cognitive impairments. The impact that of memory loss, altered thinking and inability to multitask had affected his ability to run his once-thriving business. He eventually had to close his business and seek a job that was less taxing on his brain. Dan started neurorehabilitation program, and after a thorough examination of his cognitive impairments, he was then referred out for neuropsychological testing for a more thorough clinical assessment of his cognitive deficits, despite more therapy, his symptoms persisted, and he struggled to stay up with the demands of his new job.

As a result, Dan was referred to a neurologist who also diagnosed a brain injury and recommended more cognitive therapy. Despite this, his cognitive function never returned to his pre-injury state. Daniel’s life has been profoundly affected by his cognitive dysfunction, more than his physical injuries, and it created a barrier to his work, affected his daily living activities and has had an emotional impact on his personal relationships with his family.

Despite all of his problems, the insurance companies for Lyft and the car in front of the Lyft both denied he had a brain injury, and hired one of the “usual suspect” deniers of concussions to come up with the usual silly excuses for why they thought his cognitive problems were all caused by anything but hitting his head as the video showed. This is when he came to BILS to get some expert help in dealing with the insurance companies who try this tactic in seemingly every case. The attorneys at BILS were able to quickly show how absurd the “there is no injury here” position was by obtaining enhanced imaging of Dan’s brain to objectively show that there was in fact brain damage. After producing this evidence, and deposing the defendant’s hired gun” insurance doctors, both insurance carriers quickly realized it was better to settle the case for a fair amount rather than risking going to trial and having a jury tell them otherwise. Between the two insurance carriers, they paid a total of $1.25 million to resolve a case that they started out saying there was not brain injury until BILS proved otherwise.

Lisa L.

Lisa, who worked as a hospice RN, had just left the home of one of her patients. She was travelling on I-405 during stop and go, rush hour traffic. The cars in front of her were slowing so she began slowing as well. As she came to a full stop, she was rear ended by a large FedEx truck. Police determined that the defendant had been following too close and failed to pay proper attention to traffic, causing the collision. Due to the size of her vehicle compared with that of the large delivery truck, her injuries were extensive on impact. Lisa suffered a traumatic brain injury, chronic neck pain, chronic headaches, visual changes, light sensitivity, balance problems and permanent cognitive impairments. As a result of the head injury, she developed severe post concussive symptoms which were not only debilitating but worrisome. A doctor at a local urgent care diagnosed Lisa with a concussion, cervical strain and left-hand paresthesia. She was the sole breadwinner of the family and had been furthering her education at the age of 57 so she could advance her career by having her master's degree. Unbeknownst to Lisa, her future plans were about to be altered. She was no longer able to work.

She contacted an attorney to help her receive the justice she deserved. Due to the nature of her case, the firm realized that they needed a law firm with expertise in brain injury and reached out to Scott Blair of BILS for assistance.

Fed Ex engaged in its usual denial that there was a brain injury, and BILS then took steps to objectify Lisa’s brain injury and all of her physical injuries as well. Through the expert resources available to BILS Lisa was able to prove every aspect of her injuries, and FED Ex, despite its position that her injuries were minimal in nature and likely caused by “psychological factors”, ultimately caved in and agreed to a settlement amount of $2.75 million so she can get the future care she needs, and not have to worry about her ongoing inability to work. Scott was proud to have been able to help Lisa get the closure that she needed in order to get on with the rest of her life without having to worry about being economically crushed by her injuries.

Shelby Wunch

Shelby was a passenger in a car riding with her friend when a semi-truck suddenly turned in front of their car. They hit the bottom of the trailer, nearly taking the top of the car off. She was knocked unconscious. She had numerous internal injuries as well. She spent a week in Harborview, and was released. She came home to a mountain of medical bills. The trucking company insurance company was not willing to help her with the bills, and told her they would only pay if she was willing to settle for a little more than what the medical bills were. She would not settle because she still had a host of unexplained symptoms. None of her doctors addressed her brain injury. She had constant nausea, vomiting several times a day. She was no longer able to work.

She contacted Scott, and after giving her the names of various medical specialists, she was able to start finding answers. She was diagnosed with a vagus nerve injury, which is a nerve that goes from the brain to the stomach, and controls the stomach’s ability to contract and process food. When it stopped working, she was unable to process food, and became constantly nauseous. She also had a pituitary injury, that affected her energy level, thinking ability, weight level, and ability to get out in the world. Scott directed her to the right doctors who were able to diagnose her and get her on the right medication to restore her quality of life. However, her future medical bills would run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the insurance carrier trivialized her injuries as not being related to the crash.

Scott filed suit against the trucking company, and after sending her to a doctor hired by the insurance company, that doctor agreed with Scott that indeed she had a pituitary and vagus nerve injury. The trucking company and the insurance company then had to change their tune, and paid their complete policy limits available. Shelby got the help she needed to keep her quality of life intact, and make sure her medication and future medical care would always be taken care of so she would never have to rely on anyone else to pay her bills.

M.W.

Kent, Washington

MW was riding his bicycle in a bike lane in Kent. He was a 24 year old elite cyclist in excellent shape. A driver of a truck in the lane next to him suddenly turned right and nicked MW, making him fall off his bike. He was wearing his helmet. However, when he fell to the ground, his head struck the pavement along with his left shoulder. His initial injuries did not seem too serious, but he was dazed and confused at the scene and for a few weeks after that. He did not know he had a concussion. He received a short course of physical therapy and chiropractic care for his orthopedic injuries. After a few weeks, his mental fogginess went away, but his physical injuries continued to bother him. MW thought he was on the road to recovery, but 2-3 months after the collision, he started feeling very fatigued, the mental fogginess returned, he lost all interest in work and social interactions, and lost his libido. Because he had improved following his initial concussion, none of his doctors thought his concussion could be playing a role causing his symptoms. After testing him for numerous other conditions, he was finally tested by his primary care doctor for his testosterone levels, which came in extremely low.

He was then referred to an endocrinologist with experience in brain injury, who performed further pituitary testing on MW. His pituitary gland was found to be damaged and unable to produce testosterone at all, and could produce very little human growth hormone. As a result, MW was rendered functionally sterile from the loss of testosterone, and faced many additional health issues if he did not get onto human growth hormone replacement.

Scott Blair took his case on, even though this type of injury was virtually unrecognized in 2013 by many in the medical and legal community as being the result of a brain injury. Remarkably, between 30-50% of brain injuries result in pituitary injuries, even though this fact was not commonly known by many in the medical community. After more than two years of studying pituitary disorders and their relation to brain injury, consulting with the leading neuro-endocrinologists in the area, Scott realized that MW’s case was unique in that virtually no other lawyers had ever prosecuted this type of injury before, and that he needed to get the word out so other victims of brain injury could get the help they needed to get their lives back.

MW was a self employed insurance agent whose health plan would not cover all of his expenses. After learning that a lifetime of testosterone and human growth hormone injections would cost MW over $700,000, Scott knew that since MW got only one chance to hold the at fault party responsible for all the future help he needed, he had to make this case count. Scott presented his extensive settlement brochure and research to the insurance carrier for the truck driver, and it promptly paid its substantial policy limits.

When MW then turned the claim over to his own insurance carrier on an underinsured motorist claim, he was told the case was not worth any more than what the responsible party had already paid. The insurer relied upon a psychiatrist from New York to say that MW’s doctors were all wrong. They even questioned the credibility of MW, their own sales agent. Scott then retained a local world class expert in neuro-endocrinology to rebut the insurance company’s hired gun, and after another year delay, his carrier finally admitted MW’s experts were correct and paid its policy limits as well.

As a result, MW’s medical future is now secure. MW’s case has paved the way for Brain Injury Law of Seattle to help many other folks like MW who have suffered a devastating brain injury. Scott Blair was proud to have been able to help MW and many others like him gain a better quality of life following a brain injury.