This is how my firm helped a sweet couple, who we’ll call Richard and Marie, recover a settlement in both a workers’ compensation case and a big rig crash accident case. The accident was caused by a horrifying and unlikely reason: a wheel detached from an 18-wheeler, smashing into the work van Richard drove.
We got the case from another lawyer who doesn't regularly handle accident or workers’ compensation cases. Realizing the severity and complexity of the problem, she called on us to help her handle it.
How a Tractor Trailer Wheel Detachment Caused a Devastating Accident
The incident occurred in 2022 on I-85 around Duncan, South Carolina. Richard drove a coworker to a cabinet installation job in Greenville. Because the impact knocked him unconscious, Richard remembers little about the crash. But his coworker, who also hired us through the referring lawyer, testified extensively about it.
Richard drove the speed limit of 60 mph in the middle lane. On the other side of the interstate, a “dual wheel assembly,” meaning two wheels joined together, detached from a tractor-trailer driving in the opposite direction. The wheel jumped the interstate median. It bounded over the asphalt so hard and fast the coworker saw tire rubber smoking. Richard and his co-worker screamed. They had no chance to avoid the tire, and it smashed into the windshield. Richard described throwing his hand up in a vain reflex to block the impact. Then everything went black.
It got even worse. Richard passed out with his foot on the accelerator, so the van sped up. The co-worker was forced to try to make the van stop. He unbuckled his seat belt. He tried to press the brake and steer, but he couldn’t. The van went left into the interstate barrier, hit it a few times, bounced off, and then swayed to the right.
On the right side of the interstate, there's a guardrail. The van hit that too. At the end of the guardrail, the co-worker found an opening to steer through. He managed to point the van through it and the van slammed into a ditch and then shot up out of it and smashed into a tree.
Once they came to a stop, Richard was unconscious and blood was all over the place.
Meanwhile, another vehicle drove behind them at impact. Once the wheel bounced off Richard's work van, it slammed directly into the top of that vehicle, profoundly injuring that driver. A few seconds after the coworker got out of Richard's work van, the other vehicle slammed into the van from behind.
Richard's Injuries From the Detached Big Rig Wheel
Richard suffered intense injuries requiring nearly two years of highly supervised, specialized medical care. His injuries included:
- A traumatic brain injury and post concussive syndrome. This caused chronic migraine-like headaches, loss of memory, inability to understand simple instructions, significant emotional distress from his limitations with depression and anxiety, anger, vertigo and dizziness, noise sensitivity, tinnitus [constant ringing in both ears], nausea, and poor sleep.
- A massively broken jaw requiring emergency surgery and a metal plate. Additionally, his jaw was wired shut, and he required a liquid diet for months.
- A complex left hand fracture. The injury involved dislocated fractures of every finger but his index finger.
- A worsened fracture in his lower back at L5 and lumbar radiculopathy. This spinal injury caused pain and disability in his legs
- Double vision. His vision issues required special eyeglasses called distance prism glasses.
His medical bills totaled over $315,000. Luckily, they got paid by workers’ compensation because he got hurt while working.
The First Most Important Thing I Did: Hire the Right Expert
I had to admit the cause of this accident was tragically bizarre. In a case of such high stake’s severity from my client, I couldn't leave anything to chance, especially knowing no matter how badly he was hurt, we still had to prove fault before he could get a settlement from the trucking insurance company. The fact this just shouldn't happen is not proof. I also knew this would likely end up as a federal lawsuit, meaning stringent court requirements that included detailed scientific reports satisfying a tough legal standard.
I needed someone who could explain how this happened. That meant an expert. I reached out to other lawyers to see if this had happened before, and a friend of mine responded, telling me about a nearby engineer who helped him in a similar case. I contacted the engineer, and he broke the case wide open.
His resume was so impressive that the lawyer for the injured driver in the other vehicle also hired him, and we worked on proving fault together. Because I sent a spoliation letter to the trucking insurance company, they still had the wheel assembly and the trailer it popped off. We scheduled an inspection with our expert. Using his experience and expertise, he proved in exacting detail that the cause was simple: they just didn't tighten it properly.
The trucking company's lawyer couldn't find an expert to contest it. It led to them settling the case for the full amount of their liability insurance policy just before we took depositions of their employees.
The Next Most Important Thing I Did: Get Richard the Right Medical Care
Meanwhile, Richard had an ongoing workers’ compensation case designed to provide him with necessary medical care. A sad reality of workers’ compensation cases is that the insurance company is brutally reluctant to provide high-level care without a fight. While Richard suffered serious, documented effects of a brain injury, like many brain injuries, it didn't show up on any scans. He just had symptoms. The insurance company made no effort to refer him to a specialist.
When he continued to suffer, I got involved to fight for a specialist. By documenting his symptoms and effectively negotiating with opposing counsel, the insurance company did right by Richard. They referred him to a brain injury treatment group in Charlotte. He got a team - a neurologist for his brain injury, a psychologist for his emotional struggles, and a neuropsychologist to evaluate the lingering effects of his brain injury.
Related to that, I also spoke with medical providers who were willing to speak with me. The most important conversation I had in the case was with a speech pathologist who was helping Richard regain his full ability to speak, as he had trouble “finding words.” She revealed his disturbing performance on some simple tests revealing brain function, like duplicating shapes in a simple pattern and finding hidden objects in a picture—the kind of things you might remember from Highlights magazine as a kid.
About that time, Richard's family became concerned that the brain injury treatment group didn't think he was hurt that badly. When I submitted a questionnaire from the speech pathologist and those tests showed his condition, the brain injury team intensified their efforts, speeding Richard to a more responsive recovery.
The Third Most Important Thing I Did: Settle a Complex Workers’ Comp and Accident Case the Right Way
When you've gotten hurt at work in an accident caused by someone other than your employer, it's called a “third-party action.” While third-party actions can get clients more money, you need an experienced lawyer for both cases. It makes both cases more complicated.
I was careful to settle the workers’ comp case first for two reasons. One, workers’ comp was in charge of medical care and I couldn't settle the federal trucking lawsuit until we had a good idea of Richard's permanent medical problems. Two, South Carolina workers’ compensation law requires the workers’ compensation insurance company to approve a third-party action settlement. This law is serious. If you settle the third-party action without their consent, you lose all your workers’ compensation rights.
Even though Richard was not completely helpless, he had serious injuries to his brain and back that qualified him for workers’ compensation total and permanent disability. The insurance company wanted to mediate that case, and they agreed to my suggestion of a highly skilled mediator I've used many times in the past. We settled that case for $160,000, paid as cash benefits. But most importantly, he kept the right to get his medical care paid for by the insurance company.
About six months later, the trucking company’s defense lawyer offered the full amount of their liability policy. We'd filed the federal lawsuit about a year before. We’d worked hard in that case, undergoing the federal court discovery process where both sides exchanged extensive evidence. Everyone agreed to mediate how the money should be split, using a deeply respected mediator.
From an emotional standpoint, this was the hardest part of the case for me. The trucking company had a limited amount of insurance, considering how much damage they'd done to three people and their families. The driver of the vehicle behind Richard got the worst of it-his life was dramatically changed forever. I had to explain to Richard that he just wouldn't get as much as he should. But Richard is a noble, compassionate man. When I showed him all the evidence about the other driver's injuries, he made clear he understood that's how it had to work, and he trusted me completely to secure a proper settlement.
I made sure to involve the workers’ compensation insurance company in the mediation because we had to negotiate payback to them for all their medical bills and cash they gave Richard in temporary total disability checks plus the settlement check. That amount was staggering, but we negotiated a discount payback. Overall, it left Richard and his wife, Marie, satisfied with the amount they took home from the $900,000 settlement.
Lessons Learned From Richard’s Settlements
The most important thing I learned about this case is that, as a South Carolina personal injury and workers’ compensation attorney, you can't be resourceful enough. Because of my relationships with other lawyers across the state, I found a fantastic expert that a hard-nosed trucking company defense lawyer couldn't challenge. Because I was willing to sit down with the speech pathologist, I got the attention of Richard's brain injury treatment group to rethink their treatment and give him the extra attention he needed to help him heal.
Speaking of relationships, I can't gloss over how important it is to have a close relationship with a severely injured client, even if those injuries make it a challenge. I spent a lot of time with Richard and his daughter, which was a mighty help to him, and I learned about the effects of his injuries so they could be considered in both settlements. Rose, my ever-capable paralegal, also spent a tremendous amount of time with them managing the frustrations created by the workers’ comp insurance company bungling medical appointments and weekly checks.
We all depended on each other and became friends. The only bad thing about settling his case is that I won't get to see Richard and his family so much.
