Our client was a 46-year-old U.S. military veteran and active U.S. Coast Guard ship inspector driving through Miami-Dade County on July 30, 2023, when a commercial 18-wheeler drifted from its lane and sideswiped his vehicle without warning. The force of the impact pushed his car off the road and onto the sidewalk. The truck fled the scene.Our client photographed the fleeing truck as it drove away. The vehicle was a white 18-wheeler bearing a national commercial trucking company's name and logo on the trailer. That photograph -- combined with a police investigation and an eyewitness who corroborated the entire sequence of events -- left no room for dispute. The defense ultimately stipulated to liability and withdrew all comparative negligence arguments.The injuries were severe and multilevel. MRI imaging revealed lumbar disc herniations at L3-4 and L4-5, cervical disc herniations at C4-5, C5-6, and C6-7, and brain MRI findings consistent with head trauma. Conservative care including chiropractic treatment, physical therapy, an epidural steroid injection, lumbar medial branch blocks, and radiofrequency facet ablation all provided only temporary and incomplete relief.On March 13, 2025, our client underwent a transforaminal lumbar discectomy at L4-L5. He has also been recommended for an anterior cervical microdiscectomy. Future medical expenses were projected at $790,000 over his lifetime. Past medical bills exceeded $201,000. The crash compounded existing PTSD from his military service. The case settled for $790,000.
Liability was airtight -- and we made sure it stayed that way. Our client photographed the truck as it fled. A witness confirmed everything. The police crash report documented the sequence precisely. The defense ultimately stipulated -- formally withdrawing all comparative negligence arguments.We built a multilevel surgical damages case. Lumbar and cervical herniations across multiple levels. Radiofrequency ablation. A completed lumbar discectomy. A cervical discectomy still recommended. Brain MRI findings. Post-concussion syndrome. PTSD aggravation. Every layer of injury was documented and causally linked to the crash.We addressed the pre-existing injury head-on. Our client had a prior 2021 motor vehicle crash involving his neck and back -- injuries that had fully resolved before this crash reignited them. We presented the prior injury transparently, established the resolution timeline, and made clear that the 2023 crash caused everything that followed.
