SMDA OBTAINS JUGMENT AGAINST STATE FARM

SMDA client, CT was rear-ended on June 7, 2004. AT the time she was insured with State Farm. CT suffered a herniated disc in her neck and underwent fusion surgery about 6 months later. State Farm paid personal injury protection (PIP) benefits (consisting of medical bills and replacement services) for about two years and then terminated all benefits based on the opinions of several doctors they hired to offer an opinion. Not surprisingly, these highly paid and frequently used reviewers said CT’s ongoing problems were not related to the car crash.

SMDA filed suit on CT’s behalf in December of 2008 to make State Farm pay for her ongoing medical care and treatment. State Farm waited until the day of trial two years later (December 6, 2010) to offer to settle the case for about 60 percent of the unpaid medical bills. CT and her counsel (SMDA partner Patrick Derkacz) said no thanks to that.

After a 3 day trial the jury returned a verdict in CT’s favor and determined that State Farm owed every single penny that CT asked for. The jury also determined that the medical bills were overdue and ordered State Farm to pay penalty interest.

State Farm must spend alot of money on those TV commercials trying to convince everyone that they are “good neighbors.” In this firm’s experience, State Farm is one of those neighbor’s who never cuts their grass, has a broken down old car in the driveway and yells at all the neighborhood kids.