Reinhardt | Harper | Davis was hired to represent a young gentleman tragically rendered a partial quadriplegic.  His single vehicle accident claim was denied by the workers’ compensation carrier.

At the time of this accident, the claimant was clocked out and driving his personal vehicle. He alleged he was on his way to a service call before heading home. His tires dipped onto the gravel shoulder, causing him to lose control of his vehicle He crossed the road and struck a tree. Investigating officers found his cell phone at the accident scene with a live stream of a soccer game frozen on the screen.

The claim was fully denied by the carrier on the basis that the claimant was off the clock and had told other employees he was going to go home. They claimed that he did not have permission to use his personal vehicle for service calls, and that he was using his cell phone at the time of his accident. Lastly, they stated that the reason for the accident (the loss of vehicular control), did not arise out of claimant’s employment.

Reinhardt | Harper | Davis took multiple depositions of the claimant’s coworkers and supervisors to refute the defenses of the insurance carrier, including the employees’ practices of using personal vehicles and that timesheets were regularly adjusted after the fact by office managers. RHD sought out and deposed former employees, who could corroborate claimant’s assignment of the service call on the day of the accident. RHD refuted the cell phone evidence and hired a forensic expert who concluded that the soccer game could not have been playing at the time of the impact. The firm also hired an accident reconstructionist to provide an opinion on the effect of the loose gravel and the vehicle’s traction leading to accident.

Before the mediation, the carrier had not paid even a dollar in benefits. Ultimately the parties conducted an all-day mediation where Julia Childrey and Stephen Harper were able to get the carrier to pay a total of $4,889,617.37, consisting of a lump sum of $3,365,000 paid directly to the claimant, along with the carrier funding a MSA with an upfront cost of $1,524,617.37.