Jacksonville Truck Accident Attorneys
Featured Settlements and Verdicts
At Farah and Farah, we represent clients in matters involving everything from medical malpractice to nursing home abuse and auto accidents. We are extremely proud that we have been able to help so many victims and families recover the compensation they need to start rebuilding their lives. The settlements and verdicts below represent just a sampling of the cases we have successfully settled or brought to trial for our clients. If you would like to speak with an attorney about your case, don't delay - contact Farah and Farah today.
Verdicts and Settlements:
Trucking Collision Case - Recovery $4.8 million
It was supposed to be a good day for Jensie Edwards. February 1, 2004 was her 39th birthday but on her early morning drive to work her life would be permanently altered. Stopped at a red light at the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Canal Street, a driver for Southland Waste Systems slammed his dump truck into the rear of her car at a speed of 40 mph. Her Dodge Caravan was destroyed and Edwards received severe back injuries. Suffering from continuous pain and limited mobility, Edwards lost her job as a warehouse worker.
A new cutting-edge spinal cord stimulator which controls her pain has been permanently implanted in her body.
Michael Marrese, of The Law Firm of Farah and Farah, represented the couple in their claim against the insurance carrier. In early April, 2006, a Duval County jury awarded Edwards and her husband $4.8 million. Eddie Farah noted "this award will assist our client to obtain the future medical care she requires and will help to compensate her for her future loss of wages."
Farah and Farah Obtain $3.4 Million Verdict for Mother of Two in Trucking Case
November 8, 2004 started like any other morning for 37-year-old Wendy Sugalski. She had just dropped her teenage child at school and was heading east on Atlantic Boulevard near Kernan to pick-up her other teenager.
She was stopped at a red-light when her car was rear-ended by a 26,000 pound moving truck traveling 40 miles per hour. Her Honda Civic was pushed forward, the force crushing the trunk of her car into her back seat.
Mrs. Sugalski didn't see it coming but immediately she felt the pain.
She suffered at least one herniated disc in her neck and suffered significant soft tissue damage. Treated immediately at the emergency room, Sugalski would undergo extensive pain management treatment including 69 injections in her neck and two surgical procedures that probe the nerves, then heat them to deaden pain.
Today she is in constant pain. Doctors tell her to expect that for the rest of her life.
Her career as a ballet, lyrical and acrobatic dance instructor at Let's Dance in Ponte Vedra Beach, would be forever restricted to instruction, not demonstration. Her future as a dancer at exhibitions was over.
On Thursday, September 13th 2007, Sugalski won a $3.49 million dollar judgment against Reads Moving Systems of Florida, Inc.
The company denied they were at fault. "That's the nature of the beast," says Eddie Farah. However, shortly before the trial, the Court ruled as a matter of law that Reads Moving Systems of Florida, Inc. was responsible for the crash. "They don't offer you any money unless you go to court and get a verdict. They wear you down because they know people are hurting for money and will take whatever they throw out," says Farah.
Reads Moving Systems, a national company with offices on Philips Hwy., offered Ms. Sugalski $27,500 prior to a lawsuit being filed and $60,000 before trial.
"The insurance company never took her seriously," says Randall Rutledge who was co-counsel in the case. But the court determined that Reads was at fault and that focused the case on damages. "Causation and the amount of Mrs. Sugalski's damages is what the jury had to determine," says Farah.
The six-person jury agreed. The award includes almost $40,000 for past medical bills, $150,000 for past pain and suffering and $2.25 million for future pain and suffering. Included in the award is $1 million for future medical care which will include twice yearly nerve treatments known as RFL, radiofrequency lesioning which costs about $5,000 per treatment.