Plumber Partially Paralyzed in 100 mph Crash Wins $1.3 Million Global Settlement
After trial: Negotiated global settlement of the workers' compensation and motor vehicle claims, so no appeal applies. The payment terms and the split between the claims were not made public.
A 32-year-old plumber was hit broadside in his work van by a driver going over 100 mph in Virginia on Nov. 20, 2015, fracturing his neck and back and leaving him partially paraplegic in both legs. His workers' compensation claim and his motor vehicle claim were settled together in April 2017. Every motor vehicle carrier tendered its policy limits.
What happened
On Nov. 20, 2015, a 32-year-old plumber was driving his work van in Virginia when another driver, traveling more than 100 mph, struck the side of it in a T-bone collision. Because he was on the job, the crash produced two claims at once: a workers' compensation claim before the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission and a motor vehicle negligence claim against the driver. The two were resolved together in a $1.3 million global settlement in April 2017.
The injuries were severe and well documented. The plumber fractured his C2 vertebra in the neck and suffered a burst fracture at L1, along with fractures at T12, L2 and L5. The damage left him with partial paraplegia in both legs. He was treated at Chippenham Medical Center in Richmond, where Dr. Placide performed back surgery, and he then went to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for rehabilitation. By the end of that program he had learned to walk with an ankle and foot orthosis and a walker.
The workers' compensation side was already moving before the settlement. In July 2016, the Commission entered an award of temporary total disability benefits, paid weekly while he could not work. That left the question of how to value his future benefits against a negligence claim that carried its own insurance coverage.
Four insurers were involved: Builders Mutual, Cincinnati Insurance, Travelers and Nationwide. Each of the motor vehicle carriers tendered its policy limits, so the third-party recovery reached the full amount of coverage available. The workers' compensation carrier then offered more than the total temporary total disability benefits it owed the plumber, which is what made a single combined resolution workable for everyone.
The case was mediated by Commissioner James J. Szablewicz of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission. Geoff McDonald, Kim Raab and Frank H. Hupfl of Richmond represented the plumber. Michael Goff and Harold Johnson, also of Richmond, appeared for the defense side.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly reported the settlement in its May 29, 2017 edition under the headline noting that the carrier offered more than the total payout owed because limits had been tendered. The Commission's case number was VA00001140896.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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