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Court Awards Bicyclist $2.18 Million After Collision Led To Career-Ending Injury

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One of the worst things about chronic pain is that it is not visible to others.  Not everyone who is suffering from debilitating pain has a visible scar or rash.  Your employer assumes that you are working more slowly than usual because you are lazy, and when you complain to your family about your pain or spend a lot of time in bed, your family thinks you are doing it to get attention.  Sometimes doctors even accuse you of faking or exaggerating your symptoms to get more disability benefits, or even to get prescription painkillers, especially since pain is not visible on blood tests or X-rays.  The truth is that pain management requires medical treatment (whether through physical therapy, steroid injections, surgery, medication, or some combination thereof), and even when your pain is well managed, you still might not be capable of the work and leisure activities that you used to do before your injury.  If you have been suffering from chronic pain since getting hit by a car, even though you look like your injuries have healed, contact a Jacksonville car accident lawyer.

When the Pain Gets Even Worse After Treatment

Before the car accident that changed her life, Mary Mitchell of Sanibel Island worked at the public library and spent her spare time building sculptures.  One day in 2015, while she was riding her bicycle to work, Steven Anderson struck Mitchell’s bicycle with his car as he was driving out of a supermarket parking lot.  Mitchell’s injuries included fractures of her wrist and hip.  After undergoing surgery on her wrist, Mitchell, 62, appeared to have made a full recovery, and she returned to work.

The pain got worse, however, as she developed bursitis as a complication of the wrist surgery.  Bursitis, which is inflammation of the fluid-filled sacs around the joints, is a possible complication of surgeries that involve the installation of surgical hardware.  By 2018, she was no longer able to perform her work duties, and her employer fired her, causing her to retire from the workforce sooner than she was financially prepared to do.  It became clear that she would need additional surgeries.

Mitchell sued Anderson, requesting economic damages, as well as noneconomic damages for the loss of her ability to ride a bicycle and make sculptures.  The case first went to arbitration, and Anderson offered to settle for $450,000, but Mitchell rejected the offer, and the case went to trial.  At trial, the court ruled in Mitchell’s favor and awarded her $2.18 million.  Even if arbitration is a necessary preliminary step in your case, you are under no obligation to accept an arbitration award, and you have the right to go to trial.

Contact Douglas & Douglas About Bicycle Accident Cases

A North Florida personal injury lawyer can help you if you suffered serious injuries when you got hit by a car while riding your bicycle and you now suffer from chronic pain.  Contact Douglas & Douglas in Jacksonville, Florida for a free consultation.

Source:

news-press.com/story/news/2019/08/02/sanibel-cyclist-awarded-2-million-damages-after-2015-accident-sw-fl/1891788001/

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