{"id":332,"date":"2010-06-07T13:20:04","date_gmt":"2010-06-07T20:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/news\/?p=332"},"modified":"2010-06-07T13:20:04","modified_gmt":"2010-06-07T20:20:04","slug":"underinsured-motorist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/2010\/06\/07\/underinsured-motorist\/","title":{"rendered":"$850,000: State Farm Employee Collects On UIM Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>CASE DESCRIPTION:<\/strong> On 8\/27\/02, plaintiff, Gilbert G. was driving his 1993 Toyota Camry on El Toro Road at its intersection with Serrano in Lake Forest, California.&nbsp; Mr. Gilbert G. was stuck in the aforementioned intersection defendant, this Audrey W.&nbsp; She stated&nbsp;that she was talking to her brother as she entered the intersection and thought the light was green.&nbsp; Upon further questioning, she admitted the light was red.<\/p>\n<p>The case against Ms. Audrey W. was settled for her policy limits of $100,000 with Farmers Insurance prior to a lawsuit being filed.&nbsp; Plaintiff Gilbert G. then brought an underinsured motorist action against his own insurance Co., State Farm, and collected and additional $750,000. Plaintiff contended that defendant was liable for causing the injuries to Plaintiff Gilbert G.&nbsp; Plaintiff contended that the full extent of injuries, and future recommended back surgery, was caused by the automobile incident.&nbsp; Plaintiff contended that he was permanently disabled from his employment at State Farm due to his injuries.&nbsp; Plaintiff acknowledged that the MRI films of his injury showed degenerative changes but argued that the incident caused symptom otology not present prior to the incident.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RESULT: $850,000.00 total settlement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Defendant contended that the injuries suffered by Mr. Gilbert G. were pre-existing in nature. Defendant contended that to the extent that future back surgery was necessary, it was not due to trauma but degenerative changes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TYPE OF CASE:<\/strong> Automobile V. Automobile with Loss of Consortium<\/p>\n<p><strong>DATE &amp; LOCATION OF INCIDENT:<\/strong> On 8\/27\/02 at the intersection of El Toro Road and Serrano in the city of Lake Forest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PLAINTIFF&#8217;S AGE:<\/strong> 43 at the time of the incident.<\/p>\n<p><strong>OCCUPATION:<\/strong> Underwriter specialist or State Farm Insurance Co.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PLAINTIFFS&#8217; ATTORNEY:<br \/>\n<\/strong>Christopher R. Aitken<br \/>\nAITKEN *&nbsp;AITKEN * COHN<br \/>\n<em>For Plaintiff \u2013 Gil &amp; Tina G.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>DEFENDANTS&#8217; ATTORNEYS:<br \/>\n<\/strong>Adjuster for underlying policy \u2013 Lucy Mangielli<br \/>\nFARMERS INSURANCE GROUP<br \/>\n<em>For Defendant<\/em> <em>\u2013 Ms. Audrey W.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Chris Wesierski<br \/>\nWESIERSKI &amp; ZUREK<br \/>\n<em>For Defendant \u2013 State Farm<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>PLAINTIFF&#8217;S INSURANCE CO.:<\/strong> State Farm<\/p>\n<p><strong>DEFENDANT&#8217;S INSURANCE CO.:<\/strong> Farmers Insurance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CASE DESCRIPTION: On 8\/27\/02, plaintiff, Gilbert G. was driving his 1993 Toyota Camry on El Toro Road at its intersection with Serrano in Lake Forest, California.&nbsp; Mr. Gilbert G. was stuck in the aforementioned intersection defendant, this Audrey W.&nbsp; She stated&nbsp;that she was talking to her brother as she entered the intersection and thought the&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/2010\/06\/07\/underinsured-motorist\/\">read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[826],"class_list":["post-332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-verdicts-settlements","tag-vehicular-accidents"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}