Cheshire Attorney Clinches $200,000 Settlement for Woman Injured in Car Crash
Attorneys for East Granby resident Donna Mattera helped secure a $200,000 settlement for her after the vehicle was rear-ended by another motorist in Hartford in 2016.
December 16, 2019 at 03:13 PM
4 minute read
Hartford Superior Court. Photo: Google
The owner of a Cheshire-based law firm has secured a $200,000 settlement for a 57-year-old East Granby woman who suffered neck and lower back injuries after her vehicle was rear-ended in Hartford in 2016.
Plaintiff attorney Frank Bartlett Jr. of Bartlett Legal Group said his biggest challenge in representing Donna Mattera was that she had similar prior injuries.
"Our biggest obstacle was clearly the fact that my client had almost no damage to her car and that she had prior injuries," Bartlett told said Monday. "Even though prior injuries are usually a detriment to a case, we were able to use the facts of those prior injuries and prior surgeries and show that this accident exacerbated them. The fact that she had those prior injuries made her more susceptible to [injuries from] even a minor collision."
Bartlett continued: "We had doctors who were able to show that five years prior to the accident, she had no treatment for her neck or back. Because the symptoms lit up again and became worse after the accident, we were able to attribute her current neck and back injuries to this accident."
In court papers, the defense wrote there was insufficient knowledge or information made in the plaintiff's claims and left the plaintiff to prove their arguments.
According to Bartlett and a May 2018 lawsuit filed in Hartford Superior Court, William Robinson's 2016 Chevrolet Malibu rear-ended Mattera's 2015 Nissan Murano on Interstate 91 South near the Exit 33 ramp in Hartford.
Bartlett said Robinson told police he had been looking away from the roadway and was not able to stop his vehicle in time. Robinson was issued an infraction for following too closely.
Representing Robinson and Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc. was attorney Joshua Yahwak of the Hamden offices of Law Offices of Cynthia M. Garraty. Robinson was driving a vehicle that Siemens Healthcare, his employer, owned. Yahwak declined to comment on the matter Monday.
Bartlett said Mattera, who was wearing a seatbelt, "had significant muscle spasms in her neck and lower back" following the accident. A neurosurgeon, Bartlett said, remarked that she was not a candidate for further surgeries. Instead, Bartlett said, Mattera underwent numerous treatments via injection to the neck and lower back.
Mattera is a secretary for the East Granby school district and also missed work periodically for treatment, Bartlett said.
Bartlett said his initial demand was for $975,000. The defense agreed on the $200,000 settlement during a Dec. 3 mediation with mediator and attorney Chris Wanat of Milano & Wanat.
Bartlett said he believes the defense agreed to pay the $200,000 because "of the credibility of the plaintiff and that there was a lack of treatment in the five years before this accident. That really led credibility to our arguments that the exacerbation was due to this accident as opposed to some other incident or a natural progression of her degenerative condition."
The settlement money will be paid via the Travelers Companies Inc., and Mattera should receive it by the end of the year, Bartlett said.
Related stories:
Adler Law Group Gets $445K Settlement for Father and Son Injured in Crash
Client's Prior Injuries Didn't Hinder This Middlebury Lawyer's $400,000 Result
How Hartford Attorney Clinched $400,000 Settlement for Man Injured in Crash
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