Faced with a client who suffered head injuries in a rear-end motor vehicle accident and the defense offering just $19,902 to resolve the case, plaintiffs attorney Hailey Rice knew she had to get an expert—and a good one.

Rice, an associate with Glastonbury-based Connecticut Trial Firm, said she relied on a doctor her firm had used to much success before: neurologist Jeffrey Davis, who is affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Brooklyn Hospital Medical Center in New York City.

"Mr. Davis established our client had a significant head injury, and he also established that future medical treatments would be very costly," Rice said. "We got the experts involved. Our expert was essential in this case. At the time of their offer for less than $20,000 we did not have the expert opinion. The case was settled soon after that opinion."