Coventry resident Ryan Geist was injured when defendant Joseph DiFrancesca's vehicle rear-ended his vehicle. Geist, who needed rotator cuff surgery, recently settled his case for $100,000.. Coventry resident Ryan Geist was injured when defendant Joseph DiFrancesca's vehicle rear-ended his vehicle. Geist, who needed rotator cuff surgery, recently settled his case for $100,000. Courtesy photo

An insurance company allegedly told plaintiffs counsel Andrew Garza that he would be wise to settle a car-crash claim for $50,000, because the courts were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the case might not be heard for years.

But Garza said he decided to play hardball.

If litigants would invoke the pandemic, then he would mention his client's wife—a nurse, working on the front line of efforts to combat the coronavirus.

"They did try to leverage the COVID-19 court closures and they said essentially, 'Who knows when the courts will be opened?'" he said. "They tried to use that as a strategy. They were stalling."

Garza, co-owner of Glastonbury-based Connecticut Trial Firm, alleged insurer ProSight Specialty Insurance "knows that lawyers today feel financial pressures to take settlements because of COVID-19 and the court closures."

"They tried to use that to their advantage," he said.

Edwin Cotton, claims director for ProSight Specialty, handled the case. He did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Garza's client never filed suit, but his complaint would have targeted ProSight's client, Norwich Taxi LLC, which employed the other driver involved in the crash. No one at the taxi company responded to a request for comment.

Policy limit

Garza's client, Ryan Geist, suffered a rotator cuff tear and needed surgery following the rear-end collision with driver Joseph DiFrancesca in Norwich in June 2018.

Garza thought the case was worth at least the $100,000 limit on the car DiFrancesca drove.

Garza said he also had an ace in the hole: Geist's nurse practitioner wife.

"I told them they'd have to explain to a jury down the road why you did not pay the $100,000 to this man while his wife was out there supporting the community and fighting COVID-19," Garza said Thursday."What would a jury say about that?"

Garza said the carrier agreed to pay soon before he was to file a lawsuit because "they knew we were right. Our medical evidence was clear and his injuries were significant."

"We told them they had a week to pay the $100,000 policy or we were going to file a lawsuit," Garza said.

Garza said the case was settled April 7 and the money was disbursed to the 29-year-old Geist, a Coventry resident, on April 16.

Garza said DiFrancesca was inattentive when he rear-ended his client's Mazda Miata. The impact of the accident, Garza said, led to a traumatic rotator cuff tear to his client's right shoulder, for which surgery was performed.

Police gave DiFrancesca an infraction for following too closely.

Two years after the accident, Garza said, Geist "has some pain in his shoulder, but he is doing his best to get back to life without restrictions."

Jonathan Soto of Boston, Massachusetts-based Soto Law was co-counsel for the plaintiff's on the case.

Since no lawsuit was filed and the case was settled presuit, it's not clear what the defense's counterarguments would have been.

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