Results - $154,000 Verdict Against Allstate

Attorney Christopher M. Davis Beats Allstate Again - Wins $154,000 Verdict - Last Offer Was $18,000.

Case Summary : Terra Suddarth is a 21 year-old college student. She receives neck and back injuries in a T-bone collision caused by the defendant. She treats for 6 mos. and then stops. Her low back pain continues. She begins treatment again 2 years later. Her doctors later diagnose her with a permanent low back injury. Her past medical expense exceeds $9,000. The defendant’s auto insurance carrier is Allstate. Terra rejects Allstate’s final settlement offer of $18,000. After a 4-day trial, the jury returns a verdict in favor of Terra in the amount of $114,558. With attorney fees and costs, the total judgment amount comes to $154, 212 .

Facts: On the morning of February 14, 2001, 21-year-old Terra Suddarth was on her way to class at the University of Washington. She was driving her 1983 Jeep vehicle on Brooklyn Avenue in the University District of Seattle. Terra was traveling the posted speed limit of 30 mph.

Another driver then pulled out in front of her without yielding the right of way. There was a T-bone collision. Terra’s vehicle struck the passenger side of the defendant’s vehicle. The defendant, 80 year-old Peter Chelemedos, claimed that he stopped before entering into the intersection, but that he could not see very far due to the sunshine. Terra’s vehicle sustained $4,000 in damage. The defendant’s vehicle was totaled.

Terra instinctively swerved to her right upon impact. She hit her head on the driver side door window. She was thrown forward and back again upon impact. The defendant was not injured. When police arrived on the scene, the defendant was cited for failing to yield the right of way.

Terra was very shaken up while at the scene. She immediately called her mother and father. They both arrived on the scene to find that Terra was crying and very upset.

Terra refused medical attention at the scene. However, when her mother arrived and saw the golf-ball-sized lump on Terra’s head, she insisted that Terra see the family’s doctor that afternoon. By the time Terra saw her doctor a few hours later, she was also experiencing neck and back pain. The doctor diagnosed a neck and back strain and a contusion to the head. Terra was advised to go home and ice her injuries and take Ibuprofen for pain.

Over the next 3 days Terra’s complaints of pain grew progressively worse. She would later describe at trial as feeling that she was hit repeatedly by a baseball bat all over her body. She went to the Stevens Hospital emergency room with acute neck and low back pain. She was given a prescription for Vicodin and advised to rest and then follow up with her PCP in one week if her symptoms did not significantly improve.

Terra never returned to see her PCP, despite the fact that her back pain persisted. At the suggestion of a friend, Terra sought treatment from a chiropractor. She also received some massage. Unfortunately, this care actually made Terra’s symptoms worse.

About four months after the collision, Terra’s mother called the PCP for a referral to a “back specialist” because Terra’s low back pain had not resolved. Terra was advised to see an orthopedist doctor at Kruger Orthopedics clinic in Edmonds, Washington. The doctor saw Terra just one time and prescribed 8 physical therapy sessions over the next 30 days. The doctor further instructed the physical therapist to develop a “home exercise program” for Terra so she would not have to continue formal care. Terra completed her last physical therapy session approximately 6 months after the date of the collision.

When Terra finished her last physical therapy treatment, she stopped treatment. Terra stopped treatment even though her low back pain was still present. Terra did not receive treatment for the next two (2) years.

During this two-year “hiatus” from medical care, Terra continued to perform her exercises and stretching routines as instructed by her physical therapist. She continued to experience daily low back pain. Terra’s friends and family members all testified at trial that Terra complained about her back pain constantly. Terra testified at trial that over this two-year period she continued the exercise and stretching routine as taught by her physical therapist.

While Terra was a full time student at the U.W., she was also employed in the shipping and receiving department of a small local production company. Her co-workers would later testify at trial that Terra always needed help moving objects at work and that she needed to take frequent breaks.

During her two-year “hiatus” from medical care, Terra maintained a full curriculum at the University of Washington. She graduated in four years with a degree in Anthropology. Terra’s mother would later tell the jury that her only daughter was an exceptional student. Terra graduated from the U.W. with a 3.75 grade point average.

At the repeated urging of her mother, father and other family members, Terra decided to return to a physician in August 2003. Terra’s mother referred her to another chiropractor who a lot of experience treating car accident victims with chronic back pain.

The chiropractor ordered an MRI scan of Terra’s lumbar spine. The MRI revealed that Terra had lower lumbar facet arthropathy (joint pathology) which was consistent with traumatically induced arthritis to the facet joints. The MRI also revealed a “very mild disc protrusion at L5-S1.”

Based on Terra’s MRI findings, the chiropractor recommended that she undergo an epidural steroid injection by a medical doctor at Radiology Consultants of Washington. Terra’s back pain after this injection did not go away, which suggested that perhaps the L5-S1 disc protrusion was not the primary pain generator in her low back.

Terra was then referred to a spine specialist M.D. in Seattle. This doctor continued to treat Terra over the next 18 months. He ordered additional physical therapy. Terra experienced moderate improvement but her low back pain complaints continued. Terra’s doctor would later testify that Terra’s ongoing symptomatology was consistent with a chronic low back injury. The doctor’s impression was that Terra was suffering from a chronic injury to the lower lumbar facet joints. The disc protrusion at L5-S1 was also a secondary pain generator that could not be ruled out.

Terra received another injection into her lumbar spine. This time the injection was inserted into Terra’s facet joints at L4-5. Terra received a good response to this injection leading her doctor to opine that Terra likely sustained injuries to her lumbar spine joints at L4-5 and L5-S1.

At trial, Terra’s doctors testified that her low back injury was likely permanent given that her pain complaints were constant and continuous over the previous four years. The only treatment options available for Terra were to minimize or manage her ongoing pain. Terra was recommended to undergo additional spinal injections. She was also considered a good candidate for a minimally invasive spine surgical procedure known as neurotomy.

A neurotomy is a procedure where a hot needle is inserted into the spine joint. The nerves of the joint believed to be responsible for the patient’s ongoing pain are then burned away. Unfortunately, a neurotomy is not a permanent procedure. On average, a typical neurotomy will last just 9-12 months before the affected nerves innervate, or grow back.

The defendant was insured by Allstate Insurance Company. In an effort to avoid trial, Terra submitted her case to the King County Superior Court mandatory arbitration program. In this type of proceeding, the court appoints an experienced attorney to hear a shortened version of the case and then issue an award. Terra’s arbitration hearing was conducted on December 10, 2004. She along with her parents and her boyfriend testified at the hearing. Terra’s doctors also testified by telephone. The hearing lasted 5 hours. The arbitrator later issued an award in favor of Terra in the amount of $30,000, which included her past medical expense of approximately $8,000.

The defendant, by and through his insurance carrier Allstate, promptly appealed the arbitration award and demanded that the case be tried to a 12-person jury in King County Superior Court. The defendant’s attorney (hired by Allstate) repeatedly told plaintiff’s attorney that Terra’s injury was just a “mild soft tissue back strain.”

Allstate’s last and final offer before trial was just $18,000.

The defendant (i.e., Allstate) hired his own doctor, osteopathic physician Patrick Bays, D.O., to examine Terra and give opinions at trial about her injuries, treatment and current condition. Dr. Bays issued his 10-page report finding that Terra only sustained a “soft tissue back sprain” but that all of her treatment was reasonable, necessary and appropriate. Dr. Bays further stated that Terra’s MRI findings of the disc protrusion and mild facet arthropathy were unrelated to the automobile collision and instead were caused by Terra’s high activity level (i.e., she like to go hiking and snowboarding before the accident).

On week before trial, the defendant videotaped Dr. Bays’ trial testimony for the purpose of showing it to the jury. It was at this time that Terra’s attorney learned for the first time that Dr. Bays was now changing some of the opinions which were set forth in his report. For example, Dr. Bays testified that Terra’s medical treatment after she stopped treating for 2 years was unrelated to her injuries. Dr. Bays also testified that the pain complaints Terra communicated to him were unrelated to her injuries suffered in the car crash.

Terra’s attorney later asked the trial judge to exclude the opinions that Dr. Bays had changed in his report due to surprise and violations of the discovery rules. Judge Michael Hayden granted this request. Dr. Bays was prohibited from offering any medical opinion at trial that differed from the opinions he issued in his 10-page report. The attorneys for both parties spent considerable time during trial arguing which parts of Dr. Bays’ videotaped testimony would be shown to the jury.

Trial commenced on May 23, 2005 and lasted four (4) complete days. The jury then returned a verdict in the total amount of $114,558. The defendant’s automobile insurance policy limits with Allstate were just $100,000. This means that Allstate will now be forced to pay the excess amount above policy limits.

Because the jury verdict exceeded the amount of the $30,000 arbitration award, the defendant was obligated to pay Terra's attorney fees and costs. The final judgment amount entered was for $154,212 .

Terra Suddarth was represented by attorney Christopher Michael Davis. Defendant Peter S. Chelemedos was represented by Allstate Staff Counsel Susan Hamilton. The trial judge was the Honorable Michael Hayden. The case is Suddarth v. Chelemedos, King County Superior Court No. 03-2-39477-7 SEA.