Client Story Archive

Denver Car Accident

Insurer Tried to Use Long Gap in Treatment Against Client

Jeffrey L. was seriously injured when a driver slid through a red light at an icy intersection and slammed into his driver’s side door. The crash broke his arm and ankle, and caused a herniated disk in his neck that required a surgery to fuse two of his neck vertebrae. The injuries also triggered a relapse of shingles, a very painful condition that kept him off work periodically. Jeffrey contacted The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya two years after the accident. The other driver’s insurance company said Jeffrey waited too long to file a claim, and that his injuries and pain were due to the shingles, not the accident. Dianne Sawaya convinced them otherwise.

Settlement: $110,000

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Slip-and-Fall

Unmaintained Parking Lot Turns Into Dangerous Skating Rink

Jeannine B. lived in a large apartment complex that wasn’t as well maintained as it could have been. After a winter storm, snow melting under the Colorado sun created steady streams of water in the buildings’ drain pipes. A grate outside Jeannine’s building that was supposed to drain the pouring water away was plugged and a thick sheet of ice had formed. Jeannine slipped on the ice and broke her ankle. Complications soon arose as blood clots formed in her lungs, requiring surgery. Jeannine’s medical bills soared, the apartment complex balked at taking care of her injuries and Jeannine asked The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya to help. We helped – and the insurer decided to do right by Jeannine.

Settlement: $198,000

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Semi-Truck Accident

Rocky Path Gets Smoothed for Injured Client

Dorothy G. was on her way to the mountains, following a big semi-truck hauling gravel. Suddenly, the truck’s tailgate swung open and dumped a load of boulders onto the highway. Dorothy’s car smashed into one of the boulders, sending her car rolling into the ditch and causing multiple injuries. Dorothy called The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya when the trucking company’s commercial insurer started giving her the runaround. After months of testy negotiating with the trucker’s insurance company, Dianne convinced the insurer to settle – or face a lawsuit in federal court.

Settlement: $175,000

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Personal Injury

Going It Alone Didn’t Work

Darryl J. was hit by a driver who ran a red light and plowed into the right side of his car. Darryl was pretty banged up – back injuries, a trip to the emergency room and later, medical treatment and rehabilitation therapy. Darryl at first didn’t think he needed an attorney to handle his Denver auto accident case. After all, how hard can it be to deal with an insurance company? But Darryl got the runaround and after months of waiting, the insurer offered him $6,000. Darryl was outraged. The medical bills were way more than that, he had to take time off from work at no pay and he was going to have to live with pain for a long time. That’s when Darryl came to The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya. We put together a strong case for him – and got him the compensation he deserved.

Settlement: $82,000

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Motorcycle Accident

Proving Income Loss for Business Owner Client

Jeff S. was driving his motorcycle when he was involved in a crash with a car. The skid marks told the story – Jeff was badly hurt. The insurance company for the driver who pulled out in front of Jeff argued that Jeff was partly at fault because he wasn’t wearing a helmet and was driving a little faster than the posted speed limit. They fought hard against paying their fair share of Jeff’s medical bills. Another problem: Jeff owned his own business. Because he was injured and couldn’t work, Jeff lost many of his accounts and had to close his business. The insurance company fought hard to pay Jeff as little as they could for his lost income, and made a paltry settlement offer. So Dianne Sawaya sued the insurance company – and won.

Settlement: $90,000

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Auto Accident

Insurance Company Tried to Use Military Service Against Client

Cory F. was rear-ended in a chain-reaction crash in Interstate 25. He sustained serious back injuries and was off work for weeks. The at-fault driver’s insurance company discovered that Cory had served in the first Gulf War almost 20 years prior to the accident, where he had been injured in combat. They tried to use medical records from two decades before the accident, saying those injuries and not their insureds’ crashing into Cory were the cause of his back problems. The insurer refused to make a reasonable settlement offer to compensate Cory for his injuries. Dianne Sawaya’s medical experts worked with Cory and wrote clinical reports documenting that the injuries from the accident were responsible for his medical bills and suffering. Their reports allowed Dianne Sawaya to aggressively negotiate on Cory’s behalf, and the insurance companies changed their minds.

Settlement: $250,000

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Auto Accident Colorado

Uninsured Driver Causes Permanent Disability for 43-Year-Old

An uninsured teenager driving a “borrowed” car sped through a red light and plowed into the side of Jack S.’s car, severely injuring him. It took emergency crews more than an hour to cut Jack out of the wreckage so they could transport him to the trauma center. After months of medical treatment, Jack is considered by law to be permanently and totally disabled. He’ll never be able to return to his job as a construction worker, and even though he’s only 43 years old Jack will never walk again without the assistance of a walker. Through a smart approach to building Jack’s case, Dianne Sawaya recovered nearly $1 million for Jack from the uninsured motorist coverage of his own auto insurance  – but not before a face-to-face meeting with an out-of-state insurance company, in which Dianne convinced the company to offer nearly the full amount of the insurance or face going to a jury trial. Dianne also worked with an economist and with a life planning expert to structure a plan that will guarantee that Jack will have the money he needs for medical treatment and care for the rest of his life.

Settlement: Nearly $1 Million.

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Medical Malpractice

Failure to Treat Condition Means Lifetime of Suffering for Newborn

Before he was born, Terry E.’s parents thought something was wrong. Terry’s father, a mechanic, and his mother, who works in a bakery, asked the doctor about it, but were assured everything was fine. Terry’s parents were right, though. He had developed a heart condition that is easily seen by performing an ultrasound examination – and that’s easily treated with a routine prenatal surgery procedure. But Terry’s doctor didn’t see the condition soon enough and the condition worsened as Terry developed in his mother’s womb. When the doctor finally spotted Terry’s heart condition and performed the surgery he needed, the procedure didn’t go right. Before he even had a fighting chance at life, Terry was injured by the doctor they trusted to take care of him, and his parents were saddled with a future filled with huge medical bills, rehabilitation treatment and special care. The insurance companies for the doctor and the hospital fought hard to avoid paying for their mistakes. But Dianne Sawaya’s aggressive medical malpractice attorneys convinced them that instead of a trial before a judge and jury, they should accept a settlement for what Terry deserved.

Settlement: $1.6 Million.

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Semi-Truck Accident

Illegal Pass Takes Grandmother’s Life, Shatters Passengers’ Future

Debbie L. was driving her daughter and new grandson home to the farm from a shopping trip at the mall in town. It was late afternoon and an impatient semi-truck driver had been tailgating Debbie for miles on the county blacktop. Debbie started to slow down to turn left into her farm lane. Maybe the truck driver didn’t see her turn signal, or maybe he didn’t care. He pulled out to pass Debbie and smashed into the driver’s side of her car as she started her turn. She was killed instantly, and her daughter and grandson were severely injured. After putting experts to work on the case, the truck accident attorney at The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya found out the semi driver had been driving for 13 hours straight – well over what the law allows – and that the trucking company he worked for was paying the driver under the table to stay on the road and get his load delivered. The trucking company and their insurance company tried to put profits ahead of lives. They said the driver and the trucking company weren’t at fault, and they weren’t going to pay Debbie’s surviving daughter and grandson anything – until Dianne Sawaya’s attorney convinced them otherwise.

Settlement: $820,000

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Slip and Fall Accident

Hand Rail Gives Way, Client Tumbles and Ruins Knee

Gretchen B. wanted to buy a new car. Once she arrived at the auto dealer, she had to climb up a flight of stairs to get to the showroom. She used the stair rail, but about two-thirds of the way to the top of the stairway, Gretchen reached for the handrail on the narrow stairs and it gave way. Gretchen took a serious fall, resulting in a broken leg, shattered kneecap and torn ligaments. The surgery and medical treatment to fix her knee was expensive, and left her with a knee that will never work right again. Her injury meant having to quit her post as president of her kids’ school booster club, and she could no longer do volunteer work for her local firefighters. When Gretchen filed a claim with the auto dealer’s insurance company, they said they wouldn’t pay her anything because she had hurt the same knee eight years ago in a softball game. That incident – not the broken handrail – caused her injury at the car dealer, the insurer said. Gretchen called a slip-and-fall attorney at The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya, and the insurance company decided it would pay Gretchen what she deserved after all.

Settlement: $435,000

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Car Accident

Sharp Negotiating With Feds Nets Client a Settlement

Jared K. was seriously injured in a car crash that caused a life-threatening injury. His brain was bleeding internally, blood was collecting in his skull with nowhere to go, and the pressure and possible damage to his brain was growing by the minute. Jared was treated at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Denver, spent several weeks in the facility and was discharged. His medical bills came to well over $100,000. But there was a problem: The available insurance policy was $100,000 and the VA filed a lien on every penny of the settlement, leaving Jared with nothing. By law the VA could demand the full amount. But with sharp negotiating by Dianne Sawaya, the VA agreed to reduce its lien by one-third, and Jared received a fair compensation for his injuries.

Settlement: $100,000

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Premises Liability

Child Falls at Poorly Protected Fast Food Restaurant

Six-year old Steven S. and his parents went to a fast food restaurant for dinner. The restaurant had an elevated play area inside for kids. That playground area was enclosed and safe, but a portion of the play equipment that extended high above the ground on the outside of the building was not. Only a fence and gate kept children from the dangerous area outside. This night a witness told the restaurant’s management that the gate was open, kids could get out onto the device and they should secure the area. They didn’t. Steven climbed onto the outdoor play equipment, fell off and hit his head. The restaurant claimed no one told them about the open gate. The attorneys at The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya found the witness in a small town in Washington. When the witness returned to Denver to testify that he had told the restaurant about the open gate, the restaurant changed its tune and settled the case.

Settlement: (confidential six-figure settlement)

Contact Dianne Sawaya for your FREE CONSULTATION