Like many victims of head injuries, a particular client did not notice anything wrong right after her accident. The client, a 52-year-old woman who worked as an artist and designer, was driving straight through an intersection when another driver made a left turn in front of her, failing to yield the right-of-way. In the ensuing collision, she hit her head on the steering wheel. At the time, she did not feel seriously injured, and ended up settling the claim by herself without the aid of an experienced Atlanta attorney for just $1,000.

As time went on, this client realized that the accident had left her with a serious head injury. Atlanta injury lawyers note that the damage for this client included loss of creative abilities – a devastating loss for a woman who made her living as an artist and designer. She also suffered memory loss. Two years after the accident, she was diagnosed with a closed head injury.

Normally, when you take a settlement from an insurance company, your claim is closed. No matter how little you were paid or what might have changed, you cannot ask for any more money. This is why a top Atlanta lawyer advises his clients that they should be careful when insurance companies offer tehm money as they do not necessarily have thier best interests at heart. But in this woman’s case, we came to believe that the insurer had taken advantage of her head injury by settling her claim for a small fraction of its true value.

Using the client’s after the fact diagnosis, her team of Atlanta accident lawyers took legal action to have a jury reopen her case, arguing that she lacked the mental capacity to agree to a settlement right after an accident. In fact, she was represented in court by an independent third party called a guardianad litem – a court appointed guardian used in cases involving people who the court believes cannot fully represent their own interests. Under the threat that a jury would set aside the original settlement of $1,000, the insurance company paid their client an additional $350,000 to settle her claims.  Even better, her attorneys were able to structure the settlement for this client, meaning she can count on regular payments to cover her future medical bills and living expenses.