An insurance company received a worker’s compensation claim. As expected, the carrier followed the usual process and eventually approved his claim. The claimant was a laborer who had suffered devastating, permanent internal injuries after being crushed by a 1000-pound steel wall at work. As the worker embarked on his recovery, it became clear that his medical needs would cost more than initially anticipated. In an act of unvarnished greed, the insurance company terminated the man’s coverage. Previously the only source of income for his disabled wife and two young children, the worker was already living below the poverty line. With devastating injuries to his brain, neck, spine, and internal organs, the worker and his family were left desperate, suffering, and needing help.
When the half-ton steel wall fell onto the laborer, it devastated his body. His gallbladder was pulverized and needed to be surgically removed, as did the upper third of one of his kidneys. He suffered a collapsed lung, a lacerated liver, and internal bleeding so severe that his organs were shoved to one side of his body. Needless to say, he couldn’t work anymore. So, when the insurance company terminated the worker’s benefits, his situation went from bad to worse. He could barely afford food and basic necessities for his family before the accident. Now abandoned by his one lifeline, he and his family struggled to survive.
Desperate, the injured worker contacted Brad Lee of Beardsley, Jensen & Lee soon after his insurance was terminated. With a practice focused on personal injury, workers compensation, and insurance bad faith, this case was right in Brad’s wheelhouse. While the variety of injuries complicated the lawsuit, Brad first focused on helping provide the Plaintiff access to doctors for the necessary medical treatment.
Brad’s client was suffering, so he first tried to convince the insurance company that its reasoning for denying his benefits was flawed — ideally, to have them reinstated. The Defense simply didn’t respond. They were trying to starve the laborer out, hoping his situation would be overlooked and he’d slip through the cracks. Lacking cooperation, Brad changed tack. His goal became to get the maximum compensation for his client. Brad filed a motion for default judgment against the Defendant, which was granted. Then the Defense responded. They revealed that they had terminated the Plaintiff’s benefit in bad faith when treatment expenses exceeded projections. Indeed, the insurance company used a Defense-friendly doctor to write a weak medical report arguing that the Plaintiff’s orthopedic injuries were preexisting. Therefore, they argued, none of the injuries were due to being crushed by the enormous wall.
To fight the Defense’s stall tactics and bad faith efforts, Brad hired several experts, including a vocational expert and an array of physicians. Next, Brad enlisted DK Global, which he hired almost immediately upon taking the case. The experts consulted with DK Global to efficiently and effectively develop an animation that would be accurate and authenticated for trial. The short animation synthesized thousands of pages of medical scans, reports, and expert opinions into a succinct, comprehensible, persuasive presentation that Brad could show a jury.
The visual showed the Plaintiff’s injuries one by one. A close-up musculoskeletal image of the neck showed how the discs pushed on the worker’s spinal cord, causing severe pain. Each injured disc was shown relative to proper placement. Next, a depiction of the Plaintiff’s abdomen was shown, individually identifying injuries to the lungs and ribs. This was followed by an external torso image to show the severe skin abrasions relative to the location of the internal injuries. The video returned to an internal view to show damage to the victim’s organs, showing the injuries, damaged parts that were removed, and how the internal bleeding forced his organs together on one side of his body. Finally, the lower back disks were shown pinching his spinal cord.
Brad fought hard to resolve this case. Despite the Defendant’s silent treatment, Brad was able to force a response by using his knowledge and skills to develop a winning case strategy. The Defense knew the Plaintiff’s poor financial situation and again acted in bad faith by offering a settlement that was pennies on the dollar. However, with the help of DK Global’s animation, Brad succeeded in reaching a settlement that was substantial enough to provide closure to the worker and his family.
Brad Lee has been in practice since 2003 and is a managing partner at Beardsley, Jensen & Lee in Rapid City, South Dakota. He specializes in personal injury, worker’s compensation, and insurance bad faith claims. Additionally, he served on the Worker’s Compensation Committee for the State Bar of South Dakota for several years. His empathy and compassion are always clearly exhibited in both his personal and professional life, always putting the interests of his clients first.
