Suzanne Skolnick wins $520,000 for car crash victim
Russell S. Kohn and Suzanne Skolnick represented a 60-year-old man in an underinsured motorist claim against Farmers Insurance Company. The plaintiff was injured in a 2010 rear-end collision that occurred while he was on duty as a school district security officer. He sustained back, neck, and shoulder injuries and had undergone 4 ½ years of treatment, including neck and back epidural injections and 2 lumbar radio frequency ablation procedures by the time the matter reached arbitration. The claim against the underinsured motorist settled for the $15,000 minimal policy limit. After the worker’s compensation case was resolved, the case was mediated unsuccessfully with Farmers Insurance offering only $30,000. The case then proceeded to arbitration before Judge Herbert Hoffman. Less than one week before the hearing, Farmers Insurance increased its offer to $175,000. Skolnick Law Group then obtained an arbitration award of $681,606.20 for their deserving client. After applying the reduction for the worker’s compensation benefits received required by the law, the final arbitration award totaled $520,000.