Smith & Hassler files suit against driver insured with Empower Insurance
In September 2011 Smith & Hassler filed a personal injury lawsuit in Harris County Civil District Court against a Houston man insured with Empower Insurance. The lawsuit relates to a four vehicle collision earlier this year. The driver insured by Empower Insurance, driving a Chevrolet Suburban, made a right turn on a red light at an intersection without stopping first to make sure the intersection was clear. The Empower insured caused a collision with another vehicle (“vehicle 2”) lawfully traveling through the intersection on a green light. Vehicle 2 then collided with two more vehicles waiting at a signal to make a left turn (“vehicle 3” and “vehicle 4”). The major crash was investigated by the police who issued a citation to the Empower insured and found him at fault for failure to yield the right-of-way. Smith & Hassler’s clients were in vehicle 4, at a complete stop and waiting to make a left turn when they were struck by vehicle 2. The injured clients are two adult females, an adult male and a child.
One of the adult females represented by Smith & Hassler went through physical therapy for a shoulder injury and when her condition didn’t improve, she was sent for an MRI of her shoulder that revealed a full thickness rotator cuff tear, a condition that typically requires surgery to repair it. She was seen by a board certified orthopedic surgeon who recommended a surgery on her shoulder to repair the torn tendon. The anticipated cost of the surgery was approximately $30,000.
Smith & Hassler attempted to settle these clients claims with Empower Insurance without having to resort to a lawsuit. Empower was sent the clients’ medical records, medical bills and in the case of the client with the rotator cuff tear they were also provided with her MRI film on CD-ROM. In addition to the approximately $13,000 in medical bills she had already, she was also facing the $30,000 cost of the shoulder surgery. Empower Insurance responded with a settlement offer of $11,000…not even enough to cover the past medical bills.
The lawsuit against the Empower Insured was filed within 14-days of the unfair settlement offer. Empower Insurance is based out of Fort Worth, Texas: you can read reviews of them online here: the reviews speak for themselves.