Habush’s Wagner, Blocher secure $550K verdict in car-crash case

A Milwaukee County jury has awarded nearly $550,000 to a woman hurt in a rear-end car crash.

Attorneys Benjamin Wagner and Jesse Blocher of Habush Habush & Rottier represented the plaintiff.

The crash happened in October 2015, and liability wasn’t contested, the firm said. The plaintiff had cervicalgia, migraines and fibromyalgia before the crash, and she claimed the accident aggravated her migraines and neck condition, along with causing an injury to her left knee. Her past medical bills were approximately $108,000, and her past wage loss was $4,009.

West Bend Mutual Insurance Company filed a statutory offer of judgment for $135,000 within a month before trial. Its final offer before trial was $150,000, and the plaintiff’s final demand was $200,000. After a four-day jury trial, the jury returned a verdict for approximately $550,000. The plaintiff will be able to claim taxable costs times two and interest because of beating the previously filed offer of statutory offer of settlement.

The trial was one of Milwaukee County’s first civil jury trials since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Habush spokeswoman.

The case continues with a motion hearing scheduled for June 11 at 1:30 p.m.

Verdict amount: $547,321.80

Date of resolution: April 15, 2021

County: Milwaukee

Case number: 2018-CV-7691

Case name: Michelle M. Olivarez v. West Bend Mutual Insurance Company

Case type: Car accident

Judge: David Swanson

Injuries: The plaintiff claimed the accident aggravated her pre-existing migraine and neck condition, and caused a soft-tissue injury to her left knee.

Special verdict:

Past health-care expenses: $108,302.80

Past pain, suffering and disability: $100,000

Past wage loss: $4,019

Future health-care expenses: $285,000

Future pain, suffering and disability: $50,000

Plaintiff’s lawyers: Benjamin Wagner (lead attorney) and Jesse Blocher, Habush Habush & Rottier

Defendant’s lawyers: James M. Ryan

[follow id=”WLJReporter” size=”large” count=”true”]