In 2014 Client was a front seat passenger involved in a low impact rear-end accident in New Jersey. She did not take an ambulance from the scene of the accident and sought treatment several weeks after returning home to Massachusetts. An MRI administered several months after the accident revealed a disc bulge in her neck/cervical spine at the C6-7 level. The client later developed radiculopathy/radicular symptoms in her right arm. An EMG was ordered to evaluate for any neurodiagnostic purposes. The EMG revealed the Right C6 paraspinal and Right C7 paraspinal muscles showed increased insertional activity. This led to a diagnosis of right C6-C7 radiculopathy. Client underwent two cervical epidural steroid injections. She did not do physical therapy or chiropractics. Attorney Brendan J. Noonan settled the claim with New Jersey insurance company. Bringing an insurance claim in New Jersey is very difficult. Law suits for pain and suffering are prohibited in New Jersey unless an injury results in:

  1. Death
  2. Dismemberment
  3. Significant disfigurement or significant scarring
  4. Loss of a fetus
  5. Displaced fractures
  6. A permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring or disfigurement. An injury shall be considered permanent when the body part or organ, or both, has not healed to function normally and will not heal to function normally with further medical treatment. N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8.

Before the New Jersey case settled and while undergoing treatment for the injuries from the New Jersey accident, the client was involved in another rear-end accident. This time in Massachusetts in 2015. The only medical treatment the client received after the second accident was a third cervical epidural steroid injection. The insurer from the second accident argued that the first accident was to blame for the client’s cervical injuries, symptoms and treatment.

Case Results: Attorney Brendan J. Noonan settled the second car accident claim at the same time as the New Jersey accident claim. He settled the second accident claim.