As “Tina” hobbled back from the mailbox where she had picked up her latest pre-settlement funding envelope from USClaims, she caught the vehicle out of the corner of her eye, but she refused to look at it. The dark grey SUV had parked at the end of the street almost every day for almost three months. The driver, a middle-aged man, would sit there all day and look at the house. Her house. At that moment, he was almost certainly looking at her. Maybe taking a photograph.
She knew he was not a stalker. After her neighbors had reported a “suspicious person” to the police and they came to check him out, Tina (not her real name) learned his identity through the grapevine: he was a private investigator.
As plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits know all too well, the corporations and insurance companies they face in court have very deep pockets. They have the time to wait out a lawsuit and the resources to hire “experts” to attempt to discredit the claims of negligence.
In this case, Tina could easily guess who had hired the private eye. It was either the company whose driver had hit her three years earlier, their law firm, or perhaps one of their insurance companies. The surveillance was only the latest indignity they had heaped upon her since ending her life as she had known it.
She still remembered the beautiful fall afternoon, much of which she’d spent showing houses to clients. She was on her way home and was stopped at an intersection, singing along to the song on the radio, when she heard a badly off-key note during in the chorus.
There was nothing wrong with the song. What she had heard was the sound of tires skidding after the brakes on the approaching full-size van had locked up. Occupied with the contents of a clipboard balanced on his lap, the van driver wasn’t paying attention to the road, or to Tina’s stopped car. Even after slamming on the brakes, he rear-ended her at more than 25 miles per hour.
Tina was in the hospital for “only” a few days, a fact that the lawyers for the driver’s employer, a car dealership, had repeated to the jury that heard her personal injury lawsuit more times than Tina could count. Because of that, he had told the jurors, she couldn’t be that badly hurt. He told the jury she was faking the extent of her injuries to play for sympathy.
That lawyer, of course, hadn’t been there for her months of daily physical therapy sessions. He hadn’t greeted her in the recovery room following any of her neck or spinal surgeries. He certainly hadn’t consulted with any of her physicians as they eventually diagnosed her with reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a debilitating pain syndrome.
The jury awarded her millions, but the company immediately appealed and Tina had not yet received a cent. Soon after the appeal was filed, the private investigator’s SUV took up watch near Tina’s home.
In the meantime, Tina’s mobility has been reduced to that of a 90-year-old woman. She can barely manage the daily shuffle to the mailbox, never mind the neighborhood walks her doctors encouraged her to take. She’s kept her real estate license current as a gesture of hopefulness, but her business has dried up. It is hard to sell houses when you can barely walk.
Fortunately for Tina, her attorney had referred her to USClaims. We listened to her story, agreed with her attorney that she had a strong case, and arranged for pre-settlement funding so she could make ends meet.
At USClaims, we offer pre-settlement funding, if a case is qualified for pre-settlement funding then we would purchase a portion of the proceeds of the anticipated court judgment or settlement for some cash now. USClaims only gets paid if a case is won or has reached a settlement! Apply now or call us today at 1-877-USCLAIMS to learn more.
