Woman sustained spinal cord impingements after accident — $1,800,000 settlement

Type of action: Auto accident; personal injury

Injuries alleged: Cervical sprain/strain – soft tissue with eventual diagnosis of cervical syrinx (cyst) in spinal cord along with two spinal cord impingements after digital motion X-ray

Tried before: Mediation

Name of judge or mediator: Judge Jane Marum Roush (Ret.)

Date resolved: 2/7/2022

Special damages: Past medicals: $395,421.74; future medicals: $432,422.46; past lost wages: $72.000; future lost wages: $36,000; and future lost earning capacity: $1,168,667

Demand: $11,500,000

Offer: $1,800,000

Verdict or settlement: Settlement

Amount: $1,800,000

Attorneys for plaintiff (and city): Leila H. Kilgore, Fredericksburg; Francis Hajek, Charlottesville

Description of case: The crash involved a car struck in the rear by a van with very little damage to the plaintiff’s Saturn. The plaintiff immediately complained of neck pain and went directly to the emergency room after the crash. Within the first two days, the plaintiff’s complaints of neck pain were at an 8/9 out of 10. Three months later, an MRI showed a syrinx (cyst) in the middle of her spinal cord from C5-T1. She underwent pain management treatments without any pain relief other than for a few days at a time. The plaintiff, a school bus driver, was unable to return to work due to debilitating pain at age 38.

The treating neurosurgeon had no recommendations for any further treatment because cutting through the spinal cord to drain the cyst was going to cause further damage, but he did opine that the syrinx was caused by the motor vehicle crash.

The plaintiff’s treating doctors and experts opined that the crash either caused the syrinx or it was an aggravation of an asymptomatic pre-existing condition.

A focus group was held by Zoom and the case was presented showing the syrinx and chronic pain as the injury from the crash with possible surgery to drain the cyst in the future and a fusion at C5-6 for a small herniation. The focus group jurors did not believe that plaintiff’s syrinx and pain could have been caused by what appeared to be a minor impact with little property damage and they awarded her nothing.

After this result, an epidemiologist recommended that the plaintiff undergo a digital motion X-ray (DMX).

The plaintiff almost passed out after moving her head for the five-minute DMX scan. The DMX documented that the upper cervical ligaments were damaged so badly that it was causing C1 to slide over C2 causing an impingement in her vertebral arteries and nerve roots at C1.

After the DMX showed the extreme ligament damage, the plaintiff had a fonar upright MRI, which uses the weight of the head to show what is happening in real-time, as opposed to the multiple prior MRIs which were done with the plaintiff lying down. The upright MRI documented two spinal cord impingements which finally explained why the pain management treatment was not working.

The plaintiff underwent surgery by Dr. Joel Franck, who pinned C2 to C1 with lag screws and performed a suboccipital craniectomy to make more room for her spinal cord to stop the first spinal cord impingement. She had a C5-C6 fusion for the second spinal cord impingement. The plaintiff’s pain decreased after the surgery but remained with pain at a 7-8 out of 10 with exertion.

Animations were created to show the plaintiff’s injury using a normal DMX versus the plaintiff’s DMX which showed the ligament damage and the impingement of the vertebral arteries which was cutting off blood flow to the brain. Boards were created to show images for the surgeries performed by Dr. Franck and the extent of what he did.

Defense expert neurosurgeon opined that the plaintiff suffered a cervical sprain/strain, an asymptomatic pre-existing cervical syrinx that was worsened in the crash, chronic pain and that the surgery was not recommended.

A second focus group was done a few weeks before trial and immediately before mediation. It was done online by Empirical Jury with over 400 people seeing the presentation and responding. A comprehensive report followed which included the juror’s responses to the plaintiff going to the ER before the crash for many different complaints of pain including two visits in the month before the crash because she fell down steps and complained of head and neck pain. The range for expected results was between $1 million and $5 million. The case settled at mediation for $1.8 million.

Plaintiff’s counsel Leila H. Kilgore provided case details. [022-T-087]