Insurer disputes necessity for lumbar surgery in UIM claim before it pays policy limits in arbitration award.
Wilshire Law Firm by Jonathan C. Teller, Los Angeles.
Bassi, Edlin, Huie & Blum LLP by Joseph B. Adams and Michael Gallagher, San Francisco.
Jan Roughan, life care planning.
Stephan Kasimian, M.D., orthopedic surgery.
Stephanie Engler, life care planning.
Robert Rovner, M.D., orthopedic surgery.
Enrique Vega, vocational rehabilitation.
Laura Dolan, economics (deposition testimony submitted).
On March 30, 2018, an Uber driver, Michael Gogue (59 years old), was planning to pick up his Uber passenger, in Tracy, when he was rear-ended by an underinsured driver who only had $15,000 of insurance coverage.
That the collision caused plaintiff's injuries to his neck and back.
That plaintiff had a pre-existing degenerative disc condition that was causing him pain, and the surgery was not related to the subject collision. The insurance company also suggested plaintiff was only seeing doctors to obtain medications and he wasn’t truly in enough pain to warrant a surgery.
Plaintiff underwent conservative treatment, but after no relief he underwent an L4-L5 lumbar fusion surgery.
There was a demand in pre-litigation for $749,999. The last offer was for $650,000.
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