SETTLEMENTS & VERDICTS

Injured motorcyclist - $3 Million Dollars after his previous attorney advised that his claim was worth only $15,000.

On a normal, fully scheduled day, John Bisnar received an urgent call from a business associate, a local realtor. The caller frantically explained that her brother-in-law was in a Sacramento hospital, his doctors had recommended a complicated, risky surgery, and he was panicking about what would become of his family and about payment of the mounting medical expenses. She further explained that her brother-in-law was desperate to get answers from his attorney about these issues before consenting to surgery, that his attorney was not returning calls and his attorney had previously advised that his case was only worth $15,000, the maximum amount of insurance of the negligent automobile driver. Mr. Bisnar immediately spoke to the injured man and quickly realized that this was not a consultation to have over the phone. Mr. Bisnar canceled the rest of his day and took the next flight to Sacrament. Once Mr. Bisnar arrived at the hospital, the injured man explained that he was hit by a car while on his motorcycle in the course of running an errand for his employer. He said he had hired a nationally known motorcycle accident attorney and that the attorney advised him that the negligent driver's insurance limit was $15,000 and that was the total value of his claim. He went on to explain that his doctors had advised him that he could lose his leg (it was eventually saved).After Mr. Bisnar answered his questions, advised him regarding his Workers' Compensation benefits and explained that his attorney probably was right about the $15,000 value of his claim. The injured man asked to hire Mr. Bisnar, explaining that he had received more information from Mr. Bisnar about his circumstances, his rights, his options and the probable outcome of his case than he had received from his present attorney after weeks of representation. Mr. Bisnar reluctantly accepted. An immediate investigation uncovered that the negligent driver was a route salesman for a beer distributor and was probably on the job at the time of the accident (although the employer initially denied this). When the employer was advised of the results of the Bisnar investigation, the insurance company for the employer offered to settle the claim for a few hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Bisnar did settle the claim with the beer distributor. Mr. Bisnar did settle the claim with the beer distributor for an amount in excess of $3 Million dollars.