When someone is injured in a motor-vehicle collision, the path forward is rarely simple. When a person is hit twice in a matter of weeks, with injuries that overlap and insurance companies eager to blame anything except their insured’s negligence, the situation becomes even more complex. That’s exactly what happened to one Farah & Farah client and why personal injury attorney Rick Staggard stepped in to fight for the full compensation he deserved.
A Major Win After Two Back-to-Back Car Accidents
Recently, Rick and his team in Farah’s Jacksonville, FL office secured a $760,000 settlement for this client following a major rear-end collision with a commercial truck. That victory followed a separate $60,000 settlement from an earlier crash, bringing the combined recovery to $820,000. The case involved intricate medical issues, overlapping injuries, and aggressive pushback from the insurance company. But ultimately, the facts, the medicine, and the law were on our client’s side, and Rick made sure those truths came through clearly.
The Challenges of Injuries From Two Car Accidents in a Row
Two car accidents in such a short timeframe created unique challenges. Both crashes affected the same areas of the body, and the second insurance company attempted to blame our client’s symptoms on the earlier collision or simply on natural aging. Untangling these overlapping injuries required careful legal and medical analysis.
Injuries From the First Rear-End Car Accident
The first crash involved a negligent driver with a personal insurance policy, which typically provides far less coverage than a commercial or umbrella policy. Following this initial collision, our client reported injuries to the neck, mid-back, and low back, leading him to begin chiropractic care and physical therapy. Medical notes showed early signs of improvement in these areas, and that progress later helped demonstrate how significantly the second crash worsened his condition.
How the Commercial Truck Crash Made the Injuries Worse
Just two weeks after the initial accident, our client was rear-ended in a commercial truck accident with enough force to total his vehicle. In addition to making his neck, mid-back, and lower-back injuries worse, the second crash caused new pain that hadn’t existed before. His neck hurt even more, and doctors found damage to the small joints in his spine. After this second impact, his symptoms got much worse, showing just how big a role the truck collision played in his injuries.
Using Florida’s Concurrent Cause Rule To Prove Liability
Florida’s concurrent cause jury instruction became a crucial legal tool. This instruction explains that when two events can each cause an injury, each only needs to be a cause, not the exclusive cause, for it to be considered responsible for the resulting damage. In other words, a defendant cannot avoid accountability simply because another event or condition also played a role. Florida law also says that if a jury can’t separate the injuries between two crashes, the defendant can still be held responsible for all of them. Rick used this to show the second crash’s attorneys that they had no evidence to divide the injuries.
This principle is especially important in cases involving multiple accidents or pre-existing issues, because it prevents insurers from shifting all the blame elsewhere. By applying this rule, Rick was able to show that the commercial truck collision still carried significant legal responsibility, even in the presence of a prior crash and underlying spinal degeneration.
Medical Evidence That Complicated This Florida Car Accident Claim
Although the MRI didn’t show major disc damage, it did reveal small herniations and normal age-related wear and tear. But those findings didn’t explain the amount of pain our client was in. Much of his pain came from injuries to the facet joints, which are small joints in the spine that help you bend and twist. These joints can be badly hurt in a rear-end crash, but the damage often doesn’t show up clearly on MRI scans.
This mattered because the insurance company tried to argue that “nothing serious showed up on the MRI,” so the second crash couldn’t have caused major injury. Rick showed that facet joint injuries can be extremely painful, very limiting, and hard to see on imaging, proving that our client’s symptoms were real and consistent with the force of the commercial truck collision.
How Facet Joint Injuries Explained Our Client’s Pain
Facet joints connect each vertebra and allow the spine to move. These small joints are highly susceptible to injury during rear-end impacts. In this case, facet joint damage became a key explanation for our client’s pain and supported the argument that the second crash caused significant harm. Because these injuries often limit rotation, bending, and everyday mobility, they can dramatically affect quality of life even when imaging appears relatively normal. The presence of this type of injury helped demonstrate that our client’s symptoms were consistent with a high-force collision like the one involving the commercial truck.
Showing Our Client’s Degenerative Changes Weren’t Causing Pain Before the Crash
Our client did have natural degenerative changes, but he had never experienced pain or functional limitations before the crashes. Demonstrating that these age-related findings had never caused him discomfort or restricted his activities was crucial in countering the defense. By showing that he lived and worked without any spine-related issues prior to the accidents, Rick established that our client’s symptoms began only after the collisions occurred. This timeline made it clear that trauma, not normal aging, was responsible for the problems he faced after the second crash.
How the Crash-Related Injuries Changed His Daily Life
Our client’s injuries affected far more than his spine. They disrupted his routine, limited his physical abilities, and introduced chronic pain into activities he once handled with ease. Tasks that had never required a second thought, such as lifting, bending, or turning his head while driving, became difficult and often painful. These restrictions affected his work, his home life, and his overall independence, creating ongoing frustration and emotional strain as he tried to adapt to his new limitations.
Medical Treatment Needed After Both Car Accidents
Our client’s care included chiropractic therapy, physical therapy, spinal injections, and radiofrequency ablations. Radiofrequency ablation is a procedure in which a doctor uses a heated probe to burn away specific nerves that send pain signals. While these treatments provided periods of improvement, they also required regular appointments, time away from work, and the physical and emotional stress of undergoing repeated procedures.
Because these treatments can only offer temporary relief, our client found himself in a cycle of continual medical care that served as a constant reminder of how dramatically the crashes changed his everyday life.
Long-Term Effects of Our Client’s Car Accident Injuries
While the treatments helped improve his mobility, they did not resolve the underlying injuries. Our client was left with permanent pain that affects his ability to perform daily tasks without discomfort. These long-term effects forced him to change how he works, moves, and plans for the future. He now faces the likelihood of ongoing medical management throughout his life. These long-term medical needs played a significant role in the settlement calculation.
Strategic Legal Approach That Strengthened the Case
The commercial truck’s insurance company attempted to minimize the claim by attributing our client’s pain to age-related arthritis and the earlier collision. Rick countered this by focusing on the pattern of our client’s recovery rather than just the medical findings. He showed that our client had been steadily improving after the first crash and that his setbacks only began after the second collision. By grounding his argument in the timeline of treatment and our client’s clear functional decline, Rick exposed the insurer’s narrative as inconsistent with the facts and ensured the focus remained on the true source of our client’s injuries.
Evidence Showing the Severe Impact of the Commercial Truck Accident
Beyond the treatment timeline, the physical evidence from the scene played a key role. The commercial truck impact was strong enough to total our client’s vehicle, demonstrating that the second crash involved far greater force than the first. This level of vehicle damage supported the conclusion that the collision was powerful enough to cause new injuries and worsen existing ones. It also made it more difficult for the insurer to downplay the crash or claim that our client’s condition stemmed only from the first accident or normal aging. This evidence provided a clear, objective foundation for our client’s claim and supported the long-term damages sought on his behalf.
A Settlement That Supports Our Client’s Long-Term Future
Our client had been living an active, pain-free life before the crashes, regularly engaging in physical tasks and daily routines without limitation. After the collisions, his physical abilities changed dramatically, and once effortless activities became difficult or uncomfortable. He now faces ongoing pain, reduced mobility, and the emotional strain of adapting to a lifestyle that looks very different from the one he enjoyed before. The settlement ensures that he can continue receiving the medical care and pain-management treatments necessary to function day to day. It also provides essential financial stability as he adjusts
Farah & Farah’s Dedication to Helping Car Accident Victims
Detailed medical review, strategic legal thinking, and persistent advocacy were essential to ensuring our client’s story, injuries, and long-term needs were clearly presented and fully supported by evidence. When insurers attempted to avoid responsibility, Rick cut through the noise to keep the focus where it belonged.
Farah & Farah remains dedicated to standing up for people who have been hurt through no fault of their own, and anyone facing a similar situation can rely on our team to pursue the full and fair compensation they deserve. If you or someone you love has been injured in a crash, contact us today to learn how we can help.
