We are pleased to share a significant arbitration victory obtained by Partner Daniel Crespo and Associate Lauren Landau on behalf of our client in a high-exposure motorist matter.
The claimant sought approximately $6 million in damages arising from a motor vehicle accident, including claims for future spine surgery, future medical care, and substantial future pain and suffering. After a multi-day arbitration, the arbitrator awarded only $450,000 total — a more than 92% reduction from the claimant’s demand.
Most importantly, the arbitrator awarded:
$0 for future medical care
$0 for future surgery
$0 for future non-economic damages
In sum, the defense successfully challenged the claimant’s causation theory, future surgery claims, and damages model. The arbitrator credited several key defense themes, including that the accident was not the sole or primary contributing factor to the claimant’s alleged ongoing condition, and that a subsequent accident was significant to the causation analysis.
A central part of the defense strategy was exposing the disconnect between the claimant’s alleged disability and his real-world activity level. The defense used the claimant’s own social media presence to show extensive post-accident activities, including travel, sporting events, recreational activities, and other lifestyle evidence inconsistent with the severity of the damages being claimed. The arbitrator expressly found that, based on the breadth of activities reflected in the claimant’s social media posts, he was not persuaded that the claimant was merely “trying to live his life with pain.”
The arbitrator ultimately rejected the claimant’s future damages model in its entirety and substantially reduced the claimed past medical damages. The final award consisted only of $225,000 in past medical expenses and $225,000 in past non-economic damages.
This result underscores the value of a disciplined defense strategy: attacking causation, using social media evidence effectively, challenging inflated medical billing opinions, and forcing the claimant to prove damages rather than simply present them.
Congratulations again to Daniel Crespo and Lauren Landau for securing an outstanding result in a complex, high-exposure matter.