Case Story: Client Injured in an Acute Care Facility

We had a case a few years back where our client had suffered a stroke and was in a nearly vegetative state. They went to an acute care facility and during their roughly 1-month residency, they developed a huge infected stage 4 pressure ulcer. Fortunately, that client was able to survive the development of that pressure ulcer. And once we took the case on, we moved for a preferential trial date. Once we obtain that preferential trial date, we were able to expedite getting that client a quick settlement. And the effect of this expedited settlement is that the client actually gets to see the money within their lifetime and enjoy the better care that they can get with that money. The process to push that case forward started with our motion for trial preference. Under this motion, under California law, if it’s granted, the court has to go to trial within 4 months. This puts a lot of pressure on the facility to either get their case ready to defend or to settle. In that case, the facility felt the pressure and the facility finally caved and gave our client the fair compensation for the injuries they suffered.