$250,000 for a Passenger Who Fractured Her Hip in a Left-Turn Crash

On May 30, 2018, two women were leaving Mid Rivers Mall in St. Peters when a left turn ended in a collision. JoAnn Mason was driving a 2011 Hyundai Sonata with 82-year-old Evelyn Ware in the front passenger seat. As Mason turned left, she crossed in front of a 2009 Chevrolet Traverse driven by Karen Martinez-Alvarenga. The Traverse struck the Sonata on its passenger side, the exact spot where Ware was sitting. The side impact left the older woman badly hurt.

Ware absorbed much of the force. She fractured her right hip, an injury that required surgical repair and a long course of rehabilitation. Her recovery moved through three stages. She began physical therapy in the hospital, transferred to a rehabilitation facility for further care, and then continued hip strengthening and gait training at home to rebuild her ability to walk. For a woman in her eighties, that kind of fracture often means months of limited mobility and a slow return to daily activity. The documented medical bills from that treatment came to $21,900.

Ware retained Richard J. Zalasky of Brown & Crouppen. A passenger injured in a crash can pursue the driver of her own vehicle when that driver's conduct caused the wreck, and that was the path here. Because Ware bore no responsibility for how the collision happened, the dispute centered on which driver was at fault. Zalasky built the claim around Mason's decision to turn left across the path of oncoming traffic, the maneuver that put the Sonata where the Traverse could hit it. The claim sought payment under Mason's own auto policy with Farmers Insurance Company.

Farmers agreed to pay the full limit of Mason's policy, $250,000, with the money going to Ware. The two sides reached the agreement on June 24, 2019, in St. Charles County. They settled before anyone filed a lawsuit, so the case produced no trial, no jury, and no appeal. A pre-suit resolution at the policy limit also spared Ware the cost and delay of litigation.

Against roughly $21,900 in documented medical bills, the $250,000 payment reached the ceiling of the coverage available from the at-fault driver's insurer. Missouri Lawyers Media reported the settlement on December 2, 2019.