Jury Signs Verdict for $4.74 Million in Crash by Rental Car Employee

Angela Rogers, 45, was driving when she slowed her vehicle for traffic ahead. She was at a virtual stop when a Hertz Corp. employee driving a company car rear-ended Rogers’ car while traveling at about 60 mph.

Rogers suffered serious injuries which included bilateral labral tears to her hips. The crash also triggered spinal stenosis, causing her to suffer neck pain and impingement in her right arm and hand. Rogers continued to work for nearly 3 years while undergoing conservative medical treatment. When debilitating pain made it impossible for her to continue at work, Rogers was placed on leave. Soon thereafter she underwent bilateral hip surgery.

Rogers continues to live with chronic pain and she likely will require a cervical fusion to address her neck pain. Her past medical expenses totaled more than $390,000 and her future medical expenses are estimated at $600,000.

Rogers was an investment product wholesaler but was unable to return to work after her hip surgery. She sought significant lifetime damages for future loss of income.

Rogers filed a lawsuit against the Hertz Corp. alleging that the company was liable for its driver’s negligence and for negligently entrusting a company vehicle to the employee who caused this crash.

Hertz admitted liability for these claims before the trial but contested the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries and damages. Hertz argued that Rogers’s injuries resulted from pre–existing conditions, including a hip abnormality known as femoroacetabular impingement and severe congenital stenosis in her neck. The defendants also argued that Rogers chose not to mitigate her damages by not returning to work after her surgery.

The jury signed a verdict of $3.25 million, which included $2.5 million in economic damages and $750,000 in noneconomic damages for pain and suffering, emotional distress and loss of quality of life. With the addition of statutory interest, the verdict totaled approximately $4.74 million.

Rogers’s counsel have moved for the entry of judgment and the defendant Hertz moved to reduce the noneconomic award to a statutory cap of $468,000, which may apply in Colorado. Rogers has filed a responsive motion asking for that portion of the verdict to stand.

The attorneys representing Angela Rogers were Peter W. Burg, Reeves D. Whalen and Steven G. Greenlee.

At trial, Rogers’s attorneys engaged experts in occupational medicine, interventional pain management/anesthesiology, orthopedic/spinal surgery, orthopedic/hip surgery and rehabilitation/life-care planning. The defendant Hertz engaged experts in physical, medicine and rehabilitation and also engaged a private investigator.

Rogers v. Hertz Corp., No. 201cv750 (Colo. Dist. Ct. Denver County, March 1, 2016).

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling truck crash cases, car crash cases, catastrophic injury cases and motorcycle injury cases for individuals and families who have been injured or killed by the negligence of another for more than 40 years, in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Palatine, Prospect Heights, Flossmoor, Bensenville, Bridgeview, Arlington Heights, Palos Park, Rosemont, Grayslake, Gurnee, Round Lake Beach, Lake Villa, Lemont, New Lenox, Evergreen Park, Calumet City, Chicago Heights and Wilmette, Ill.

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