Might become a rich source of material for this site: Attorney Jonathan G. Stein of Elk Grove, Calif. has launched a blog on “Litigating MIST Cases,” MIST in this case standing for “Minimum Injury, Soft Tissue” auto-crash cases, or, in practical terms, “Any car crash with less than $1,500 in property damage and a soft tissue type injury, i.e. neck or back pain, sometimes called ‘whiplash.'” (Claims of “soft tissue” injury, unlike those from bruises, lacerations or broken bones, typically are hard or impossible to verify to the satisfaction of all sides). One recent entry begins: “Face it, most MIST patients end up at a chiropractor. …the chiropractor always asks who the attorney is on the file.” An earlier entry promises to explain “how the chiropractor can treat the patient to help you accomplish your goal — obtain a fair and reasonable settlement for your client.”
Stein is also selling a book on the handling of these cases and promotes it as follows:
I just settled a case. Client was in an accident causing no visible damage to her vehicle. The defendant had less than $500 in damage to her car. Client had $2,200 in treatment. Settlement pre-lit: $8,500. That is almost four times the special damages. On a MIST case.
So, yes, this system works.
Per Stein’s biographical blurb, “Most of his practice consists of MIST cases.” More on chiropractors here, and more on whiplash here.
4 Comments
These cases are a massive source of riches for plaintiffs and their lawyers, and an incredible hidden cost for taxpayers, consumers and insurance premium payers.
They are not always as cheap as $8,500. There is a variation on the “soft tissue” theme in which plaintiffs claim “spinal injury” and walk away with hundreds of thousands. Sounds serious, right? As in, someone’s paralyzed? No. What happens is, someone gets into an accident. There’s no visible injury, but they go for an “MRI,” or radiological reading of the spine. The doctor will report back that the plaintiff has a “bulging disc.”
Now, most neurologists will tell you that half the walking adult population has a “bulging disc,” which is the sagging and squeezing of the cushy stuff between the vertebrae, usually as the result of degeneration and natural aging. They also say that this isn’t the source of pain or limitation it’s made out to be.
But it doesn’t matter. Get a doctor to say the bulging disc was caused by the accident, and you are talking $50,00 $150,000, even $500,000 dollars. And plaintiffs can ALWAYS find a doctor to say this. And even if you can establish that it was a pre-existing bulge, plaintiffs tack over to, “OK, so this accident aggravated the condition.”
This claim can apply to pretty much any car accident in America, no matter the speeds or damage. Every fender bender, played right, is worth much more than $8,500.
There’s even a little side game in which plaintiffs go for highly invasive spinal surgeries, called laminectomies, in which the bulging stuff is snipped away. The New York Times reports that these surgeries are often unnecessary, by the way — but throw in “and he had to have SPINE SURGERY,” and juries become very alarmed.
Worse still are the claims of “brain injury,” which have a similarly low threshold of proof… and with these, obviously, the amounts recoverable skyrocket. Any conceivable problem, limitation or suffering can be attributed to a “brain injury,” even with defense neurologists saying, “there is no brain injury.”
The great intangible, of course, is “pain and suffering,” which juries can fix at any amount. But even the “fixed” or economic damages can balloon if played right in these cases… if a plaintiff testifies that because of their bulging disc they cannot work for the rest of their lives, a jury is free to hear that and believe it. Often, they do… the jury will often base its decision more on the personal likeability of the plaintiff than the conflicting medical evidence, so, if the plaintiff is likeable, it’s open checkbook time.
As a practicing spine surgeon let me just say that the above comment is absolutely correct. In my 17 year career I have seen exactly one person who I thought was legitamately injured in a fender bender. Its a sleazy game played by plaintiffs, lawyers (on both sides) and doctors.
The best response to this type of thing I’ve ever seen is on KevinMD, once linked to from here: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/03/one-angry-man-how-one-individual.html
“Do you know what Cervical Myalgia means? It means neck muscle pain!”
I had a whiplash 21 years ago and to this day if I sleep on a soft pillow I will be in agony until I’ve taken a hot shower and used a hot compress for a couple of hours, plus some meds.
And I mean rolling on the floor sobbing kind of agony (although with my work ethic I have missed fewer than 5 workdays in 21 years due to neck problems, which may qualify me as crazy).
Imagine having two railroad spikes driven into the base of you neck and you sorta get the notion.
The fellow who rear ended me was doing 65 in a 35, the only saving grace was that my car was bigger and heavier.
Believe me, this is not a phony injury.
I received a small settlement because there was no “visible” injury. Better to break a bone I guess.