Hard Times

We finally had a trial date set for the civil case against Mark Nigon but it happened to fall on a very important date for my work. Now I have to move it to a later date. I could have had this whole thing over with at the beginning of the summer. Now it is looking like it will be around the end of fall. My lawyer has been in contact with Nigon’s lawyer to yet again offer to settle the case for the medical bills only. Nigon freaked out and said that even though he could cover the cost of our medical bills that it would cause him to lose his house! Either this man does not understand that losing a house is nothing compared to the damage that he put my wife and I through or he is genuinely an evil man. While it would make things easier to believe that Mark Nigon is an evil man, I tend to believe that he is more ignorant than evil.

Mark Nigon has cost me so much.
$183,700 –Price of the house that we lost from not being able to keep up the payments.
$3,000 –Cost of our honeymoon fund that was drained after the accident.
$12,000- Combined lost wages between my wife and I
$7,000- Potential pay raise that I lost out on.
$250,000- Medical bills
$1,500 –Lost Vacation accrual
$5,000 – Wife’s missed semester of school
$7,500 – Totaled car
$1,000 –Medical co-pays
$1000 – Wheelchair ramp, Wheelchair, Crutches, Walker, cane
$6,000 – In home Nurse
$15,000 – Physical therapy
$10,000- and counting in psychology, psychiatry, and pharmaceutical bills.
$?????- a Life time of pain and suffering
$?????- Damaged credit, Foreclosure, Unpaid medical bills.
$?????- Loss of ability to run, snowboard, bike, lift, ski, or take long walks.
$?????- Wife’s inability to drive
$?????- Sensitive legs, weakness, fatigue!
$?????- Destroyed toe joints
$?????- Future surgeries.
$?????- Arthritis.
$?????- Nightmares

This list could go on and on if I was willing to sit here and think about it!

Not to mention that I had to have a surgery yesterday to get the rods that were holding my hip together removed. Now I am laid up in bed again, missing more time from work, again. Mark Nigon is not contesting that this is his fault, only the amount that the fault is worth. This is only partially true though as his assessment, in his mind, is not based on the damage he caused my wife and I but rather the amount that he can afford to pay without losing his house. His house is the topic of every deliberation that we have with him. Well I have said this before and I will say it again, the time to think about these things was before driving the wrong way down a one way street with a .217 B.A.C. and hitting another car head on.

Let me tell you how reasonable our offer is. We are asking for Mark Nigon to cover the medical bills that he caused us. This amount is $250,000. He has an insurance policy that is worth $100,000 and a house worth $250,000. This means that he could settle this case and never have to hear from me again while still retaining $100,000. He could use this to purchase a new house or get into a nice apartment, condo or townhouse. He is refusing though. Since he has no defense he is going into the trial trying to say that the amount of the medical bills is unreasonable. Now I can see how he might think this considering that he came out of the accident nearly unscathed. Being that the justice system does not often allow you to see your accuser face to face he may not understand the severity of what he did to me. Being that he was driving a Dodge Ram 2500 and I was in a 94 Jeep Wrangler with the top and doors off I had much more possibilities for injuries than he did. I had multiple compound fractures in my right leg, a shattered right foot, non-displaced left leg fractures, 3 hip fractures, 2 pelvic socket fractures, an acetabular fracture, and closed head trauma. Mark Nigon only received a hangover. Even if it were true that the doctors overcharged the medical bills, what does that have to do with me? I was unconscious and needed emergency medical care. Its not like I was able to negotiate the best possible price before entering surgery!

What Mark Nigon doesn’t understand is that by settling now everyone wins. My wife and I would have enough money to immediately get back to being close to where we were financially. We could move on with our lives. Mark Nigon would get to keep $100,000 and every penny that he earned would belong to him. He and his family would have the opportunity to rebuild. If this goes to trial I will get a minimum of $250,000, anyways. The medical bills are non-negotiable. I would in all likelihood get additional money for lost wages and pain and suffering. It will also cost a tremendous amount more in attorney fees, so I would have to win much more just to break even with all of the damage that he has already caused me. It would likely be close to a million dollar judgment. Everything that this man owns would be taken away from him plus every penny that he earns in the future would be broken up so that a percentage would go to me. I just don’t understand what he is thinking.

The issue that I have to deal with is that I feel sorry for Mark Nigon’s family. I just don’t understand why he is putting them at more risk. As I said before, it would be easy to think that he is evil and just doesn’t care about anyone. More than likely he is just stupid, ignorant and uninformed. Of course, what else can you say about someone that drives drunk in the first place. I suppose that I just answered my own question.