Goliad driver wins $200K settlement from insurance company

Aug. 03--The neck pain suffered by a Goliad man from a rear-end collision on U.S. 59 was hardly a mere inconvenience, the man's attorneys said.

The debilitating injury has kept Warren Lee Gohlke, 58, from enjoying the activities he loves and making a gainful living in his trade, said Will Sciba, a Victoria personal injury trial attorney.

"He grew up working on a farm, working hard," Sciba said. "That has been taken away from him."

Wednesday after almost three days of trial, a Goliad County jury awarded Gohlke $240,000 for a life-changing injury he suffered after a Toyota Camry smashed into the rear of his pickup in October 2014, causing it to roll. The driver of the Toyota, Sciba said, was not sufficiently insured for liability, giving Gohlke about $30,000 through a settlement.

But when the man attempted to collect on his claim, in which he had purchased about $100,000 of underinsured insurance, Progressive Insurance offered a scant $2,000, Sciba said.

Additionally, the terms of that claim allow Gohlke to claim only $100,000 of the total money awarded by jurors. Sciba said.

According to State Farm Insurance's website, uninsured motor vehicle coverage helps pay costs after a buyer is involved in a crash with a driver who does not have liability insurance.

Progressive's attorney, Vada Staha, of the Corpus Christi firm Upton, Mickits and Heymann, said she respected the jury's decision although she expected a different outcome. She declined to comment further.

Although by the time of the trial, the company had hiked their offering to about $15,000, that amount was hardly fair considering Gohlke's plight, Sciba said.

"He's in pain -- a lot," Sciba said.

Jurors were asked to consider that pain as well as medical expenses, mental anguish, disfigurement and physical impairment, according to court documents. Gohlke's attorneys called to the stand the man's family members and former co-workers to describe those damages.

The neck injury has caused him to almost abandon driving a tractor, which was more of an escape than a chore for Gohlke, Sciba said. Gohlke has also abandoned much of he work he has enjoyed doing for most of his life, he said.

It also has made the affectionate roughhousing he once enjoyed with his now-adult son a rarity if not an impossibility, and the injury is limiting his ability to play with his grandchildren.

It has kept him from working as a welder, a skill that he has built into a career, Sciba said.

And although these days Gohlke runs a lawncare business, he is occasionally forced to call his wife to finish jobs when the pain becomes unendurable, Sciba said.

"All the physical activities he used to do, he can't do or can't do as well anymore," Sciba said.

Gohlke is also awaiting neck surgery as a result of the injury.

With at least five similar liability cases headed for trial this year at Sciba's firm, Gohlke's case is hardly unique, the attorney said.

Gohlke's trial and other similar cases are the result of the 2006 Texas Supreme Court decision Brainard v. Trinity Universal Insurance Co., he said.

According to the Baylor Law Review, that decision means insurance companies in Texas are not contractually obligated to pay out uninsured motorist claims, such as Gohlke's, until a court judgment first establishes liability.

"Neither a police report, a settlement with the motorist, nor even an admission of liability from the (uninsured motorist) is sufficient to trigger the insurance company's contractual obligation to pay (the) claim," according to the law review article.

___

(c)2017 Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas)

Visit Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) at www.victoriaadvocate.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.