South American On Temporary Visa Injured in Tennessee Car Accident

One of the most rewarding aspects of what we do is the privilege of helping people from all over the world.  Most of the time they’re living in the United States, having emigrated from another country.  However, on this particular day, we received a phone call detailing how a Colombian woman named Ana, visiting family on a temporary visa, was injured in a car accident in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Our intake manager, who is fluent in Spanish, connected with Ana.  The accident occurred near Enon Springs and Nissan Drive, a very busy area.  Ana was a passenger in the car when they were t-boned by a negligent driver.  The violent impact flipped the vehicle Ana was in, causing substantial damage.  Ana was knocked unconscious and when she came to she discovered she was bleeding profusely.   

She was taken by EMS to the StoneCrest Medical Center ER.  Luckily for Ana, she had escaped without serious permanent injury.  However, she was in a lot of soft tissue pain and realized she now had hospital bills.  Unsure what to do, and how the legal process worked in the U.S. she called our office.

When we met with Ana, she had already started physical therapy.  However, she needed to return to Colombia soon.  She was worried about getting the treatment she needed to recover, but not having medical bills in two different countries.  We put together a gameplan for her and made her feel confident things would be ok.  

We knew the insurance company for the defendant was going to fight the claim given her status.  This particular insurance company is notorious for diminishing the claims of injury victims.  We immediately and aggressively set the parameters of the case.  We knew once Ana returned to Colombia, the insurance company would try to discount or try to disallow her treatment as related. 

Ana returned to Colombia, and continued her physical therapy.  After she was discharged from treatment, we went to work.  We told the insurance company that all of her medical treatment was necessary, and that all her billing was necessary.  Therefore, under Tennessee law all of her medical bills would be valid.  Part of any case strategy is understanding the impact of complex logistics as part of negotiations.  Our client was willing to travel back to the U.S., if needed, despite those costs likely being discretionary costs.  We drew a hard line in the sand, and after months of negotiations, reached an agreement that would fairly compensate Ana for her injuries.  

Helping injury victims navigate their individual cases is something we pride ourselves on.  No two cases are alike.  Each case is unique and requires specific strategies.  Here, we weren’t going to let the fact that we were separated by two continents stand in the way of justice.