One memorable personal injury case involved Maureen and Rick Evans*, who got into a seemingly mild car accident one day. It was the kind of thing that could happen to anybody – a low-impact bump. The other driver was at fault, but it seemed like no big deal. Maureen hit her head on the passenger door and felt a little dazed, but she seemed unhurt otherwise and didn’t feel like she needed to go to the hospital.
No one knew at the time that Maureen had actually suffered a traumatic brain injury. After a few weeks, it became clear how serious her injury was. She had trouble getting out of bed. She couldn’t be in a lighted room. She developed short- and long-term memory problems. She eventually spent years in cognitive rehabilitation re-learning to read – and even to think – the way she once had been able to.
A spouse’s love vs. a state law
When Cooper & Elliott joined Maureen’s team, we faced several challenges. The first obstacle was the insurance company’s insistence that the accident hadn’t been serious, and that none of Maureen’s problems surfaced until long afterward. The second obstacle was even bigger, and it had major implications for Maureen, Rick, and every other Ohio couple involved in a personal injury case.
Because Maureen was injured so severely that she could no longer take care of herself, Rick made the difficult decision to quit a lucrative job to care for his wife. We wanted to make sure Rick would be compensated for what he had given up – after all, Ohio law would have allowed compensation for hiring outside nursing help for Maureen. But Ohio law didn’t allow someone who wanted to personally care for his injured spouse to force the wrongdoer to pay for the income the caregiver would lose.
That didn’t seem right.
After much persistence and through a ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court, we were able to establish that if one spouse must forego earning a living to take care of the other spouse, the caregiver is entitled to the reasonable value of the nursing services for the care provided, including the income lost while doing so.
Because of this ruling, when people in Ohio choose to give up their jobs in order to personally care for a spouse who was injured by someone else’s carelessness, they no longer have to give up the income they would have earned. Rick just wanted to care for his wife without jeopardizing the family’s finances, and now he and others like him can do just that.
More than money
Money aside, there’s a broader benefit to Maureen and Rick’s case. The court ruling ultimately helps promote closer marital relationships. It enables spouses to do what spouses should do, which is take care of each other. Today, Maureen is much improved. Recently, Rick was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and because of the care Maureen received now she’s able to help take care of him.
There’s no denying that there’s some sadness in Maureen and Rick Evans’ story. But it’s an uplifting story, too. And it’s a point of pride for the Evans and for us at Cooper & Elliott that other Ohio attorneys handling personal injury cases now use the ruling from Maureen and Rick’s case to help other families in the same difficult situation.
*Names in this article have been changed to protect our client’s privacy.
The outcome of any client’s case will depend on the particular legal and factual circumstances of the case.
