John Ezzo sustained a serious brain injury during a demonstration of a vehicle for the company that employed him.
This case will likely cause a few raised eyebrows, especially when you get to the part that says the plaintiff, John Ezzo, was blindfolded and riding without a helmet on a Segway vehicle. He worked for Segway, Inc., based in New Hampshire and was tapped to help out in a company demo of their two-wheeled vehicle in 2009 at Southern Connecticut State University.
It sounded harmless enough; demonstrating one of the Segways, but company workers got the bright idea to build an obstacle course, thinking that would highlight the vehicles agility. Again, that would likely have been fine as well. However, Ezzo was blindfolded and sent off on the course without a helmet. While attempting to navigate the course, he fell and seriously injured his head.
Ezzo consulted with a personal injury attorney and chose to file a lawsuit, which was just recently settled in December 2011 for $10 million. It will allow the 23-year-old man to get on with his life, such as it is now. In his statement of claim, he said he had been forced to drop out of the university and could only do work as a handyman.
Waiting for this case to go to court would have been incredibly difficult for the young man, even if he may have lived at home and had some help from his family. He would have significant medical bills to pay, therapy, medications to pay for and his future would be forever altered from a bright student aiming to complete college to a handyman with difficulty coping with daily tasks.
In order to pay his bills, he may well have been able to turn to litigation funding. This is also known as pre-settlement funding and is advanced to a qualified plaintiff ahead of their expected settlement or verdict. It is an emergency loan and the legal funding will help victims deal with the expenses incurred as a result of their accident.
If you have been involved in an accident and have serious financial issues facing you while you are waiting for a settlement or for your case to go to court, make it a point to find out about lawsuit funding. They have a lightning fast application and approval process, and you could access your fund within 24-48 hours. Many plaintiffs like the fact that pre-settlement funding is non-recourse as you do not pay it back unless you win your case.
Daren Monroe writes for Litigation Funding Corp. To learn more about lawsuit funding and litigation funding, visit Litigationfundingcorp.com.
