"I'm Steve Hughes, I live in Franklin Tennessee and I am a real estate appraiser. I remember the car wreck I had in 2017, it was actually November 13th, at the time of the wreck I didn't think the injuries that I did have were that serious. But I did have and it was to my thumb is what it was and the diagnosis at the time was that everything is not broken, she stitched it up told me it was broken and it should be fine.

Well after that initial diagnosis I guess I went, I didn't do anything anymore after that I didn't have any doctors take a look at it and my thumb never got any better. I wasn't getting any relief from my thumb, it was still swollen, I still had a lot of pain in it. So I decided to go see a specialist, a hand specialist, and that's when they determined that I had some additional damage to the thumb that they weren't able to see originally. This specialist examined my thumb and decided actually I needed surgery.

The claim was adjuster, when she originally contacted me, just stated that I was entitled to a certain amount of money. They sent me the money that they told me I was entitled to and they considered that to be a settlement and everything was closed. The problem was I didn't know the extent of my injuries at that time, they didn't really surface until three months later. Yes, when she sent me that money in the beginning, I didn't understand it to be and she didn't tell me that it was a final settlement and that there wouldn't be any more consideration. As it turned out, the money that was sent to me originally did not cover, just a small percentage of the total bill for the surgery.

Well, one thing I've learned through this process is the insurance company is not on my side. They fought this from the very beginning and their whole basis for that was the settlement, so-called settlement, that the insurance company gave me in the beginning. They felt strongly that that was the settlement that I agreed upon and there wouldn’t be any more to it. John went to court earlier in the process and the judge threw that out right away so we were able to proceed past that point. I do think the claims adjuster was not upfront with me. She gave me minimal information, but I felt like she was not upfront with me as far as what that money really was.

With John and his and his staff, I felt like we were able to get a fair settlement. I was very happy with the way things turned out. 

If I have learned one thing through the process of this, is that I needed a lawyer from the very beginning. The insurance company is not on my side, they were not there to help me, they were helped there to help themselves. You know if this happened again, the first person I would call would be my lawyer, and I would always call John."

Steve Hughes from Franklin, TN