Terry's Story
Terry Tait
Construction Accident
On an early June morning, a heavy forklift struck Terry Tait, a brawn construction superintendent, throwing him 20 feet across the construction site at Ridgewood High School near Chicago. In shock from the impact, he staggered to sit down. A few hours later, he could no longer lift his arm.
At Rush University Medical Center, the X-Ray and later MRI, revealed his bicep was torn 80 to 90 percent. He entered surgery to repair his arm followed by a rigorous physical therapy regimen that yielded no improvement. An MRI showed scar tissue warping his healing and inevitably his mobility and function in his right arm. Another surgery followed to remove the scar tissue and months of therapy turned up the same result. After the second surgery, his orthopedic surgeon said another surgery would not repair his arm. He was permanently disabled.
“It was staggering to realize that I’d never work again as a carpenter,” he said. “I made a good salary as a superintendent. I was moving up in the company from being a carpenter. I’ve helped a lot of people through my carpentry skills and even a lot of donation work through our church. I really love what I do. I made a wonderful life for my family through carpentry. So, at first I was not convinced. But then, my company told me they could not keep me.”
At that point, Terry needed help beyond his workers’ compensation attorney who referred him to Meyers & Flowers, a law firm with expertise in personal injury law and workers’ compensation. Craig Brown, a personal injury lawyer at Meyers & Flowers, took on the case with deft legal knowledge and experience that provided Terry with a greater understanding of what his permanent injury meant. In his early 50s, Terry had many years of work ahead of him that were now terminated by his disability.
“Craig Brown is a down to earth guy, pleasant and always on my side, trying to do as much for me as he could,” Terry said. “He asked all the right questions and did his due diligence. And he was in constant contact. I had never had that kind of experience and thought I would just get well and go back to work. Craig was there to help me, my well being and my family deal with this unexpected disability.”
The Meyers & Flowers team calculated and quantified what the injury caused in terms of lost years of wages and pension. They helped Terry put into perspective what he would need to personally recover from this injury. Though, no amount of money could repair his diminishing quality of life. Terry could no longer do the work he loved, play golf on the weekends with his friends, and enjoy an active life with his family as the pain is constant and unfortunately not managed well.
“The Meyers & Flowers team had so much knowledge, I really don’t know what I would have done without them,” Terry said. “I would not have known where to start. Craig was always honest with me. And the Meyers & Flowers team deposed all of the people involved and formed a combined settlement with my company and the third party involved. My wife and I believed the settlement was fair.”