Financial manager receives $785,000 for injuries in crash

A financial manager and father of two received a $785,000 settlement for injuries he received in a multi-vehicle wreck in 2016.

Plaintiff Gregg Lippert retained $329,685 of the proceeds. His attorney John Wilbers received $273,383, and medical providers were paid $181,931. Lippert’s insurance company Pure Insurance paid $5,000 for some of the medical expenses. State Farm Automobile Insurance and Progressive Insurance who insured Matthew Lawing, the driver found to be at fault, paid $780,000.

Lippert, who worked for Merrill Lynch, was driving in a 2010 Cadillac CTS to see clients in Jefferson City when the wreck occurred on Aug. 5, 2016. He was driving west on Interstate 70 and slowed to pass a wreck. A commercial truck rear-ended a Chrysler 300 just behind Lippert’s car and pushed him off the highway in the Montgomery County town of High Hill.

“I looked at my rearview mirror and realized I was going to get crushed,” Lippert told police, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol incident report.

Debra Newman, the Chrysler driver, was taken from the scene by ambulance. The driver of the Dodge Ram commercial truck, Matthew Lawing, 23, was going about 65 mph as he approached the other cars, according to police.

“I could not stop,” he told highway patrol officers, according to the report.

Lawing later pleaded guilty to careless and imprudent driving in Montgomery County Circuit Court, according to Wilbers. Lawing’s employer, Lawing Transport, was not legally authorized to operate as a carrier, Wilbers said.

Lippert first sought medical treatment at St. Luke’s Urgent Care in Creve Coeur for neck, back and chest pain. He also suffered bruising from his seatbelt. When his pain continued, he saw a chiropractor, who ordered an MRI. The image showed multiple problems, including a bulging disc, disc compression and spinal stenosis. Stenosis is the narrowing of the spine in the neck or back or both.

He underwent surgery in 2017 to repair his back and neck. Lippert has no permanent physical restrictions, but his ability to play with his children now is limited, Wilbers said.