Plaintiff obtains $600K settlement in crash after defense expert excluded

Summary

• Plaintiff secured $600,000 settlement one week before trial
• Court excluded defense expert testimony as speculative
• Crash involved rear-end collision with teen driver in Kansas
• Dispute centered on whether injuries were pre-existing or crash-related

After several years of debate over the causation of a confidential plaintiff’s injuries, their attorney secured a $600,000 settlement a week before trial.

The plaintiff, who was represented by Brendan Lykins of DM Injury Law in Kansas City, was injured in a car crash with a teen driver. The rear-end collision occurred near 113th Street and Nall Avenue in Leawood, Kansas.

The injuries to her head, brain and neck resulted in neck surgery that was contested by the defendant. No defense attorney is listed, but the defense argued the surgery was the result of a pre-existing condition, not the crash in question.

Before trial, the defense offered a $210,000 settlement that the plaintiff’s team refused.

“We were ready to learn what a jury thought after years of the defendant not taking responsibility for her actions,” Lykins said. “While our case did have issues, we (and apparently the defense) believed a jury would rule in our favor.”

Key to obtaining the new $600,000 settlement offer before trial was the exclusion of testimony by the defendant’s liability expert, Lykins said. The court agreed with the plaintiff that there was too much speculation involved in the testimony.

“The defense’s liability expert was stricken in response to one of plaintiff’s motions in limine — not via a Daubert challenge — which is rare,” Lykins added.

At trial, Lykins said he intended to call expert witnesses who could give the jury an overview of the extensive medical treatment his client received for about 15 months.

“She had preexisting issues, but it was our contention that her preexisting issues were aggravated and made active in the collision, causing increased pain and suffering,” he said. “The defense hung their hat on the initial gap in treatment and subsequent gaps in treatment — claiming these gaps in treatment proved the high-energy rearend impact didn’t cause the symptoms (and) injuries claimed.”

The neurosurgeon expert retained by the defense planned to testify the plaintiff was “healed” from her injuries within six weeks of the crash.

“Their experts overreached in my opinion and became liabilities to common sense,” Lykins said.

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Amount of verdict, judgment or settlement: $600,000

Type of action: Motor vehicle collision

Venue: Johnson County District Court

Case Number/Date: Confidential/03/01/2026

Injuries: Head, brain, neck

Caption: Confidential

Plaintiffs’ Attorneys: Brendan Lykins of DM Injury Law in Kansas City.

Defendants’ Attorneys: None