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blaming Theresa for the accident, and the Hickses’ medical
insurer intervened to protect its subrogation rights. Conrail
even won summary judgment before trial, though the Hickses got
that reversed on appeal. This pretrial maneuvering looked like
it was headed to another round of appellate review, as both the
Hickses and Conrail had petitioned the Ohio Supreme Court to take
the case. But then, in early 1994, Conrail offered to settle all
claims for $4,650,000. It had already negotiated separate
settlement of Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s subrogation claim, which
relieved the Hickses from having to split the proposed settlement
with their insurer. But Conrail’s offer was a lump sum in
exchange for a release--there is nothing in the record that shows
Conrail cared at all about how that lump sum would be split among
the Hickses or their various causes of action.
This is where the Hickses’ lawyers showed considerable
professionalism--instead of just taking a lump sum or negotiating
an ordinary structured settlement, they brought in a team of
specialists, one of whom was Thomas Baxter. Baxter is an
attorney with a practice at the intersection of health care,
trust, and probate law. He focuses on the analysis and creation
of trusts for the benefit of severely disabled adult children
whose parents need help in navigating the complex and frequently
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Last modified: November 10, 2007