- 6 - 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 frequentlyPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: November 10, 2007