Court reverses decision that herniated disc cannot be a serious impairment
Chiquita Taylor was involved in two separate motor vehicle collsions while still in high school. She was still getting occasional treatment for low back pain two years after the first injury, when her car was struck in the high school parking lot. She complained of increased pain and her doctors diagnosed a herniated disc.
The doctors separately concluded that while it was impossible to confirm whether the herniation resulted from the second collision, given the significant increase in pain at the time of the second collision, they considered it probable that the herniation was a new, related finding. The trial court ruled that Taylor couldn't prove a "serious impairment of bodily function" under the Kreiner case and dismissed Taylor's claim. On appeal, however, the Court of Appeals deemed it was "compelled to reverse" when the newer McCormick standard for serious impairment was applied.