Lois D. had been cooped up in her home for weeks because of the cold weather. Finally,
one February afternoon, she just had to get out of the house and took a stroll in
the downtown section of her hometown, Wilmington, Delaware.
As always, Wilmington was bustling. And even though the temperature was bone chilling
cold, it was, nonetheless, a nice day. That is until a drunk driver trying to avoid
a group of construction workers swerved into Lois.
When she awoke, Lois could not remember what happened, but she quickly realized
she was in bad shape. Her pelvis was broken. Her shoulder had been dislocated. Her
wrist had several metal rods protruding from it and was held in traction.
Her hospital stint was followed by two months in a wheelchair and the arduous task
of trying to rebuild her life. Lois had to learn many of the basics all over again:
writing, picking up objects, walking.
The man who was responsible for the accident was arrested and sent to jail for six
months with a charge of assault with a vehicle and drunken driving. Lois sued him
and won, receiving a structured settlement that would pay her monthly for 15 years.
Unfortunately, while Lois was progressing physically with her therapy, financially
she was falling further and further behind. Lost wages and increased medical expenses
were conspiring to push her deeper and deeper into debt. Finally, she had no choice.
Lois decided it was time to sell a portion of her payments for a lump sum of cash,
so she could pay off her bills and move on with her life.
She did have a choice though about how she sold her payments and who she sold them
to. Rather than create a bidding war, Lois quietly called several companies and
got quotes. "I wanted to work with the company that gave me the best quote right
off, not one I had to convince with other bids. I thought the company that treated
me right from the beginning would be the one that would treat me right throughout
the process."
When J.G. Wentworth beat its next closest competitor by $5,000, Lois knew she found
her company. "After that it was easy. I sent my paperwork in, and they did the rest.
I had my money in six weeks." And she had a new lease on her life, which had been
interrupted one afternoon by a careless drunk driver.