Meet Laura: Another Hensley Success Story

February 17, 2026

On a Sunday afternoon in late November 2022, Laura, a 53-year-old former special education paraprofessional for the Elkhart Community School System, was driving her Chevy Malibu down Jefferson Blvd. and proceeding through its intersection with Eddy St. in South Bend, IN.

Laura had been decorating her church for the upcoming Christmas holiday but realized almost instantly that there would be little to celebrate that Christmas when a pickup truck that was already fleeing an accident blew a red light and T-boned her.

Not Enough Insurance for a Major Crash

The collision was so violent that Laura’s car spun around 180 degrees before coming to rest on the other side of the street, her airbags deployed, and the booster seat she kept in the back for her grandchildren cracked in half, an image that still haunts her.

“I was like, oh my gosh, if one of the girls was in there,” she said. “I couldn’t even fathom it.”

The pickup truck’s driver then attempted to escape on foot but was soon apprehended by the police, which gave Laura the opportunity to obtain his auto insurance information. Unfortunately, however, his vehicle only carried a $25,000.00 liability policy, the minimum required under Indiana law – enough for a simple fender-bender maybe but nowhere close to enough for a major crash.

And Laura’s crash was definitely major, totaling her Malibu and sending her by ambulance to an area hospital, where she was admitted for nearly a week with internal bleeding and a left rotator cuff tear with tendinosis and bursitis.

Extensive Therapy Before and After Surgery

The bad news didn’t let up when Laura got out of the hospital either, since she was forced to endure an incredibly long and frequently frustrating healing process that started off with approximately six months of occupational therapy for her shoulder.

When this more conservative course of treatment proved to be ineffective, she had to undergo arthroscopic surgery with subacromial decompression, bursectomy, and acromioplasty, followed by six more months of therapy.

Although Laura’s certainly thankful for the “great support” she had at home, she also can’t deny that “It’s not fun to try to recover from any surgery at all, but a shoulder surgery is pretty difficult, because you have to go up and down steps” and be “so careful” to avoid suffering further injury.

“Helpful to Me from the Very Beginning”

Yet if the lingering effects of Laura’s car accident can be felt to this day, so too can her satisfaction over the wise decision she made to hire Hensley.

Her team at Hensley Legal Group, PC included attorneys Spencer King and Kelly Cicillian as well as case managers Carisa Murphy and Ashley Arellano, and it was obvious that they “wanted to keep the ball rolling and just really be helpful to me from the very beginning.”

Laura was particularly impressed when Spencer paid a visit to her house shortly after she signed with the firm.

“He was from Indianapolis, and I was like, wow, he’s coming all this way just to make sure that I’m doing okay,” she recalled, adding that, “They jumped right on with it. They didn’t waste their time or anything like that.”

The level of attentiveness never wavered as the firm worked tirelessly to get Laura fairly compensated for her injuries while always remembering to check in with her about any concerns she had.

“Every time they needed information from me, they just texted or emailed, and I could call whenever I wanted to,” Laura explained. “This is a big deal for me to go through all of that, and I felt like they wanted it to be as seamless for me as possible.”

Hensley Secures Maximum Amount of Compensation Available

The considerable effort Hensley put into Laura’s case yielded huge dividends. The firm managed to secure both the full insurance coverage on the defendant’s vehicle and the full underinsured motorist coverage remaining on Laura’s vehicle, representing the maximum amount of compensation available for this incident.

Laura is immensely pleased with the results and would recommend Hensley to anyone who is looking for a law firm after an injury.

“They basically went to bat for me,” she said. “I felt like they were really doing their job.”

Reach Out to Our Knowledgeable South Bend Car Accident Lawyers

Hensley Legal Group, PC is a dedicated Indiana personal injury law firm whose experienced attorneys have been fighting on behalf of the wrongfully injured since 1998. If you don’t know what to do or where to turn after a devastating car accident in South Bend traffic, reach out to our knowledgeable South Bend car accident lawyers to discover how they can make a difference.

You can schedule a free case review with an accomplished South Bend car accident attorney by calling us at (317) 472-3333, chatting with us online, or filling out our contact form now.