14 DAY TRIAL // Late last year, right before Christmas, model and fashion blogger Lauren Scruggs was involved in a terrible accident, when she walked into the spinning propeller of a plane. She's now suing for it.
TMZ has learned that the plane's insurance company reached out to Scruggs shortly after she was out of the hospital, with an offer for a settlement.
They offered her $200,000 (€149,936.2) as settlement, which is small pickings considering that she lost a hand and an eye in the accident, and came very close to losing her life as well.
“Scruggs filed legal docs in Dallas, Texas, claiming the insurance company 'verbally offered' to pay her $200k for the Dec. 3, 2011 accident, and they explained it's the MOST the insurance company can pay out to a 'passenger',” TMZ reports.
The obvious problem is that Scruggs wasn't a passenger: she was outside the plane, she turned to wave to the pilot perhaps not realizing the propeller hadn't been shut down (as it should have been), and walked right into it.
In the lawsuit, Lauren says “she shouldn't be considered a 'passenger' because 'she was not in the aircraft or getting in or out of it at the time of the incident',” TMZ writes.
“[She had] completed her exit from the aircraft prior to the time of the incident and was physically located on the tarmac when the incident happened. Until struck by the propeller, she was not in physical contact with the aircraft after her exit,” Scruggs writes in court documents.
The 23-year-old was rushed to the hospital immediately and made a miraculous recovery in just a few weeks' time.
Initial reports said she had lost part of her head. Her parents wouldn't comment too much on her condition, which more than makes sense, considering how distraught they must have been.
Lauren lost her left hand, which was severed on the spot: she is believed to have lifted it to shield her face.
Later on, she also lost her eye.
She is now at home, in recovery and, while she might not be able to do many of the things she once dreamed of accomplishing, she's very grateful to be alive.