Here are a few of the personal injury and wrongful death cases that were resolved by the lawyers of Marsh Rickard & Bryan in 2016:
Roger Lucas and David Marsh settled a case on behalf of a mother who lost both of her daughters in a horrific car wreck that occurred this year in rural Tuscaloosa County. The girls were eleven and thirteen years old at the time of their deaths. The girls were rear seat passengers in a car riding on a rural stretch of U.S. Highway 82 when the car was rear-ended by another vehicle. The impact was so great the girls’ car flipped and rolled twice. The driver who hit them was estimated to be traveling at a speed more than 85 mph. The driver, who is a retired Challenger space shuttle astronaut, admitted to drinking before he got behind the wheel but refused to consent to an alcohol/drug test. He has been charged with two counts of reckless murder and awaits trial. At the time of this wreck, the driver was on probation for a DUI to which he had pled guilty after rear-ending another victim in California.
Jeff Rickard settled a case for a man who suffered serious and permanent injuries while hurt on the job in Bessemer. The heating and cooling technician was dispatched to repair an air conditioning unit at a fast food restaurant. While walking along the sidewalk in the back of the store, he tripped over two protruding bolts causing him to lose his balance and fall headfirst into an air conditioning unit. The suit claimed that both the property owner and the tenant failed to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition. Our client underwent complex three-level cervical surgery and multiple surgeries to his shoulder. He lives with pain daily and is under the care of a pain management physician. He cannot return to work.
A case that lasted ten long years finally settled. Trudy Roy was injured in 2006 when a motorcycle operated by a Homewood police officer collided with her while she was crossing the street. Rip Andrews filed the case but then had to win several appeals at the Supreme Court of Alabama just to get the case heard by a jury in a trial. In 2015, after the jury heard nearly two weeks of evidence about how Mrs. Roy got hurt while the police officer was providing an escort for a charity parade, the jury awarded a verdict in the amount of $4,000,000 in favor of the plaintiff. Unfortunately, by then, Mrs. Roy had died from unrelated causes. The case was continued by her son. There followed yet another appeal, and then this year, the case was ultimately resolved.
Attorney settled a case for the family of an immigrant who died while working on a crew of day laborers framing a house under construction in Baldwin County. On the day he died, the laborer was standing on the top plates of the wall framing, erecting the last few trusses. The trusses started to collapse like dominos and he was thrown to the ground where he suffered a fatal head injury. The collapse occurred because the temporary bracing that was required by the plans, specifications and city codes was not installed. Also our client was not provided with platforms to stand on or fall protection equipment as required by OSHA. Our client had worked in the flooring trade before this; but he had no experience working above ground. The suit was brought against the owner, developer, and general contractor, who were one and the same for the construction of all houses within this subdivision, and showed a total disregard for worker safety.
David Marsh reached a settlement on behalf of a young mother whose newborn child died. The suit was brought against the mother’s obstetrician and the hospital where labor and delivery occurred. The drug Pitocin was used to start labor. The suit claimed that the Pitocin was mismanaged and the doctor and nurses failed to recognize obvious signs that the baby was becoming compromised. Sadly, the baby was nonresponsive at birth. The baby did not receive adequate oxygen during the latter stages of labor and she suffered a catastrophic brain injury which caused her death. There was a dispute between the doctor and the nurses as to what the doctor was told about the fetal monitoring strips; the doctor maintained that if he had been correctly informed how the baby was doing, he would have immediately performed a life-saving c-section.
Roger Lucas reached a confidential settlement for the family of a man who died when he was slowed down by a truck on the shoulder of I-459N headed toward Trussville. Our client and his wife were parked well off the road and onto the shoulder of the highway; they were exchanging places in the car when the wreck occurred. Our client was knocked a significant distance down the shoulder of the highway by the impact. The truck’s black box showed the driver had not applied his brakes before hitting our client. After being struck, our client lay dying on the pavement; he was pronounced dead later at the hospital. The truck driver told the state trooper at the scene that he was looking down at the GPS app on his cell phone and lost control.
