2018 found our lawyers busy in the courtroom and on the road working on cases That stem from trucking accidents, hospital falls and on-the-job injuries. Here’s a round-up of some of the cases we resolved for clients this year:
Attorney and David Marsh settled a case for the widow and children of a sanitation worker who died while on the job in Cullman County. The 35-year-old was working as a “thrower” on the rear of a huge white garbage truck operating along Highway 231 just south of Arab, Alabama, when the garbage truck was struck from behind. The driver of a contractor’s truck barreled into the rear of the garbage truck at 55 mph in the middle of broad daylight. The collision was so violent it knocked the huge garbage truck 33 feet forward and threw our client to the pavement where he suffered fatal blows to the chest and head. The wreck was captured on video surveillance tape at a nearby gas station located by one of our investigators.
Derrick Mills and Ty Brown resolved a case after a young woman died only twelve hours after giving birth by Caesarean section. An autopsy showed the young mother died from internal bleeding and blood loss. The case centered on the quality of medical care the young woman received from her nurses and obstetricians. There were questions about whether the nurses followed the doctor’s orders to get lab work done, and also to give blood products to the patient. There were also questions about whether the doctors were aggressive enough when the young woman’s condition worsened. Derrick was prepared to prove at trial that the young woman’s death was preventable. The woman’s child, a baby boy, was healthy and survived.
Jeff Rickard settled a case on behalf of a hard-working young man who was seriously injured on-the-job. At 23 years old, our client has already had two serious back surgeries as a result of the fall and suffers from persistent back pain. He will not be able to return to heavy manual labor. Our client was dismantling scaffolds for use at an electric generating plant when he fell approximately 20 feet through an unguarded and unmarked opening in the floor. The floor opening was created by a sub-contractor on the project in violation of numerous industry safety standards including OSHA.
Rip Andrews and Ben Ford resolved a lawsuit filed on behalf of two Good Samaritans who stopped at the scene of a wreck in Georgia to render aid. The couple was on the shoulder of Interstate 85 when a tractor-trailer rig crashed into a disabled van in the right hand lane. The force of the impact caused the van to strike our clients. Both suffered serious orthopedic injuries.
J.D. Marsh, David and Ty settled a case for an elderly woman who was injured at a rehabilitation facility in southeast Alabama. Following a total knee replacement, our client entered the rehab center and was assessed as being a high risk for falls. The physician’s order admitting her required that fall precautions be placed to prevent our client from falling. While our client was feeling weak, disoriented and confused, she climbed out of her hospital bed and fell. No fall precautions or safety measures were in place at the time of client’s fall. to make matters worse, her broken ankle and broken arm were only discovered twelve hours later.
Mike and David settled a case for the family of a man who was killed when he was participating in a fishing tournament on the Tennessee River. While traveling to a fishing hole on a sunny July afternoon, the boat our client was riding in ran into a downed cable line located just above the water. Our client was partially decapitated and died immediately. We maintained that neither our client nor his fishing buddy was ever warned of the downed line. The downed line fell into the water after a pulling cable failed and was under repair at the time our client was killed.
J.D. settled a case for a cattle farmer in south Alabama who lost part of his herd to toxic feed. Both the cattle and the feed were subject to testing by the Alabama Department of Agriculture. The testing confirmed the feed contained toxic levels of non-protein nitrogen and that the cattle had died from non-protein nitrogen poisoning. The case was against the manufacturer that mixed the tubs of feed. The cattle farmer’s damages were significant.
Rip resolved a lawsuit against a tire dealer and at-fault-driver for the family of a woman who died tragically through no fault of her own. Our client was killed while driving in a rainstorm on her way to work in north Alabama. Her car was struck head-on by another driver whose car fish-tailed out of control and came across the center line. The driver who lost control of her car did so because her two rear-tires were completely bald. Just two weeks prior to this, the other driver had tried to buy four new tires, but the tire dealer did other work on her car, pricing her out of the four new tires and then violated the critical “best to rear” rule for new tires leaving the bald two tires on the rear axle.
