On May 23, 2024, a Limestone County jury returned a verdict in the amount of $15 million dollars in favor of Gloria Owen, the widow of Robert Owen, against Huntsville Emergency Medical Services, Inc. (“HEMSI”) and two of its employees, Jacob Steele and Calvin Hui. The trial, which lasted 10 days, was tried by Marsh | Rickard | Bryan, LLC attorneys David Marsh, Rip Andrews, Ben Ford, and Ty Brown. Local Athens attorney, John Totten, was also of great help throughout the case and trial.
Before this verdict, the highest verdict in Limestone County for any injury or death case was less than $1 million dollars.
Robert Owen was a stable cardiac patient who needed a non-emergent ambulance transport from Huntsville Hospital to UAB Hospital in April 2019 for evaluation of cardiac procedures. During the transport, Steele (the driver) can be seen on video passing out while driving the HEMSI ambulance, swerving, and leaving his lane of travel numerous times. After missing the turn to Birmingham and driving in the wrong direction, Hui (the paramedic) and Steele swapped places, leaving Robert without necessary and required paramedic care for the duration of the transport in violation of internal policies and procedures, as well as State regulations and EMS protocols. HEMSI supervisors were contacted during the transport and allowed it to continue. After swapping places, Steele put earbuds in his ears, turned on music, propped his feet up on the back of Robert’s stretcher, and passed out. He remained in that state for the duration of the transport.
Robert began having increased chest pain radiating into his upper arm, shoulder and jaw. He called out for help but his yells went unheard because Steele remained unconscious with earbuds in his ears. Hui eventually heard him and stopped the ambulance for a second time on the side of an interstate, checked on Robert for less than 2 minutes, never attempted to wake Steele who remained unconscious, and continued driving the remaining 40 minutes to UAB Hospital, all the while Robert was not receiving any care or monitoring.
Robert died at UAB hospital 11 days later. Whether Robert had a heart attack in the ambulance and whether the defendants conduct contributed to his death was hotly disputed at trial, with multiple medical experts testifying on that issue.
Marsh | Rickard | Bryan, LLC attorneys learned during the case and proved at trial that Steele had a history of drug abuse and a significant history of misconduct and disciplinary issues at HEMSI prior to Robert’s transport. HEMSI had fired Steele and then inexplicably rehired him after a similar incident occurred with a different patient less than two months prior. Then, on the very morning of Robert’s transport, a coworker paramedic reported to HEMSI management that Steele appeared impaired. Despite this report mere hours before Robert’s transport, HEMSI management allowed Steele to continue driving ambulances that day and never drug tested him. HEMSI hid this information from the State EMS office despite mandatory reporting requirements under State regulations. Substantial evidence was presented that Steele was under the influence of substances during Robert’s transport. HEMSI was also found to have deleted numerous videos of Steele’s prior conduct and covered up evidence relating to Robert’s transport.
The Defendants’ primary defense at trial was that Robert, who was 81-years-old, had an extensive cardiac history and nothing that occurred in the ambulance contributed to his death.
Robert and Gloria were one month shy of their 58th wedding anniversary when he died.
During the pendency of the case, the Defendants appealed a ruling by the trial court which held that Gloria, through her attorneys, was entitled to discovery of Steele’s prior incidents. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled unanimously for Gloria. MARSH | RICKARD | BRYAN attorney Richard Riley primarily handled the appeal.
David Marsh said, “This company failed at every level, from the very top down, and had multiple opportunities to prevent this from happening. It consciously disregarded numerous red flags for months and allowed a person with a documented history of drug abuse to continue operating ambulances on Alabama’s public roadways, violating numerous internal policies and procedures, State regulations, and EMS protocols in the process. Robert Owen—a military veteran who served in Europe, and a pilot and homebuilder—was the unfortunate patient who ended up in this ambulance that day.”
Ben added, “Despite the fact that HEMSI’s entire business is based on providing care to people who are sick or injured, they came to court and callously argued that Robert was going to die anyway. The jury sent a clear message that this kind of conduct, and that kind of attitude, will not be tolerated. Gloria and the rest of her family are true salt of the earth people. We are so proud to have represented them and honor Robert in the process. Their goal all along was to not only hold these defendants accountable for their conduct, but hopefully deter them and others from ever doing anything like this in the future, to save lives.”
Rip said, “They chose to try this case. Because it was the justice they were after. It’s hard to explain, but it’s that validation that they are after, to hear their community members say, ‘Your Dad, your husband, was done wrong. And we see you and we hear you and we want to do something about that.’”
Robert and Gloria Owen were previously represented by David Marsh when he was a young lawyer in the 1980s. Their health insurance company wrongly refused to pay for critical medical treatment needed for their daughter, Jenny (now a registered nurse), who had been diagnosed with advanced childhood cancer. Through David’s representation, the insurer eventually paid for the treatments and, miraculously, against all odds, Jenny survived. Years later, when this happened to Robert, a friend of Jenny’s (now an adult) recommended she contact Ben Ford at Marsh | Rickard | Bryan, LLC. Soon after, Jenny, Gloria, and David reconnected, and Jenny was able to fight for her dad like he fought for her so many years ago.
It is worth noting that this verdict marks the 50th verdict in excess of $1 million dollars in David Marsh’s career.
Have you or a loved one been a victim of negligent care? Contact us at 205.927.0222 to find out how we can help.
