The Pennsylvania personal injury attorney of the family of a three-day-old girl who suffered a critical brain injury in an 2003 ambulance crash have reached a $5.3 million settlement for her personal injuries with various involved parties. A Venango County judge must now approve this settlement before the family can be awarded this money, according to a story in The Derrick.

The child was born with a hole between the ventricles of her heart, and was traveling in an ambulance to a Pittsburgh hospital for treatment with her mother when she was three-days-old. On the way to the hospital, the ambulance was hit by a drunk driver, John E. Ridge, who died at the scene of the accident. The child, who was secured in an incubator made by International Biomedical Inc. of Austin, Texas, suffered various personal injuries in this drunken driving accident.

According to the family’s personal injury attorney Robert Varsek, the accident catapulted the child out of the incubator, causing her to suffer a traumatic brain injury which will require her to have 24-hour care for the rest of her life. The family’s personal injury complaint detailed that the infant also suffered injuries to her bones, cartilage, ligaments, muscles, nerves and body tissue; all of which contributed to her prolonged pain and suffering, disfigurement, mental anxiety and emotional stress. Varsek added that she will never go to school or be gainfully employed because of the injuries.

According to the terms of the yet-to-be-approved settlement, IBI would pay $4,632,000. $2.332 million of this personal injury settlement would be paid in cash while the remaining $2.3 million would go to the purchase of two annuities paying $13,000 per month for the rest of the child’s life. Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh would be required to pay $500,000 in cash while Bridge’s estate would have to pay $25,000 in cash. As part of its Pennsylvania car accident settlement, Guardian Angel Ambulance Service Inc. would be required to pay $150,000 in cash.

Judge Oliver J. Lobaugh said yesterday that he will review the agreement before signing his name to it. If approved, Varsek believes this personal injury settlement to be the largest ever in Venango County.

The town of Pembroke has reached a $200,000 North Carolina car accident settlement with the family of an 18-year-old man who was killed in a wreck following a high speed chase some five years ago. The family of Christopher Harris had filed a personal injury lawsuit against the town of Pembroke after their son was killed in what they described as a reckless police pursuit following a minor fender bender in December 2001.

According to a story in The Robesonian Online, Christopher Harris was riding in a 1996 Mazda 626 with Gabriel McMillan, who also died in the wreck, and two other passengers, Andre Cummings and Ricky Locklear. The family’s North Carolina personal injury attorney, Mike Rowland, said that the high-speed pursuit began shortly after the car nudged a PT Cruiser in a car wash parking lot. The Harris family said that the boys agreed to pay for the damages to the other car, which allegedly amounted to about $25 worth of paint damage.

At that moment, a patrol car driven by Chad Locklear entered the lot and told everyone to leave. One of the passengers in the PT Cruiser then told Chad Locklear and fellow police officer Dewayne Hunt what happened, and the officers jumped in their car. After catching up to the Mazda, the officers flashed their blue lights and sirens, and a 16-mile chase ensued with speeds reaching more than 100 mph. According to NC personal injury attorney Rowland, the officers identified the Mazda’s license plate and one of the passengers within the first two minutes of the chase and yet recklessly proceeded. The Mazda eventually lost control on a sharp curve and wrecked, leading to the deaths of Harris and McMillan.

According to the story, the Highway Patrol never identified the driver of the vehicle. The Harris family believes Cummings was driving and did not want to stop because of warrants issued on him. Cummings said McMillan was the driver, while passenger Ricky Locklear added that he wanted to stop because he was no probation.

Regardless of this debate, the Harris family alleged in their North Carolina wrongful death lawsuit that the officers had no business chasing the Mazda for a fender bender. According to the Pembroke police chase policy, officers are allowed a three-mile pursuit following a misdemeanor. While the officers were cleared of any wrongdoing by the Highway Patrol, they were later suspended by former police Chief Travis Bryant for violating the three-mile rule and not using their best judgment when it was a clear misdemeanor.

With this in mind, the town of Pembroke and the Harris family reached this recent $200,000 North Carolina car accident settlement out-of-court. The family of McMillan, the other deceased passenger, reached a $75,000 Pembroke car accident settlement last year.

A U.S. District Court in Louisville recently pitted blame for a family’s personal injuries on a U-Haul tow dolly carrying their truck during a 2002 move from Indianapolis to Florida and awarded a $10.4 million personal injury verdict. Specifically, Christopher and Corry Burke were moving with their infant son Ryan four-and-a half years ago when the car they were towing on their Ford Explorer began to fishtail. The cars then jackknifed into each other and bounced into and over a guardrail. All three passengers suffered serious injuries, including Corry, who is now a paraplegic after sustaining crushing spinal injuries.

The couple claimed in their personal injury lawsuit that the towing combination was unsafe in part because of a U-Haul rental policy allowing the vehicle doing the towing to carry too much weight, according to the story in The Courier Journal. According to the personal injury claim, the 650-pound U-Haul dolly attached to the Ford Explorer was towing the couple’s Ford Contour. The  Burke’s personal injury attorneys also said that these dollies are especially unsafe with sport utility vehicles because of SUV’s “high center of gravity and narrow wheel base.” The couple also tried to introduce testimony from 11 other people injured in similar tow dolly accidents, but a judge rejected this attempt.

After a two week trial and two day deliberation, the nine-person jury found that U-Haul did not demonstrate ordinary care in the design and distribution of the tow dolly, which was found “defective and unreasonably dangerous.” 29-year-old Corry Burke was awarded $9.4 million for pain and suffering, loss of earning capacity, and past and future medical expenses. Her husband, 54-year-old Christopher, received $1.6 million. These amounts were reduced 10% because the jury found the Burkes’ somewhat negligent because Corry did not have her seat belt on.

According to the story, Christopher Burke declined comment on the outcome of the case but did describe the last 4½ years as being full of “pain, struggle and horror.” U-Haul defended the safety and design of the tow dolly, and said that it will appeal the verdict. Earlier this month, an Ohio couple was awarded $2.6 million in a Tennessee car accident settlement involving a U-Haul trailer which swerved and flipped nearly five years ago.

The city of Pawtucket and its insurer recently agreed to a $700,000 car accident settlement for a woman’s severe personal injuries sustained during a 2002 incident in which an in-pursuit police cruiser struck her van. Carmen Ducharme suffered severe internal injuries in the early morning hours of January 1, 2002 when a police cruiser driven by Officer Ernest Pendergrass hit her van from behind while chasing a stolen car. The rear impact pushed Ducharme’s van into a utility pole, and she was immediately taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where she was listed in critical condition and had two surgeries in two days.

According to police investigators and a Pawtucket Times story at the time of the incident, Pendergrass could not see Ducharme’s van, which was in front of a bar, because of a railroad trestle crest in the road about 75 feet south of the bar. A Cumberland police captain also said at the time that Pendergrass saw the van after coming over the crest but could not stop in time. Ducharme’s personal injury attorney filed a lawsuit in 2004 against Pendergrass and the city of Pawtucket.

According to the personal injury lawsuit, Ducharme was driving her car diligently when she was hit by Pendergrass, who was operating the police cruiser in a “grossly negligent and/or reckless manner.” The complaint also asserted that the city of Pawtucket failed to properly train its officers in regards to the appropriate actions needed during a high-speed pursuit and did not enforce an appropriate policy for vehicular pursuits as required by Rhode Island State Law. Ducharme said the accident left her with severe body, nerve and nervous system injuries which caused extreme pain and mental suffering, high medical bills, loss of earnings and more.

A Pawtucket Times story said this Rhode Island car accident settlement was one of the largest payouts in the city in years. While the story added that there is usually a $100,000 state statute on such claims, Ducharme sued Pendergrass for “wanton negligence,” language which is not usually covered in the local police contract. With that said, the city of Pawtucket paid $300,000 of its settlement while its insurance company picked up the remaining $400,000.

Two former United States’ military personnel were recently awarded a $13.55 million personal injury settlement by a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in their lawsuit against Boeing and others over a helicopter accident which left both men with spinal injuries. Chief Warrant Officers Juan Beltran and Ron Carns were serving the United States in Tikrit, Iraq when they went on a maintenance flight of an Apache Longbow, the Army’s primary attack helicopter, in April 2003. Carns piloted the helicopter at 800 feet when a gear box in the copter failed, causing the loss of tail rotor control and the Apache Longbow to spin. The helicopter quickly nosedived 800 feet and crashed, leaving both men with life-changing personal injuries.

According to the story on Rotorhub.com, Beltran’s spinal cord was compromised, which rendered him a quadriplegic. The 31-year-old Beltran also suffered a serious head injury and finger amputation. Carns’ spinal cord was not compromised, but his movement is still restricted. Carns has a metal device in his neck and back as a result of the accident. Since the Army is immune from suit, the men filed a personal injury lawsuit against the helicopter designer, Boeing, and other part manufacturers, who all claimed that they also had “government contractor immunity” from such legal action.

The personal injury attorneys of the two injured military personnel successfully avoided dismissal on this “government contractor immunity defense,” and a final settlement was reached shortly before going to trial. Beltran was awarded $11,247,500 for his personal injuries while Carns got $2,302,500. According to the story, this is the largest personal injury settlement for military personnel injured in the Iraq War.

Specifically, the helicopter crashed due to excessive vibration caused by inadequate lubrication in the gearbox and the failure of an accelerometer, a device which did not to warn the pilots of this problem in the gearbox. The accelerometer was manufactured by Chadwick Helmuth, Torance CA and Honeywell, the helicopter by Boeing, the bearings by MPB Corp., and the gearbox by Aircraft Gear Corp. All of these defendants contributed to the personal injury settlement.

An Ohio woman who claimed that the hormone replacement drug Prempro caused her breast cancer was awarded $3 million after a Philadelphia jury determined earlier this week that the drug’s manufacturer, Wyeth, was liable for her personal injuries. The personal injury attorneys of 67-year-old Jennie Nelson claimed that Wyeth knew for decades that the drug caused breast cancer, did not warn patients and rather minimized such risks. Nelson, a resident of Dayton, took Prempro for five years to treat symptoms of menopause and was later diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, according to an Associated Press story. The Philadelphia jury specifically found that Wyeth failed to provide an adequate warning to Nelson about these side effects.

Wyeth has been hit with more than 5,000 product liability lawsuits over its hormone replacement drugs Prempro and Premarin. Earlier this month, an Arkansas woman was awarded the first major plaintiff victory in these Prempro product liability suits when she was given $1.5 million. Nelson had originally been awarded an $1.5 million personal injury verdict last fall, but the judge declared a mistrial. Wyeth said that it respectfully disagrees with Tuesday’s jury finding that Prempro caused Nelson’s cancer and plans to appeal.

Wyeth has now won and lost two of these product liability cases, according to the Associated Press story. A recent Bloomberg.com story estimates that six million women took Prempro to treat menopause prior to a 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study which revealed such risks. Both Prempro and Premarin are still on the market and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Last week, the California Supreme Court struck down a tobacco industry claim that people can only file personal injury lawsuits within two years of becoming addicted; a decision which many think will spark a bundle of new product liability claims against tobacco companies like Philip Morris. Specifically, the Court found that the two-year statute-of-limitations for filing a claim against the tobacco company for personal injuries begins upon being diagnosed with the disease caused by the cigarettes and not when becoming addicted to them.

The California Supreme Court was deciding a 9^th Circuit Court case in which Leslie Grisham alleged that she became hooked on cigarettes in the 1960s but was recently diagnosed with emphysema and periodontal disease. Tobacco industry attorney Daniel Collins cited a 2002 case, Soliman v. Philip Morris, as evidence that Grisham should have filed her lawsuit years ago when first learning that she was addicted. However, the California Supreme Court disagreed and said that Grishalm and fellow plaintiff and emphysema sufferer Maria Cannata could proceed with product liability lawsuits against the tobacco industry.

The personal injury attorneys of these women argued that the tobacco industry’s argument was not logical, especially the notion of filing a lawsuit saying that you are now addicted on tobacco and may get a disease in the future. California Supreme Court justices also refuted a tobacco industry argument that smokers should not be able to claim they were unaware of the risks of smoking, and said that there is no presumption that smokers are aware of the addictiveness or health hazards of smoking. According to Justice Carlos Moreno, Grishalm’s “appreciable physical harm” did not manifest until she contracted her ailment. Collins declined comment on the ruling beyond a Philip Morris written statement, while others applauded this decision as bringing tobacco litigation back to California, according to the story on the Law.com website.

The city of Bayonne officially agreed to a $405,000 New Jersey car accident settlement yesterday for a man’s personal injuries in a 2003 crash caused in large part by an unsafe Jersey City highway. According to a story in The Jersey Journal, New Jersey City Health Director Brigid Breivogel was driving south on Route 440 on September 9, 2003 when her 2001 Saturn collided with a 1998 Lincoln driven by Elliot Berberena, who had the green light at the time and suffered various physical injuries. Breivogel said that she could not see the green light because a tractor was in front of her, and a private engineer later agreed that Route 440 is unsafe when cars and tractors use it at the same time.

Berbenera claimed that he sustained an injured left shoulder and lower back as a result of the car accident, and filed a negligence suit against the city and Breivogel. The trial was scheduled to begin on February 5th, but the New Jersey auto accident settlement was reached on January 31st. According to the story, Bayonne will pay the New Jersey car accident settlement in three installments of $135,000 to Berbenera, beginning on March 14th of this year and ending on July 15, 2008. 

The private engineer, Leonard Goldblatt, offered two solutions to prevent similar car accidents from occurring in the future. He suggested that tractors no longer be allowed on Route 440 or that the highway’s traffic control devices be modified in order for tall tractor trailers to safely use it.

Train accidents have been making many headlines recently, and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has responded with a bill which would aim to reduce a major culprit of these accidents and subsequent passenger personal injuries and fatalities: fatigue. According to a story in the Virginian Pilot, the FRA wants to replace 100-year-old laws addressing the work time of train crews’ with more modern and scientifically-based regulations. A reauthorization bill submitted to Congress last week would specifically regulate the amount of time train crews get to rest between shifts. 

According to the story, the railroad industry’s current hours of service laws say that workers can work 12 hours straight as long as they get 10 hours of rest. However, the law only mandates eight hours of rest when train employees work one minute less than 12 hours. FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman said that train employees need schedules which promote safety and rest. While labor unions are happy that the government is addressing fatigue related issues, they are also concerned that repealing the current laws would leave workers without guaranteed rest and work limits.

Fatigue has been listed as the probable cause of 16 major train accidents, some of which involved fatalities, during the last 23 years, according to a National Transportation Safety Board statistic in the story. The reauthorization bill is currently before congressional committee and would carry through 2011 if passed this year. Visit The Injury Blog for more specifics on this reauthorization bill and the latest developments as they happen.

Instead of going to trial, San Antonio spent $1.5 million to settle more than 30 personal injury lawsuits against the city in 2006, according to a story on MySanAntonio.com. Of the 33 San Antonio personal injury lawsuits filed last year, an investigation by television station KENS 5 found that 17 of those suits involved the San Antonio Police Department. These subsequent San Antonio personal injury settlements involving the SAPD cost the city nearly $700,000.

One of these cases involved a $155,000 San Antonio car accident settlement awarded to Tony Jew, whose 27-year-old son T.J. died nearly two years ago in a collision with a police car. According to the story, similar-sized cities were hit with personal injury lawsuits involving their respective police departments. Specifically, the story stated that more than $1 million was spent in 41 Phoenix personal injury settlements; 14 of those cases involved the Phoenix Police Department. Dallas personal injury settlements for 23 lawsuits, six against the police, cost nearly $115,000.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said in the story that the higher numbers of incidents involving police officers are a result of having 467 cars on patrol 24/7. McManus added that city police officers will drive more than 24 million miles and average one minor San Antonio car accident per day in 2007. Besides the police-related settlements, other interesting cases in 2006 included:

• a $232,000 San Antonio car accident settlement for a couple’s personal injuries sustained during a crash caused by a city Parks and Recreation Department truck which did not yield the right of way; &

• an $100,000 personal injury settlement for a man’s San Antonio slip and fall injuries at a municipal golf course.

The severity of gap-related New York train accidents has been detailed here in the past, and an incident last week was just another example of the concern with the gaps between loading platforms and Long Island Rail Road trains. A woman boarding a train after attending a Rod Stewart concert luckily avoided potentially fatal personal injuries when getting stuck in a gap right before a train departed. This incident occurred just hours after a Senate hearing grilled LIRR and its parent company, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, on both company’s lack of action in preventing gap train accidents which had been occurring for more than 30 years. Just last summer, a Minnesota teen was killed in a train accident in which she fell into a gap and was hit by an oncoming train.

The latest gap train accident occurred at New York’s Penn Station. 47-year-old Lisa Ehrlich and her husband Richard had just attended the concert at Madison Square Garden when they went to board a train. Lisa Ehrlich said in a Newsday story that she went to step on the train with her left foot. While saying that she thought she stepped wide enough to get on the train, Ehrlich added that before she knew it, her hand was touching the bottom of the train floor and her left leg was in the gap. Ehrlich admitted that she thought she was “done.” Luckily, her husband, who was already on the train, came to her rescue before the train began to move.

Mrs. Ehrlich said that she was confused immediately after the incident, but did complain in the story that LIRR train conductors did not know how to handle the situation. According to a LIRR spokeswoman quoted in the story, the conductors handled the situation correctly by offering her medical attention and giving her an accident report to fill out. Ehrlich said that she declined medical attention on the scene but did suffer bruises on her left shin and hip. It is unknown whether Mrs. Ehrlich will take any legal action in the future.

Eleven women from states throughout the U.S. filed a defective drugs lawsuit last week in a Los Angeles Court against Johnson & Johnson and two other companies who made, marketed and distributed the prescribed Ortho Evra birth control patch. Specifically, these women claim that the defendants waited four years after this product’s release to disclose some serious side effects of using Ortho Evra, including blood clots and strokes. All eleven women, ranging from ages 19 to 42, experienced blood clots after using Ortho Evra. Six of the women suffered a pulmonary embolism, while one woman experienced a stroke. The eleven women claiming personal injuries from this product are from California, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, New York, Georgia and Indiana.

The personal injury attorneys of the women claim that the defendants have described Ortho Evra side effects for years as merely including minor symptoms like nausea, headaches and a skin reaction where the patch is placed. They further allege that the defendants downplayed the risks of Ortho Evra, especially the assertion that the product delivers nearly 60 percent more estrogen than oral birth control tablets and consequently increases the risk factors of blood clots and strokes.

More than 4 million women have used Ortho Evra since it became commercially available in 2002. According to the personal injury lawsuit, Ortho Evra is one of the most commonly prescribed birth control patches today and the first and only one marketed as the once-a-week patch. Like oral birth control pills, Ortho Evra prevents pregnancies by preventing ovulation, thickening cervical mucus and altering the endometrium to reduce the likelihood of implantation.

After her mother was killed four year ago when a speeding, off-duty Baton Rouge Police officer crashed into their car, a 11-year-old Louisiana girl was awarded a $1.6 million car accident settlement earlier this week. Jonqualya Benton was sitting in the back seat of her mother Melissa Benton’s Nissan Sentra in February 2003 when a speeding police cruiser driven by off-duty officer Paul Rhea broadsided the vehicle. Seven-year old Jonqualya was left with personal injuries which included a fractured vertebra while an accompanying friend of the deceased Melissa, Jimmy Thomas, suffered a broken leg and separated shoulder in the crash, according to a story on the Louisiana television station WBRZ website.

After seven hours of deliberation, a Louisiana jury found Rhea 20% liable for the accident, and a Scenic Chevron and its insurance company 80% liable because of posted signs which obstructed Melissa Benton’s view of oncoming traffic and consequently violated a city-parish ordinance. Specifically, the jury found that signs on the Chevron property prohibited Melissa Benton from seeing the speeding Rhea, who was traveling between 70 and 88 mph in a 45 mph zone, as she tried to get across the Scenic Highway.

The insurance company’s attorney, Dave Kimmel, had argued that Rhea was 100% liable for the accident and expressed his disappointment with the decision. The Louisiana personal injury attorney of Jonqualya Benton said that he thought the jury came to its verdict finding the Scenic Chevron more liable because Rhea had a “momentary lapse” in judgment.

The jury verdict form lists this Louisiana car accident settlement as $2 million. However, since Jonqualya Benton settled with the city-parish and Rhea for $325,00 before the start of the trial, she is entitled to 80% of the jury verdict. Jimmy Thomas and his son were also awarded $800,000 by the jury. Rhea is still on the police force.

After years of litigation, a New York mother and daughter were recently awarded a combined $975,000 car accident settlement for personal injuries they sustained six years ago when a stolen truck slammed into their van.

Lisa Yeager and her 12-year-old daughter Chelsea were driving to visit a sick relative at a Brooklyn hospital in June 2001 when a speeding, stolen pickup truck being chased by its owner in another truck ran a red light and broadsided their van. According to the story in the Staten Island Advance, Mrs. Yeager entered an intersection after a red light turned green when Robert Thompson slammed into her with a pickup truck from Power House Construction Inc. Thompson had stolen the truck less than a mile before at a construction site, and was being chased by Samuel Benitez, the President of the construction company.

In addition to sustaining serious back injuries, Mrs. Yeager suffered hip injuries requiring surgery and was hospitalized for four days. Chelsea Yeager suffered a lacerate spleen and concussion, and was in the hospital for 30 days. The family later filed a personal injury lawsuit against Thompson, Benitez and Power House. Benitez denied liability and stated that the pickup truck was stolen.

However, the family’s personal injury attorneys successfully showed that Benitez had left the keys in the stolen truck while it was parked on a public street, and then argued that Thompson was speeding and driving recklessly because Benitez was chasing him. The case was later settled, with Chelsea Yeager receiving $575,000 and her mother $400,000 in the New York car accident settlement.

An interesting article on CNN.com last week detailed how insurance companies like to play hardball with personal injury victims during minor car crash claims and further reveals the importance of having an experienced personal injury attorney on your side to stand up for your rights. CNN conducted an 18-month investigation into minor-impact soft-tissue injury crashes, or instances in which there is little damage to the vehicle and sustained personal injuries are not easily seen by the naked eye or even X-rays, and revealed some disturbing details about insurance companies.

Specifically, the CNN investigation detailed how Allstate and State Farm worked with consulting giant McKinsey & Co. in the mid-1990s and determined that soft-tissue injuries would be a great avenue for profits. According to a former Allstate and State Farm employee in the story, both companies developed a strategy focusing on three D’s – denying a soft-tissue injury claim, delaying settlement of the claim and defending against the claim in court.

Another former Allstate employer detailed in the CNN story how the company encouraged claims agents to get rid of claims quickly by offering victims as little as $50. If a victim didn’t accept this take-it-or-leave-it offer, these insurance companies were more than happy to use their massive resources to drag out cases in court. The story also detailed how these insurance companies stressed the importance of dragging out personal injury lawsuits to the point where they would become too time-consuming, frustrating and fruitless for personal injury attorneys and victims. According to the story, insurance companies have made billions off similar strategies while many plaintiffs have been left with little if anything at all.

Both Allstate and State Farm declined interviews for the story. A State Farm spokesman did send CNN an email saying that the company did work with McKinsey to improve claims handling but stopped using the program in 1999. This story is a good example of the true colors of insurance companies and further demonstrates why insurance companies are not your friends during personal injury cases.