Alabama Injury Attorneys Blog

Clifford Decker and David Gillingham were awarded $7.8 million after a Console Energy metal staircase collapsed on them in 2007. Decker, 58, and Gillingham, 51, were walking up the flight of stairs at a Consol-owned building when the metal staircase detached from the wall and collapsed.

Decker, who suffered a severely fractured left hip and leg, was awarded $5 million after the Gillingham suffered a permanent injury of a frozen right shoulder that has not improved after rotator cuff surgery. Gillingham, and his wife were awarded $2.8 million after the accident.

According to the personal injury attorney representing the Gillinghams, "the stairway was bolted to a wall with four bolts and did not hold when the two men stepped on to it." The personal injury attorneys for the plaintiffs honed in on whether Consol had adequately maintained and inspected the staircase over the four decades prior to its collapse.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs and was insulted by Consuls failure to accept responsibility for the stairwell.

Continue reading "Two Injured Workers Awarded $7.8 Million in Staircase Collapse" »

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has just announced another recall of drop-side baby cribs. The CPSC is recalling around 90,000 baby cribs manufactured by Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc. of Bassett, Virginia. The product recalled is the Bassettbaby Drop-Side Crib with external plastic hardware and does not include the non drop-side cribs.

According to the CPSC the Bassettbaby drop-side rail can malfunction, detach or fail creating a space where an infant or small child could get their head stuck and suffocate/ strangle the child. The child can also fall out of the crib. Incorrect assembly and age-related wear and tear on the crib create additional safety hazards for small children.

To date, the CPSC has received 18 reported incidents in which drop-side cribs malfunctioned or detached from the crib. However, no child injuries or child deaths have been reported. There has been one reported instance of a child becoming trapped between the mattress and the drop-side of the crib.

All of the recalled cribs are "wooden with a metal mattress support and have a drop-side with external plastic hardware and are sold in a variety of finishes. Bassettbaby drop-side cribs were sold at childrens stores and other nationwide retailers from January 2000 through August 2010 and manufactured in China, Croatia, Vietnam and Slovenia.

Bassettbaby and the CPSC recommend you stop using the baby crib immediately to prevent any child injuries from occurring. For additional information, contact Bassettbaby at 800-308-7485 or www.bassettbaby.com.

Continue reading "Entrapment and Baby Injuries Prompts Bassettbaby Crib Recall" »

The family of the 92-year-old Joseph Clint Offutt was awarded $42.75 million after his nursing home neglected him for nine days which lead to dehydration and intimately his death.

A wrongful death lawsuit was filled on behalf of Offutt by his family after his nursing home failed to provide him with proper care. Offutt entered the Madisonville nursing home on March 25, 2008 and was transferred to a regional medical center on April 3, 2008. Offutt later died on April 5, 2008 from lethal dehydration and malnutrition.

Offutt's family filed the nursing home neglect lawsuit in 2009 against the nursing home and its parent company, Sunbridge Healthcare Corp. The family alleged the nursing home staff neglected Offutt, and caused him to suffer bedsores, severe dehydration, malnutrition, infections and ultimately death.

Offutt was a World War II veteran and was still planting crops until a stroke weakened him at age 88. His wife of 58 years took care of him for eights months before placing him in a nursing home.

It took a Hopkins County jury three weeks to return a verdict in Offutt's favor. The jury awarded $1 million for pain and suffering and $1.75 million for his wife's loss and $40 million in punitive damages.

During the trial, lead counsel for the Offutt family produced documents citing the nursing home received a citation for failing to prevent bedsore in the case of a 92-year-old man, i.e. According to the personal injury attorney representing the Offutt Family, this was not the only citation the nursing home facility received.

The nursing home's administrator was quoted after the trail saying the "verdict is outrageous and totally inappropriate based on the facts presented in the case." Due to the size of the verdict, they will most likely appeal the verdict.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Neglect Lawsuit Awards Family $42.75 Million" »

The strangulation and death of a 22-month-old prompted The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to recall some 523,000 window shades nationwide. The child injury resulted after the 22-month-old was found strangled by the cord of a Roman shade distributed by Hanover Direct Inc. of Weehawken, N.J. The shades were manufactured in China and distributed through Hanover Direct stores, Domestications, The Company Store as well as Company Kids stores.

The CPSC announced the voluntary recall of all Roman Shades, Roller Blinds and Roll-up Blinds. According to the CPSC, the potential child injury hazard can occur with Roman Shades if the child places their neck between the exposed inner cord and the backside of the blind, or when the child pulls the cord and wraps it around their neck. With Roller Blinds, a child injury could occur if "the continuous loop bead chair/cord is not attached to the wall or the floor with the tension device provided and the child's neck become entangled in the free standing loop." Roller Blind injuries in child occur if the lifting loops slide off the blind and a child's neck becomes entangled on the now free-standing loop, or if a child places their neck between the loop and the blind material.

The only child injuries reported to the CPSC thus far was the strangulation report of the 22-month-old boy in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The boy was found hanging by his neck from the outer pull cords of a Roman Shade in May 2010. He was rescued by his father but later died in a hospital. In a similar situation occurred in March 2008 when a 2-year-old climbed up on a chest and became entangled in the inner cords of a Roman Shade. Luckily the child sustained no permanent injuries but the incident prompted the previous recall.

The Roman shades were manufactured January 1996 through October 2009. If you have small children and are using roman shades, roller blinds or roll-up blinds in your home, the CPSC recommend you stop using the shades immediately. For more information, contact the Window Covering Safety Council at 800-506-4636 or visit www.windowcoverings.org.

Continue reading "Child Strangulation Prompts Window Shade Recall" »

The family of Judge John Phillips has filed a lawsuit against an assisted living home in New York. According to the allegations made by the family of the late Judge Phillips, Prospect Park Residence held the judge prisoner and denied him mail and visitors. Judge Phillips lived in the Prospect Park nursing home for eight months until he died in 2008 at the age of 83. Friends and family of the late judge reported the nursing home look like a very nice place, but according to them it was a "death house."

The court papers filed last week cited the nursing as having misled Phillips' family when they initially placed him in the facility. Phillips was a diabetic and failed to receive proper medical care at the nursing home. He was not given diabetic meals or regular insulin shots, which ultimately caused his health to plummet. In addition, Phillips was denied visitors, prohibited from leaving the facility and not allowed to receive calls or mail.

Prospect Park Residence advertises they provide blood sugar monitoring and injections as part of their around the clock care. However when pressed for a comment, the Prospect Park Residence Executive Director, David Pomerantz, declined to talk.

Continue reading "Lawsuit Filed Against "Assisted Living" Death House" »

A Hickory Valley Baptist Church Bus Driver faces charges after he hit an eight year old child in a bus accident. William Ingram, a volunteer bus driver for the church, faces charges of failure to immediately report crash, allowing passengers to leave the bus while it was in motion, and driver license violation.

The bus accident occurred around 8:30 p.m. on October 20, 2010. However, no accident report was ever filled until the parents of the injured child called the police the following Thursday morning. According to Ingram, he was taking children home to an apartment complex on Hickory Valley Road when the accident occurred. He stopped in front on the wrong apartment complex when his wife asked him to pull forward to the next building. During that time, the bus door was open and the eight year old either jumped from the bus or fell off the bus and was run over as the bus pulled forward.

Ingram immediately stopped and called the parents of the injured child but failed to call 911 or police response. The parents of the child then rushed him to nearby Childrens Hospital.

The child reportedly suffered serious injuries from the bus accident, but is now home recovering in stable condition.

Ingram's scheduled for trial on November 22, 2010.

Continue reading "Bus Driver Hits 8-Year Old Child" »

A Chicago firefighter who was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident in 2004 has reached a settlement agreement with Harley Davidson. Jim McMahon. 53, is paralyzed from the chest down because of a defect in his motorcycle. According to the personal injury lawyer representing McMahon, the Harley Davidson began to wobble due to the defective equipment and eventually crashed on an Arizona Highway causing his paralysis.

McMahon now requires a wheelchair and around-the-clock care. The lawyers and McMahon reached an undisclosed settlement on Thursday, November 4, 2010.

A Lee County jury awarded Allen Walker $1.25 million in damages for injuries he sustained in an automobile accident. Walker was injured in an automobile accident on September 14, 2005. Walker and his wife were traveling on Del Prado Boulevard when a truck driven by David Humphrey swerved over and hit them. Walker, a bee farmer and owner of Walker Farms in North Fort Myers, sued Humphrey and his employer, Eagle Engineering for permanent injuries sustained in their auto accident.

Two men were awarded $12.7 million in an industrial accident that occurred over seven years ago in Washington County. The explosion severely burned Rudolph Andrew Paci, 45, and James Clyde Sutch, 44, while they were overseeing melting operations for Ametek Specialty Metal Products.

The two victims of the explosion accident and their wives sued the manufacturer of a specialty metals furnace, Inductotherm Group, after it exploded on September 2, 2003. Paci was working closet to the furnace at the time of the accident and sustained burns over 65 percent of his body with 95 percent of his body remaining disfigured. Sutch endured burns over 22 percent of his body and has 33 percent of his body permanently disfigured.

In a statement by the personal injury attorney representing the two burn victims, the "3,000-degree molten metal inside the furnace breached the liner and came into contact with a copper coil that was filled with and ethylene-glycol/water mixture." The mixture of the molten metal and the ethylene-glycol was like a volcano.

Both of the burn victims were transported to nearby West Penn Hospital. Paci, who suffered the most severe burns, remained in a coma for two months. His treating physician testified during trial that is "was a miracle" he survived. Paci, 45, is unable to work and most likely will never again. Due to the severity of his burns, his oil and sweat gland were destroyed, making it impossible for his body to regulate his temperature.

It took the jurors nine days to return a $12.7 million award to the two families: Paci was awarded $9.6 million and his wife, Jennifer, was awarded $80,000; Sutch was awarded $3.02 million and his wife, Michelle, was awarded $50,000.

The jury found the manufacturer of the furnace, Inductotherm Group of Rancocas, N.J., 50 percent responsible for the explosion accident and therefore will have to pay half of the verdict. The jury also found the manufacturers of the furnace lining-Allied Minerals and Vesuvius USA Corp-each liable for 25 percent of the verdict.

Continue reading "Burn Victims Awarded $12.7 Million " »