Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

A Dallas Cowboys scouting assistant who was left paralyzed and a special-teams coach whose neck was broken in the May 2 collapse of the team’s practice facility in Irving filed separate lawsuits against the Pennsylvania-based company that built the structure.

The lawsuits, which also name an engineer and five other companies involved in construction and maintenance of the facility, contend that structural problems and code violations were kept from the team for years before the tentlike structure collapsed in gusting winds.

Rich Behm, who was paralyzed from the waist down, and coach Joe DeCamillis are seeking an undisclosed amount for their pain and suffering and for punitive damages.

Continue reading "Dallas Cowboys Staffers File Lawsuits Over Sport Facility Collapse" »

On June 26, 2007, at about 5:30 p.m., plaintiff Brian Moore, 19, a college student, hit a tree after he lost control of his sedan heading east on Peach Road in Fairfield County, South Carolina.

Moore alleged that he saw a clump of mud near the road's shoulder and tried to avoid it, but he couldn't, causing him to spin out of control and force him off the road. He was able to return to the road but overcorrected the vehicle which then yawed (when the vehicle's wheels are turned but the vehicle is also sliding sideways) 180 degrees and swerved through the oncoming lane and crashed into a tree with the passenger rear corner panel. Moore was paralyzed in the crash.

The road was being widened--2-foot paved shoulders were being added--and resurfaced by Boggs Paving Inc. under a contract with the state Department of Transportation. Boggs was putting down dirt that day to dress the shoulders, but the work was interrupted by a summer thunderstorm. Moore claimed that the road was contaminated with mud that had washed from the shoulders which resulted in his losing control of his vehicle.

Continue reading "Mud on Road Caused Car Crash, Paralyzing Driver" »

A paralyzed father of three plans to move from a nursing facility back home with his family after winning a $19.2 million negligence award against Montefiore Medical Center earlier this month.

Wilfredo Figueroa, 58, was working as a radiology technician on Sept. 22, 2004, when he was admitted to Montefiore, complaining of severe back pain.

The Bronx hospital's staff failed to diagnose a spinal abscess- an infection on his spinal cord - which rapidly led to his permanent paralysis, according to lawyer Edward Bithorn and court documents.

Continue reading "Montefiore Hospital to pay $19.2 M for Medical Malpractice" »

A Steuben County couple has sued a Fort Wayne orthopedics firm, alleging a missed diagnosis for a blood clot caused the wife to lose her leg.

Filed in Allen Superior Court this week by Jeanette Presley and Allen Presley, the lawsuit against Orthopaedics Northeast seeks compensatory damages and comes after the couple received a ruling from the state’s Medical Review Panel that Orthopaedics Northeast failed to comply with appropriate standards of care, according to court documents.

Continue reading "Medical Malpractice Lawsuit: Doctors Caused Leg Amputation" »

A 20-year-old airman was in critical condition at University of California Davis Medical Center on Monday, after losing both legs in what his family described as complications of routine gallbladder surgery.

Neither the medical center nor Travis Air Force Base, where Airman 1st Class Colton Read underwent surgery this month, would comment on specifics of his case.

Travis said only that a "serious medical incident" occurred at its David Grant Medical Center on July 9 and is being investigated by the base, a national hospital accrediting commission and the U.S. Surgeon General.

Read, who was stationed at Beale Air Force Base east of Marysville, Calif., was supposed to get his gallbladder removed laparoscopically at the Travis hospital, said his wife, Jessica Read.

Continue reading "Airman Loses Legs After Gallbladder Operation" »

A Harris County Texas jury has ruled in favor of a Houston man in a medical malpractice case, awarding him $10 million in damages stemming from a lawsuit against Methodist Hospital and the doctors who treated him there.

John German developed gangrene that required the amputation of his left leg above the knee, all the toes on his right foot and all of his fingers in the aftermath of heart surgery in 2002 .

“It’s been a long time coming, but I feel vindicated,” said German, who was a 32-year-old mechanic at the time of the care.

Continue reading "Texas Patient Awarded $10 M in Medical Malpractice Claim" »

Nicholas Anderson should be a multimillionaire.

Instead, he is penniless - and in need of medical treatment he can't afford.

On Dec. 23, 2004, Anderson was driving home when a tire caught on a six-inch lip on the roadside and he lost control of his car. The car crashed into a guardrail, which impaled the vehicle, severing Anderson's left leg and nearly severing his left arm. He was 18.

He sued Camden County, and last year a jury awarded him $31 million, finding that the county-maintained road was dangerous because of the drop in elevation between the road and shoulder, and because of the guardrail's design.

"I'm in pain every day," Anderson said.

Continue reading "N.J. Crash Victim Caught in County-Insurer Lawsuits" »

A Broward Circuit Court judge has ordered an insurance company to pay a paralyzed truck driver $14.6 million because of a 2007 accident.

Derry Brown Jr. of Pahokee was hauling a load of sugar in an 18-wheeler when a driver ran a stop sign, cutting him off on May 31, 2007. Brown, 64, swerved out of the way, and his truck overturned on State Road 80, just east of Lion Country Safari in Palm Beach County.

The accident cost Brown the use of his arms and legs and left him with mounting medical bills. If Brown had not swerved, the other driver would have died, Brown's attorney, Robert Kelley, told the court.

Continue reading "Florida Court Awards Paralyzed Trucker $14.6 M" »

A Chinese woman who fell out of a moving Disneyland tram and suffered injuries that left her needing 24-hour medical supervision for the rest of her life has reached a settlement in a lawsuit she filed against the Walt Disney Co.

Lawyers for Qi Zhao and Disney reached the agreement, bringing a two-week trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court to an abrupt end.

Details of the accord were not released.

Zhao, 48, filed her suit in 2007, alleging the tram driver was going too fast. She was riding the tram with two sisters and a niece. According to the complaint, one of the sisters fell from the King tram as it moved toward a parking lot.

Reacting to the fall, the other two sisters also fell out. One suffered minor injuries and Zhao hit her head on the pavement, suffering severe traumatic brain injuries and skull fractures and was in a coma for three weeks.

Continue reading "Disney and Tram-Injured Woman Reach Settlement" »

A Los Angeles judge has ordered automaker Jaguar Land Rover to pay $21.1 million to a Simi Valley man who was paralyzed in 2003 when his Land Rover Discovery sport utility vehicle rolled over several times after a collision on the 118 Freeway.

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Robert H. O'Brien cited two key reasons for his decision: The vehicle's high center of gravity made it susceptible to rolling over, and its roof collapsed too easily, causing Sukhsagar Pannu to suffer a debilitating spinal cord injury.

Continue reading "Land Rover Maker Ordered to Pay $21.1 M in Rollover Case" »

A young Connecticut man who was paralyzed from the chest down in 2002 while pole vaulting at Southern Connecticut State University has won $6.4 million in damages from the Connecticut affiliate of USA Track and Field.

Brandon White, 25, won the civil lawsuit from a six-member New Haven Superior Court jury.

Continue reading "Paralyzed Pole Vaulter Wins Lawsuit" »

A Staten Island man stricken with polio has won a multimillion dollar lawsuit against a drug maker, claiming he contracted polio 30 years ago while changing his daughter's diaper.

Dominick Tenuto was awarded $22.5 million, believed to be one of the highest awards ever on Staten Island.

The lawsuit claims that the oral vaccine Tenuto's daughter received, which contained a live virus, passed through her body and infected Tenuto while he was changing her diaper.

The 61-year-old Tenuto, a former Wall Street executive, sued two years after contracting polio and losing his job.

The drug maker, Lederle Laboratories, plans to appeal.

A Miami Beach woman left bedridden and in excruciating pain following spinal surgery in 2003 at Mount Sinai Medical Center was awarded $38 million by a Miami-Dade Circuit Court jury.

The six-person jury deliberated nine hours over two days before finding that neurosurgeon Mario Nanes, Mount Sinai and the hospital's pharmacy management firm caused Amanda Slavin's debilitating injuries.

Mount Sinai settled before the case went to trial, so it is not on the hook to pay any part of the award. The hospital's pharmacy management firm at the time, McKesson Medication Management, vowed to appeal.

Continue reading "Miami Beach Woman Awarded $38 M For Botched Spinal Surgery" »

DALLAS — A Bedford infectious-disease specialist has been ordered to pay $7.5 million to a former maintenance man who lost his arms and legs to an MRSA infection.

Judge Jim Jordan ordered Dr. Meenakshi Prabhakar to pay David Fitzgerald after a Dallas County jury found in Fitzgerald's favor in his medical malpractice lawsuit. Prabhakar treated Fitzgerald in 2003 when he developed an infection following surgery at RHD Medical Center in Farmers Branch. Photo courtesy of Dallas Morning News

Continue reading "Dallas Doctor Ordered to Pay Man Who Lost Limbs $7.5M " »

An Illinois woman's homeowners insurance will pay $2.5 M to settle a lawsuit brought by a man who was injured in a crash that occurred after an underage drinking party in her home.

The settlement between the woman, whose teenage daughters hosted the party, and George Baldwin, 22, was approved by the judge in Lake County Circuit Court.

In 2006, Baldwin, then a 19-year-old Lake Forest High School graduate, went to the woman's home with a friend, William Klairmont, then 18 and also from Lake Forest. They were visiting Pfeifer's daughters, and all drank beer in the girls' bedroom.

Klairmont was intoxicated when he drove home and lost control of his car. Baldwin, a passenger, was injured with resulting paralysis.

Continue reading "Man Paralyzed in Crash After Underage Drinking Party Settles Lawsuit " »

On Sept. 24, a jury rejected a family's claim that its elderly patriarch died as a result of injuries sustained when he fell at a Family Dollar Store.

The family of Warren Tiner, 84, alleged he was shopping at the Tyler store when he tripped over a box left out in an aisle.

Complaining of back pain, he checked into a hospital eight days after the September 2006 incident. His condition worsened, and he developed other health issues, including pneumonia, heart problems and eventually paralysis from spinal cord compression.

Tiner's family claimed his death in July 2008 was related to injuries from the fall. Family Dollar denied that a box was in the aisle and contended that even if it were, Tiner should have seen and avoided it.

The defense also argued that Tiner suffered from chronic health problems prior to the incident.

Tiner v. Family Dollar Stores of Texas L.P., No. 07-1759-C

Court: 241st District Court, Smith County

DALLAS-A federal court jury ordered Dallas County on Tuesday August 27, 2008 to pay $900,000 to a former Dallas County jail inmate for denying him proper medical care while he was in custody.

The jury found that Stanley Shepherd's constitutional rights were violated when he was denied basic medical care while in the Lew Sterrett Justice Center on burglary and drug charges in late 2003.

Continue reading "Dallas County to Pay $900,000 Over Lack of Medical Care " »

A construction worker, Clifford Moncrieffe, was operating a Bobcat X320 compact excavator when the machine tipped over. Moncrieffe's left foot was outside the operator's compartment and his foot was crushed. Ultimately he underwent a knee amputation.

Moncrieffe sued manufacturer Clark Equipment Co., in Federal Court in Florida, for products liability (strict liability, negligence, breach of warranty and failure to warn).

Continue reading "Bobcat Excavator Accident Settles for $1.85M" »