DUI Drunk Driving Accidents

• Atlanta Georgia Dram Shop Attorney - Georgia Wrongful Death
  Mar 05, 2010

  The family of a Texas woman killed in a December crash with an off-duty police officer filed a dram shop lawsuit the bar where the officer got drunk.  The family decided to sue the bar in order to hold them accountable for over-serving patrons and placing profits before safety.  The suit was filed under the Dram Shop Act, which allows those who sell alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person to be held liable for resulting damages.  It alleges that servers at the bar continued to serve the officer to the point of him becoming "dangerously inebriated," then allowed him "to stagger out of the bar and drive away from bar in a city owned car."

  Lawyers for the family said "[t]here is no amount of money that could replace the loss of life that this family has suffered . . . [and that the case] is not about the money.  The lawsuit hopefully sends a message to bars and drinking establishments alike so that this tragedy doesn't happen again".

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• Drunk Driving Accident - $18.5 Million Verdict for Serious Injuries
  Feb 19, 2010

  A Colorado jury returned a $18.5 million verdict for a man who was seriously injured when a driver drunk on alcohol and high on marijuana left a mountain road and slammed into him as he was changing the oil on his wife's car in their driveway.  $1 million in punitive damages was assessed against the drunk driver for driving while drinking and smoking marijuana and for fleeing the scene of a collision amid the screams of his victims.

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Medical Malpractice

• Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers Obtain Verdict for Elderly Man's Family
  Sep 08, 2010

  A Floyd County Georgia jury Friday ordered a Sandy Springs lawyer and nursing home operator to pay $43.5 million in a wrongful death lawsuit.  The award will go to the estate of a man whose family said negligent care led to his death at a Rome nursing facility that had been cited for repeated state and federal violations.

  In the 52-page wrongful death complaint, filed in March of last year, Loretta Terhune, whose 80-year-old father, Morris Ellison, died April 17, 2007, charged the nursing home failed to provide adequate care.  While a resident, he fell numerous times, breaking his hip. The nursing home also did not notify Ellison's doctors or family of his injuries.

  "Mr. Houser, through his companies, systematically drained the money and resources from his nursing homes [and] caused all sorts of shortages of food, water and medicine and basic supplies," said Stephen G. Lowry, one of Terhune's two attorneys. "He was severely neglected at the time of his death, malnourished and severely dehydrated."  At trial, a nursing home director testified the facility lacked the funds to pay its staff, do laundry and pay bills.

  Moran Lake since has resumed operations under a different management company.

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• Stroke Death Related to Medical Malpractice Settles With Doctors
  Aug 31, 2010

  The husband of a woman who died of a stroke will receive a $5.3 million settlement in an Illinois medical malpractice case.

  Attorneys representing the family said doctors failed to properly evaluate and treat the 24-year-old woman, allowing her to die of a stroke at a local hospital.  The family was represented by attorneys from Hurley, McKenna & Mertz of Chicago. The couple had a son, who is now 6 years old.

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• Fulton County Atlanta Georgia Medical Malpractice Lawyer
  Feb 10, 2010

  In the State Court of Fulton County, the jury deliberated for 13 hours before returning a $515,000 verdict in a medical malpractice death claim.  Defendants denied any violation in the standard of care and argued that the patient's death was a result of unexpected complications.  Plaintiff's decedent underwent abdominal surgery for a perforated duodenal ulcer.  Defendant chose not to give the patient any medication to prevent blood clots after surgery.  He followed the patient in his office for three weeks and she also consulted her primary care physician.  Decedent experienced a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) that broke loose and caused a fatal pulmonary embolus (PE).  Plaintiff alleged that Defendants violated the standard of care in failing to provide DVT prophylaxis following abdominal surgery, preventing a DVT from forming in the first place and then failure to timely refer the patient to the hospital, resulting in a fatal PE. 

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• Marietta Medical Negligence Lawyer
  Feb 09, 2010

  A patient with permanent brain damage filed lawsuit claiming his injury was the result of medical negligence. The defendant physician denied he did anything wrong or that he violated the standard of care. Plaintiff suffered a hemorrhage involving the right dorsal lateral brainstem extending into the 3rd and 4th ventricle. Defendant physician placed a right front ventriculostomy (monitors intracranial pressure). Plaintiff remained on a ventilator, eventually requiring a tracheotomy and had a feeding tube placed. Plaintiff alleged defendant deviated from the standard of care in failing to culture plaintiff’s cervical spinal fluid (“CSF”) for signs of infection several days after his ventribulostomy had been in place, claiming negligence caused or contributed to the development of a brain infection and the failure to perform appropriate testing resulted in a delay in diagnosis that led to permanent brain damage. Defendant contended that the standard of care did not require testing of the CSF. Plaintiff incurred $800,000 in past medicals, claimed $4,300,000 in future medicals, $73,443 in past lost wages and $894,119 in future last wages. The jury found in favor of the defendant. - 38 - 40

• Fayetteville, Georgia Medical Malpractice Lawyer
  Feb 07, 2010

  A patient who suffered complications from a drug prescribed by his physician alleged malpractice by defendants.  Plaintiff alleged failure to properly monitor administration of drug, resulting in toxicity that led to complications that included leucopenia and anemia.  The defendants denied plaintiff's allegations.  A defense verdict was returned by a federal jury in Newnan, Georgia.

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• Georgia Medical Malpractice Lawyer
  Oct 06, 2009

  The parents of newborn Haylee Kroll were told by physicians not to worry when large bruises appeared on her tiny body. Then her skin turned yellow, her liver showed signs of scarring and a blood clot formed in her brain. A few days later, her parents were advised to make funeral arrangements.  Haylee survived, but her parents say doctors at a lcoal hospital misdiagnosed the virus that struck their baby soon after her, leaving her with lifelong disabilities. Now 15, their daughter has severe vision problems and permanent cirrhosis of the liver.  Last week, a jury compensated the family $4.3 million in their medical malpractice suit against the doctors who treated Haylee. - 40 - 40