Traumatic Brain Injury

April 17, 2009

King County to Pay $3.5 M to Injured Bicyclist

King County has agreed to pay $3.5 million to a Seattle man and his wife after the man suffered a permanent brain injury when he was thrown from his bicycle.

Lawyers for Jeffrey Totten and his wife Danielle Leavell said the county was at fault because it promoted Novelty Hill Road as a bike route but failed to maintain it in a safe condition.

Totten, an endurance athlete, was thrown from his bike when it struck a depression around a survey “monument” in the roadway Sept. 4, 2006. He was 31.

He has been in a hospital, a rehabilitation center and now a group home in Mount Vernon since the accident, which left him in a coma for seven months. The settlement will allow funds for round-the-clock care for the rest of his life, his attorneys said.

March 28, 2009

Boy Awarded $20 M in Brain Damage Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A now-12-year-old Temecula boy who fell from a fast-food restaurant’s play structure and struck his head, causing brain damage, was awarded a $20 million settlement from the franchise’s parent company.

The money was awarded to Jacob Buckett and his sister, Isabelle, who was 5 at the time of Jacob’s fall at the Temecula restaurant on Aug. 4, 2005.

The structure was inside the restaurant and there was no rubber beneath the bars, just tile, according to Jacob’s attorney.

The defendants, the restaurant franchisee, parent company and playground manufacturer, were not named because of the settlement’s confidentiality clause but according to the Web site momlogic.com, the restaurant was a Burger King.

Delta Marketing Inc., the installer of the playground, was also sued.

March 20, 2009

California Woman Paralyzed in Crash Gets $45 M

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A judge has awarded $45 million in damages to a San Mateo woman who was paralyzed when a wrecking and demolition company’s truck ran a red light and hit her car.

Tricia Roth, now 41, a former software developer for Microsoft Corp., suffered a broken neck and spinal injuries in the September 2006 accident, according to her lawyer. Her doctors said she requires full-time attendant care and will never walk again.

The driver, Roman Pantoja, failed to see the light on East Hillsdale Boulevard in San Mateo near Highway 101 and admitted that he was at fault, according to a court hearing.

March 19, 2009

Florida Jury Awards Woman $65 M in Crash

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A jury awarded a 21-year-old Florida woman $65 million for her injuries in a 2007 crash. The verdict is considered to be one of the largest by a Polk County jury.

The verdict stemmed from a traffic crash in Zolfo Springs that left Kendra Lymon in a coma and hospitalized for months.

Lymon had been driving her Dodge Neon on Aug. 21, 2007, when a tractor-trailer owned by Bynum Transport, struck her car at State Road 35 and State Road 64, according to the lawsuit naming Bynum and the driver.

The truck’s driver, Robert Bohn, a battalion chief for Polk County Fire Services, was working part-time for the trucking company.

March 17, 2009

Family of Chimp Attack Victim Seeks $50M

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The family of a woman mauled by a chimpanzee filed a lawsuit seeking $50 million in damages against the primate’s owner, saying she was negligent and reckless for lacking the ability to control “a wild animal with violent propensities.”

The suit also alleges that Herold had given the chimp medication that further upset the animal. Herold has made conflicting public statements about whether she gave Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, to Travis on the day of the attack. The drug had not been prescribed for the animal, police said.

Herold knew the 200-pound chimp, Travis, was agitated when she asked Nash to come to her house on Feb. 16, the lawsuit said. The suit accuses Herold of negligence and recklessness for owning “a wild animal with violent propensities, even though she lacked sufficient skill, strength and/or experience to subdue the chimpanzee when necessary.”

February 27, 2009

Arlington Texas Family Struggles to Cope After Drunken Driving Crash

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An Arlington, Texas boy aged 2, who was critically injured in a drunken driving crash last week remained on life support as his parents coped with his devastating prognosis.

Eighty percent of Abdallah Khader’s brain was destroyed in the crash, according to his doctor, Jeff McGlothlin. If Abdallah survives, he will be severely disabled for the rest of his life.

February 19, 2009

SC Jury Awards $4.4M Against Hospital

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A South Carolina jury has awarded $4.4 million to the parents of a 4-year-old girl who died after suffering brain injury at birth at Piedmont Medical Center.

The jury found that the hospital was at fault in 2003 when it assigned a nurse trainee to monitor expectant mother Robin Wilson, who had arrived at the hospital three days before her scheduled induction, complaining of nausea and vomiting.

February 14, 2009

Man Paralyzed in Crash After Underage Drinking Party Settles Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

January 28, 2009

Wisconsin Ruling Limits Cheerleader Injury Suits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

High school cheerleading is a contact sport and therefore its participants cannot be sued for accidentally causing injuries, according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The court ruled that a former high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who failed to stop her fall while she was practicing a stunt. The court also said the injured cheerleader cannot sue her school district.

The National Cheer Safety Foundation said the decision is the first of its kind in the nation.

At issue in the case was whether cheerleaders qualify for immunity under a Wisconsin law that prevents participants in contact sports from suing each other for unintentional injuries.

January 14, 2009

California to Rescue Good Samaritans

by Dr. Shezad Malik

CA lawmakers are planning to introduce legislation that would offer greater legal protections to Good Samaritans in light of a recent California Supreme Court decision.

Legislators have introduced three bills to address Van Horn v. Watson, 08 C.D.O.S. 15199, which held that a state statute only shields rescuers from liability if they provide medical care in an emergency situation. The ruling puts at risk aid-givers who inadvertently hurt victims while removing them from a burning building or other potentially dangerous scenarios.