Kentucky Kingdom Case Settles for....

Truth is, we don't know how much the case settled for.  This settlement, like most, is confidential.  This has been one of the most high profile cases in Louisville, and probably Kentucky, for a long time.  It was also handled by one of the most successful plaintiff attorneys in the state, Larry Franklin. 
Larry has won numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and focuses the majority of his practice on handling medical negligence cases and, more specifically, birth trauma cases. 
I'm glad the family is finally able to put litigation behind them, there are never any winners when a child is injured, regardless of the settlement amount.
Here is the Courier Journal article
Hans

Jury Awards Hans' Client $5.1 Million Dollar Verdict in Medical Malpractice Case

We just finished a two-week medical malpractice trial on Friday and I'm excited to report that the jury returned a $5.1 million dollar verdict in favor of Mrs Retha Carroll.  Soon we'll post video of the opening and closing.  This was an extremely satisfying verdict for a number of reasons.  The case was in litigation since 2004 and involved 6 defendants and 8 defense lawyers at trial.  At times it felt as though we were litigating against every defense lawyer in Louisville.  The verdict is significant for a number of reasons.  First, our client was 75 when he died as a result of the malpractice.  Typically, juries don't make significant pain and suffering awards in cases involving elderly people.  Here, a jury did the right thing by recognizing that pain is pain, regardless of whether you are 25 or 75.  It is also significant because of the loss of consortium award to the wife.  A jury appreciated the catastrophic loss that she felt for six days while her husband of 53 years lay in a coma.  I believe it may be the largest consortium verdict of its kind in Kentucky.
Once again, I remain convinced in the wisdom of our jury system.  You may read the article from the Courier Journal by going here.
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Fayette County, Kentucky Jury Awards $9.8 Million Dollars in Medical Malpractice Case

In what is typically considered a very conservative venue, last night a Fayette County jury returned the largest medical malpractice verdict of the year in Kentucky.  The jury awarded over $9.8 million to a woman paralyzed following heart surgery.

Louisville attorney James "Bo" Bolus represented the patient and Richard Schiller represented the only doctor that did not settle prior to trial.  You can read more about in the the Lexington Herald Leader article written by Brandon Ortiz.
Hans

Foxes in the Hen House- State has to fire Two Kentucky Nursing Home Inspectors...

According to the Courier-Journal, the Kentucky has fired a second state employee arsing out of allegations of misconduct.  On May 21, the state fired a nursing home inspection official with the Department of Public Health.  The State determined that Moses Young had been living rent free in a Lexington townhouse owned by a company operated by a Covington nursing home president, Ralph L. Stacey, Jr. Now, it turns out that Young had a roomate, Sharon Harris, a former nurse administrator with the Department of Public Health.  Both have denied any wrongdoing.

Young has been unable to provide any proof that he paid his own rent and Harris has refused to provide any information bout the townhouse in which she currently lives.  According to the Courier, this is not the first time Harris has been fired for a potential conflict with Stacey's nursing homes.  In 2002, while working as a nurse consultant for the state Medicaid Department, she was fired for having a second job working at one of Stacey's nursing homes.  Although she was fired, she one an appeal and was reinstated.  Harris claims she has been singled out by the office of the Inspector General.

 

New Video! Hans Explains Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect and Why It Occurs.

Check our out latest video, and download our FREE Report--Nursing Homes--What You Absolutely Positively Must Know Before Choosing One. 

AIG Agrees to Pay $18 million dollars to settle personal injury lawsuit....

In what can only be described as a highly unusual situation, AIG (the insurer that has recently come under fire for its lavish spending following a bail-out by the Government) has agreed to pay a North Carolina man $18 million to satisfy a $75 million personal injury judgment.  Here is the story as reported by TradingMarkets.com.

 

American International Group, the major insurance company that received an $85 billion federal bailout for risky financial practices, has agreed to pay $18 million to a former North Raleigh man who was completely disabled when a pickup truck hit him in the parking lot of his apartment.The settlement appears to be one of the largest in the state's history for a personal injury case, local lawyers say, and it was driven by the fact that AIG was already on the hook for a much larger judgment -- $75 million -- after a subsidiary did not defend the case in Wake Superior Court.

"That's huge," said Dan Hartzog, a veteran civil litigator in Raleigh who was not involved in the case. "It would be a big jury verdict, but it's a really big settlement."

Such settlements rarely become public, but the details were discussed in an open session of U.S. District Court earlier this month with a News & Observer reporter in attendance. Lawyers for both sides had sought to keep the settlement confidential, but U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle did not take up their request.

They also said they were moving to settle quickly because of AIG's financial straits. In September, the Federal Reserve provided the company with an $85 billion loan to keep it from going bankrupt.

In settling the case, AIG avoids what would have been one of the largest judgments in North Carolina history. In May, state Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson granted the request of accident victim Mark Pellegrin's attorneys for damages of $75 million after no one showed up for trial to defend the company that owned the pickup truck and the employee who drove it.

National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, the AIG subsidiary, requested the case be moved to U.S. District Court after the judgment and entered into settlement talks with Pellegrin's attorneys.

Pellegrin's father, Jerry, a long-distance truck driver, told the court that he was satisfied with the settlement, which provides $6 million immediately, invests another $6 million for future costs, and pays Mark Pellegrin's attorneys the remaining $6 million to satisfy the contingency fee contract Pellegrin's father struck with them.

Compassion showed

"I'd like to say that I'm not a big fan of lawyers myself," Jerry Pellegrin said. "However, these three people have shown me and my son more compassion than I ever thought."

Boyle accepted the settlement, but he reserved judgment on the attorneys fees.

Mark Pellegrin, 29, is being cared for at his father's home near Houma, La.

One of National Union's attorneys, Jim Exum, a former N.C. Supreme Court chief justice, told the court that the insurance policy had a maximum payout of $21 million.

The lawsuit was filed last year against KCI Technologies and one of its employees, Kelly Joe McKiernan, 29, who performed maintenance on the company's cell phone towers. KCI Technologies is a Maryland-based engineering and construction company with more than $140 million in revenue last year.

New Year's Eve

McKiernan said in a deposition that, on New Year's Eve 2005, after drinking beer and Jagermeister, he jumped into his company-issued truck and put it in gear. He was ready to leave Pellegrin's home at Sommerset Place Apartments -- off Six Forks Road in North Raleigh -- after some rough-housing between the two friends left McKiernan upset.

But as McKiernan put the truck in drive, Pellegrin ran in front of the vehicle to try to get him to stop.

McKiernan hit Pellegrin, whose head struck the truck and then the pavement. Pellegrin suffered severe brain injuries, and today he has limited movement and speech. He needs round-the-clock care, medical records showed.

"I'm sure he was just coming down to tell me, 'You know, man, what are you doing, Kelly? You're drunk, dude. You know better than this,' " McKiernan said in the deposition.

No conviction record

Raleigh police charged him with driving while impaired, according to a police report filed as an exhibit with the court papers. But there's no record of McKiernan being convicted of the charge.

Efforts to reach McKiernan for comment were unsuccessful.

AIG refused responsibility for the accident, saying McKiernan had been drinking, which was in violation of KCI's vehicle use policy, and was not on the job when the accident happened.

That meant Pellegrin would receive little or no help for his injuries and subsequent care -- despite the fact that he worked for KCI as well. He, in fact, was McKiernan's boss and had hired him.

The men grew up together in Texas.

Pellegrin's attorneys argued that McKiernan was at work when he went to Pellegrin's apartment. McKiernan said that Pellegrin wanted him to stop by to make sure the truck had the proper equipment before McKiernan went out to inspect cell phone towers. But while they were looking over the truck, the two friends from Texas decided to take a break. They drank beer and Jagermeister, McKiernan said in the deposition.

Hudson, the Superior Court judge, found McKiernan had been acting within the scope of his employment, and therefore the insurer was responsible for the $75 million judgment.

Hartzog and other local civil litigation attorneys not involved in the case said that's the price defendants can pay when they don't appear in court.

"That is a litigator's dream," said Richard Watson, a Durham attorney.

(News researcher Lamara Williams contributed to this report.)

dan.kane@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4861