Selected Case Descriptions

Settlement (Wayne County):
Failure to diagnose colon cancer, resulting in death.
Our client's family doctor obtained results of a blood sample which showed the client to be anemic. The client was then 56 years old. The doctor failed to provide the abnormal lab results to our client. The doctor further failed to provide appropriate follow-up care, including referring the client for a colonoscopy. The client continued to see the doctor at numerous office visits over the next two and one-half years, exhibiting additional symptoms that are commonly associated with colon cancer, including weight loss and bloody stools. The client was finally diagnosed with advanced colon cancer, which was later found to be terminal.

Verdict (Randolph County):
Multiple fractures to leg, causing compartment syndrome and nerve damage.
Our client was injured by another customer in a fight on the sidewalk in front of bar as he and his friends were trying to leave. There had been fighting inside of the bar only minutes before including involving the client's girlfriend and an off-duty female bartender. The bar's security video showed the bartender running through the bar out the front door with several persons trailing her including the client's attacker, in pursuit of the client's group. The bar owner argued that the bartender was acting outside the scope of her employment. The attacker and his friends maintained that the client had ambushed him as he exited the bar. Our client sustained multiple fractures of his leg below the knee as he and the attacker fell to the sidewalk. He refused medical attention at the scene and did not go to the hospital until 8 hours later by which time he had developed massive swelling to his leg. After multiple surgeries, client was left with permanent nerve damage and a dropped foot. After a one-week trial, the jury returned a significant verdict for our client.

Settlement (Wayne County):
Negligent shooting of a paintball gun resulting in eye injuries.
Our client, age 16, was shot in an eye with a paintball fired by another boy. The shooting took place after our client and the other participants in a paintball game had removed their eye protection, as the game had been concluded. The shooting occurred at the home of a third boy, whose parents failed to supervise the participating boys or advise them concerning safety. Our client sustained serious eye injuries for which he required multiple surgeries and was left with permanent vision loss.

Settlement (Union County):
Fall in nursing home resulting in cervical fractures.
Our client was an 86-year old patient at a nursing home. He had suffered a stroke causing total incapacity on one side of his body, however, he was not mentally impaired and was still able to speak. Nursing home records indicated that the client had poor sitting balance and was prone to falling backward and was at a high risk for falls. During the course of a physical therapy session, the therapist left our client sitting unattended on a therapy mat table while he went to get a wheelchair which he had placed on the opposite side of the room. Unable to support himself in a sitting position, our client fell backward from the table to the floor striking his head. As a result of the fall, our client sustained fractures of the first and second cervical vertebrae for which he required a fusion surgery, and was in critical care for several weeks. Our client lived for only 5 months following the fall. Significantly, our client never spoke again following the surgery, most significantly with his wife of over 60 years.

Settlement (Henry County):
Fractures of thoracic vertebrae and leg fracture sustained in an auto collision.
Our client was a passenger in a vehicle which left a county road and plunged into a steep creek bed at the location of a series of three severe turns – each of which is nearly 90 degrees in nature. The only sign posted by the County to alert drivers of the hazardous nature of these turns was a single "s-curve" sign posted approximately one-half mile prior to the turns. Within a few weeks of our client's accident, the County posted six large arrow signs, two each on the outside of each of the three turns. Evidence existed that the County was aware of a number of prior accidents at the same location. A Burton & Simkin attorney deposed the County Highway Superintendent who admitted that the portion of the roadway in question was "a dangerous curve section" and he "wouldn't want to drive at over 10 miles an hour going around them, if that." An expert highway engineer retained by Burton & Simkin was prepared to testify that the signs posted by the County prior to the accident were both improper and inadequate. Our client sustained unstable burst fractures of two thoracic vertebrae, which required surgery, and for her to wear a halo brace (immobilizing her head, neck, and back) for approximately three months, and a fracture of her leg, as well.