Crouse Law Offices. International ⁄ National ⁄ Local Accident Litigators

Hyundai Settles In Death Of Motorcyclist

The Orange County Register reports Hyundai has made a confidential settlement with a family whose son was killed while riding his motorcycle in 2005.  The incident was caused by a Hyundai executive who was driving drunk. 

The 23-year-old musician and motorcyclist was killed when the executive lost control of his Hyundai SUV after drinking at a company –sponsored dinner, hitting the young man causing him to be thrown from his motorcycle onto the freeway where he was run over by several other vehicles.

 The family of the young man sued the executive and Hyundai claiming the company had a corporate culture of promoting drinking at company functions and that Hyundai helped the executive flee the country shortly after the accident.

 The family stated it is pleased with the settlement.  Their son was a college student and participated in a band that often played at Disneyland.

Crouse Law Firm Retained To Investigate Personal Injuries Suffered On Delta/ASA Flight

James T. Crouse of Crouse Law Offices in Raleigh, N.C., has been retained by a family of five to explore injuries they suffered on a recent Delta Airlines/ASA flight. 

The family, which includes three children ages 9, 5 and 21 months, suffered injuries on a commercial flight in August of this year when the airliner encountered three bouts with severe turbulence, which caused the aircraft to eventually make an unscheduled landing in St Louis. 

Before takeoff, the pilot made an announcement which was almost inaudible to the passengers – it was clear the intercom was not working properly—that he was going to try to beat the bad weather. During the flight, the father was in the cramped bathroom changing the baby’s diaper when an announcement concerning imminent turbulence was made over the intercom. It was so muffled the flight attendant had to go up and down the isle repeating the announcement to the passengers.  Because he could not understand the announcement, the father had no idea they were heading for severe turbulence until the plane hit it and he had no choice but to stay in the restroom and to brace himself and his daughter as best he could.

In the meantime, the flight attendant told the wife to leave her seat and to tell her husband about the announcement.  While making her way to the rear of the plane to her husband, she was thrown by the turbulence and landed across some seats.

When at the airport in St. Louis, baby was taken to an emergency room because the EMTs feared internal injuries due to bruising all up her back and thought she might have a broken hand.  The mother was later diagnosed as having spinal trauma – two bulging discs in her back – and a bruised lung.

The family continuues to deal with their injuries as well as the trauma suffered by the two older children.

Owner Sued After Man Dies From Dog Bite

The Seattle Times reports the family of a man who died 10 days after being bitten by a dog has sued the dog’s owner. 

According to the family of the victim, the Redbone Coonhound had a history of biting people and was still allowed to roam unleashed.  The owner has denied the dog was off-leash the day he bit the victim. 

The owner and the victim were at a storage facility when the victim was bitten on the finger, drawing blood.  The next day the victim severe pain in his leg and went to the hospital where they found a blood clot in his leg.  Later an infection he developed was diagnose as Capnocytophaga canimorsus sepsis – a bacterium common to cat and dog saliva.  The bacterium led to multiple organ failure and tissue necrosis – a very painful death. 

Although the dog owner contends the dog was in his SUV and the victim reached in the window to pet him, according to state law, a dog’s owner can be held civilly responsible if his or her dog bites someone and the owner knew the dog was potentially dangerous.  The dog has bitten another person earlier the same day and veterinary records show the dog bite people as a puppy. 

When the dog owner’s insurance policies refused to pay the full amount of two policies – about $1.5 million – to the family of the deceased, they decided to sue.

Claim Of Defective Seats Brings Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Honda

A lawsuit has been filed in Texas against Honda Motor Co., Ltd. by the parents of a young woman who died in her 2005 Honda Civic in April of this year, reports the Southeast Texas Record. 

The young woman died when she lost control of her car and skidded off the rain slick road. She hit several trees and even though she was wearing a seatbelt, she was killed when her seat collapsed and she was thrown into the back seat. 

The lawsuit claims the Honda Civic violated the principles of crashworthiness by failing to provide adequate restraint and failed to prevent ejection.  It also claims the car was unreasonably dangerous and defective because the collapsing seat exposed the driver to the risk, hazard and danger of ejection.  Honda is accused of not conducting adequate testing and proper engineering analysis.

Crouse Law Firm Retained To Investigate Tucson Medical Helicopter Crash

James T. Crouse of Crouse Law Offices, Raleigh, N.C., has been retained to investigate the cause of a medical helicopter crash on July 28, 2010 in Tucson, Arizona, in which all three crew members were killed.  No patients were on board at the time of the crash. 

The Eurocopter AS350, owned by Colorado-based AirMethods and operating as LifeNet Arizona, was based in Douglas, Arizona.  AirMethods transport people requiring intensive medical care to highly skilled centers or tertiary care centers, providing medical care while en route. 

The helicopter, known as LifeNet 12, was en route back to home base after undergoing routine maintenance at Marana Regional Airport.  Although the cause of the crash will not be known for some time, there has been a history of defects in some engines installed in AS350 B3 Eurocopters.  However, the engine manufacturer, Turbomeca, was to have addressed this issue before turning the helicopter over to Air Methods.

 This is not the first incident of trouble for the AS350 B3 in Tucson.  In September another helicopter operated by Air Methods was forced to make a hard landing at St. Mary’s hospital after it swerved to the left just a few feet from the landing pad. In this incident the 3 crew members and the patient were uninjured.

Parents of Student Killed By Propeller Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit

The parents of a Chinese flight student who was killed when hit by a propeller has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Sierra Academy Aeronautics at Castle Airport, reports the Merced Sun-Star of California. 

In November 2008, the 26-year-old exited a plane before it taxied to a stop running toward the front of the plane and into the turning propeller.  An instructor had checked the weather, endorsed the man’s logbook, and OK’d for a solo flight, but before take-off another student boarded the plane and flew the last leg back to the airport.  The instructor was unaware another student would be on board. The man killed ran from the plane in hopes of not being seen by the instructors at the school.

 The lawsuit claims the school should not have let the man fly without an instructor and that the school acted negligently when it let him fly in bad weather.  

 The NTSB found the incident was caused by the student’s own failure to see the propeller.  Initial investigators thought the incident was partly caused by the two students trying to hide the fact they had piloted the plane together.  Further investigation proved this to be the case.

 This was the first death of this kind in the school’s 44 years of operation.

Wrongful Death

Preliminary Report Released On Deadly Medical Helicopter Crash

The NTSB’s preliminary report on the medical helicopter crash which killed three people in Arkansas includes a witness statement of hearing an explosion before the aircraft went down.  The witness also reported hearing the sound of crushing metal, then seeing the helicopter turn left – then right before it disappeared. 

As reported earlier on this site, on August 31, an AirEvac Lifeteam helicopter based in Vilonia, Arkansas, crashed killing all three crew members on board.  According to CNN, the helicopter was en route to an accident in Crabtree, Arkansas when it crashed.

$132M Awarded In Ford Rollover Crash

A Jasper County (Mississippi) jury has awarded the family of a young man killed in a rollover crash in 2001 $132 million – the largest award ever against Ford in a lawsuit involving a Ford Explorer or a Ford Expedition reports the Clarion-Ledger.

The 22-year-old, a Meridian High School standout and a top New York Mets baseball prospect, was killed in March 2001 when he was thrown from a 2001 Ford Explorer.  He was driving to spring training in Port St. Lucie, Fl., when he veered to avoid a vehicle and the Ford SUV rolled over.  The lawsuit blamed the death on a defective seatbelt and the tendency for that model Ford to rollover.  Ford settled for an undisclosed amount in the punitive-damage phase of the lawsuit. 

A passenger in the Ford Explorer received $1.5 million for the injuries he sustained in the crash. 

Ford’s corporate spokesman stated excessive speed and the fact the victim was not wearing a seat belt caused the young man’s death. 

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an $82.6 million verdict awarded to a woman in California who was paralyzed in an Explorer rollover.

At Crouse Law Offices we have vast experience in product liablity and wrongful death.  If you have been injured or have had a loved one  killed due to a defective product, call us at 1-919-861-0500 or contact us online.

Medical Helicopter Crash In Arkansas – 2nd In As Many Months

An Air Evac Lifeteam Bell 206 helicopter en route to pick up a traffic accident victim crashed about 4:30 this morning in Scotland, Arkansas about 80 miles north of Little Rock killing all three crew members on board.

 The pilot was flying under visual flight rules and the helicopter was equipped with night vision gear.  It is not thought the pilot was in touch with air traffic controllers at the time of the crash and no distress calls were made.

 Investigators from the FAA and the NTSB are on their way to the crash site.

 According to BNO News, the crew was based in Vilonia, Arkansas.  AirEvac, based in West Plains, Mo. is the largest independently owned and operated membership-supported air medical service in the U.S. having operations in 14 states.

Air Evac has had several deadly crashes in the last four years killing 9 crew members, reports the Associated Press.  In 2008, a crash in Indiana killed three people.  In 2007, another three-member crew died when their AirEvac helicopter crashed in Alabama. In 2006, a crash in northwest Arkansas killed the three crew members on that Air Evac helicopter.  Last month, an AirEvac helicopter was force to land after the aircraft’s hydraulics failed – no on was injured in this mishap.

The Med Vac crash last month: On July 28, the pilot, flight nurse, and paramedic were killed when their Air Methods LifeNet medical helicopter AS350 B3 Eurocopter crashed in Tucson, AZ.   Although the cause of the crash is not known, a witness said the helicopter’s rotors stopped working and it started plummeting toward the ground.

The crash is being investigated.

With a strong background in helicopters as a pilot, maintenance officer and maintenance test pilot, and a strong background in litigation all over the world against the largest corporate defendants, Crouse Law Offices has the experience and knowledge to know how to succeed and how to win your case.  Please call us at 1-919-861-0500 or contact us by using our online form.

N.C. Couple Receives $1.5M Awarded For Post-Surgery Injury Caused By Hernia Patch

A North Carolina couple has been awarded $1.5 million by a federal jury for injuries the husband suffered when a hernia patch ruptured in his abdomen following surgery, reports The Providence Journal. 

The patch, made by Cranston firm Davol Inc. was implanted in the 52-year-old man in 2005 to repair an abdominal hernia.  The mesh patches are folded in half and inserted behind the hernia through a small incision.  Once inserted it’s supposed to open, but this ring broke under the stress and traveled inside the body, causing swelling, pain and an abscess which had to be drained constantly.  So far he has undergone several surgeries to repair the damage with more expected in the future. He will be able to lift only 5 to 10 pounds for the rest of his life. 

The jury found Doval and its parent company, C.R. Bard Inc., had failed to warn about the dangers of the mesh path and the poor design of the patch was the cause of the couple’s suffering. They awarded $1.3 million to the husband and $200,000 to his wife for the time she spent dressing his wounds.

This case was the second of about 3,000 involving the Kugel Mesh hernia-repair patch made by Davol. 

Defective design, defective manufacture and failure to warn about potential hazards of products are three ways to claim a product is defective.  If you or a loved one suffered a personal injury due to a defective product, contact the experienced attorneys at Crouse Law Firm at 1-919-861-0500 or use our online form.  There is no cost to evaluate your case.