$1 million settlement for teenage death due to unmarked cable strung across road
Jan 01, 2017
OUTCOME: $1 million
A teenage boy is riding his ATV through unimproved countryside areas when he turns down a road leading to property owned by a public utility. He proceeds a short distance but hits an unmarked cable str...ong across the road; he dies from injuries soon thereafter. Partners Steve Frei and Gary Mims successfully argued that the cable created a public nuisance which rendered the utility liable for the boy’s death.
Defective and dangerous products
$2 million for Worker’s Hand Crushed by Unsafe Trash Truck Cable Mechanism
Jan 01, 2016
OUTCOME: Case settles for full liability coverage of $2 million
The plaintiff was working on the driver’s side of a trash truck, which was equipped with a winch and cable system to hoist dumpsters. When he and a co-worker stepped onto the rear platform, the winch c...ontrol lever released the cable which rapidly retracted and entrapped the plaintiff’s hand. His hand was fully crushed and permanently disabled. Frei, Mims and Perushek alleged that the product was negligently designed because there were no warnings, no safe place to store the winch hook, and no mechanism to prevent the control lever’s inadvertent activation. During the deposition of the manufacturer’s corporate designee, partner Gary Mims obtained several concessions, including that a $50 part would have mitigated the unsafe condition. The manufacturer agreed to pay their full liability coverage of $2 million.
Medical malpractice
Anesthesiologist Skips Routine Precautions Resulting in Death of 16-Year-Old Boy in Outpatient ACL Repair
Jan 01, 2010
OUTCOME: Confidential, 7-figure settlement
A routine ACL injury benches a 16-year-old football player. His parents take him to the hospital for the outpatient procedure with plans to take him home for rehabilitation. Mom and Dad kiss their son ...and he is wheeled away for the pre-operative nerve block. What happened next is a nightmare: the nerve block (bupivacaine) is injected, the boy suddenly goes into cardiac arrest and dies. The hospital offered the parents no explanation. The autopsy revealed that the bupivacaine had been injected accidentally into a blood vessel, and it traveled to the heart and killed the boy. Partner Gary Mims filed suit, consulted with experts in anesthesiology and learned that simple precautions, routinely used by anesthesiologists, would have prevented the boy’s death. Had the anesthesiologist used the routine precaution of injecting epinephrine prior to injecting the bupivacaine, and had used a heart monitor, the emergency would have been avoided. A confidential, 7-figure settlement was reached.
Medical malpractice
$1.245 Million for Failure to Diagnose Prostate Cancer
Jan 01, 2005
OUTCOME: Jury Verdict of $1.245
A 50-year old man had his routine physical, including a prostate exam and blood tests. His PSA (prostate specific antigen, a marker for prostate cancer) was normal at 1.0ng/MI (0-4 is normal) and his p...rostate was normal. He changed doctors due to a change in his health insurance and continued regular physical exams for four years. During his next physical, his PSA was 44.9ng/MI -- an increase of more than 400%. A biopsy confirmed prostate cancer which had metastasized and was deemed incurable. During the four years he was a patient of the second medical practice, he was never screened for prostate cancer. The defense argued that 'evidence based medicine' does not support preventive testing because there is insufficient evidence to conclude that early detection of prostate cancer saves lives. The plaintiff successfully argued that prostate cancer screening should occur annually; and, that had timely screening been done, his cancer would have been detected at a time it was curable. The jury awarded the victim $1.245 million. As a result, the medical practice's managing physician said they would revamp record-keeping and institute new client protocols.
