Category: Personal Injury
Joel Bacon Wins Appeal in Nebraska Supreme Court and Sets Important Precedent for Injured Workers
Posted by Jeff Downing in Keating O'Gara Law Firm, Nebraska Workers Compensation, Personal Injury, Spinal Cord Injury Wednesday, 2 November 2011 16:55 No Comments
Keating, O’Gara’s Joel Bacon won an important appeal on Friday in the case of Howsden v. Roper and Sons.
From the Lincoln Journal Star:
Court says woman can sue over elevator shaft fall
By Lori Pilger
The Nebraska Supreme Court says a woman seriously injured after falling down an elevator shaft can sue the owner of the building where it happened.
Darlene Howsden was working at Metcalf Funeral Home at 245 N. 27th St. in Lincoln on Aug. 28, 2009, when she fell 16 feet down an empty elevator shaft to the basement as she was on her way to leaving the mortuary.
Employees rarely used the elevator to travel to other floors of the building, but rather as a passageway between hallways because a floor had been built atop the elevator car, according to the suit.
On the day of the accident, she opened the door to the hallway and took a step — not realizing that the makeshift floor was gone.Howsden, then an employee of Roper & Sons, was left with significant injuries and got workers’ compensation benefits through the mortuary.
She also sued Roper’s Real Estate Co., which was owned and operated by the same shareholders, alleging the company’s negligence led to her injuries. The Metcalf building is owned by Roper’s.
Roper’s Real Estate argued that, because it essentially was the same company, workers’ compensation was Howsden’s only option. In February, a judge sided with the company and dismissed the lawsuit.
But, on appeal, the state’s high court reversed the decision, finding that Howsden was not barred from bringing her own claim against the owner of the premises.In Friday’s opinion, Judge John Gerrard wrote that Roper’s Real Estate contended that it and Roper & Sons, her employer, should be considered the same entity. “We disagree,” he said.
Because the companies are legally separate entities, the court sent Howsden’s case back to Lancaster County District Court.
On Friday, Howsden’s attorney, Joel Bacon, told The Associated Press he had not had a chance to tell Howsden about the opinion.
According to court documents filed in 2010, she sued for medical expenses that by then had added up to about $75,000, plus unspecified damages for lost wages and pain and suffering for her back injury.James Snowden, an attorney for Roper’s, did not immediately return a message left seeking comment.
If you or a loved one have suffered a serious injury contact Keating, O’Gara at 888/234-0621 or online at YourNebraskaLawyers.com.
Keating, O'Gara Attorney Doug Peterson Files Tort Claim for Defectively Designed Roundabout in Southwest Lincoln
Posted by Jeff Downing in Auto Accident Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Auto Accidents, Car Crash Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Defective Design, Defective Products, Defective Signage, Nebraska Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer, Nebraska Wrongful Death Attorney, Personal Injury, Product Defect Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Wrongful Death Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska Monday, 28 June 2010 11:56 No Comments
Attorney Doug Peterson of the Keating, O’Gara Law Firm has filed a tort claim on behalf of a seriously injured client regarding an accident that occurred at a poorly designed roundabout in southwest Lincoln.
From the Lincoln Journal Star:
WOMAN SAYS COUNTY IS PARTIALLY LIABLE FOR MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT
By Algis Laukitis
Lincoln Journal Star
Posted: Sunday, June 27, 2010 5:22 pmA woman who was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in May 2009 has filed a $1 million tort claim against Lancaster County.
An attorney for Lycebeth Loy alleges the county is partially liable because of inadequate warning signs and street lights at a roundabout in an undeveloped area of Lincoln.
Lycebeth Loy was a passenger on a motorcycle driven by her husband, Robert, when it struck a median as he approached the roundabout at Southwest Fourth Street on May 6, 2009.
Police say Robert applied his brakes, but lost control of the motorcycle and his wife was thrown to the concrete. Both Loys were wearing helmets.
As a result of her severe head injury, her attorney, Douglas Peterson of Lincoln, says Lycebeth Loy required emergency medical treatment and long-term medical care and therapy, the cost of which currently exceeds $300,000. She also asks to be paid for future medical care and past and future wages.
Tort claims are required by state law and are a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit in district court. A political subdivision can approve or disapprove a claim. Lycebeth Loy is asking for not less than $1 million, the maximum amount under the state’s Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act.
The County Board is scheduled to vote on the tort claim on Tuesday. Such claims are routinely denied.
The Hallam couple filed a tort claim against the City of Lincoln in March because it was involved in the “design, maintenance and control” of the Denton Road detour along Amaranth Lane, which leads to the roundabout.
Peterson alleges Amaranth Lane was created for a proposed development of a Walmart shopping center and other commercial property. He says the lane was designed to be fully illuminated with a roundabout in the middle. The development was never built.
“Once the project went dormant, the road became a dark cornfield with an unlit roundabout in the middle of darkness,” Peterson wrote in the tort claim.
Peterson said the couple were unfamiliar with the road, did not know it had a roundabout, and could not see any reflective markers or any warning signs.
“We contend that it was very foreseeable that drivers would be completely unfamiliar with this area since the road has never been open to the public,” Peterson wrote.
“Drivers would be completely unfamiliar with a roundabout contained in the darkness of this road.”
If you or a loved one have been injured on a Nebraska road or highway due to improper signage or defective highway design, call the experienced lawyers of the Keating, O’Gara Law Firm for a free consultation: 888/234-0621.
Survey: Americans strongly support public policies to reduce highway deaths
Posted by Jeff Downing in Auto Accident Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Auto Accidents, Car Crash Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Nebraska Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer, Nebraska Wrongful Death Attorney, Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, Wrongful Death Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska Thursday, 3 June 2010 16:35 No Comments
From USA Today:
Survey: More support road rules
USA Today
By Larry Copeland
June 3, 2010Americans strongly support public policies to reduce highway deaths, including some measures that many elected officials consider too restrictive, such as alcohol ignition interlocks and traffic enforcement cameras, a new national survey finds.
The Center for Excellence in Rural Safety at the University of Minnesota found that most Americans support ignition interlocks for those convicted of drunken driving and automated speed enforcement using cameras and radar. Respondents also support sobriety checkpoints, mandatory motorcycle helmet laws, phased-in privileges for new drivers and laws enabling police to ticket drivers solely for not wearing seat belts. . . .
If you or a loved one have been injured due to a negligent motorist, call the Keating, O’Gara Law Firm at 888/234-0621 for a free initial consultation.
Mother of Toddler Who Died from Medication Error: "That was my purpose in life, to be her mom . . . . "
Posted by Jeff Downing in Medical Malpractice, Medical Malpractice Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Medication Errors, Nebraska Medical Malpractice Attorney, Nebraska Wrongful Death Attorney, Personal Injury, Wrongful Death Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska Tuesday, 1 June 2010 14:05 No Comments
A tragic story from today’s Omaha World Herald:
Girl dies after medication error
By Juan Perez Jr.
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERAlicia Coleman was born relatively healthy, her mother said, even though she was three months’ premature and weighed little more than 2 pounds at birth. Things grew worse when Alicia came down with a bowel infection at 12 days old. The infection quickly spread through her intestinal tract and wreaked havoc on her tiny body.
Alicia’s doctors initially gave her a 5 percent chance of survival, said her mother, Dominique Coleman.
Yet Alicia fought through 15 surgical procedures and the battery of medications that marked the first year of her life. She improved to the point where doctors wanted to wean her off her medications. She was learning how to walk.
“We were very optimistic,” said Coleman, 26, of Omaha.
The 19-month-old child suddenly died Saturday while in the care of Children’s Home Healthcare’s World, a pediatric care center at 7815 Farnam Drive. Coleman and hospital authorities said medical staff erroneously injected some of Alicia’s medication into a catheter connected to her jugular vein.
The infant was struck by a seizure and stopped breathing, forcing rescuers to perform CPR as they rushed her to the emergency department at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center. She died after doctors spent an hour trying to revive her, her mother said.
Alicia’s death was at least the second associated with a medication-related error in the city in recent months. In early April, Nebraska Medical Center officials attributed the death of a 23-month-old girl to an overdose of blood thinner.
“One minute I’m fine, the next minute I’m crying,” Coleman said Sunday. “I really don’t know how to start thinking about what life is like without her.
“That was my purpose in life, to be her mom.”
Children’s Home Healthcare’s World is operated by Children’s Hospital & Medical Center. The facility, according to its website, is the area’s only full-service home health care agency focused exclusively on pediatric patients.
In a statement, Children’s officials confirmed that Alicia’s seizure occurred after medication was “improperly routed into the child’s system.”
“Children’s Hospital & Medical Center and Children’s Home Healthcare’s World share deepest condolences with the child’s family,” hospital officials said. “Words fail us at a time like this. Nothing can adequately express the sadness surrounding the loss of a child.”
Coleman knows the feeling. Alicia was her third child, she said. The first two were stillborn.
“She was my last hope,” Coleman said. “She’s made it through so many things and she bounced back, and for something stupid to take her so fast … .”
Coleman’s voice trailed away for a moment, then she said: “I guess I feel cheated.”
Our heart-felt condolences go out to the family of Alicia Coleman.
Failure to Provide Three Point Restraint for Rear Seat Passenger Leads to Verdict Against Ford Motor Co.
Posted by Jeff Downing in Auto Accident Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Car Crash Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Defective Products, Personal Injury, Product Defect Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Product Liability, Safety, Spinal Cord Injury, Wrongful Death Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska Monday, 4 January 2010 15:15 No Comments
From Law.com
Already on the hook for the lion’s share of a $17.7 million judgment and waiting for a decision from a jury that was out considering punitive damages, Ford Motor Co. decided to settle with a couple who sued following a Christmas 2005 wreck that left the woman paralyzed.
The agreement came after a Clayton County, Ga., jury ordered Ford on Dec. 18 to pay more than $16 million of the judgment to compensate for what the plaintiffs argued were design defects in the 2002 Explorer sport utility vehicle in which the woman was a passenger.
Lynn Wheeler, then 58, was seated in the back seat between her two grandchildren, who were in booster seats, as her son drove to church that morning along Noah’s Ark Road in Clayton County . . . Wheeler, who was restrained only by a lap belt, slammed forward and down as the rear seat latch failed, and it collapsed on her.
“As a result,” says the pre-trial order, “Lynn Wheeler’s head and neck were driven down and forward into the front seat and/or center console, catastrophically injuring her spinal cord.”
* * *
The complaint asserted that the automaker’s design for both the rear seat latch and decision to install a lap belt rather than a three-point shoulder belt constituted negligence, and it also said Ford should have warned the Wheelers and the general public “of the dangers in a reasonably foreseeable collision presented by the design of the Ford Explorer rear seat, occupant restraint system and surrounding structures.”
If you or a loved one have been injured due to a product defect such as a poorly designed restraint system, please call the Keating, O’Gara Law Firm at 888/234-0621 for a free consultation.
