Category: Personal Injury
Keating, O’Gara Nets Largest Personal Injury Award Ever Against State of Nebraska Department of Roads
Posted by Jeff Downing in Personal Injury Tuesday, 4 September 2007 14:00 1 Comment
Doug Peterson of Keating, O’Gara, Nedved, & Peter recently received some great news for his clients Jake Wagner (pictured at left) and Gail Fickle, Jake’s mom.
On July 20th, the Nebraska Supreme Court handed down a historic decision in Fickle v. State of Nebraska which involved a 1999 accident wherein Jake was catastrophically injured due to the negligence of the State in failing to remove or repair a traffic signal in Schuyler, Nebraska which was known to produce conflicting green lights.
In the original trial, the judge found that Jake, who has been left permanently disabled and 
confined to a wheelchair due to his injuries, and his mother, Gail Fickle, who brought the case on his behalf, had suffered damages in excess of four million dollars. The State had appealed arguing that it was not liable for the accident.
The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the finding of the trial court that the State was, in fact, liable because it had notice of the dangerous double-green malfunction. The Court also found that the damages were insufficient and must be increased in a retrial of the damages issues.
In a rare move, the Court ordered in its opinion that the future medical damages and lost income damages should be in excess of $8,500,000. In addition, the Court stated that the past and future pain and suffering damages which the trial court fixed at $500,000 were clearly inadequate and “did not bear a reasonable relationship to the injuries Wagner sustained.†The Court ordered that the case be remanded to the trial judge for a further hearing on damages.
The case represents the largest award for personal injuries ever rendered against the State of Nebraska Department of Roads and one of the biggest Nebraska verdicts for personal injuries.
If you have been injured due to the negligence of another, call the experienced personal injury attorneys of Keating, O’Gara, Nedved, & Peter at 888/234-0621 or fill out the “Contact Us” form in the upper left-hand portion of this page.
Court: Judgment was insufficient
By Leslie Reed, Omaha World Herald, July 20, 2007LINCOLN — A Schuyler man said Friday’s Nebraska Supreme Court ruling represents justice for the “hell” he said his life has been since Valentine’s Day 1999.
That’s when a crash caused by a malfunctioning stoplight turned Jacob Wagner, then 16, from someone who loved hunting and fishing and being outdoors into a person who will require 24-hour care for the rest of his life.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court said Wagner may need more than $9 million to compensate him and his mother, Gail Fickle of Schuyler, for medical bills, future lost earnings and pain and suffering.
That amount is more than twice what a lower court had ordered the Nebraska Department of Roads to pay for not fixing the light.
Running With Scissors
Posted by Jeff Downing in Personal Injury Wednesday, 15 August 2007 15:35 No Comments
. . . or sharpened pencils is a bad idea. So far as I know, this personal injury did not result in a lawsuit–just this fascinating x-ray:
A woman in Germany who has spent 55 years with part of a pencil inside her head has finally had it removed.
Margret Wegner fell over carrying the pencil when she was four. It punctured her cheek and part of it went into her brain, above the right eye.
The 59-year-old has suffered headaches and nosebleeds for most of her life.
Think Twice About Buying Your Kid “Heelys”
Posted by Jeff Downing in Defective Products, Personal Injury Monday, 18 June 2007 10:07 No Comments
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons warns about the dangers of “heelys,” the newest shoe craze among adolescents:
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) stresses the importance of protective gear while engaging in a particularly new phenomenon…heeling. Heeleys – also known as roller shoes or street gliders – are shoes that have a wheel on the heel. These types of shoes fall into the category of inline skates which qualifies them as a sport, and carries warnings for their use including wearing protective gear such as wrist guards and helmets to avoid injuries.
According to James H. Beaty, MD, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and president of AAOS, “Orthopaedic surgeons are in fact seeing children come into their practices with injuries due to heeleys, mostly of a fracture-type within the hand, wrist or elbow.â€
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission now reports over 1,600 emergency room visits in 2006 due to wheel and roller shoes.
If you or a loved one have been injured due to a dangerous product, please call Keating, O’Gara, Nedved & Peter at 888/234-0621 or fill out the contact form on this site. Your first consultation is free and we handle cases on a contingency fee basis.
Renowned Jurist Files Slip and Fall Lawsuit
Posted by Jeff Downing in Personal Injury Friday, 15 June 2007 10:06 No Comments
A slip and a fall–it can happen to anyone. Even famous judges. The New York Times reports:
In his days as a legal scholar, Robert H. Bork, the onetime Supreme Court nominee, engaged, as many scholars do, in high-minded debates about the august issues of the law. He wrote widely — sometimes controversially — about antitrust issues, the right to privacy and the limitations of the First Amendment.
Yesterday, however, Mr. Bork, who is 80, waded into a somewhat less majestic area of law. After a tumble at the Yale Club in Manhattan last year while ascending to the dais to deliver a speech, he filed a common everyday trip-and-fall lawsuit against the club.
If you or a loved one have been injured due to the negligence of another, please call Keating, O’Gara, Nedved & Peter at 888/234-0621 or fill out the contact form on this site. Your first consultation is free and we handle cases on a contingency fee basis.
The Devastation of Spinal Cord Injuries
Posted by Jeff Downing in Auto Accidents, Personal Injury, Spinal Cord Injury Wednesday, 23 May 2007 15:43 No Comments
In today’s Journal Star there is the moving account of Shannon Malloy who suffered an atlantooccipital dislocation or “internal decapitation” in an automobile accident.
As [Shannon's] head hit the dashboard, the force separated the skull from the spine. It’s not an uncommon injury, but it’s usually found during an autopsy. It’s similar to what Christopher Reeve suffered, only his was more severe.
Surviving a dislocated head, while still rare, has become more common due to quicker airway protection and better spinal isolation at accident scenes. More than 100 “decapitated†people may be walking around, according to medical literature.
What is Spinal Cord Injury?
A spinal cord injury usually begins with a sudden, traumatic blow to the spine that fractures or dislocates vertebrae. The damage begins at the moment of injury when displaced bone fragments, disc material, or ligaments bruise or tear into spinal cord tissue. Most injuries to the spinal cord don’t completely sever it. Instead, an injury is more likely to cause fractures and compression of the vertebrae, which then crush and destroy the axons, extensions of nerve cells that carry signals up and down the spinal cord between the brain and the rest of the body. An injury to the spinal cord can damage a few, many, or almost all of these axons. Some injuries will allow almost complete recovery. Others will result in complete paralysis.
Is there any treatment?
Improved emergency care for people with spinal cord injuries and aggressive treatment and rehabilitation can minimize damage to the nervous system and even restore limited abilities. Respiratory complications are often an indication of the severity of spinal cord injury About one-third of those with injury to the neck area will need help with breathing and require respiratory support. The steroid drug methylprednisolone appears to reduce the damage to nerve cells if it is given within the first 8 hours after injury. Rehabilitation programs combine physical therapies with skill-building activities and counseling to provide social and emotional support.
Reference: The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke website.
If you or a loved one have suffered a spinal cord injury due to the negligence of another, please call Keating, O’Gara, Nedved & Peter at 888/234-0621 or fill out the contact form on this site. Your first consultation is free and we handle cases on a contingency fee basis.
