Case Results

This was a tragic case involving the failure of an infant's medical providers to perform an emergent cesarean section. His medical providers did not appreciate signs and symptoms of a condition known as placental abruption that indicated the emergency surgery. A placental abruption occurs when the placenta separates from the inner wall of the uterus before birth which, in this case, deprived the child of oxygen/nutrients causing his death. Steve Klausing served as co-counsel in obtaining a recovery to compensate the parents and Estate of the child for the wrongful death.

Scott Powell and Steve Klausing represented one of two plaintiffs involved in a catastrophic workplace injury that left our client with a mild brain injury and severe post traumatic syndrome. The defendant initially rejected liability, so we moved quickly to file suit and secure expert testimony that clearly demonstrated the negligence of the defendant's employee. This helped prompt a policy limits offer of more than $1.9 million to the injured plaintiffs before any depositions were taken.

Our firm represented the family and estate of a deceased infant who showed ongoing indication of fetal distress well after a placental abruption had already been identified. Through the use of a fetal monitoring strip expert, we were able to establish that our client's labor and delivery team disregarded and/or failed to appreciate signs of fetal distress for an unacceptable amount of time.

Our client, a retired Baptist minister, suffered lower spine injuries in a head-on collision with a remodeling contractor. Although the contractor denied the wreck was his fault, we were able to prove his truck had crossed the centerline to cause the impact. The contractor's insurance company paid the full amount of its policy despite the contractor's refusal to take responsibility. With the money, our client was able to retrofit his home to make it more wheelchair/walker accessible, which enabled him to continue to live independently.

Our clients, a family of five, sustained various injuries when their minivan experienced a tire blow out and tread separation. The minivan had been purchased "as is" from an auto dealership in Lexington two weeks before the event. Through the use of several experts, we were able to show the van's tires were inherently dangerous due to age and weathering, and that the dealership should not have sold the subject van without first replacing the tires.

Our client, a high school girl, was hit by a truck as she attempted to run across a country road at night in order to meet her friends for ice cream. The responding police officer assigned fault to our client and apologized to the defendant driver for subjecting him to a mandatory drug and alcohol test. Proceeding against both the driver and our client's underinsured motorist carrier, we were able to show that the driver's consumption of alcohol at dinner impaired his ability to take evasive action, despite the fact that he was not legally intoxicated. In doing so, we achieved a recovery against both insurance carriers for our client's spine and pelvis injuries.

Our firm successfully represented the estate of a Louisville woman in a wrongful death lawsuit against a local hospital. Our client suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after a surgery to repair her broken arm. With the assistance of an expert cardiologist, we were able to show that her surgeon failed to take appropriate steps to achieve proper anticoagulation before her surgery, and the hospital staff then failed to recognize or treat our client's heart attack for approximately 12 hours following the surgery, despite the deceased client having been in ICU for most of that period.

Our client experienced an increase in back pain after undergoing a spinal fusion surgery at his L2-4 vertebrae. Upon investigation, it was determined that an extra hardware component had been left in his spine during the operation. A second surgery was required to retrieve the extra hardware. Moving quickly, we were able to present the surgeon's negligence to his insurance carrier and settle the matter without filing a lawsuit.

Our client sustained crush injury and partial amputation of three toes when a lowboy operator dropped a lowboy deck and bulldozer onto client's foot. Our firm established the lowboy operator was in a hurry and had violated numerous safety protocols and OSHA-recommended procedures. In addition to what our client had already recovered through workers compensation, we were able to recover another $350,000 for pain, suffering, and disfigurement.

Our client suffered post-concussion syndrome with hearing loss after his truck was knocked off a Kentucky rural highway. After quickly securing a policy limits offer from the at-fault driver's insurance, we negotiated a policy limits settlement with our client's underinsured motorist carrier by establishing our client's likely permanent hearing loss and increased probability of lumbar surgery in the future.

Client suffered from a spinal injury.

Our client was rear-ended by an intoxicated 22-year-old driver, causing injuries to his neck. Over the next 16 months our client developed radiculopathy pain in his shoulder and arm, which led to a C5-6/C6-7 anterior cervical diskectomy and fusion (ACDF) surgery. Due to the fact that 16 months had elapsed, the at-fault driver's insurance carrier refused to attribute our client's surgery to the auto accident and offered just $5,000 to settle. Our firm sued the at-fault driver and, in the lawsuit, established not only the egregiousness of the at-fault driver's conduct, but also the causal relationship between the auto accident and our client's surgery.

Our client, a 2-year-old boy, was ejected from his rear car seat sustaining causing him to lose several teeth. The at-fault party's insurance carrier argued the loss was minimal since "they were baby teeth and will grow back." With the assistance of a dental expert, we were able to establish that our client would likely experience speech development problems and would likely also have alignment issues when his adult teeth eventually came in.

Our client suffered post-concussion syndrome and a knee injury after his truck was t-boned during a left hand turn into his driveway. The at-fault driver was attempting to pass our client by accelerating into the oncoming lane. Although the other driver's insurance company quickly paid policy limits, our client's own insurance carrier vigorously defended the underinsured motorist claim. Our client's carrier finally agreed to pay just before trial.

Our clients were struck by an oncoming driver who died as a result of the collision. Our clients sustained a head injuries and had no recollection of the crash. As a result, no one knew what had caused the collision. Our firm undertook a thorough investigation and ultimately established the deceased driver had crossed the center line and was responsible for the crash. Our investigation also uncovered additional layers of insurance coverage available to our client, which his carrier had kept secret from him. After filing suit, we quickly settled and collected all available coverage for our clients.

Our client stepped off his waste collection truck in the course of his employment. In doing so, he was struck by an impatient young driver who had opted to pass our client's garbage truck in the oncoming lane at a high rate of speed. The impact launched our client into the air, causing him to sustain lacerations and brief loss of consciousness. Fortunately, he suffered no permanent injuries. After the other driver's insurance carrier initially denied responsibility, we were able show violation of several statutes designed to protect municipal service workers. In doing so, we promptly collected the driver's entire policy limits.

Our client, an avid snow skier, suffered severe whiplash in an automobile accident. Her injuries led to months of physical therapy and caused her to miss an entire season of snow skiing with her kids and grandkids. After months of trying unsuccessfully to negotiate a fair settlement on her own, she contacted her attorney, who referred her to our firm. We worked diligently to articulate the full scope of our client's loss. After significant negotiations, the at fault driver's insurance company agreed to pay its entire policy limits to resolve the claim - approximately 15x the "top offer" repeatedly extended to our client before she hired us.

Our client, a young African American man, was stopped by police officers while walking to his grandmother's house late one night. After confirming our client was not the individual the officers were searching for, the officers nonetheless proceeded to empty his backpack and other belongings without a valid reason. In the course of a lawsuit filed in Federal District Court, we established a violation of our client's civil rights by the police officers.