Kentucky Law Review

Courier Journal News: $8 million Verdict against Louisville Nursing Home

From Courier-Journal:  $8 million nursing home negligence verdict in Jefferson County

"A Jefferson Circuit Court jury on Monday awarded $8 million in damages to the estate of a retired surgeon whose legs were broken while he was in the care of Treyton Oak Towers in Louisville.

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Attorneys William Garmer and Matt Minner said that Dr. David Griffin died less than two months after he was improperly transferred from a chair into his bed — and that Treyton Oak tried to cover up what happened.

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Minner said after Grifffin’s legs were broken in the September 2008 incident, he was put back in bed “like it didn’t happen” and employees were ordered to change medical records and cover the incident up.

Because of a stroke, Griffin couldn’t tell anybody “about the agony he was in,” Minner said.

After being found with two broken bones on Sept. 24, 2008, he was treated at a hospital and later transferred to a different nursing home. He died Nov. 3.

Scott Whonsetler . . . defended Treyton Oak Towers. . . .

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The verdict was returned after the jury deliberated for about two hours and included $2 million for pain and suffering, $1 million for violating the state nursing home statute and $5 million in punitive damages.

The plaintiffs claimed Griffin was transferred without a lift and by only one nursing assistant, in violation of the nursing home’s care plan, which required two assistants.

That was disputed by the nursing home. No one answered a phone call to the nursing home.

Griffin was in his mid-80s and had retired many years before he was injured, Garmer said.

He had been a patient in Treyton Oak Tower’s skilled residential facility."

VERDICT: Ex-Louisville track assistant wins $371,875 in discrimination suit

From the Courier Journal:

Ex-Louisville track assistant wins $371,875 in discrimination suit

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A Jefferson Circuit Court jury awarded a former University of Louisville track and field assistant coach $371,875, finding that she suffered retaliation after she alleged a hostile work environment.

 

From the Courier Journal: Jury awards $4.1 million to woman over injuries on TARC 3 bus

Jury awards $4.1 million to woman over injuries on TARC 3 bus

A Jefferson Circuit Court jury awarded a disabled woman $4.2 million Wednesday for injuries suffered in a 2006 accident on a TARC 3 bus.

Barbara Allgeier broke her legs in nine places when she tried to get off the bus and the lift had been lowered too far, causing her wheelchair to drop and her to fall.

She sued MV Transportation Inc., a California-based company which has a five-year, $45 million contract with the Transit Authority of River City to operate and maintain the buses that serve the disabled.

MV’s contract with TARC was set to expire at the end of the month, but TARC officials notified the company in December 2009 that it would exercise a two-year extension that allows MV to continue providing the service through Sept. 30, 2012.

From the Courier Journal: JCPS insurers to pay Max Gilpin's parents $1.75 million to settle wrongful-death lawsuiT

JCPS insurers to pay Max Gilpin's parents $1.75 million to settle wrongful-death lawsuit

Insurers for Jefferson County Public Schools and its employees have agreed to pay $1.75 million to the parents of 15-year-old Pleasure Ridge High School football player Max Gilpin, who died from heat stroke three days after he collapsed at a practice in August 2008.

The settlement, which lawyers for both sides confirmed, ends the lawsuit in which Michele Crockett and Jeff Gilpin alleged that the negligence of head coach Jason Stinson and five of his assistants caused Max's death. The suit accused Stinson and assistants Bobby Deacon, Steve Deacon, Adam Donnelly, Jason Cook and Josh Lightle of negligence and “reckless disregard” of heat-safety rules.

The accord settled all claims arising from Max's death, with no acknowledgment of liability by the defendants, the lawyers said.

Verdicts: Pineville verdict for med-mal is $2.1 million. If you know who the lawyers are, then add their names as a comment!

From the Kentucky Trial Court Review Blog:

The Kentucky Trial Court Review ‎$2.1 verdict in Pineville. Failure to diagnose twisted colon. Death via sepsis. Interesting. 14 year old son awarded one million for his consortium interest. Fine. But he never appeared at trial. Never testified. His grandma did the testifyin'. Motions pending.

N.KY: "Bengals cheerleader wins $11 million judgment in libel suit"

From the Courier Journal: 

Bengals cheerleader wins $11 million judgment in libel suit

COVINGTON, Ky. — A gossip website has been slapped with an $11 million judgment for libel and defamation after posting false accusations about a Northern Kentucky teacher who moonlights as a Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader.

VERDICTS: Louisville Attorneys Grossman and Hance Obtain $1.3 million medical negligence verdict in Evansville, Indiana

Louisville lawyers Phil Grossman and Michael Hance deserve a slap on the back for a job well done and a battle fought hard in obtaining this $1.3 milllion medical negligence verdict in Indiana.

VERDICTS: "Jury says Conti doesn't have to pay damages to Medicare, Medicaid" from Courier Journal

Jury says Conti doesn't have to pay damages to Medicare, Medicaid

A jury has rejected the U.S. Justice Department's claim that Louisville businessman Tony Conti and his wife, Victoria Conti, should pay up to $1.4 million in damages for allegedly overbilling Medicare and Medicaid for back braces.

Settlements: "Ky. family settles lawsuit over vacation deaths"

From AP is a story of a $5 million settlement for wrongful deaths against the federal government:

Ky. family settles lawsuit over vacation deaths

September 18, 2009 By The Associated Press  BRETT BARROUQUERE (Associated Press Writer)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky doctor and her son have reached a $5 million settlement with the federal government over the deaths of her husband and 8-year-old daughter who were washed over a 184-foot waterfall in a national park in Hawaii during a family vacation in 2003.

Dr. Holly Brown of Louisville and her 17-year-old son, Clayton, sued in 2004, claiming there should have been warning signs about flash floods in the park. Brown's husband, high school teacher Kevin Brown, and their daughter Elizabeth were washed over Makahiku Falls in Haleakala National Park near Maui, Hawaii.

The settlement was approved Friday by U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson. It includes $2.6 million in cash, with another $2.4 million paid in an annuity.

"This is a step," said John Cox, the attorney for the Brown family. "But I don't know if they'll ever recover emotionally from this."

Holly Bundock, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service's Pacific Division in Oakland, Calif., declined to say whether any changes were made at the park because of the accident. Bundock referred questions about the settlement to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Louisville.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brady Miller said the office had no objection to the settlement and would forward it to the U.S. Justice Department for approval.

The deaths happened in the matter of a moment.

Verdicts: Story on $101 Million Verdict against Ventas

$101 million dollar verdict rendered against Ventas in federal court.  Story by Andrew Wolfson of Courier Journal:

Line between competition and ethics at heart of record award

By Andrew Wolfson • awolfson@courier-journal.com • September 14, 2009

The $101 million verdict returned Sept. 4 by a Louisville jury for Ventas Inc. shows that ethics and rules do matter in business, a lawyer for the real-estate investment trust says.

The verdict, which came after a nearly three-week trial in U.S. District Court, was one of the largest ever returned in Kentucky, according to news accounts and the Kentucky Trial Court Review, which reports civil verdicts statewide.

The jury found that one of Ventas' main rivals, Long Beach, Calif.-based HCP Inc., sabotaged Ventas' deal to buy a Canadian operator of assisted living centers by offering a higher bid, even though it knew the offer was invalid.

Ventas ultimately bought Sunrise Senior Living Real Estate Trust in the spring of 2007, but only after it had to sweeten its original $1.8 billion bid by 10 percent.

David Bradford, Ventas' lead counsel, said in an interview that the case showed “there is a right way to compete and a wrong way to compete” and that “while we value our competitive system, it is not ‘anything goes.'”

* * * click on heading for rest of story AND a list of the biggest verdicts in Kentuckyu.