Our client was an over-the-road truck driver for New Prime, Inc. in Springfield, Missouri.  In 2003, she had been given a new Freightliner Century truck with a Detroit Diesel Series 60 engine.  Over the next six months, our client began feeling increasingly sick.  She was nauseous, suffered headaches, and increasing concentration problems.  Eventually, she realized every time she was in the truck, she became sick.  She began taking her truck into the shop and every time they found an exhaust leak at the EGR joint.  They kept telling her it was fixed, but she kept getting sick and taking the truck back to the shop.  During her last trip in September 2003, she became so disoriented, she had to finally abandon the truck as she felt it was killing her.  It probably was.  It turns out that she was slowly being poisoned by carbon monoxide (and probably other toxic chemicals) from the exhaust.  A big myth among truckers is that diesel engines do not make carbon monoxide.  Wrong.  We sued both Freightliner and Detroit Diesel and it turns out there was quite a history with these trucks leaking exhaust and having drivers getting sick.  Today, I still get calls from drivers who are getting sick from these trucks.  In 2004, the federal government instituted an investigation into these trucks.  They found that both the engine allowed fumes to leak and the truck itself allowed the fumes to enter the cab because of the placement of the fresh air intake.  Because of this investigation, Detroit Diesel instituted a recall of the leaky part.  This was a highly complex case in which we spent nearly $150,000 in expenses – mostly for experts.  In fact there were over 12 experts in the case.  During mediation we presented evidence that our client would no longer be able to work due her neurological damage and that her lost wages amounted to over $1 million.  Additionally, the medical care that would be required over the course of her life amounted to over $4 million dollars.  The defendants argued our client had coincidentally developed the rarest form of Multiple Sclerosis during the same time period that she was driving the truck.  Ultimately, they agreed to pay a confidential settlement during mediation.

Our firm represented the mother of Rudy Wallace, Jr.  When he was fifteen months old, Rudy contracted meningitis.  From that time on, he lived at Northwest Habilitation, a State care facility and required constant care.  On March 10, 2006, an aide put Rudy into the shower.  The water he sprayed onto Rudy was so hot that it immediately caused 3rd degree burns all over his body.  Rudy was later transferred to St. John’s Mercy Medical Burn Unit where he died nearly a week later due to complications from his burn.  Our firm filed suit against the State in Federal Court.  Before reaching trial, we attempted to reach a settlement through mediation.  After making a one hour presentation, we quickly walked out of the mediation due to the State’s unwillingness to settle and what we thought would be fair.  However, several weeks later, the State nearly doubled it’s offer.  In addition to the State, we also sued the manufacturer of a water tempering device that was installed at Northwest Habilitation.  The device was supposed to prevent scalding hot water from being emitted through any shower.  However, our testing revealed it did not work as the company said it did.  We also entered into a confidential settlement with the manufacturer.

We represented the family of a 12-year-old boy.  He had been selected by his school to serve as a crossing guard on Chambers Road before school.  During his second day on duty, he was struck and killed by an inattentive driver.  Not only did we settle against the driver for his policy limits, but we also settled with the school.  During our investigation, we discovered that the school incorrectly trained its students to come out into the street to stop traffic.  Additionally, they were aware of a long history of cars running through red lights at this particular intersection.

Our client was an employee of Briarcrest Nursing Home.  On a winter day in 2005, she arrived at work and headed inside.  As she got to the entrance, she slipped on a patch of ice that had developed due to water dripping from the overhang.  It was the defendants policy to routinely clear the ice from the walkways, but they had failed to do so this day.  When our client, slipped she fell down directly onto her knee.  She later underwent surgery to repair the damage.  The defendant’s insurance company more than doubled their offer after we filed suit.

Our client had arrived home when he saw that his neighbor’s dog had jumped their chain link fence.  The dog was also on a lead line which had gotten caught up on the fence and was choking the dog.  Our client went over to rescue the dog.  After the dog was freed, it jumped back into the yard.  It then jumped back over the fence and bit off the top half of our clients ear.  Initially, the defendants’ insurance company denied all liability.  We filed suit, and through our investigation, learned that the dog had previously jumped the fence and bit another neighbor on the throat.  Afterwards, the insurance company wanted to settle the case before trial.