Accident Victims

These are just a few examples of the personal injury and wrongful death cases in which we have successfully represented our clients:

Traumatic Brain Injury in South Carolina: 

A 47-year-old computer programmer was rear-ended by a commercial truck while on vacation in South Carolina. Only months prior to the rear-end accident she had been diagnosed with a concussion from a fall, but had been steadily improving. After the accident in South Carolina she attempted to return to work, but could not read the lines of computer code necessary for her job. She could not concentrate and became easily frustrated with her inability to be the person she was before the accident – an accident that caused virtually no damage to the truck that rear-ended her car. Her life was changed because of a minor fender-bender. We filed the case in Federal Court in Charlotte and brought in a leading neuropsychologist to explain how our client was susceptible to traumatic brain injury because of her prior concussion – similar to the multiple head trauma suffered by professional football players. The Court instructed the jury that the commercial truck driver was responsible for all injuries he caused even if our client may not have been fully healed from her prior concussion. The jury awarded $1.3 million to our client.

Death from defective and dangerous conditions:

In another case, we represented a commercial truck mechanic killed when a split-ring wheel assembly suddenly exploded as he was removing a wheel off of a school bus. We determined the wheel assembly was sold to the vehicle’s purchaser six months prior with mismatched and misaligned twenty-year-old parts. We alleged that the seller of the school bus should have known the parts were old, mismatched and misaligned when it conducted a pre-sale inspection. Our client was unaware of the defective and dangerous condition before he worked on the bus. We proved the defect existed when the vehicle was sold because of old and new paint marks on the wheel rim itself. We obtained one of the largest wrongful death verdicts in Johnston County, North Carolina. The jury awarded $2 million to the family of the man killed.

Supervisor crushed by improperly stacked steel: 

We represented a jobsite supervisor crushed by improperly stacked steel beams and columns on a flatbed tractor-tailor. As the steel was being unloaded from the trailer, pieces of the steel rolled onto our client knocking him off the trailer and crushing him on the ground. Our client was rendered a paraplegic and suffered horrible spinal injuries from which he could never recover. We had to determine how the steel had been improperly stacked based on a few accident scene photographs. We used forensic engineering and virtual reconstruction to show that gaps were left in the stacked steel that allowed round columns to roll when there should have been straps and standards in place to prevent the accident. A computer-generated reconstruction of the accident was produced to prove our case. The company that loaded the trailer paid $3.5 million dollars to settle the case before trial.

Six Iraqi citizens killed and injured by Blackwater Guards: 

In still another case, we represented the victims and families of six Iraqi citizens killed and injured by Blackwater guards in Nisur Square, Baghdad, Iraq on September 16, 2007. Four of the involved Blackwater guards were eventually found guilty of various murder, manslaughter and weapons charges for their actions. One of our clients was the family of Ali Kinani, a nine year old boy shot in the head and killed while sitting in the backseat of his father’s car. The case was fiercely litigated in two state court matters, the Federal Court in Raleigh and the Federal Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. The case settled for a confidential amount for all of our clients. Our case was reported nationally by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Democracy Now, and on national television news in Germany and France. A 25 minute documentary about the case was produced by Academy Award nominee Jeremy Scahill. A slideshow about the case, including images of Ali’s family and a personal letter to Ali’s mother from General Raymond T. Odierno, Commanding  General of the US Army in Iraq was also created by The Nation.

Other Wrongful Death Cases: 

We have also obtained settlements in wrongful death cases involving a dump truck for $2.5 million; an airplane mechanic who fell to his death from a defective work stand for $2 million; a 77-year-old woman who died from a medication error for $975,000; an assisted living resident who suffered and died for $755,000, and a nursing home resident who was allowed to escape and died for $750,000. These are some examples of the diverse nature of the cases on which we have worked.