Kentucky Injury Lawyer Blog

Steve Price didn’t recognize the crumpled car in the middle of N.C. 49 – until he focused on the Mercedes emblem on one wheel.

He started to run for the wreck, but a police officer grabbed him.
“Where you going, boy?” the officer said.

“That’s my wife’s car!” Price shouted.

Price’s riveting testimony came Thursday in a Mecklenburg courtroom, during the second week of a civil lawsuit against Crescent Resources. The suit accuses the company, which developed the posh Palisades community off N.C. 49, of negligence by not installing a traffic light at a dangerous intersection with Riverpointe Drive and Grand Palisades Parkway.

It was there at about 6 p.m. on April 4, 2009, that Price’s 45-year-old wife, Cindy Furr, and 2-year-old daughter, Macke, turned left from Riverpointe to go their church. In an instant, Furr’s Mercedes was rammed by a Mitsubishi Eclipse as it raced another car on N.C. 49.
Furr and Macke were killed. Hunter Holt, a 13-year-old passenger in the Mitsubishi driven by Tyler Stasko, died the next day.

Price and Hunter’s parents, Dan and Lisa Holt, are asking for $5 million for each of the victims.

27 year old LaGrange, Kentucky resident Ian Connin lost his life when the car driven by him crossed the Interstate 71 median and triggered a multi-vehicle collision. It happened around 7:45 a.m. Mr. Connin was traveling southbound and struck a Jeep driven by 50 year old Louisville resident Mary Casebier. She sustained injuries requiring emergency medical treatment. After the initial collision, Mr. Connin's car collided with a tractor trailer driven by 39 year old Carrollton, Kentucky resident J.B. Benson, who did not suffer any immediately apparent injuries.

26 year old Bedford, Kentucky resident, Ashton Johnson, avoided the crash by driving off the roadway, into the median and into a drainage gate. He sustained injuries as well.

It is not immediately apparent what caused the Connin car to leave the roadway. Of course, the most highly suspect reason will be driver error. It is always the prime suspect. However, the investigating agency should not be so quick to rule out other potential causes, such as mechanical failure, shoddy maintenance and repair work and other defective and dangerous conditions. Mr. Connin obviously cannot give a statement, so it becomes paramount to intensively investigate the other facts and clues to determine just what caused this accident.

Continue reading "I-71 Crossover Accident In Oldham County Results In Fatality And Injuries" »

The estate for a mentally ill U.S. military veteran alleges in two lawsuits jail workers and a doctor were responsible for his death at the Richmond (Va.) Jail.

The wrongful-death lawsuits, filed in Virginia alleges Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr. and several of the jail's medical staff, and Dr. Gregory J. Pleasants -- a doctor responsible for providing medical care at the jail -- withheld appropriate treatment and failed to intervene when Anthony Ousley refused to eat in his cell.

Ousley was 41 when he died Sept. 10, 2010, at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, where he had been brought in terminal condition from the Richmond Jail, court documents indicate. He had been living in Memphis, where he was being treated at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital for depression and anxiety..

He had been at the jail for two weeks, and had not eaten for three days, when he was transferred to VCU. He spent long periods of time at the jail lying on his cell floor and was naked, with no mattress or running water, in his cell, the lawsuits indicate.

He was treated for acute kidney failure at VCU, where his right leg was amputated and he became comatose. The lawsuits -- each of which seeks $10.4 million -- are the latest in a series of civil actions alleging improper medical care or inhumane conditions at the Richmond Jail, which the newspaper said is chronically overcrowded.

45 year old Lisa Wilson, Palmyra, IN, died as a result of injuries she sustained when a car driven by 22 year old Anthony Schlicher, Salem, IN, crossed the center line and crashed into the vehicle driven by Ms. Wilson. It happened on U.S. 150 in Harrison County close to the intersection of Gettlefinger Road.

It is unclear why Mr. Schlicher crossed the center line, and that needs to be the focus of the investigation. Was it simply driver error, or was it something else, such as mechanical failure, product defect or shoddy repair or maintenance? These are questions the Wilson family are surely asking and to which they deserve answers.

Continue reading "Southern Indiana Crossover Car Accident Results In Fatality" »

Multiple wrecks in multiple locations near Elizabethtown, Kentucky have resulted in several severe crashes with fatalities. It appears the wrecks may have been caused due to icy bridges and overpasses.

The first accident happened around 8:00 a.m. and involved a tractor trailer and multiple cars. That shut southbound traffic down for about an hour. Then, the second and third wrecks happened about two miles and 15 minutes apart between 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. These two appear to have been very severe.

Obviously, it is too early to know the precise cause or causes of the accidents, but it sounds as if driver error in the form of going too fast for the conditions could be part of it. The Kentucky State Police are investigating and will likely perform accident reconstructions to try and figure it out.

***UPDATE***

It appears that 6 people died and another 5 were injured, but contrary to earlier reports, icy conditions, or any weather for that matter, were not a factor. The worst of the accidents occurred when a semi tractor trailer slammed into the rear of an SUV carrying a family from Marion, Wisconsin. Good Samaritans were able to rescue a 15 and 12 year old from the wreckage, but the SUV became engulfed in flames and they were not able to get the other six out in time. The deceased range in ages from 8 to 92. The SUV was burned so badly that it had to be moved before authorities could retrieve the bodies.

A second accident occurred directly across the median in the opposite lane of travel. It involved four vehicles and resulted in three injuries, one of them critical. It appears that rubbernecking may have led to this one.

While driver error appears to be a substantial factor in causing the first accident, one thing that is very disconcerting is the fact that the SUV caught on fire and burned up like it did. While no vehicle is 100% fire proof, modern safety measures have made something like this far less likely. There is no information on what make or model of vehicle this was, but the faulty mechanics, defective design and manufacturing and shoddy repair and maintenance should all also be closely examined in the investigation.

Martha Vivian, 79, of Clay City, Kentucky died from injuries suffered after being struck by a car driven by 34 year-old Johnny Moore of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Ms. Vivian had wrecked her own vehicle and was standing outside of the car when she was struck by the Moore vehicle. Mr. Moore has been charged with DUI and murder.

One of the big factors in this case will be determining exactly where Ms. Vivian was standing when she was struck. An accident reconstruction is crucial in making this determination. Hopefully, the Vivian family will get the answers to the questions they most certainly have at this time.

Continue reading "Clay City, Kentucky (Powell County) Car And Pedestrian Accident Results In Murder Charges" »

A wrongful-death lawsuit was filed last week in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas by the estate of a Delaware man who died last May when a roll of newsprint about to be unloaded from a train car at the Inquirer and Daily News printing plant in Upper Merion fell on him.

The suit was filed for Sarah Troester of Wilmington, administrator of the estate of her husband, Jefferson. He was an assistant engineer employed by Arcellor-Mittal Railways Inc. at the time of his death, according to the lawsuit. Defendants include Arcellor-Mittal, the Great Northern Paper Co., and Philadelphia Media Network and Philadelphia Newspapers, former owners of The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.

Troester, 43, was opening the doors of a rail car when two 1,500-pound newsprint rolls fell out, with one landing on him, the lawsuit says. The suit alleges that the defendants failed to properly secure the newsprint rolls in the train, causing them to shift during transport, and failed to have a procedure in place for safely opening the doors, according to the court document.

A spokesman for the Inquirer and the Daily News, said the company has a policy of not commenting on pending litigation.

In a story that may remind some readers about the recent problems with the Kentucky corrections department’s care of inmates, a mother has sued a Texas Jail after her son committed suicide while in custody. Eric Dykes, 25, hung himself in 2011 after being moved to a solitary cell. His mother Diana Riley said guards ignored the young man's threats to harm himself.

"When I visited him, he did say that he couldn't stand it there, that you know he didn't want to spend his life like that," Riley said. The Texas Civil Rights Project is handling the case. In a news conference Thursday morning, attorneys said Dykes was bipolar and was allegedly not receiving his medication regularly. "When a jail is in charge of someone's life they need to take every precaution possible to prevent these types of tragedies," Attorneys for the Texas Civil Rights Project said.

Dykes was in jail for robbery. His attorneys said the district attorney plans to dismiss the case.

76 year old Patricia Gibson and 73 year old Lillie Newby, both of Frankfort, Kentucky suffered fatal injuries when a pickup truck driven by Gary Sigretto of Owenton crossed over the center line of U.S. 127 and crashed head-on into the car driven by Ms. Newby.

The Kentucky State Police are investigating and do not know what made Mr. Sigretto and the pickup truck crossover the center line. Of course, part of the investigation includes a toxicology test to see if Mr. Sigretto was under the influence. That is standard operating procedure. In addition to intoxication and driver error, the KSP will hopefully focus on other potential factors, which could include mechanical failure, faulty maintenance or repair and defective manufacturing, just to name a few. The families of Ms. Newby and Ms. Gibson deserve answers to the questions they most surely are asking right now.

Continue reading "Owen County, Kentucky Car And Truck Accident Claims Lives Of Two" »

An unidentified elderly female sustained fatal injuries when a Ford Ranger crossed the centerline on Taylorsville Road and crashed head-on into the Lincoln Zephyr she was driving. It happened around 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon. A passenger in the Zephyr and the Ranger driver required emergency medical care as well.

The Louisville Metro Police Department is investigating this wreck and have stated that the Ranger driver had a medical emergency that caused him to cross the centerline. This raises an interesting legal question. The investigation should focus on what precise medical condition is at play here and whether this was an initial event or whether the driver knew he possessed this condition prior to this accident. Hopefully, a full and complete investigation is performed so that the elderly lady's loved ones and the injured passenger get the answers to the questions they surely have right now.

Continue reading "Louisville, Kentucky Car And Pickup Truck Accident Claims One Life" »