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June
2020
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John Muir, CCLA, CPCU
John M. Muir, J.D.
309-662-0569 (Bloomington, IL Office) 314-238-1353 (St. Louis, IL Office)
Thomas J. Kovacevich
224-353-6125 (Schaumburg, IL Office)

Structure Strategies

Slumber Party Injury Successfully Resolved


Steve and his 10-year-old daughter, Sarah, do everything together, from fishing and shooting hoops to shopping for new clothes. Sarah’s mom left when Sarah was an infant, and there were no other siblings. But when a bunch of Sarah’s friends invited her to her first slumber party, Steve was happy to let her go.

Two hours after dropping Sarah off, Steve was called to the hospital. Sarah had been playing on some exercise equipment, fell and badly cut her cheek. Later, Steve discovered that the parents responsible for watching the girls were entertaining another couple.

Given the facts, both Steve’s lawyer and defense counsel knew that this case would be a roll of the dice at trial. Knowing that Steve’s first concern was Sarah’s future, they instead worked with a Ringler consultant to put together a structure. The plan would pay Sarah’s school loans after college and leave her enough to buy a car or put money down on a house.

Steve was delighted. He would avoid protracted litigation, which might sour Sarah’s relationship with her friends. And more important, he would never have to worry about having enough money to give Sarah a good start in life. In the end, both sides came out winners thanks to everyone’s focus on what was best for Sarah.

(Note: While Structure Strategies is based on actual Ringler case histories, the names and images of the people involved have been changed to protect their privacy.)

First of Thousands of Opioid Cases Top the 2019 Personal Injury Verdict List


White PillsThis year's verdicts include a landmark suit in the fight against the opioid epidemic.

Johnson & Johnson again finds itself in the unenviable position atop our annual list of supersized personal injury verdicts.

In previous years, J&J has fought multi-million-dollar claims that its talc-based products contained asbestos, causing lung cancer and mesothelioma after prolonged use. Now the health care giant is in the whopper verdict headlines again as the losing party in the first opioid case to go to trial. States, cities and counties have filed 2,700 cases nationwide, alleging that drug makers fueled the epidemic with misleading marketing about the benefits of opioid painkillers and the risks of addiction.

Our 2019 list of top personal injury verdicts comes courtesy of Courtroom Video News, which provides thousands of hours of access to video of high-stakes civil litigation. Selection criteria included  “... the amount awarded, the facts of the case, the parties and attorneys involved, and the potential broader impact of the verdict.”

The list that follows includes links to news stories about each verdict.

2019 Case Summaries

  1. $465 million in first-of-its-kind opioid lawsuit: The state of Oklahoma successfully argued that Johnson & Johnson used deceptive marketing to minimize the risks of using opioid painkillers. – The details.

    Trucks on Shoulder
    A trucking company was found responsible following a fatal crash that killed five people.
  2. $280 million to family of woman killed in truck crash: Five members of the same family, two of them children, were killed in a head-on collision with a truck. – The details.
     
  3. $157 million to husband of man who died from lung cancer: Tobacco giants R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris were ordered to pay damages to Bryan Rintoul following the 2018 lung cancer death of his husband, Edward Caprio. This marks the first wrongful death case against the tobacco industry in the United States involving a same-sex married couple.
    – The details.
     
  4. $123 million to victims and families of deadly Duck crash: Five people were killed and over 60 injured when an amphibious Duck vehicle crossed the centerline of Seattle’s Aurora Bridge and collided with a charter bus packed with international students. – The details.
    Bike CrashA driver on meth hit and paralyzed a bicyclist from the chest down.
    5.  
  5. Possible $60 million to paralyzed bicyclist: Juan Carlos Vinolo was left paralyzed from the chest down when he was hit by a car driven by a woman high on meth. The city of San Diego was also found partially liable for creating hazardous road conditions 
    – The details.
     
  6. $30.84 million to young woman with catastrophic brain injury: Two bars were held liable for the actions of a hit-and-run drunk driver who ran down an 18-year-old woman while she was crossing a street.  – The details.
     
  7. $11 million to widow of truck passenger: Jose Garcia died after the truck he was riding in crashed  into the back of a semi illegally parked on the shoulder of a freeway. 
    – The details.
     
  8. $10 million to woman diagnosed with mesothelioma: Johnson & Johnson and Colgate Palmolive were blamed for Patricia Schmitz’s terminal cancer diagnosis, marking the 11th loss for J&J over cancer claims tied to its talc-based products. – The details.
     
  9. $8.6 million to family of stuntman killed on set: A stuntman fell over 20 feet to his death on the set of the “Walking Dead.” Both the production company and those overseeing the stunt were found responsible for the fall.
    – The details.
     
  10. $3.8 million in school shooting case:  A young man severely injured by a fellow student during a 2013 school shooting accused administrators of not acting on a pattern of troubling behavior by the shooter. – The details.

Honorable Mention: $2.38 million asbestos ruling after appeal: Thomasina Fowler’s asbestos-related case against Union Carbide on behalf of her deceased husband was initially dismissed, but an appeals court reversed that decision. 
– The details.

 

  
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