Case Examples

Surgical Error During Gall Bladder Removal: Wallace v. Ascension Providence Hospital
Sommers Schwartz attorney Robert Sickels filed a surgical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of a woman whose gall bladder removal resulted in damage to her biliary tract, requiring a second surgery that ...
  • $1.5 Million Wrongful Death Settlement—Intoxicated Driver Car Crashes Into Car Killing Father and Daughter in Other Vehicle

Sommers Schwartz attorney Michael Cunningham negotiated a $1.5 million wrongful death settlement for the family of a six-year-old girl and her father. The decedents were killed when a drunk driver collided with their vehicle. The defendant was jailed on two counts of second-degree murder.  

According to police and news reports, the defendant was driving while intoxicated at approximately 75 miles per hour when he ran into the father’s vehicle. The father was stopped at a red light behind his wife’s SUV after she met him and their daughter at a car dealership. The wife was also injured in the multi-vehicle collision.  Several minutes before the crash, the defendant’s driving was reported as “reckless,” and police were tracking down the vehicle when the collision occurred. 

The six-year-old girl was killed on impact, while the father was taken to the hospital in critical condition. He spent several days in a coma before passing away. Because he was an organ donor, three people received transplants and now have opportunities to continue living.

The defendant pled not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, operating while intoxicated and causing death, reckless driving causing death, operating while intoxicated causing serious injury, and reckless driving causing serious injury. If convicted of second-degree murder, he could receive the maximum sentence of life in prison. Bail was set at $1 million.

The personal injury case settled for the insurance policy limit of $1.5 million: the surviving wife and mother received $700,000 for each of the two decedents and $100,000 for her own claim for witnessing the deaths of her daughter and husband.  

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