Archive for the ‘Serious Injury’ Category

The twelve personal injury attorneys at Dougherty Leventhal and Price LLP are handling serious personal injury and workers compensation cases in North Central Pennsylvania. The Law Firm includes six (6) Super Lawyers as voted by Philadelphia Magazine and is representing accident victims in Bradford, Susquehanna, Tioga, Potter, Wyoming. Sullivan and Wayne County. DLP has handled numerous serious injury cases involving tractor trailers, cars, motorcycles, defective products and other types of negligence. Recently, Attorneys Joe Price and Tom Cummings attended a seminar in Houston , Texas to help the firm represent clients injured or killed while involved in the drilling industry or when involved with a vehicle used in the gas drilling industry. The firm has represented clients from many communities including Wellsboro, Coudersport, Mansfield, Towanda, Athens, Waverly. Montrose, Sayre, Tunkhannock and other towns. If you suffer injuries as a result of an accident or while at work, please contact any of our lawyers at dlplaw.com or call 570-call-dlp.

Pennsylvania Personal injury Attorney Joseph Price, a managing partner in the law firm of Dougherty Leventhal and Price, LLP. announced today that the firm is reviewing potential Avandia drug claims in Northeast Pennsylvania.
According to Attorney Price, Avandia is a drug prescribed to people suffering from Type 2 diabetes. Recently the drug has been subject of recall notices by its manufacturer and the FDA. Studies have linked Avandia to increase risk of heart attack, heart failure and other potentially life threatening side effects.
Individuals who have suffered heart problems, or who have family members who have suffered heart problems after using Avandia should contact Dougherty Leventhal and Price LLP immediately for a free no obligation consultation.

Dougherty, Leventhal and Price personal injury Attorneys Patrick E Dougherty, Joseph G. Price and Paul T. Oven settled a motor vehicle accident case against a paving company winning $14.5 million for their client. The client sustained traumatic injuries in the one car crash.

The client turned out of a driveway and traveled about a half mile when the passenger side tires left the road and dropped six inches in an open and exposed dirt shoulder. Traveling at about 45 mph, the tires ran along the dirt shoulder. The client then over-steered the vehicle back into the road, yawed and then struck two trees. The impact of the crash nearly threw the plaintiff through the rear window.

The paving company contracted with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to pave and shoulder more than 40 miles on a number of roads.

Shouldering and paving is a process whereby the edges of the road are prepared and two layers of surface are laid. Afterward, steps are to be taken to immediately restore the shoulders of the road or to protect or warn the public about the open road edge and drop off.

Despite completing the edge and paving work, the paving company did not shoulder the road or protect or warn the public about it at any time prior to completing the shoulder work.

Now a quadriplegic, the client spent months in various hospitals for intensive physical therapy and rehabilitation. A life care plan was prepared outlining the extensive costs associated with future medical care and medical management. The client is now at home under 24 hour care.

A Columbia County jury awarded $1.5 million to the family of a patient whose pulmonary hemorrhage was allegedly misdiagnosed by a Bloomsburg doctor. The law firm of Dougherty, Leventhal & Price filed a medical malpractice suit on behalf of the family of Bruce Whitmire, 43, against the doctor, Donald A. Remaly, alleging he had mistakenly treated Whitmire for pneumonia.

“What killed him was that he was allowed to bleed into his lungs for three weeks,” said personal injury attorney Patrick Dougherty, who along with Attorney Brian Walsh represented the Whitmires. Whitmire, a truck driver, died on April 10, 2000.

A Columbia County jury found Remaly negligent in his care of Whitmire. It awarded $444,000 in damages to the victim’s family, $5,067 to cover the cost of Whitmire’s funeral and $1,050,933 to compensate for his suffering and mental and physical pain. This represents the largest jury verdict in the history of Columbia County.

A Nanticoke couple has been awarded $1.96 million in a verdict returned by a Luzerne County jury against the Tennessee corporation that operates Dollar General stores. The couple, Joan and Jay Urbanski, was represented by personal injury Attorneys Patrick Dougherty, Joseph Price and Brian Walsh of the DLP law firm. Attorney Price believes the verdict to be a record in Luzerne County for that type of case. It also could go higher as a motion has been filed seeking delay damages against Dollar General.

Mrs. Urbanski, 40, was injured in the fall at a Dollar General Store in Hanover Township on Sept. 4, 2000. She fell after stepping on transparent plastic packaging material that had been left in the store aisle. The jury determined Mrs. Urbanski, a nurse, should receive $862,000 for economic damages, including lost income and the costs of ongoing medical treatment, and $1 million in punitive damages. Her husband was awarded $100,000 for loss of companionship. Dollar General admitted negligence relative to Mrs.Urbanski’s fall, but disputed the extent of her injuries and the diagnosis of reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a nerve disorder resulting from the fall, which disables Mrs. Urbanski. Mr. Price said the case and verdict have a component of deterrence. Attorney Price noted :”We wanted to tell this Tennessee corporation that, if they’re going to have outlets and make profits from people in Northeastern Pennsylvania, then they need to operate safe stores”.

A 57 year old paraplegic who sustained right shoulder injuries while staying at the Holiday Inn Express secured a settlement of $750,000.00 based on the negligence of the defendant. The plaintiff, who was represented by Personal injury Attorneys Patrick Dougherty and Brian J Walsh of the DLP Law Firm, suffered a torn bicep tendon, as well as a torn rotator cuff when the safety bar detached from the wall while the plaintiff was alighting from the commode.

As a result of the incident, the plaintiff underwent arthroscopic surgery for his torn rotator cuff. At the time of the incident, the plaintiff was employed by the paralyzed veteran’s association as a wheelchair repair person. Due to the incident, the claimant was deemed totally disabled and was unable to continue his employment.

DLP pursued a theory of liability that the safety rail was inappropriately secured to the bathroom wall. In addition, the complaint filed by DLP alleged that the defendant was negligent for failing to have appropriate inspection measures in place to ensure that the safety rails were properly attached to the wall.

The case settled prior to trial with the plaintiff securing a settlement in the amount of $750,000.00 to compensate for future loss of earning capacity and plaintiff’s pain and suffering.

In a confidential settlement, the DLP law firm secured an award of $540,000 for a victim in a vicious dog bite attack. Personal injury Attorney David Smacchi was the handling attorney for the dog bite victim.

A family whose members lost everything and suffered serious burns while escaping a house fire in April 2006 has sued the apartment building’s owner, claiming the real estate company is liable because of a lack of smoke detectors and escape routes in the building and their apartment.

Angelica Gonzales Torres was home with her children, ages 3, 4 and 8, and her mother, Etelvina Gonzales, on April 8, 2006, when a fire broke out at 402-404 Broadway. The family is seeking damages, both compensatory and punitive, which includes about $219,000 in medical bills, from building owner L. Friedmann Realty Inc., of Monroe, N.Y.

Investigators say Vicky Scott, 50, and her accomplice, 22-year-old Iissha Martin, poured gasoline on the back porch and lit a match because Ms. Scott was angry with another resident in the building.

Mrs. Torres, Ms. Gonzales and the children had to run through the flames to escape the burning building, and all five were burned badly while fleeing, said their attorney, Sean P. McDonough, of Dougherty, Leventhal & Price.

The suit against L. Friedmann Realty focuses on alleged violations of state and city building codes, including not having smoke detectors, sprinklers or fire extinguishers anywhere in the building.

But perhaps the biggest failure, in Mr. McDonough’s opinion, is that the only entrance and exit to the Torres’ apartment led to the back porch. The suit claims the realty company ignored requests from Mrs. Torres and her husband, Marco, to repair the front door, which was boarded up and bolted shut.

“The fire was started in the back,” he said. “They were forced to run through the flames because there was no other way out.”

Attempts to reach L. Friedmann Realty officials were unsuccessful Friday.

Mrs. Torres suffered the most injuries, according to the suit, with burns to her arms, hands, back, thighs and feet. Her medical bills top $181,000, the suit claims. Ms. Gonzales and the children’s medical bills total at least $38,000, the suit claims.

Ms. Scott, serving a 9½- to 80-year sentence, and Ms. Martin, serving eight to 20 years, were ordered to pay restitution to the Torres family, as well as another resident who was home at the time of the fire.

However, it’s unlikely the Torres family will see any of the restitution money they deserve, Mr. McDonough said, because of the lengthy prison sentences.