Stennett & Casino - Attorneys at Law

Serious Injury Claim: Mortuary Negligence

Our client was 4-1/2 months into her first pregnancy when she was admitted to the hospital in labor and her first child was stillborn.  The stillbirth was devastating to the parents.  After the stillbirth, our client held her baby and stayed with him until released the next morning.  Her sorrow was so deep that she developed pains in her chest which she described as her heart being broken.  The parents arranged to have their son buried at Greenwood Cemetery.  They brought in clothing for their son, a blanket, teddy bear and prayer card to be placed in the casket.  The mortuary told them they would wash and dress their baby before placing him in the casket.  The parents were at the grave site awaiting the burial ceremony when our client asked to view her baby one last time.  Thereafter it was discovered that there was no baby in the casket.  A bucket containing a placenta was all that was found in the casket.  Our client was so distraught she passed out at the grave site.

Later, a body was presented by the mortuary as the parents’ baby.  DNA testing confirmed that the body was their baby and a month later a proper burial was given to their baby.

While awaiting DNA verification our client feared they may never find her baby.  She became very depressed, remaining at home in the dark.  She could not speak to anyone about the events.  She eventually obtained counseling with her husband.  Our client was diagnosed with severe depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome for which he had to be medicated.  There were points where she could not go on with therapy and points at which the marriage was in danger of dissolving.

The parents believed that both the hospital and the mortuary were negligent – the hospital for failing to release their son to the mortuary driver and the mortuary for attempting to bury the placenta instead of their son.  The hospital settled with the parents.  The mortuary refused to settle.

StennettCasino took the case to trial.  The jury found the mortuary responsible and valued the parents’ emotional distress damages at $600,000.

Injury/Wrongful Death Claim: Professional Negligence

Our client was mother of an adult son who had suffered from polio his entire life.  Although quadriplegic, he was able to survive using a ventilator that supplied air through a hole in his throat.  Even though he was physically challenged, he was able to attend classes with assistance funded by his church.  He had a good sense of humor, love of life, and fondness for people.

Our client’s son required frequent suctioning of his lungs to keep him from suffocating on mucous.  Because he could not breathe on his own, the ventilator sounded an alarm when enough air was not being pumped into his lungs.  This happened when the breathing tube in his throat was removed or malfunctioned, when his lungs needed suctioning, and when after suctioning, the tube was not properly reinserted in the hole in his throat.  The alarm was vital to his life.

Our client had to have surgery which required her to place her son (then 43) in a care facility specifically for high maintenance patients.  While at the care facility, our client’s son died from lack of oxygen.  His breathing tube had not been properly inserted, but the staff was unaware of this because they had turned off his ventilator alarm to keep it from disturbing other patients at night.

We represented our client for the wrongful death of her son.  Through discovery we proved that the care facility staff had turned off the ventilator alarm.  We obtained a substantial settlement for our client.  As part of our case we pursued and were successful in having fines imposed against the facility for regulatory violations.

Wrongful Death Claim: Defective Tire

The client’s husband left for work one morning in the company pick up truck.  He was driving north on I-15, when his vehicle suddenly went out of control, went off the road, and rolled over.  He was ejected and died at the scene.  His surviving wife, our client, was pregnant with their first child.

Our investigation uncovered the fact that the right rear tire tread had peeled off the truck tire.  We retained scientific experts who concluded that the defective tire caused the loss of control.  We filed a lawsuit against the tire manufacturer.  The tire manufacturer, after blaming everything and everyone for the tire failure but its own design, began pointing the finger at the car manufacturer.  The tire manufacturer contended the tire failed because it had been a spare, mounted by the truck manufacturer in a place where heat from the tailpipe damaged it.  We settled the case before trial and both manufacturers paid substantial amounts of money.

Fire Insurance Claim: Inadequate Coverage

The client purchased his home and Homeowners policy in 1993.  The insurance company’s agent placed $180,000 in dwelling coverage on the home without inspecting it.  The Homeowner questioned his agent because he had paid much more for the home.  The agent assured him that $180,000 was sufficient to rebuild the home and said the homeowner also had nothing to worry about because he had “guaranteed replacement cost” coverage.

After a fire destroyed his home the homeowner discovered that rebuilding it would cost $385,000.  Making matters worse, his insurance company claimed he no longer had “guaranteed replacement cost” coverage, saying it was taken away by a policy amendment buried in a renewal notice sent to the homeowner eight months before the fire.   Of course, the homeowner had no documentation because all possessions were destroyed in the fire.

When the client retained us, we tried to persuade the insurance company to pay his full home rebuilding costs on two grounds.  First, the agent had assured our client that $180,000 was enough to rebuild the home.  Second, our client was still entitled to “guaranteed replacement cost” because the insurance company had not complied with the law requiring it to give the client, the homeowner, “conspicuous notice” if it reduce his insurance coverage.  The insurance company still refused to pay the full cost of rebuilding.  We filed a lawsuit, and obtained a court award under which the insurance company not only had to pay the full cost to rebuild the home, but also additional amounts for loss of contents, landscaping, demolition, etc.  The award totaled more than $700,000 – money our client then used to rebuild his home.

Life Insurance Claim: High Blood Pressure Not Disclosed

Our client’s husband died unexpectedly at age 48 following a massive heart attack.  The insurance company denied her claim for her husband’s life insurance benefits because he had not disclosed his history of high blood pressure on his life insurance application.

We first looked to see whether our client’s deceased husband did not know or had forgotten about his high blood pressure when he filled out the application.  If so, the insurer could not deny benefits on the grounds of the non-disclosure.  However, when we obtained the insurance company’s records we found the insurer knew from its own medical examination that our client’s husband weighed over 300 pounds, had high blood pressure and an abnormal EKG.  Therefore, the insurance company was not misled by the husband’s failure to check the box on the application indicating high blood pressure and they could not deny the claim.