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.