Past Results

*numbers are rounded.

This is a selection of the cases Garmer & Prather and its lawyers while part of predecessor firms have successfully handled. However, every case is unique. Prior success with a specific case does not predict the results of future cases. The facts of every case are different, and there are many factors that influence case outcomes, including differences in facts, changes of law, calculations of damages, available insurance coverage, whether the case is in state or federal court and the location of the court where it is filed, availability of witnesses and evidence, and much more. It is important to have an experienced lawyer evaluate your case, but keep in mind that no lawyer, no matter how experienced, can guarantee a certain result in any case. Finally, because of factors like lack of sufficient insurance, bankruptcy or death of the defendants, and challenges on appeal, not every judgment can be fully recovered.

• $25 million settlement on behalf of Commonwealth of Kentucky for violations of the Consumer Protection Act by Merck pharmaceuticals in the sale and marketing of Vioxx® to consumer in Kentucky. The bulk of the state’s recovery was ultimately directed to expand drug abuse treatment programs in Kentucky.
• $8 million jury verdict, including punitive damages, in a nursing home case against Treyton Oak Towers, a nursing home in Louisville, Kentucky. The lawsuit was on behalf of the estate of a resident who suffered a severely broken leg when he was dropped by a staff member who was improperly transferring him. The resident was denied treatment because the staff member failed to tell anyone of the injury, and the nursing home was later caught in an attempted cover-up of the negligence. The case was confidentially settled post-verdict.
• $4.26 million jury verdict in a trucking case against Canadian American Tank lines, as a result of an illegally-parked tractor trailer tanker truck. Faced with an oncoming vehicle in the adjacent lane, our client slammed into the rear of the tanker truck in the pre-dawn hours. He survived, but was badly injured and required multiple surgeries and inpatient rehabilitation, and was unable to return to work to support his wife and children, and gave up his other duties like little league coach and Boy Scout leader. The case was later settled for a confidential amount while on appeal.
• $1 million combined jury verdict and additional settlement (for insurance policy limits) in a medical malpractice case for the death of an infant following a birth injury. An insufficient prenatal ultrasound caused the ob/gyn physician to miss a potentially serious defect with the umbilical cord, which led to a delay in performing a c-section and an ultimately fatal brain injury to the baby.
• $458,000 judgment in a medical malpractice bench trial against a hand surgeon in Lexington, Kentucky. The surgeon selected an implant that was inappropriate for patients of working age, in an attempt to relieve carpal tunnel syndrome in a warehouse worker. The implant failed, and left our client with permanent damage to her thumb.
• $200,000 settlement of an uninsured motorists insurance claim on behalf of a family of three, all of whom were injured to varying degrees when a stolen car crashed into their vehicle in an interstate highway construction zone.

• Multimillion dollar combined settlement in 2008 on behalf of four passengers killed in commercial airline crash. The lawsuit alleged a combination of pilot error and inadequate training and regulation of pilots by the airline.
• Multimillion dollar settlement in negligence case against a mechanic whose mistakes during an engine overhaul led to mid-air failure of a general aviation airplane. The pilot and passenger survived but had severe injuries including severed spinal cords and were left paraplegics.

• Seven-figure settlement for father’s loss of love and affection of a teenage child killed by drunk driver in a motorcycle crash. The claims settled were against the driver of the motorcycle and his employer, which owned the motorcycle.
• Seven-figure settlement in a case against a school bus driver and her employer. The inattentive bus driver disregarded a traffic light and made a left turn even though the bus did not have the right-of-way. The resulting crash caused spinal court injury the driver of a pick-up truck who was legally in the intersection, resulting in an extended stay in an inpatient rehabilitation hospital. The injured driver was unable to return to work in a factory because of his permanent injuries.
• Settlement with an automotive repair garage that left a car unattended with the keys in the ignition, which created the opportunity for a thief to steal the car. The thief, who obviously was uninsured, crashed into an innocent bystander, seriously injuring him.

• Settlement for insurance policy limits in dog attack case. Our client was a postal carrier who was attacked on the arm and leg by a vicious pit bull. Our client required multiple surgeries to his arm and was left with limited use of his fingers, although he was eventually able to return to his job with the United States Postal Service.
• Settlement for a 26-year-old man who suffered a dog bite to the eye while walking on a public sidewalk, leaving the young man legally blind in one eye.

• Multi-million dollar settlement in feed negligence case brought on behalf of horse owners and farm after numerous horses were injured or killed following delivery of contaminated feed to a Kentucky horse breeding and training facility.
  
• Multi-million dollar settlement in 2006 in equine veterinary malpractice claim for causing lameness of potential Thoroughbred racehorses whose breeding indicated they were potential stakes winners.
• Settlement in equine veterinary malpractice case for failure to disclose risk of infection. The failure to disclose led to our client’s Thoroughbred mare contracting salmonella. The horse died and lost its championship-caliber foal as well.

• Settlement in 2008 for a client who was injured when employees of a contractor caused a utility pole to break and fall on our client, causing serious injuries to our client’s skull, cervical spine, shoulder, and lungs. Our client was able to return to his job after recovery.
• Settlement in 2006 for young girl who suffered a brain injury when she nearly drowned while on a field trip with her daycare. The daycare workers directed her get into water over her head even though they were told she did not know how to swim. The quick actions of an astute lifeguard saved her life, but not before permanent damage was done.
• Settlement of for case involving burn injuries following an engine explosion on a rental houseboat. Our client was a young man who was employed by the owner of the houseboat, but we were able to develop a novel theory that allowed our client to recover from his employer even though in most cases an employee is limited to workers’ compensation.
• Settlement for two bystanders injured in chemical leak from railroad tank car at local train yard. The railroad failed to identify the leaking hydrochloric acid for an unknown period of time as it spread through the area. Exposure to the leaking hydrochloric acid caused permanent respiratory damage to our clients.
• Settlement prior to arbitration in a case against a trampoline gym for a teenager who suffered a severe compound fracture of his leg due to a torn trampoline.

• Multi-million settlement in medical malpractice case for post-surgical injury to toddler resulting in brain injury. The small child was transferred to the recovery room prematurely following a laryngospasm and administration of a strong paralytic, without informing the recovery room nurses of the breathing incident. The child stopped breathing and sustained a severe brain injury due to lack of oxygen supply. While he survived, he would require round-the-clock care for the remainder of his life.
• Seven-figure wrongful death settlement in medical malpractice case due to death in psychiatric hospital during detoxification. The hospital’s physicians and nurses did not recognize that a young adult patient was going through deadly withdrawal symptoms and the patient died, unaccompanied, on her hospital room.
• Settlement in 2006 for estate of a 28-year-old man who died of heart failure after his family doctor failed to diagnose a bicuspid aortic valve/aortic root dilation.
• Settlement in 2006 in a medical malpractice case for the estate of a former administrative law judge who died due to a failure to diagnose kidney disease and heart failure.
• Settlement in medical malpractice case for wrongful death of 38-year-old woman due to a strangulated hernia that was undiagnosed by a doctor and medical resident until it was too late to save the patient.
• Settlement of failure to diagnose a rare form of cancer in a man nearing retirement age. There was evidence that had the cancer been diagnosed at the time the patient was evaluated by the Defendant physician, it was probable that the patient could have been cured by surgery. By the time the cancer was properly diagnosed by another doctor, the cancer was terminal.
• Settlement in optometry malpractice case for failing to diagnose glaucoma in a teenager. As a result, the child was left legally blind but still excelled in school and obtained an Ivy-League education.
• Settlement in medical malpractice case for wrongful death due to failure to diagnose bowel obstruction. The single mother died, leaving behind to teenage children, after five days in the hospital with no diagnosis.
• Settlement on behalf of a deceased jail inmate. In this case against the jail’s private medical provider and its contracted physician, the inmate died a preventable death because he was not examined by a doctor or transported to an emergency room until it was too late to perform surgery that would have saved his life.

• Multi-million settlement of wrongful death lawsuit due to migration of an inferior vena cava filter. A mother of four teenage and pre-teen children died just days after leaving the hospital for bariatric surgery. Her husband, and EMT, witnessed her collapse but was unable to resuscitate her from the severe injury.
• Settlement in medical device lawsuit related to misplacement of an inferior vena cava filter. The Plaintiff was left with a dangerously misplaced medical device inside one of her main blood vessels, and a choice between a high-risk repair surgery or a risk of death if the filter was not removed and later migrated.

• Seven-figure settlement in case against automobile manufacturer when air bags failed to deploy in a head-on collision caused by another driver who was impaired. In this products liability case, the settlement was split between a mother, who was permanently injured and hospitalized for many weeks, and her elementary-age son, who was badly injured by made a full recovery.
• Settlement for elderly man injured by defective riding lawnmower that overturned on him while mowing his yard. He was trapped and severely injured. This products liability action was based on the failure to include a proper rollover protection system (ROPS).
• Settlement in a products liability claim against an automobile manufacturer, where it was alleged that a defective part caused the driver to lose control and the car to flip upside down, leaving the driver, a retired woman, hanging upside down by her seat belt. She required surgical procedures and inpatient rehabilitation to repair a broken pelvis. The settlement was achieved even though critical evidence was lost prior to our involvement.

• Multi-million dollar settlement of wrongful death case due to defective underground mining locomotive. The lack of a proper safety system on the locomotive led to a situation where our client was nearly decapitated while backing the locomotive out of the way of a passing vehicle. He left behind a young daughter.
• Seven-figure settlement in 2005 as result of surface mine explosion that left an equipment operator moderately brain damaged and unable to work or care for himself, as a result of multiple injuries including a skull fracture. The explosion occurred when an equipment operator attempted to remove rock from a blasting site, but unknowingly encountered an unexploded column of explosives that was left behind due to an improper detonation sequence, leading to this case against an explosives contractor that provided expertise in the use of explosives and design of detonation systems.

• Multi-million settlement for death of a mother who stopped in construction traffic and was killed when an semi-truck operated by an inattentive driver barrelled into the woman's vehicle at highway speed, immediately engulfing her vehicle in flames.
  
• Multi-million settlement in trucking case due to semi-truck that was illegally stopped or backing on the interstate. The resulting collision killed a young mother, who left behind a husband and two children under the age of seven.
• Seven-figure settlement in trucking case. A young man died when his vehicle veered slightly from the roadway and ran into an illegally stopped on the interstate. The driver of the tractor trailer violated multiple federal regulations in addition to illegally parking, including abuse of drugs and driving more than four hours beyond his legally-allowed hours of service before stopping on the roadside to sleep for the night.
• Settlement for semi-truck driver injured in crash due to failure to properly secured cargo in his tractor trailer. The failure of the shipper caused the truck to overturn in a curve on the interstate highway, leading to an amputated arm and other injuries to the driver of the tractor trailer.
• Settlement in a tractor-trailer case where the driver of the semi-truck rear-ended a line of stopped cars. Our client was second in that line. She required multiple stitches to repair a lengthy laceration to her scalp, and sustained a mild traumatic brain injury, but was able to return to work at a higher wage rate than before the crash.
• Settlement in tractor trailer case for driver who was hit by a bobtail semi-truck running without headlights as he turned in to his workplace. The client had life-threatening injuries but, fortunately, he eventually recovered well.

• Settlement in nursing home negligence case where the nursing home failed to prevent a sexual assault of a resident who was in a vegetative state, by another resident with a history of sexual impropriety.
• Settlement of negligence claim against a personal care home, for the estate of a resident who fell while unattended and was badly injured. The injury led to a precipitous decline and may have hastened the resident’s death. The estate’s expert determined that the resident was not appropriately evaluated for the level of care required, and needed a higher level of care than personal care. There was also evidence that the personal care home’s employees improperly cared for the resident after the fall in a way that may have worsened a neck injury.
• Settlement for nursing home negligence when a nursing home delayed medical treatment of a resident who fell and broke her hip, and denied pain medication to the resident while she was lying in bed soiling herself for 24 hours before transferring her to a hospital. The settlement was achieved even though the nursing home had no insurance coverage available for the claim.