SETTLEMENTS
While no two situations or two clients are alike, the examples below are cases the Joubert Law Firm has handled to a successful conclusion through either settlement or jury verdict. These case summaries should not imply that similar amounts can be recovered for other clients with similar claims, but are shown only to illustrate the experience that the Joubert Law Firm has in handling cases similar to the one you might have.
Drunk Driving
While driving a company-owned vehicle and in the course and scope of his employment, the defendant driver crossed the center line of travel and struck our client’s vehicle head-on. The defendant was intoxicated at the time of the wreck and subsequently was convicted of first-offense DWI. Our client underwent a three-level cervical fusion and suffered memory problems due to the wreck. Due to the significant exposure to punitive damages, the parties settled at mediation for $2,725,000.
Medical Malpractice
The client, an 82-year old man with a history of congestive heart failure, was admitted to a hospital for monitoring after an automobile wreck. The client’s children alleged that there was a lack of monitoring during the hospital admission and the patient died of congestive heart failure due to the nurses’ negligence in properly monitoring the patient. Although the patient was found complaining of shortness of breath, the nurses failed to take any action to resolve his discomfort and the patient was found unresponsive approximately 25 minutes later and died.
At the end of an eight-day trial, the jury found for the plaintiffs and awarded $700,000 to the decedent’s three adult children. The jury verdict was reduced to Louisiana’s $500,000 medical malpractice act cap. The matter was settled before appeal.
18-Wheeler Accidents
The client, a homemaker, sought legal representation from the Joubert Law Firm after being rear-ended by an 18-wheeler on Airline Highway near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The firm filed suit on behalf of the client and her husband in State court, which was subsequently removed to Federal Court in New Orleans. The client, with a history of back and neck symptoms, alleged that the 18-wheeler accident aggravated her underlying condition and submitted expert medical testimony to that fact. The matter was successfully mediated and the parties reached a confidential agreement concerning the settlement amount.
Motorcycle Accidents
Case 1:
While driving his own motorcycle in the course and scope of his employment, our client was hit head-on by the at-fault driver, requiring surgery on his skull, elbow, pelvis and knee. The employer and its insurer denied that the client was in the course and scope of his employment. However, the case settled during mediation with the employer’s worker’s compensation insurer paying the client’s past medical expenses and past lost wages, and waiving any rights it had to recover any portion of the policy limits paid by the at-fault driver’s insurance company.
Case 2:
The father of two minor children was killed when a public official failed to yield at a stop sign, pulled in front of the father’s motorcycle and caused the motorcycle to “broad-side” the public official’s vehicle. We were hired to represent the two children. Although the municipality initially denied the public official was in the course of scope of her duties when the accident occurred, the case settled for the public official’s private and public insurance limits.
Maritime Accidents
A recent maritime accident involved the wrongful death of a recreational jet-skier on a local lake. The decedent’s parents brought a wrongful death action against another recreational boater and used expert testimony to prove that the recreational boater was negligent in failing to see the client, striking the jet-skier and killing him instantly. The parties reached a settlement at mediation, immediately before trial, for six figures.
Automobile Accidents
Our client, a deputy with a local Sheriff’s Department was severely injured while patrolling in his sheriff’s unit on a deserted road late at night after he struck a black cow standing in the middle of the road. A claim was filed against a local farm, which had allowed its cow to escape. The law enforcement officer tried to avoid the cow, flipping his unit and fracturing his neck, requiring neck surgery. The Joubert Law Firm assisted this law enforcement officer and reached a settlement for the farmer’s $300,000 policy limits before suit was filed.