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Verdicts and Settlements

CASE RESULTS DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE. CASE RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN ANY FUTURE CASE UNDERTAKEN BY THE LAWYER.  CASE RESULTS ONLY REPRESENT A SAMPLING OF TYPES OF CASE HANDLED BY THE LAW FIRM OF PATRICK W. HARLAND, JR., LLC.

Recent Cases

$1.5 Million Settlement

$1,500,000.00 settlement involving a wrongful death claim for an inmate at a Florida county jail that was not prescribed psychiatric medications and was not supervised leading to preventable suicide.

$435,000.00 settlement

$435,000.00 settlement for an auto accident resulting in shoulder surgery and lumbar laminectomy surgery.

Past Cases

$925,000.00 Settlement

This matter involved a claim for medical negligence and deliberate indifference to a serious medical need for a female inmate who died under the supervision and control of a private medical company that was hired by a Florida County Sheriff’s office to provide medical care to pretrial jail inmates.

Our client’s daughter died from treatable and preventable opiate withdrawal due to the medical provider’s failure to treat the opiate withdrawal and failure to intervene when her condition became dire.

$750,000.00 Settlement

Our client received this settlement after having neck surgery related to a rear end motor vehicle crash.

$5.5 Million Settlement

$5.5 million settlement obtained for client that acquired brain injury as a result of negligent medical care

Verdict of $3,324,824.72

Client was seriously injured while riding his motorcycle when another motorist in a truck changed lanes knocking motorcyclist off motorcycle. Client was wearing a helmet and struck his head knocking him unconscious. Client was unresponsive for 11 days in hospital and suffered from frontal lobe bleed.

Client was unable to return to prior occupation as construction superintendent due to frontal lobe brain damage.

$2,000,000 Partial Settlement

A $2,000,000 settlement for part of the lawsuit was obtained on behalf of our client against the Lee County Sheriff’s Office for unconstitutional use of pepper spray on our client who was suffering from mental health conditions.

Our client had been released from a close supervision unit due to concerns about suicidal ideation. Our client was not provided his psychotropic medications and was unable to follow deputies commands and was pepper sprayed through a food pass window while he was in a locked shower room posing no threat to anyone.
He was then left unattended and he hung himself with his jumpsuit after being left unsupervised after being unlawfully sprayed. He was found 5 minutes later hanging by his jumpsuit and was unresponsive. Our client survived the incident but was left with severe brain damage requiring 24 hour care.

$550,000 Settlement

$550,000 settlement obtained on behalf of the estate of elderly ALF resident that was neglected and died as a result of abuse and neglect.

Verdict of $513,145.00

Client’s vehicle was struck on passenger side by young motorist who was unable to stop vehicle due to sudden stop in front of him and switched lanes into client’s passenger side door. Client underwent cervical diskectomy and fusion at C6-7.

Verdict of $203,145

$203,145.00 excess verdict over client’s underinsured motorist limits of $10,000.00, which the insurance company refused to offer until just prior to trial. The $10,000.00 offer was rejected.

Verdict of $177,337.95

$177, 337.95 verdict for client that was driving a 50 ton Grove crane and was rear-ended by fully loaded truck hauling 75,000 pounds of sand. Client suffered a neck and hip injury.

Settlement of $2,000,000.00

$2,000,000.00 settlement. This settlement was obtained as a result of the motor vehicle crash with a motorcyclist involving a traumatic brain injury.
 

Settlement of $810,000.00

This settlement was obtained on a behalf of a pedestrian who was seriously injured while struck in a crosswalk, resulting in significant orthopedic injuries and a traumatic brain injury.

Settlement of $300,000

This matter involved a settlement for a young man who fractured his pelvis and suffered post concussive syndrome after an individual driving a borrowed rental car ran a red light, T-boning and flipping the vehicle our client was a passenger in. The renter only carried $10,000 in coverage and her carrier initially denied coverage for the loss.

Settlement of $250,000

A framing subcontractor fell from second story of construction site while correcting a construction error. Client fell as a result of failure to supervise and implement safety measures to undertake repair.

$200,000 Settlement

Over $200,000 total settlement after jury verdict for knee injury due to auto accident. The at fault driver had only $50,000 in coverage and his insurer refused to pay policy limits due to little damage to the vehicles involved, necessitating a trial. Jury awarded $81,000 triggering attorney’s fees and costs.

Civil Rights Cases

Confidential settlement for client X who was a pretrial detainee incarcerated in a Florida County Jail on a misdemeanor charge. The county had contracted out the responsibility for providing healthcare to inmates to an out of state national company. Client X had a history of panic disorder and panic attacks for which he took a high dosage of alprazolam under the supervision of his physicians for ten years. Jail medical personnel knew of client X’s use of this medication and deliberately failed to continue it within the jail setting. Jail personnel did not make any attempt to taper client X off of this highly addictive medication, despite the known risk of serious side effects of withdrawal, including seizure. After four days in custody, client X began to suffer from serious withdrawal and ultimately seizure due to medical personnel’s failure to monitor client X for withdrawal, despite a physician order to do so.

Jail medical personnel continued to ignore client X and failed to give him withdrawal medications ordered after the first seizure by the jail psychiatrist. As a result of the seizure, client X suffered from a dislocated and severely fractured (comminuted) humeral head as well as fractured vertebrae. Jail medical staff waited over 33 days before sending the client X to the hospital for x-rays and treatment despite repeated written pleas for help.

This matter was litigated for over two years in Federal Court and included a claim for punitive damages. The case settled two days prior to the commencement of trial in Federal Court for a confidential amount.

Minor Property Damages Crashes

Crashes that produce little to no property damage can often time produce significant permanent injury to the occupants of a motor vehicle. Today’s bumpers are designed to withstand fairly significant impacts, while producing little to no damage to the vehicle in many instances.

Insurance companies realize the difficulty this dilemma presents to people in proving the seriousness of their injuries and more importantly the difficulty in proving the injuries were actually caused by the car accident and are permanent in nature.

Our firm has had tremendous success in achieving justice for individuals and families that have sustained significant permanent injuries in these types of cases. The following is a sampling of our success in these types of cases:

$177,500 settlement. Our client was rear ended while at a complete stop. She had injuries to her neck and shoulder and required surgery on her shoulder. There as little to no visible damage to her vehicle.

$80,000.00 policy limits settlement. Client S was the restrained driver of his vehicle stopped at a red light and was rear-ended. There was no damage to Client S’s vehicle. Client S immediately began to experience neck and shoulder pain and began receiving medical treatment the following day. Eventually, client S was sent out for an MRI and it revealed four herniated discs in client S’s neck. Client S was examined by an orthopedic surgeon who recommended surgery and determined that the accident was the cause of the injury given the fact that the client S had no prior history of neck pain. The driver that hit client S had $30,000.00 in liability insurance which was paid by the at fault driver’s insurance company. Client S had uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in the amount of $50,000.00. We were able to obtain client S’s $50,000.00 policy limit for a total recovery of $80,000.00 or all available insurance coverage. While we feel that client S’s case was worth significantly more than the available insurance due to the seriousness of the injury sustained the insurance company opted to settle the case when presented with our demand for settlement.

$60,000.00 policy limits settlement. Client M was injured when she was rear-ended while stopped on the interstate in heavy traffic. Client M’s vehicle had no visible damage. Despite the lack of property damage, client M had herniated disks in her cervical, lumbar and thoracic spine. Client M recovered the policy limits of $50,000.00 from the party that hit her and another $10,000.00 from her insurance company under the underinsured motorist coverage she carried. Client M recovered the limits of all available insurance.

Car Crashes

$235,000.00 settlement for a client that was rear ended by a drunk driver on the Howard Franklin Bridge resulting in a neck injury necessitating radiofrequency nerve ablation procedure.
$225,000.00 combined settlement for two accidents within short period of time resulting in minimally invasive back surgery.

$202,500.00 settlement for client involved in multiple car pile up. Client injury knee necessitating surgery.
$165,000.00 settlement for a client rear-ended by fully loaded dump truck driven by unlicensed driver. The client sustained a cervical disc herniation that was non-surgical. Client had arthroscopic shoulder surgery with excellent recovery.

$150,000.00 combined settlement for teenage girl who was injured as a passenger in her mother’s vehicle when a vehicle made a left turn in front of her vehicle. Client L had arthroscopic shoulder surgery on both shoulders and returned to her pre-injury status.

$130,000 UM/UIM policy limit settlement for client injured in low impact rear end collision. Client had back surgery one year prior to the accident and his back was re-injured during the impact necessitating a second lumbar fusion and subsequent third back surgery. Our client was unable to return to his job as a result of this accident. The case was initially handled by another Pinellas county law firm that is a major advertiser. The case was almost settled by the initial firm for $15,000.00 after the initial law firm informed the client that
$15,000.00 in UM coverage was “all the insurance available to them” and that “they should take it”. Further investigation by our firm revealed the existence of another policy in the household with limits of $100,000.00. Additionally, the initially discovered policy was a stacked policy affording $30,000.00 in coverage for a total of $130,000.00. Mr. Harland was successful in getting the insurance company to quickly tender their limits of $130,000.00 after discovering the additional insurance available. Had the insurance company not paid their limits, suit would have been filed wherein we would have sought to recover the full measure of our client’s injuries which we believed to be well in excess of $1 million dollars.

Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

Confidential settlement for a nursing home resident that was dropped and placed back in bed with a dislocated and fractured shoulder/humerus. Surgical intervention was required to repair the fractured bone. The resident also suffered from untreated long term bowel obstructions/constipation that caused excessive and unnecessary pain. The client also suffered from undocumented stage II bed sores on her heels and coccyx area.

Confidential settlement for deceased nursing home resident that developed bed sores.
Confidential settlement for nursing home resident who died from a subdural bleed after falling out bed within the first few hours of his residency.