Introducing our personal injury news report! From time to time we’ll check in on cases big and small happening both in the Seattle area and around the world. These are the ones we’ve highlighted for the month of November:
Big Payout for a Faulty Boat
Lawyers in Lee’s Summit, MO have won a $15 million personal injury case for a client who was injured when his boat exploded. Lawyers Rob Sullivan and Tim Morgan represented the plaintiff, Donald Black of Valley Park, MO. The Camden County jury found that the design of the boat’s fuel system was faulty.
Smokey Dyer, the former fire chief of Kansas City and Lee’s Summit, provided expert testimony in the case. Burn evidence showed the fuel line separated at a critical connection and a hose had worked its way loose from a metal piece. When Black turned on the bilge pump, leaked fuel in the cockpit and around the hull exploded and burned him severely. He was in the hospital for several months and racked up $1.3 million in medical bills. He sometimes was placed into a coma and his heart stopped six times. Skin grafts, reconstructive surgery, and further ongoing health risks became a reality for Black.
The defendant was a former subsidiary of Brunswick Corporation.
Fitbit Information Now Applicable in the Courtroom
A law firm in Calgary is working on the first known personal injury case that will incorporate activity data from a Fitbit device to help show the effects of an accident on their client.
Though the woman who was injured didn’t have a Fitbit at the time of the accident, but since she was a personal trainer at the time, her lawyers at McLeod Law think they have a case that her active lifestyle was severely affected by comparing Fitbit data compared to the baseline for someone of her age and profession.
Doctor’s testimony and observations of an injured person are commonly used to determine physical ability after an injury. Showing measured data over a long period of time wasn’t possible without undue commitment and time on the injured person’s part, so this technology may change common practices. On the flip side, insurers will want access to this data as well, so expect to see this information used on defendant’s cases as well.
Contact the Offices of Martin Law, PLLC for your legal guidance and support for your personal injury case. Get the justice you deserve.
