Verdicts & Settlements

PAST VERDICTS/SETTLEMENTS

When insurance companies fail to pay fair compensation, we have successfully represented individuals throughout the State of Maine, obtaining rightful compensation in matters of personal injury and civil litigation. The focus of Briggs & Counsel is to offer the best results for our clients based on our experience, aggressiveness, knowledge and many years of service.

Highway Collision: An operator of a leased vehicle drifted over the centerline and caused a head-on collision at 50 m.p.h. with a vehicle operated by a 37-year-old social worker. She suffered a number of injuries, including a closed head injury and rendering her unable to continue working. The leasing company settled for $750,000.

Chronic Pain Syndrome: A 26-year-old dry waller walking to his work site in a paper mill fell approximately three feet into an unguarded drain hole. Thereafter, he developed chronic pain syndrome in his low back that disabled him but which his doctors could not explain on a physiologic basis. A jury awarded him $675,000 for his injuries and his wife $50,000 for loss of consortium.

Personal Injury: After a loud verbal argument between a couple, the woman left the house and began walking away. The man ran after her, grabbed her, slipped on the wet grass and both fell to the ground. The woman sustained a fractured radius, fractured ulna and a severed median nerve. A jury awarded her $200,000.

Unsafe Roof Deck: A 24-year-old construction worker sweeping gypsy moth droppings from the second floor roof deck of a summer camp slipped and fell off the 10-foot high deck. He sustained a burst fracture at L-2. The owner of the camp had no guardrail on the deck. The jury held the camp owner responsible and awarded $130,000.

Undiagnosed Spinal Abscess: A 68-year-old woman went into the hospital for a broken right ankle. The doctor operated, installed a plate and screws, and put her ankle in a cast. She returned to the hospital with a post-operative infection. During this hospitalization, she developed a spinal abscess which the doctors failed to diagnose until after she became paralyzed below her waist. She received compensation of $1.7 million.

Unsupervised Patient: A 68-year-old man had a severe stroke and an extended hospitalization. The hospital discharged him to a nursing home for physical therapy. While at the nursing home, he fell out of his bed and fractured his hip. The nursing home settled for an undisclosed amount.

Undiagnosed Hip Fracture: A fully loaded dump truck hit a 42-year-old woman broadside while she was turning left at a traffic light. The emergency room doctor failed to diagnose her fractured left hip. No one diagnosed the left hip fracture until many months later and the hip eventually had to be replaced due to the delay in treatment. The emergency room doctor settled for an undisclosed amount.

Defective Grounding Pad: A 12-year-old boy underwent a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. The nurse failed to use the correct size grounding pad and failed to apply sufficient insulating gel on the grounding pad. As a result, when the surgeon used the Bovie cauterizing unit, the boy sustained a sizeable third degree burn at the site of the grounding pad. The hospital settled for an undisclosed amount.

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