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North Carolina Personal Injury Case Results
DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different and these verdicts and settlements, while accurate, do not represent what we may obtain for you in your case.
MISSOURI JURY RETURNS A $27 MILLION VERDICT IN FAVOR OF A FIREMAN’S FAMILY
The jury ruled that the defendant, Survivair and its French corporate parent were 100 percent at fault in the death of fireman Derek Martin. The fireman’s family alleged in the lawsuit that the equipment used by the fire department and manufactured by Survivair was defective and resulted in the fireman’s death while he was fighting a fire in 2002. At issue was whether a faulty valve on an air mask was at fault for the death or whether the fault lay with the fire department procedures as was claimed by the manufacturer of the defective equipment.
The manufacturer claimed that the deaths were caused by procedural breakdowns including firefighters working inside the burning building individually, the fire department’s failure to vent heat and smoke from the building and for firefighters having missed a distress message over the radio. The manufacturer also claimed that the fireman who was killed should have known to check the valve on the air mask before using it and also claimed that a fireman could still breathe when the air mask is stuck. The manufacturer knew about the design flaws when it sold the masks to the fire department in the late 1990s. The jury rejected the defenses raised by the manufacturer and ruled that the manufacturer was 100 percent at fault in causing the death of fireman Martin.
The jury ruled that Survivair, a Santa Ana, California company must pay $14 million dollars of the punitive damages Award and that its parent a French company, Bacou Dalloz, will have to pay the additional $1 million. This is in addition to the $12 million dollars in compensatory damages that Survivair will have to pay. The punitive damages were awarded because of the aggravating circumstances including the conscious disregard for the safety of others exhibited by Survivair and its French parent. Half of the punitive damages award will go to a state fund and the rest will go to fireman Martin’s family. Another fireman, Robert Morrison also died in the 2002 fire. Morrison’s family filed suit against Survivair alleging that the personal distress alarm failed and failed to bring help when Morrison became incapacitated. Morrison’s widow reached a confidential settlement with the manufacturer before the jury decided Morrison’s case.
Awarded: MISSOURI JURY RETURNS A $27 MILLION VERDICT IN FAVOR OF A FIREMAN’S FAMILY
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