This case involved a defective artificial hip. The device fractured after it had been implanted in the patient, resulting in a shattering of the femur.
The plaintiff, a self-employed beautician, was exiting a restaurant in a strip mall and returning to her car. When she stepped off the curb leading to the parking lot, she lost her balance and fell because the curb was unreasonably high. She suffered a fractured ankle. Jacobs & Jacobs retained an expert safety engineer to explain the hazards of a ten-inch drop.
The family of an 87-year-old man came to Jacobs & Jacobs after he was left alone in the bathroom of a nursing home by a nurse and fell, fracturing his skull. He died several days later. The nursing home vigorously defended the case, denying negligence and also taking the position that the quality of life of this elderly man before he fell was so poor, that the loss was not that great. They offered $30,000 to settle the case. Our team presented a compelling argument about the value of human life. The jury agreed.
Our client sustained a ruptured left Achilles tendon when the stairs onto which he had stepped gave way. As a result of the injury, the client was left with a ten percent permanent partial impairment to the left ankle.
The plaintiff was an elderly woman who had just undergone cataract surgery on her left eye and was recuperating in the hospital. That night, she was helped to the bathroom by a nurse, who left her unattended. After waiting for the nurse to return, the plaintiff tried to get up and return to her bed. She became dizzy and fell, damaging the eye that had just been operated on, causing permanent vision problems. The hospital denied negligence and claimed that the damage to her eye was caused during surgery. They offered $25,000 to settle.