Archive for the ‘Wrongful Death’ Category

The life of a young musician, Youantis Wright, took a bad turn five years ago when he was severely injured in a tavern shooting. He finally received justice in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on June 3 when his attorneys at Hausmann-McNally, S.C.—Charles Hausmann and Michael Donovan–won a $1.7 million verdict.

On November 28, 2005 Youantis Wright just happened to be in at Remedies Bar & Grill, 5666 N. Teutonia Ave., with friends celebrating the production of his first CD. At closing time, he noticed a fight in the parking lot and, because he knew some of the people involved, he tried to stop the argument. Unfortunately, he was in the path of assault weapon bullets fired by the tavern’s security guard, Decosta Edwards. One of bullets tore through Wright’s chest and went out his back, causing injuries which almost killed him.

After being taken to Froedert Memorial Hospital where he had to be resuscitated several times, Wright endured months of surgeries and medical treatments to repair the damaged areas in his chest and torso. On June 3, Judge Charles F. Kahn found that Decosta Edwards was negligent the night of November 19, 2005 and ordered $500,000 for Wright’s past and future pain and suffering, $230,000 for medical bills and $1 million in punitive damages. The judge found that the defendant intentionally disregarded the Wright’s rights.

The bar owner, Suzana Ristic-Crumble declared bankruptcy just as the case was going to trial, to avoid facing the consequences of this action. Hausmann and Donovan, say the case definitely sends the right message. “For one thing, Youantis Wright deserves justice for his injuries,” said Michael Donovan. “The man who shot him only served five days in prison for the shooting that almost cost him his life and Youantis was not satisfied that was adequate punishment.”

“We are absolutely convinced that the trouble that comes from area taverns has to be stopped,” says Charles Hausmann. “Badly managed taverns are a blight on many neighborhoods–the root of many drug, alcohol and violence problems. We are sending notice that tavern and other business owners can be hit in their pocketbooks as well as face criminal charges,” he added. The firm has several other pending civil lawsuits aimed at holding businesses accountable for violence at their premises.

The firm’s Website is www.hausmann-mcnally.com

I don’t usually find public annual reports fascinating, but the State of Ohio has produced one of the most thorough and readable documents on highway safety that I have ever seen.

If you want to know anything about traffic safety statistics in Ohio in 2008, take a look at Ohio’s “2008 Crash Facts”.  It is not available in print and when you see the size, you will know why.

As I scanned the document, it occurred to me that traffic accidents are such a significant part of our modern human drama they merit a huge volume to document the damage and loss.  We all know someone who was injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident. Many of us have been in accidents ourselves. Automobile, motorcycle and truck accidents take an enormous toll on individuals, families and communities. The State of Ohio has taken much trouble to document many details to help fill in the details. As a personal injury attorney, my calling is to help repair the lives of the victims…by helping get them the financial settlements that address the loss and pain suffered as the result of someone else’s misdeeds.

A cover letter from the Henry Guzman, Director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, reports both good news and bad news in crash statistics:

“In 2008, Ohio continued to make improvements in highway safety. The traffic crash fatality rate continued to go down, to a near-historic low of 1,191 fatalities. Alcohol related fatalities and the number of people who died unbelted on Ohio’s roads also declined.

“One of our biggest concerns is a continuing increase in motorcycle fatalities. Motorcycle fatalities have increased on Ohio’s roads by 35 percent over the past three years. In the past year they jumped dramatically, from 190 in 2007 to 213 in 2008.”

The detailed report highlights many factors that cause and contribute to motor vehicle accidents and goes into granular detail. It even lists which stationary objects were most often hit by cars. (Trees are #1on the list!)
As an attorney who has spent his professional life defending the rights of accident victims, I find the statistics chilling. For Ohio in 2008, they report:

• Approximately 3.0 fatal crashes each day.
• Approximately 3.3 persons were killed each day.
• One person was killed every 7.4 hours.
• There were 307.1 persons injured every day.
• One person was injured every 4.7 minutes.
• Of drivers involved in crashes, 53.7 % are males, 42.2 % are females, and 4.1 % are gender not stated.
• Alcohol impaired drivers were involved in 4.45 % of all crashes.
• Alcohol impaired drivers were involved in 37.70 % of all fatalities.
• 75.9 % of all alcohol impaired drivers involved in crashes were males.
• 63.8 % of all crashes occurred during the daylight.
• Motor vehicle crashes killed 48.0 children and injured 9,025.

This tells me that number of lives lost through wrongful death on the highway is still far too prevalent. Preventative measures like improved highway condition and design, better law enforcement, consistently good driver education and tough drunk driving laws all demand our attention. Motorcycle accidents are now a major concern. One is that in a distressed economy, more people may be riding their motorcycles  for economical reasons. Training and safety programs are sometimes cut when budgets are tight. And, highway drivers need to be constantly reminded to be on the lookout for motorcycles, which can seem to come from nowhere.

The answers for people injured or who have lost loved ones in a highway wrongful death often lie in getting competent legal assistance in order to receive compensation for the pain and loss. While the accidents are a personal tragedy, the personal injury attorney is the person you want in your corner if you were injured in a automobile, truck or motorcycle accident or if you are the survivor of someone who died in a highway-related wrongful death.

The tragic case of Dr. Mark Benson, a Milwaukee-area orthopedic surgeon turned drug abuser turned highway killer has unfolded before our eyes for several months. Much has been written about the April 2008 tragedy by Milwaukee-area news outlets. Popular teacher and Associate Principal Jennifer Bukosky, her unborn child and her 10-year-old daughter were struck and killed by Benson. Two other children were injured. Benson was high on drugs at the time of the crash. And his problems with drugs had been evident to himself and others since 1993.

Reams have been written about this as people try to understand how this happened. But there is another side to the drama. We have read about the criminal court drama that resulted in Benson being sentenced to 30 years in prison, but there is another aspect to the case, the civil trial that is separate from his criminal conviction. This is where the law makes it possible for the victims and their families to receive a monetary settlement for the pain, loss, injury and injustice suffered.

All through this process, personal injury lawyers have been working to help the survivors obtain financial justice from the orthopedic surgeon who likely has considerable assets. It was discovered that he planned to hide assets before the victims could get their hands on them.

Benson apparently made a phone call after he was apprehended that was overheard. He reportedly told his wife that he was going to divest of his financial assets before the victims’ family could get a hold of them. He was going to squirm out of his financial responsibility to the victims.

Smart personal injury attorneys realized this would mean an injustice to their clients and froze his assets before he could hide them. While he has been found guilty in criminal court, he is yet to stand trial in civil court. That is where the survivors will be able to recover money for their pain and loss. It will be interesting to see how much money was “rescued” by this quick action.

No one and no amount of money can make the injured victims or the surviving husband and family whole , but it is also important to note that the law clearly states that victims are entitled to monetary compensation.

According to a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article, Benson has had a drug problem since 1993 and had numerous convictions and warnings, he even lost his license to practice medicine for a time. The fact that he tried to hide assets to somehow keep the victims from getting at his money is reprehensible. And, the fact that a smart personal injury attorney was able to prevent that demonstrates why personal injury attorneys are the people who you want on your team at these difficult, awkward, even tragic times following a serious traffic accident.