Case Results
For more than 25 years, the attorneys at Clark Fountain have successfully won cases in the areas of automobile defects, products liability, medical malpractice, catastrophic personal injury and business litigation. We have worked with referral partners from around the country, with our track record and long-standing relationships a testament to our results.
Here is sampling of cases from around the country that we’ve handled over the years:
AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS
Settlement: $5 million
Case: Settlement for Grandmother Paralyzed in Crash
Details: In a highly-contested case involving no physical contact between two vehicles, a grandmother became a paraplegic due to the defendant’s negligence. The car she was driving in swerved to avoid another driver and then veered off on to the shoulder and rolled down an embankment.
Location:
Settlement: $2.85 million
Case: 19-year old Student Killed on Way to Surprise Parents
Details: A 19-year-old Florida State University student was killed on his way home to surprise his parents when he pulled on to the shoulder of the Florida Turnpike after witnessing a three-car accident. He was subsequently rear-ended by an All-American Express tractor-trailer and killed.
Location:
Settlement: $2.85 million
Case: Family Man Killed by Professional Athlete in Car Crash
Details: A husband and father were killed following a car accident involving a professional athlete who lost control of his car after driving more than 100 miles-per-hour.
Location: Orlando
Verdict: $1.1 million
Case: Jury Awards $1.1 Million After Insurance Company Tries to Settle for $10K
Details: Joel Barr suffered a herniated disk that required surgery after the defendant drove quickly around two stopped vehicles and disregarded the directions of a police officer. David C. Prather offered to settle for the client’s policy limit of $300,000 however the insurer, GEICO, refused and counter-offered at 10,000. After a four-day trial, a jury awarded $1.1 million.
Location: Broward County, Fla.
Verdict: $2 million
Case: Mother of Five Killed When Tire Failure Causes Accident
Details: A mother of five, Gladys Jackson was killed when the tire on a vehicle she was riding in blew out; on the approach to the emergency lane, the vehicle was struck in the driver’s side and then the passenger side where Jackson was sitting. It was determined that the tractor-trailer driver failed to slow down or change lanes, and hit the car with such extreme force.
Location: Volusia County, Fla.
Verdict: $850,000
Case: Unavoidable Accident Causes Lifetime of Lost Income
Details: Following an unavoidable accident, commercial truck driver, Isaac Hodges, suffered severe back and shoulder injuries that required surgery. Unable to return to work, a jury awarded him $850,000 after a four-day trial.
Location: Dade County, Fla.
Settlement: $825,000
Case: Corporate Bus Causes Head-On Collision
Details: Anthony Tose was hit head-on by a Stofin Corporation bus in his lane while attempting to pass a slow-moving tractor. With significant injuries to his left leg that required several surgeries including implantation of a rod in his femur, the heavy equipment operator could not perform his daily duties and was forced to quit his job. Stofin settled for $825,000.
Location: Belle Glade, Fla.
Verdict: $786,000
Case: Highly Contested Case Involves Previously Injured Man
Details: Although our client was injured in a previous car accident less than a month prior, attorney Mark Clark and our legal team showed that our client suffered additional injuries during an intersection collision.
Location: Palm Beach County, Fla.
Settlement: $650,000
Case: Client Receives Remarkable $650,000 in Auto Negligence Case
Details: Days before trial, attorney David Prather convinced an insurance company to pay more than six times the available insurance policy limits to 42-year old Thomas Siebert after a car accident that ultimately caused him to undergo lower back surgery.
Location: Palm Beach County, Fla.
Verdict: $600,000
Case: Woman Awarded Settlement to Care for Fibromyalgia after Auto Accidents
Details: Involved in two car accidents in one week, Julia Moore was left with severe muscular-skeletal injuries to her knee and back, as well as painful fibromyalgia. The insurance companies, State Farm and Allstate, offered to settle their portions for a total of $135,000; however, the attorneys continued to trial. A jury awarded Ms. Moore $600,000.
Location: Broward County, Fla.
Settlement: Confidential
Case: Tow Truck Accident Kills Three Small Children
Details: Three children, ages five, four and nine months were tragically killed when a tow-truck driver rear ended their mother’s car. The mother survived. Attorney Mark Clark proved that even though the children were not wearing seatbelts, the driver was not only speeding, but that he had sufficient time to avoid the collision. The case was settled confidentially.
Location: Palm Beach County, Fla.
Settlement: Confidential
Case: West Virginia Church Group Involved in Devastating Accident
Details: A referral case that had languished for years, attorneys W. Hampton Keen and Don Fountain settled the case of a church group where eight passengers were injured or killed during an accident while in a multi-passenger van they had rented. Little did they know that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had issue multiple consumer advisories on that vehicle regarding its inability to be controlled.
Location: Virginia
PRODUCTS LIABILITY
Verdict: $15 million
Case: $15 Million Verdict Following Tragic Family Event
Details: During a road trip, the tire of our client, Mr. Mapa, blew out causing the family van to roll over and render him quadriplegic. Heartbreakingly, he had just taken his vehicle to a Ford dealership for service three weeks prior. During trial, it became clear that not only was the dealership at fault but so was Dunlop (the tire manufacturer) for a defective tire design.
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Verdict: $11 million
Case: Verdict Upheld Against Mitsubishi
Details: 25-year old, Scott Laliberte, died after the seatbelt in a Mitsubishi Montero failed him during a rollover crash in 2004. Most recently, appellate attorney Julie H. Littky-Rubin obtained a favorable, 2-1 ruling from the Fourth District on a rehearing of the case.
Location: Palm Beach County, Fla.
Settlement: Confidential
Case: Family Loses Three Children After Tire Failure Sends Car Into Canal
Details: The Evans family lost three children after a catastrophic tire failure caused an accident that catapulted the car into a deep canal, causing the children to drown. Don Fountain, nationally recognized for his expertise in tire defects, led the legal team on the case. The tire’s manufacturer settled with the family prior to trial and the tire dealer, Costco Wholesale, settled five hours into jury deliberations.
Location: Palm Beach County, Fla.
Settlement: Confidential
Case: Defective Fuel System Claims Lives of Two College Students
Details: Two college students were killed after a car they were traveling in was struck in the rear by another vehicle. Upon impact, the students’ car burst into flames and both died from thermal injuries. Referred by another attorney, Mark Clark and Timothy Murphy reached confidential settlements following years of litigation and extensive discovery.
Location: Bay County, Fla.
Settlement: Confidential
Case: Firm Settles Severe Brain Damage Case Referred by California Attorney
Details: After a Los Angeles, Calif. attorney had been litigating for years on behalf of a severely brain-damaged client, he reached out to Don Fountain and Hampton Keen. The attorneys were able to swiftly and successfully settle with the trucking company before a new trial began.
Location: San Bernardino County, Calif.
Settlement: Confidential
Case: Child Rendered Paraplegic in Product Defect Case
Details: During a frontal car collision, cargo from the rear hit the vehicle’s seatback, which caused it to break from its mounts and collapse forward on to three young children who were properly seat belted. Two were seriously injured and one rendered quadriplegic. While there is no federal standard requiring seat back strength in the United States, a confidential settlement was reached with the manufacturer thanks to the firm’s development of an easily overlooked design defect theory.
Location: Marion County
Verdict: Confidential
Case: Tow Truck Rolls Over Operator
Details: After nearly a year with another attorney, our client hired Don Fountain to handle his case where he lost his leg and suffered other injuries after a tow truck’s shift gear, which indicated it was in park, rolled over him. Utilizing expert engineers from around the country, a defect in the truck’s shift system and transmission park gear were at fault. After two days in trial, a confidential settlement was reached.
Location: Palm Beach County, Fla.
Settlement: Confidential
Case: Pastor’s Wife Dies Due to Tire and Seatbelt Failures
Details: Tire tread separation caused a pastor’s wife and mother of his three children to lose control of her SUV, resulting in her vehicle overturning on a busy interstate. The seatbelt failed to restrain her and she died as a result of the accident. Attorney Mark Clark and our expert legal team settled against the vehicle and tire manufacturers.
Location:
Verdict: Confidential
Case: Mother of Three Killed by Tire Failure
Details: A woman from New Mexico was killed in a car accident due to a tire failure, however attorneys Don Fountain and Hampton Keen discovered that not was the only fault: the dealer who sold the used vehicle had substituted the good spare tire with the defective one.
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Settlement: Confidential
Case: Rollover Ends Young Basketball Player’s Career
Details: A high school senior was a rising basketball star with the NBA in his future until a tire failure caused his vehicle to lose control and roll over, officially ending our clients’ hoop dreams. He sustained a severe brain injury, impaired mobility and vision, and lost potential income as a professional basketball player.
Location: Lost Angeles, Calif.
Settlement: Confidential
Case: SUV Roof Collapse Severely Injures International Soccer Player
Details: A soccer star suffered severe brain injury when the roof of his SUV collapsed during a rollover. Hampton Keen identified a pattern of similar cases across the country involving the same type of vehicle, events and similar injuries. A confidential settlement was reached after years of litigation.
Location:
Settlement: Confidential
Case: Convertible Defect Takes Honor Student’s Life
Details: An 18-year old was killed in a low-speed collision heading to his high school senior awards ceremony. Our attorneys were the first in the country to provide evidence that the convertible’s top design was not crashworthy.
Location: Palm Beach County, Fla.
Settlement: Confidential
Case: Faulty Air Bag Kills Woman on Military Base, Settlement with U.S.A.
Details: After being cleared to enter a military base, our client drove slowly overly a security barrier, which inadvertently activated and rose up under her car, causing her driver’s side airbags to deploy. Even though she was only going 10 miles per hour, she was instantly killed. Our lawyers settled the case with The United States of America and the airbag manufacturer.
Location: Hillsborough County, Fla.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
Verdict: $35 million
Case: Verdict Upheld During 12-Year Battle for Brain-Damaged Baby
Details: After eight years of trial delays, partners Nancy La Vista and David C. Prather successfully obtained a $35 million verdict for the family whose son was born with severe birth defects due to medical negligence while at the hospital. Now, four years later after an appeal and two declaratory actions, the claim settled. The battle continues in the legislature for the $2 million balance of the settlement to help this family.
Location: Broward County, Fla.
Verdict: $11.5 million
Case: Verdict Upheld in Negligent Spinal Surgery Case
Details: Sam Sangounchitte was left brain damaged after surgery to insert steel rods into his spine, which migrated into his brain. Nancy La Vista and David C. Prather provided evidence that the neurosurgeon should have not been allowed to perform the surgery as he lacked the training or experience to properly perform it. The jury awarded $11.5 million, which the Medical Center appealed. The Fourth District upheld almost the entire verdict.
Location: Palm Beach County, Fla.
Settlement: $3.2 million
Case: Post-Surgical Care Results in Temporary Paralysis, Chronic Pain
Details: After undergoing a discectomy procedure to alleviate years of neck pain, David Bernstein received negligent care by post-surgical staff that resulted in spinal swelling and temporary paralysis, and ultimately an irreversible spinal cord injury. Six days into trial with attorney Nancy La Vista, the hospital’s insurance carrier agreed to a settlement.
Location: Stuart, Fla.
Verdict: $300,000
Case: Doctor Fails to Recognize Surgical Complications
Details: Our client suffered severe damage when, during spinal surgery, her doctor failed to recognized and correct a post-operative complication, leaving her in pain for the rest of her life. Since the doctor did not carry medical malpractice insurance (called going “bare”), he had to pay the verdict out-of-pocket.
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
OTHER
Settlement: Total of $3.75 million
Case: Mother of Two Killed by Negligence
Details: After five months of construction on one road, it re-opened without proper signage when our client pulled out of her development as she had in weeks prior and was struck and killed by an oncoming dump truck. On behalf of her children, attorneys brought suit against five defendants: the roadway contractor and Palm Beach County, design engineers, the residential development and the dump truck driver. A settlement totaling $3.75 million was awarded to the woman’s family.
Location: Palm Beach County, Fla.
Settlement: Confidential
Case: International Commercial Business Dispute Resolved
Details: After two years of litigation with another firm about the enforcement and breach of a lucrative international television satellite service agreement, a Canadian businessman was referred to Clark Fountain. Attorney Cyrus Niakan handled the case on a contingency fee basis. Within eight months, he had the provider forced to the settlement table.
Location: Dade County, Fla.
Settlement: Confidential
Case: Wrongful death of SCUBA Diver Caused by Negligence of Dive Shop
Details: After a SCUBA diver was killed while spearfishing alone in the Gulf of Mexico, attorney Hampton Keen found that the retail scuba shop negligently serviced the SCUBA equipment. Keen used his experience and knowledge as a certified instructor and avid spear-fisherman to resolve the case.
Location: Florida
