Cases

Some of Rhorer Law Firm’s past cases include:

$1,500,000 settlement in wrongful death case (vehicle/horse collision)

Some roadways in Louisiana are "open range," and owners of livestock may allow their livestock to roam freely on the roadway. Other roadways are "stock law" or "closed range" roads, and a livestock owner must take all reasonably prudent precautions to prevent his livestock from entering onto those roadways.

Jimmy C. was driving his Toyota Corolla with his new wife, Kelly, in the passenger seat. The young couple was traveling back from Lake Charles to their home in DeRidder. It was dusk, and young Jimmy was singing a Garth Brooks song to Kelly.

Earlier in the day, a local rancher had been working his cattle in the area. The rancher had tied one of his horses to the outside of a fence – by the reins and without a bridle – and left the horse there for several hours. The horse broke the reins and escaped.

The horse ran into the roadway immediately in front of the couple. When the Corolla hit the horse, the top of the car exploded. Jimmy escaped serious physical injury, but Kelly died instantly from trauma to her head.

We determined that the area where the collision occurred was a "stocklaw" area. We then successfully argued that by tying the horse to the outside of the fence, failing to use a bridle, and leaving the animal for several hours, the rancher had failed to take all reasonably prudent precautions to prevent the horse from entering onto the roadway. The rancher’s farm liability insurer offered its policy limits, and the case settled.

$2,125,000 jury verdict in defective muzzleloader firearm case (products liability - failure to warn)

The basic design of today’s muzzleloader guns is simple and virtually the same for all manufacturers. The barrel is a tube of steel. The end of the barrel out of which the projectile (pellets or a bullet) is to come is called the "muzzle." A "breech plug" plugs the other end of the barrel. On the outside of the breech, there is small protrusion called a nipple. Through the middle of the breech plug and extending through the nipple is a small channel called the flash hole.

Debris, grease, oil, and the like can clog the flash hole, preventing fire from getting to the gunpowder. Thus, manufacturers instruct users to fire a primer (a small disk-shaped cap which produces fire at 1800° when struck by the "striker") through the breech before the user introduces gunpowder into the barrel so that the flash hole is clear. This intermediate "cleaning primer" step forces fire through the breech and blows the oil and debris into the gun’s barrel.

After firing a cleaning primer, the user pours gunpowder down the barrel. The projectile must be seated above, not in, the gunpowder, so the user inserts a round disk separator or "wad" down the barrel using a stick called a ramrod. Then, the projectile is put in the barrel atop the wad also using the ramrod. In order to seat the wad and the projectile, the gun’s user must put his hand over the muzzle of the gun. To shoot the gun, the user introduces fire through the breech into the barrel via a new primer. This ignites the gunpowder. The expanding gases force anything IN the barrel OUT of the barrel – at deadly velocities.

Manufacturers have long known that the fire from primers can leave residual embers in the barrel that can unexpectedly ignite the gunpowder as or after it is poured in. Ignition of the powder source by an ember left in the barrel is called a "latent ember" or "hidden ember" ignition. The source of the ember can be any number of things such as remnants of a cleaning patch, unconsumed powder, or any other foreign object in the barrel. Virtually every manufacturer has long warned its users about hidden ember ignitions. Only Knight – until recently – did not. And there is but one way to ensure that the ember hazard is eliminated prior to pouring gunpowder down the barrel: The user must first extinguish any embers by swabbing the barrel’s interior with a moist cloth.

Phill J. bought a Knight muzzleloader. The instructions that Knight provided Phill added a step to the loading process that is different than all other manufacturers: Instead of merely firing a primer to clear out the flash hole’s debris, Knight instructed its users to insert a flammable cloth patch into the barrel using the ramrod, and THEN fire a primer into the patch before pouring gunpowder down the barrel. Moreover, notwithstanding the unique instruction that created an additional fuel source for hidden embers, Knight failed to warn that embers could be hiding in the barrel. And, neither the manual nor the video instructs the user to swab with a moist cloth. Knight did not call the user’s attention to this dangerous characteristic. Knight did not do anything that would give the ordinary reasonable user the opportunity to either decline to use the gun or to use it in a manner so as to avoid the hidden ember danger.

In early 2004, Phill J. was in his shed preparing to load his Knight TK-2000 muzzleloader. Following the Knight manual and instructional video he was supplied, Phill fired a primer into a cloth patch to clean the flash hole. Unknown to Phill, the primer set something on fire inside the barrel and created an ember. Phill then poured a powder charge on top of the hidden ember, and placed a wad in the gun. With his hand over the barrel, he pushed the wad down with the ramrod. Air was forced over the ember and fanned it until it ignited the powder. When the powder detonated, the exploding gases fired the ramrod out like a missile. The missile entered the palm of Phill’s right hand, destroying his wrist bones, tendons, and nerves, and exploded out the back of his wrist.

Knight defended the case by offering expert testimony that hidden ember ignitions were pure fiction and that Phill J. had simply put a live primer on the nipple and shot himself. But shortly before trial we had discovered that Knight’s instruction manual and video for its newer model muzzleloaders REMOVED the additional step of firing the cleaning primer into a cotton patch, and ADDED a bold warning that failure to properly swab the barrel could result in a latent ember discharge. The jury found Knight’s defense to be incredible and awarded $2.125 million to Phill J. and his family.

$945,000 jury verdict for injuries caused by construction site defect case

Jason M. was working for a directional drilling subcontractor installing conduit under a parking lot driveway in downtown Houston. As he squatted down in the driveway to connect two pieces of conduit, a car exiting the parking lot ran over Jason and drug him down the street. Jason’s employer had no workers compensation insurance and no assets. Jason incurred over $100,000 in medical expenses relating to his injuries.

We filed suit against the general contractor, alleging that the general contractor maintained sufficient control over the work site that it had a duty to ensure that proper barricades were erected. The general contractor contended that it had no duty and that the only ones at fault were Jason, his employer, and the driver of the car. The jury found the general contractor 70% at fault for failing to properly supervise the work site.

$640,000 settlement in rear end vehicle collision case

Bruce M. was a passenger in a bus that had stopped for traffic on the interstate.  A following 18-wheeler ran into the rear of the bus. While the crash was a "low speed impact," the force nevertheless aggravated a pre-existing condition in Bruce's back.  Bruce ultimately required a one-level lumbar fusion surgery to stabilize his back.  the case settled the day before trial.
  
$8,500,000 jury verdict in medical malpractice case (failure to diagnose atrial myxoma)

Rick O. and his wife were sitting on their sofa in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Rick got up and went to the bathroom, and his wife heard him fall. She came in and saw him semi-paralyzed on the bathroom floor.

The on-call doctor at the local hospital admitted Rick for a 23-hour observation. The next day the doctor discharged Rick, telling Rick he was fine and that he had suffered a new onset seizure that likely would never happen again.

One year later a large "atrial myxoma" tumor in Rick’s heart embolized. Rick suffered a massive stroke and permanent brain damage. It was determined that the tumor had been in Rick’s heart a year earlier and was likely the cause of Rick’s first emergency room visit. The on-call doctor a year earlier had ignored test results that pointed to a possible cardiac source of Rick’s problem.

We proceeded to trial on the theory that had the doctor administered a routine echocardiogram – at a cost of about $115 – the doctor would have discovered the atrial myxoma tumor in Rick’s heart, allowing for an easy removal and recovery. The defendant doctor’s own experts admitted that such an echocardiogram would have been a "knee-jerk" response in a larger hospital, but they argued that the standard of care in the small hospital near Gatlinburg did not require that test. The jury disagreed.

$500,000 award in highway defect case (first Louisiana case to include damages for loss of consortium to an unborn child)
 
$600,000 settlement in an injury in a fall at a grocery store (injuries and treatment included a one-level lumbar disc fusion surgery and an ulnar nerve transposition)
 
$Confidential Settlement: Entertainment law case involving Wilbur Rimes and his daughter, musician LeeAnn Rimes
 
$485,000 settlement in rear end vehicle collision
 
$315,000 automobile accident injury (injuries and treatment included a one-level cervical fusion surgery)
 
$1,200,000 settlement during trial of fraud case
 
$535,000 construction contract claim
 
$488,888 failure to pay commissions
 
$450,000 settlement in rear end vehicle collision
 
$220,000 product defect claim (injuries included a serious wrist injury)
 
$300,000 settlement in rear end collision (treatment recommended included cervical surgery)