Attorneys Jeffrey L. Luther and L. Robert Shreve recently obtained a defense verdict in favor of an emergency medical services provider and its employee in a wrongful death action in Baldwin County, Alabama. The case was initially filed in 2009 and the parties engaged in more than four years of discovery prior to trial.
The Plaintiff alleged that Defendants were negligently and wantonly operating an ambulance in Baldwin County while en route to a rescue call, resulting in a collision with the decedent’s vehicle and causing his death. The Plaintiff further claimed that the Defendant EMS provider negligently and wantonly hired and trained its employee driver, and wrongfully entrusted him with the ambulance on the date in question.
At trial, Plaintiff’s Counsel requested that the jury enter a verdict of $7 million in punitive damages against Defendants. Plaintiff argued that the Defendants were in violation of multiple state statutes with respect to their operation of the ambulance and that a sizable verdict would protect against future accidents. Defendants called eleven witnesses in defending against Plaintiffs claims. After deliberation, the jury found in favor of Defendants as to all counts.