Bennie Wood, et al., v. Navistar Inc., formerly known as International Truck and Engine Corp., et al.

Power Rogers attorneys Joseph A. Power Jr., as lead counsel, and Sean M.Houlihan and James Power recently obtained a $21.6 million dollar verdict on behalf of a truck driver and his wife. Our client suffered a traumatic brain injury after a defectively designed grab handle on his truck broke and caused him to fall. The case involved many disputes about jurisdiction and where the case was to be heard, and was recently featured in an article published by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.

R. v. Trinity Hospital

Birth Injury/Medical Malpractice: Decedent was admitted to Trinity Hospital on February 8, 1998 at approximately 5:30 a.m. at term. She was given an epidural anesthetic at approximately 6:49 a.m. when her blood pressure dropped into the 70s and then into the 50s. Fetal bradycardia was shortly thereafter detected on the fetal monitor and Decedent was place in Trendelenberg position. Dr. Jiha, the attending anesthesiologist, was paged at approximately 7:30 a.m. for low blood pressure. The nurse anesthetist continued to administer fluids including Ephedrine in order to correct the hypotension. A house doctor and obstetrician,Dr. Moreland, was called because of the fetal bradycardia on the monitor but she determined that a cesarean section was not necessary. Thereafter Decedent complained of being dizzy, vomited several times, became confused and cyanotic. At 7:45 a.m. Decedent’s blood pressure again dropped into the 70s and more fluids, including the Ephedrine, were given.

According to Plaintiff’s experts Decedent’s blood pressures were abnormal for almost two hours. According to Plaintiff’s experts intubation was required much earlier and her oxygen status should have been monitored more closely. Additionally, earlier intubation was required and her oxygen status should have been monitored more closely along with a cesarean section operation at least an hour earlier. Decedent died after being in a coma for twelve weeks and her son was left permanently brain damaged and unable to care for himself.

The case for the disabled minor son settled for $11,250,000.00 and the wrongful death action for his mother settled for $10,025,000.00.

J.G. v. Rockford Memorial Hospital, et al.

13-year-old female presented for back pain, then lower extremity sensory changes, and later lower extremity weakness over the course of two months including an admission to Rockford Memorial Hospital where she was negligently diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Plaintiff alleged a failure to obtain and review an MRI of her back in a timely fashion, which would have revealed spinal cord compression from an expanding intramedullary thoracic spinal lipoma (22 reported pediatric cases in the world’s literature) requiring debulking and decompression in order to avoid permanent neurologic deficits. This case was tried for 3 weeks in front of the Honorable Ronald Barch in Winnebago County from March 17th through April 4, 2025, when the case was finally dismissed in its entirety pursuant to settlement. Closing arguments had been scheduled for the next business day. This result is the largest reported result in Winnebago County’s history for an injury to a child/minor (paraplegia/incontinence).

Medical Malpractice: An immigrant woman underwent open heart surgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center in 1997. It was alleged that the surgeon did not properly remove air from her heart after performing a bypass, causing her heart to suffer an air embolus that left her severely brain injured. She is now fed through a tube and communicates by writing on a chalk board.

Medical Malpractice/Brain Injury: While recovering from burns to 35% of her body, the minor plaintiff (11 months) was negligently provided two boluses of a medication called Albumin resulting in brain damage.

Trucking: On September 13, 2011, on Interstate 80 westbound, 5 miles east of Grinnell Iowa, the plaintiff, a wrecker and tow truck driver for the for the Hanifen Company, Inc. of Des Moines, Iowa, was working to attach a disabled tractor trailer, a sequence of events with collisions of vehicles on the road’s edge/shoulder resulted in his death from being crushed between the disabled tractor and the rear of his tow-wrecker.

F.M. v. A Local Community Hospital, Michael J. Riemaier, M.D., and Associates for Women’s Healthcare

(2021) Medical Malpractice: Mom was a gestational diabetic who was advised to deliver her son in the 39th week gestation by a maternal fetal medicine consultant. Her prenatal care was provided by a midwife who was scheduled to deliver her son. After monitoring, cervical ripening and induction, the mid-wife and her supervising obstetrician determined that no cervical change was occurring and mom could go home to return in a few days for another induction (unless she went into labor in the interim). Plaintiff’s experts believe it was unsafe for mom to go home in light of her gestational diabetic risks to herself and her son and his large size as well as abnormalities they identified on fetal heart tracings during the initial scheduled induction. When mom returned, she was allowed to labor for hours prior to birth despite additional abnormalities on fetal heart tracings. Baby was born with imaging suggestive of an older brain injury and an acute brain injury. The defense argued that injury to the fetal brain occurred in the first trimester and thereafter. The midwife and supervising obstetrician were not employees of the local community hospital. The minor has spastic cerebral palsy and a major seizure disorder.

Aviation/Product Liability: 20 year old male passenger in a small aircraft being piloted by a 20 year single male. Both individuals were traveling in the plane as part of the Aviation Program at their University. The aircraft became unflyable and crashed when the right cabin door completely opened during flight. The 20 year old pilot was burned over nearly 50% of his body due to the crash. The 20 year old passenger was severely burned and died days later. Due to jurisdictional concerns, causes of action had to be filed in several venues. Plaintiffs alleged that the locking system on the aircraft doors was defectively designed.

C. v. Thorek Memorial Hospital

Medical Malpractice: The Plaintiff, 51 year old man, experienced quadriplegia following cervical disc surgery due to failure of nurses to communicate post-operative neurologic changes due to spinal cord compression to his neurosurgeon in a timely fashion.

Car Accident: G.C. was an extra in the movie production of Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon. On September 1, 2010, G.C. was driving her own car along with 70-100 other vehicles on Cline Avenue in Hammond, Indiana during filming of the aforesaid movie. During filming, a stunt was performed in which an explosion followed by a stunt car being violently flipped over. The cable pulling the car broke free from the stunt car along with a large iron bracket, which was propelled across lanes of traffic into G.C.’s car windshield and then her head.