Case Verdicts

Woman injured in tractor-trailer crash settles with trucking company
Truck’s driver failed drug test after accident and had a criminal history.

Confidential Settlement

A woman who was hurt when a tractor-trailer loaded with rock overturned settled her claim against the trucking company for a confidential amount after a four-day trial.

On April 1, 2002, Carla Kemry, 45, was a passenger in the cab of a tractor-trailer owned by James Trucking Co. and driven by Billy Lee Love, an employee of James Trucking Co. The tractor-trailer was loaded with approximately 25 tons of rock.

The tractor-trailer was headed west on Quarry Road in Warrenton, Mo., when the load allegedly shifted to an outside corner, causing the trailer to run off the road. The right rear tire then blew out. The entire rig overturned, coming to rest on its side.

Kemry was partially thrown from the tractor-trailer and trapped in the wreckage. To free her, rescuers decided to pull the tractor-trailer upright using a tow truck. However, the cab was dragged a short distance with Kemry pinned underneath.

After Kemry was freed from the wreckage, she was airlifted to St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, Mo., where she was treated for several serious injuries, including a traumatic closed-head injury, facial and spinal fractures, broken ribs, transient respiratory failure, posttraumatic anemia and depression.

Kemry remained hospitalized for 12 days. On April 12 she was transferred to Columbia, Mo.-based Rusk Rehabilitation, where she spent an additional 12 days before being discharged on April 24. Kemry, a mother of two, continues to suffer significant back pain, headaches, emotional distress and depression. She also has permanent facial and body scars and suffers from cognitive and behavioral changes. Kemry’s medical expenses were just under $100,000.00.

On Aug. 22, 2005, Kemry filed suit in St. Louis Circuit Court against James Trucking Co. She was represented by David M. Zevan and Spencer E. Farris of Zevan Davidson Farris Stewart LLC.

Kemry alleged that James Trucking Co. was liable for her injuries because the tractor-trailer had been improperly loaded with the rock. She also alleged that James Trucking Co. was liable for negligently hiring and supervising Love as well as negligently entrusting the tractor-trailer to him. After the accident, Love tested positive for cocaine and amphetamine.  A criminal-background check would have revealed that in 1999 Love was twice arrested for possession of a controlled substance and convicted of felony charges. 

The case went to trial on Dec. 3, 2007. After four days of trial and without admitting liability, James Trucking Co. agreed to settle the case for a confidential amount.

Jury awards $1.2 million after woman died from a perforated ulcer
Two doctors allegedly missed an ulcer visible in a CT Scan.

$1.2 million verdict

The doctors who failed to detect a woman’s ulcer that was visible in a CT Scan were hit with a $1.2 million verdict in a wrongful death case.

To win the big verdict in rural Scott County, David M. Zevan and Spencer E. Farris, the St. Louis lawyers who handled the case, adopted an unusual approach at trial.

“There was nothing textbook about this case,” said Farris. “Because of time constraints and scheduling problems, witnesses didn’t appear chronologically.”

The doctor’s expert testified near the very beginning of the plaintiff’s case and the plaintiff’s expert testified during the defense portion of the case.

“The conventional wisdom is that there is no way you should let a defense expert testify in your case. And most cases begin with the Plaintiff’s expert,” said Farris. But this case was different, he said. “We had good admissions from the defense expert in this case.”

On April 5, 2002, Ruthie Lacey, 57, went to see Dr. James D. Merritt for her severe stomach pain. Merritt, a physician in Essex, Mo., sent Lacey to Missouri Southern Healthcare hospital for a CT Scan. The CT Scan was taken at Missouri Southern, located in Dexter, Mo., but it was read remotely by Dr. W.J. Stoecker, a Cape Girardeau physician with Cape Radiology Group.

When Dr. Stoecker read Lacey’s CT Scan, he missed the free air visible on the scan, but saw fluid which he decided might be recurrent cervical cancer, a condition Lacey had previously battled. Stoecker alleged that he called Merritt to report the fluid, but Merritt was not in his office. Neither Stoecker nor Merritt told Lacey of the findings. In addition, Stoecker alleged that he told the hospital that Lacey might show up there. Lacey went home from the hospital and waited to hear from her doctors, but never did.

The next day, in even greater pain, Lacey returned to Merritt’s office. He was nowhere to be found, so she went to the hospital emergency room. This time, her ulcer was discovered. Unfortunately, it was perforated. Digestive juices and food were entering her abdominal cavity through a hole burned in the wall of her stomach.

On April 7, 2002 - two days after she first complained of stomach pain - Lacey underwent emergency surgery. She died that following day.

“Ruthie Lacey didn’t need to die,” said David M. Zevan. “If her doctors had properly read the CT Scan and performed surgery within 24 hours, she had an 80 percent probability of living.”

Ruthie Lacey’s daughter, Susan Coleman, filed a wrongful death suit in St. Louis City Circuit Court in September 2002. The suit was subsequently transferred to Scott County. Coleman alleged that Merritt and Stoecker were negligent when they failed to properly diagnose the ulcer that was visible on the CT Scan. She also named Missouri Southern Healthcare and Cape Radiology as defendants but later dismissed her claims against them.

Stoecker denied the allegations. He claimed that the radiological miss did not amount to malpractice and that Lacey would not have survived even if the ulcer was diagnosed on April 5.

Merritt did not file an answer nor did he respond to discovery requests. Scott County Circuit Judge David Dolan entered a protective order that prevented Merritt from testifying at trial. Merritt did not appear at trial.

The defendants did not make a settlement offer in the case. The four-day trial began on Friday, March 16 and ended the following Wednesday. In addition to putting the defense expert on early in the plaintiff’s case, the plaintiff also introduced the testimony of another expert who had originally been endorsed by the defendant. That expert was dropped from the defense’s expert roster list after he admitted that Lacey had a very high probability of survival if a prompt diagnosis had been made.

 At the time of her death, Lacey was on disability due to her bout with cervical cancer. There were no lost wages or economic damages. The plaintiff introduced Lacey’s funeral bills into evidence, despite the oft-cited fear that the relatively small funeral expenses will depress the overall verdict amount.

Once again, the approach adopted by the plaintiff’s lawyers turned out to be the right one. On March 21, the jury awarded Lacey’s daughter $600,000 in past damages and $600,000 in future damages. Half of the liability was apportioned to Stoecker and the other half to Merritt.

Susan Coleman, as surviving heir of decedent Ruthie Lacey,
The Estate of Ruthie Lacey
v.
James D. Merritt, M.D. and W.J. Stoecker, M.D.
Circuit Court of the County of Scott
State of Missouri
Cause No. 03CV744968