Successful Defense In Wrongful Death

August 23, 2017

A seven-year-old boy was walking to school with his mother when he unexpectedly jumped from the sidewalk into the street. At the exact same moment, a school district truck being driven by a school district employee turned the corner and hit and killed the boy.

At the time of the incident, employees of the municipality’s Water Department were attempting to close a valve to stop the flow of water coming from a break in the school district’s water service line, located roughly 100 feet to the west of the area of impact. Plaintiff, the boy’s mother, sued both the municipality and the school district; Plaintiff alleged the municipality had failed to implement proper and sufficient temporary traffic control when responding to the water leak. Plaintiff’s demand was $12 million.

Through expert witness discovery, it quickly became clear that the municipality’s expert witnesses’ opinions were more complete and scientifically sound, compared with those of the Plaintiff’s and the school district’s experts. In fact, Patton & Ryan affirmatively turned the spot light on the school district, highlighting the district’s complete failure to respond to its own water leak in any manner.

After vigorous motion practice and expert discovery, Patton & Ryan was able to resolve Plaintiff’s claims against the municipality for a small fraction of Plaintiff’s demand on the morning our motion for summary judgment was to be heard and two days before trial was scheduled to begin.