Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A New Orleans paramedic won a $1.5 million verdict against an ambulance manufacturer for injuries he sustained in 2010.
Paramedic Ryan Earls, 26, was injured while tending to a shooting victim. As the ambulance was transporting it hit a bump, and the seat Earls was riding in collapsed. As a result, Earls sustained permanent career ending back injuries. He tried working as a dispatcher, but nerve damage led to problems there as well.
Earls filed suit in Federal court against the ambulance manufacturer, Medtec Ambulance Corp., under a products liability – defective design theory. The jury returned a $1.5 million verdict last week, allocating $200,000 for lost wages, $600,000 in medical expenses, and $700,000 for pain and suffering.
Among the issues in the suit were the manufacturer’s claims that their ambulances were “super-duty ambulances … built to handle the demands of the city’s rugged streets.”
