Case Work

Consumer Fraud

Payday Lending Cases
Johnny Haygood v. The Cash Store
Evans/Reid v. USA Payday Stores

Barnes Law Group has resolved and is currently handling several cases involving illegal loans that impose excessive and usurious interest rates.  Generally, a “payday loan” transaction involves an advance to a borrower of $500 or less which is due to be repaid within a short period of time, usually two weeks.  The borrower is required to write the lender a check in the amount of the advance, plus an additional fee imposed by the lender for making the loan.  The check is held by the lender until the borrower’s next payday.  The most recent case settled for $4 million.

 

Severe/Catastrophic Personal Injury

Anita Bushong v. Nissan Motor Company, et al

Anita Bushong was rendered a quadriplegic when her 1993 Nisan Pathfinder rolled over on an icy road in rural Wisconsin. Our attorneys contended the vehicle’s roof and restraint systems failed to protect her during a foreseeable rollover, and that Nissan failed to properly test the occupant protection systems to make sure they were effective.  This case settled for a confidential amount after the trial court allowed Plaintiff’s attorneys access to examine Nissan’s world-wide testing databases.

Complex Business Litigation

Stiles and Sammy Kellett v. Mariner Health Group et. al

A Cobb County Georgia jury levied a $10 million judgment against PricewaterhouseCoopers, finding that the accounting firm was guilty of negligent misrepresentation during the 1996 merger of nursing-home companies Convalescent Services and Mariner Health Group.  The verdict followed a month long trial of claims by four family trusts established by Cobb business entrepreneurs that were represented by Barnes Law Group.  The case is currently on appeal.

 

Products Liability

Mindy Floyd v. Bic Corporation

Mindy Floyd, a minor, was severely burned after a faulty cigarette lighter blew fuel onto her skin, which caught fire as the lighter was struck. While partial summary judgment did not find that the defendant must make the lighter child proof, the court did hold that if the lighter was actually defective, the plaintiff would be able to recover damages. Extensive discovery proved that the lighter, used in the proper manner, was indeed defective and the case was settled for a confidential amount.

 

Dorothy Barnett v. Ford Motor Co. et al

John Barnett was a triple board certified cardiologist who was killed when his Ford Excursion, towing a 31' Sunnybrook Travel Trailer, experienced a sudden gust of wind from a passing semi that caused his tow vehicle/travel trailer to fishtail, lose control, and overturn.  Our attorneys filed suit against Ford Motor Company, Sunnybrook RV, Inc., Eaz-Lift Spring Corporation, and the trailer dealer, arguing that the vehicle-trailer-hitch combination was defective because it did not prevent the trailer from swaying uncontrollably during a foreseeable highway situation. The case settled for a confidential amount that will provide economic stability to his widow and their children well into the future.

Underwood v. Ford Motor Co.

Christopher Underwood was rendered a quadriplegic when he was 3 years old because his family’s Ford Expedition slipped out of gear, rolled down a hill, and crashed into a tree.  The deployment of the airbag broke Christopher’s neck.  Our attorneys filed suit alleging a design defect allowed the gear shift to be moved without depressing the brake.  The trial resulted in a defense verdict.  The case settled for a confidential amount after Plaintiffs were granted a new trial on the basis that Ford hid and failed to provide other similar incidents.

 

Medical Malpractice & Nursing Home Abuse

Chris Laughridge v. Parkinson & May and Greenville Hospital System

Improper care during a high-risk delivery and inadequate staffing in the neonatal intensive care unit resulted in a child born with severe brain damage and profound mental retardation in this South Georgia case. First tried in 1992, the jury found for some of the defendants but could not agree on others; the judge declared a mistrial. Tried again in 1993, the jury found against both the obstetrician and neonatologist and awarded the plaintiff $5 million.

Jimmy Dell Bryant v. Brentwood Terrace Health Center, LLC

72 year old Jimmy Dell Bryant checked himself into a nursing home so he wouldn’t be a burden to his family.  During his 11 month stay,there were at least 17 documented falls.  After his 17th fall, Mr. Bryant was so lethargic that medications and food were “drooling out of his mouth.”  Our attorneys filed suit alleging that the care fell below the minimum standards.  The case settled for a confidential amount.

Wrongful Death

Jimmy Pittman v. Richard Sims

Jimmy Pittman's wife was a killed in a tragic automobile collision in which the defendant admitted liability - the jury only determined damages. The defendant declined pre-trial settlement offers of $250,000 and $750,000 and chose to wait for the jury to make their decisions. After a closing argument that eventually featured in the book Endgame, the all-male jury came back after only 40 minutes of deliberation with a plaintiff's verdict of $1.6 million.

 

Doris Wortham v. Ethicon

Hired to replace insulation on a hot water tank, Sammy Wortham was electrocuted after backing into a defective light socket which had gone unrepaired for several months. The defendant denied liability throughout the trial, contending that the plaintiff did not exercise ordinary care and that a third party vendor was actually liable. A settlement of over $1 million was agreed to after both sides rested.

 

Lenora Miller v. The Coca-Cola Company

Lenora Miller, a single mother of three, was killed when a delivery truck ran a traffic light and hit her automobile. The driver claimed that he could not see the light due to the sun - and the company filed a third-party complaint against the Department of Transportation. In the end, the case was settled for $3.1 million with a present cash value of $2 million.

Angela Kirby, Et Al v. Hunter and Rome Plow Company
Angela Kirby, Et Al v. Northside Equities, Inc. D/B/A Ponytails

The Kirby family lost a husband and father when their car was struck by Clinton Hunter, who was intoxicated and driving north in the southbound lanes of Interstate 75 in Atlanta. Michael Kirby was killed and his wife and two children were injured in the accident. Suits were files against Ponytails, the establishment that served Hunter that afternoon, as well as his employer. The case was settled for policy limits in the seven-figure range.

 

Class Action Litigation

Lillie Mae Star v. Fleet Mortgage, Inc.

Featured on 60 Minutes and in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, this case involved approximately 2,500 Georgia homeowners who were victimized by predatory mortgage lenders that were both adding overcharges into loans and using abusive collection practices. Filed in 1992, it drew national attention as one of the first large law suits against predatory lending in the country. The case was settled for $6.5 million.

Winfred Wood v. Associates Finance Services of America, Inc.

Involving thousands of Georgia homeowners and ultimately being settled for $13.5 million, the case exposed the abusive and expensive practice of illegally charging for credit life insurance in connection with a mortgage loan and ended it in Georgia and throughout the nation.