Recent Cases

TYPE OF CASE: CHINESE DRYWALL

$800 Million Settlement

After 18 months of more than 50 worldwide negotiations in New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia and Miami, as well as Frankfurt, Germany, the Honorable Judge Eldon E. Fallon of the U.S. Eastern District Court, New Orleans, Louisiana, announced that the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee and Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin (KPT) Defendants proposed a class action settlement that would resolve potentially thousands of Chinese Drywall claims. The proposed settlement is subject to court approval and the settlement value is estimated to be between $800 million to $1 billion, with approximately $160 million being paid in attorney's fees.  The Law Offices of Wolf & Pravato, P.A. represent clients with approximately 395 homes that were affected by Chinese Drywall.

Judge Eldon E. Fallon, United States District Court Judge for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, presiding over MDL 2047 In re: Chinese-Manufactured Drywall Products Liability Litigation, advises that the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC) and Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin (KPT) jointly announced a landmark global class action settlement that will help thousands of American homeowners affected by problems with KPT Chinese drywall on December 15, 2011. This settlement effectively signals an end to the ongoing litigation and class-action lawsuits against KPT and certain of its affiliated companies.

The agreement creates two funds from which plaintiffs may recover: the Remediation Fund and the Other Loss Fund. The Remediation Fund, which is uncapped, will pay costs of the three types of relief the class members can choose from: (i) remediation by Moss & Associates, the contractor for the remediation program established by the parties in October 2010; (ii) self-remediation by a qualified contractor of the homeowner's choosing; and (iii) a cash out option, in which the homeowner can elect to receive a cash payment. The Other Loss Fund, which is capped, will reimburse for certain provable economic loss and provide a review process for individuals who believe they have bodily injury claims. In addition, attorneys' fees and costs will be paid.

TYPE OF CASE: MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT

Mr. Rivera was 33 years old and was riding his motorcycle Eastbound on Atlantic Avenue in Margate, Florida. He was in the left hand lane, traveling just under the speed limit at 40 MPH. An elderly man that was stopped in a left turn lane was facing Westbound. As Mr. Rivera approached, the elderly man made a left turn directly in front of Mr. Rivera.

Mr. Rivera attempted to avoid the accident by quickly moving his motorcycle to the right; however the car made an extremely wide turn. Mr. Rivera eventually was pinned between the motorcycle and the car, causing a near amputation of his left arm.

The trial lawyers at Wolf & Pravato, P.A., who are Ft. Lauderdale motorcycle accident attorneys, filed a lawsuit in Broward County, Florida. Prior to trial, the case was settled for the policy limits of $1,500,000.00.

TYPE OF CASE: TRUCK AND PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT

An 11-year-old boy was on vacation with his family in the Florida Keys. The boy ran into the street ahead of his father and was struck by a truck. The boy suffered extensive injuries and required multiple surgical procedures. The investigating officers performed a cursory investigation and concluded that the boy was solely at fault for the accident. However, Wolf & Pravato was able to show that the truck driver was not paying proper attention and that the accident could have been avoided if the truck driver had been more vigilant or taken evasive action once the child began crossing the street. The case was litigated and resulted in a recovery of the full insurance policy limits, which exceeded one million dollars.

TYPE OF CASE: COMMERCIAL CARRIER-TRUCK ACCIDENT

A young man in his 20's was sitting on a bus bench waiting for the bus to take him to work. A tractor-trailer carrying a large load of steel building beams made a turn in front of the bus bench and the entire load of steel slid off the truck crushing the young man’s leg and trapping him. After several hours, the rescue team was able to free the trapped man and his long road of surgeries and rehabilitation began. Wolf & Pravato quickly dispatched our top engineering team to perform a comprehensive evaluation of the 18-wheeler. Our engineers discovered that the enormous load had been improperly secured. Prior to entering the courtroom, the case was settled for $3.85 million dollars.

TYPE OF CASE: WRONGFUL DEATH

A 54-year-old woman was in her Ford Explorer waiting at a red light in the middle of a hot afternoon. A driver of large truck recklessly lost control of the vehicle a block away from our client. As the out-of-control truck came to the intersection, the driver made a fatal error. While traveling at a high rate of speed, the driver attempted to make a right turn, adjacent to our client’s vehicle. As a result, the massive truck flipped over on it's side and crushed the Ford Explorer our client was sitting in. Surveillance video taken at the time of the crash documented the horrific event. Our client was survived by an adult daughter and a granddaughter. This seven figure settlement is confidential.

TYPE OF CASE: MEDICAL MALPRACTICE & PREMISES LIABILITY

On Thanksgiving, an 11-year-old girl was playing with friends across the street from her house at an apartment complex. As the group of kids were playing, a five foot high wall between a parking lot and the apartment building fell on top of our 11-year-old client’s leg. She was rushed to the hospital. The doctors failed to properly diagnose our client’s injuries. As a result, the 11-year-old girl was forced to have her leg amputated below the knee. What should have been just a short time in a cast, ended in a tragedy.

Our construction engineering team found that the apartment building owner had negligently reconstructed the wall several years earlier following a hurricane. Our medical experts found that medical malpractice clearly caused the resulting amputation of the child’s leg. The multi-million dollar settlement is confidential.

TYPE OF CASE: AUTO ACCIDENT

Our client, a 57-year-old woman, was a passenger in her daughter’s car. As they were driving, another vehicle ran a stop sign and violently crashed into the passenger’s side of their car. Our client was evacuated and rushed to the nearest trauma center. She sustained multiple severe injuries, to wit: emergency abdominal surgery; compression fractures to her back requiring surgical intervention in the form of a L1-L4 posterior instrumented fusion and L2-L3 laminectomy/decompression with a partial facetectomy (a 4 level spinal fusion with rods and 8 screws); mild traumatic brain injury; large scalp laceration; Left and Right carpal tunnel release surgery, and; fractured ribs and contusions. Prior to entering the courtroom, this case was settled. The amount of this multi-million dollar settlement is confidential.

TYPE OF CASE: MOTORCYLE ACCIDENT

Our client, a young man, was riding a motorcycle without a helmet on South Beach when another vehicle pulled out in front of him, causing a "T-Bone" accident. Our client sustained facial fractures requiring reconstructive surgery and a fractured leg. The defendant, a luxury car rental company, failed to respond to our client’s claim. Wolf & Pravato’s trial team filed suit and tried the case before a Miami-Dade jury. We obtained a jury verdict of $1,239,380.00.

TYPE OF CASE: NEGLIGENT ROADWAY DESIGN

Our client, a young man in his 20's, was driving at night in the rain. The roadway was under construction at that time. Our client did not see that the roadway curved to his left and he drove off the road and struck a Caterpillar construction vehicle that was parked in the grass. Our client sustained a fractured leg requiring surgery with rods and screws. Our engineering team discovered that the roadway was designed improperly; the curved roadway was designed at too great of an angle, thus causing a dangerous condition. Wolf & Pravato’s trial team filed suit against the national construction firm that lead the project. After a vigorous prosecution of the case, we were able to achieve a large six figure settlement at mediation; the amount is confidential.

TYPE OF CASE: AUTO ACCIDENT

Our client, a 38-year-old mother, was forced to pull over on the side of I-75. As she was standing in the grass behind her vehicle, the driver of another car was not paying attention to the highway and he veered off the road and slammed into our client. Our client sustained severe injuries and was rushed by helicopter to Broward General’s trauma center. Emergency spinal surgery was performed at the trauma center. Her devastating injuries digressed and she eventually underwent a 6 level thoraco-lumbar spinal fusion T10-L3 (a 6 level low back fusion with rods and 10 screws). Our litigation team successfully demonstrated to the opposition the extensive value of our client’s life altering injuries and were able to obtain a multi-million dollar settlement at mediation; the amount is confidential.