- The case of Martin Lee Anderson captured headlines around the world when the 14-year-old teen was killed at a Florida boot camp hours after he arrived. When Parks & Crump took the case, a videotape was uncovered and revealed several camp guards beating the teen to death while a nurse watched. Parks & Crump generated widespread public outcry in this case with marches and demonstrations. *The teen’s family ultimately received over $10 million dollars from various governmental entities.
- 2-year-old Zaniyah Hinson died after being left inside a scorching hot van for more than two hours by employees of a church-run day care center in Daytona Beach. The case was settled for $2.4 million.
- A former bat boy for a major league baseball team was molested more than 20 years ago by the clubhouse manager in Polk County where the team held its summer training camp. He received a substantial confidential settlement even though the statute of limitations had expired.
- A 27-year-old Georgia woman was injured after being hit by the president and general manager of an auto dealership who was driving a company car. We took the case to trial, and a jury awarded her $3.5 million.
- A 12-year-old cheerleader fell and was injured inside a Wal-Mart store in Tallahassee. The company refused to settle for $5,000 and the case went to trial. The jury awarded the girl $250,000. “That surprised the judge as much as it shocked Wal-Mart,” Benjamin Crump says.
- A man sustained injuries when a UPS truck ran into his car. The company said the damages were worth no more than $600. We took the case to trial, and the jury awarded him $424,000.
- A popular church leader in Southern Georgia, was killed by a drunk driver in a company car. The company told the victim’s family that the life of an African-American man in South Georgia wasn’t worth more than $1 million. The widow was awarded $5 million, the largest recovery for a single wrongful death case in a Southern Georgia County.
- Four young girls were playing in their grandmother’s yard when a drunk driver drove his car across the yard striking all four girls and killing one of the girls. The drunk driver tried to flee the scene. After complex litigation, a settlement was reached for $5 million.
- While working at an industrial plant, a man was severely burned when one of the worksite units exploded. Parks and Crump successfully appeared before the Florida Supreme Court and won a landmark ruling. The man and his family received over $10 million for an on-the-job injury.
- Parks and Crump handled a medical malpractice lawsuit in Miami involving a 48-year-old woman who underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy and bled to death postoperatively. The hospital settled prior to trial for confidential settlement amount worth seven figures. Parks and Crump proceeded to trial against the physicians, and the jury awarded a verdict in the amount of $1.475 million to the surviving spouse and children.
- One of only two African-American patrons in a night club of over two hundred patrons was wrongly accused by police of starting a fight. When the first officer arrived, the African American patron defended himself and took the baton from the officer and pushed him to the ground. Subsequently, the night club security and other police officers took the African American patron down hard, causing him to be paralyzed from the chest down. Parks and Crump interviewed hundreds of witnesses that confirmed the African American patron was trying to break up the altercation. The city and the night club settled for $4.9 million. The city raised the amount of parking meter fees to help pay the compensation.
- St. Joe Paper Company sold former wetlands to eight unsuspecting African-American women to build their homes in the mid to late 1980’s. Ten years later, the houses started sinking into the ground, causing their homes to fall apart. The women couldn’t afford to move, so they were forced to live in these deteriorating homes. As a result, snakes, lizards, and spiders came through the cracks of these homes on a daily basis. After years of creative litigating, St. Joe Corporation finally settled for a confidential amount.
- A police officer was killed by a drunk driver while running his daily morning jog. The drunk driver left the scene and claimed he thought he hit a deer. The case settled for the $1 million insurance policy limits.
- A mother and her infant son were tragically killed when a private airplane crashed into their home. The mother was saying her morning prayers with her baby. Parks and Crump were brought into the case as co-counsel to help the widower husband recover a settlement for $13 million.
- 81 year-old Isaac Singletary was shot by Jacksonville Sheriff’s deputies in his own front yard. The officers were posing as drug dealers and conducting an undercover drug operation on Mr. Singletary’s property without informing him or obtaining his consent. When Mr. Singletary approached who he believed were two drug dealers in his yard to kick them off of his property, the undercover officers shot and killed him. Parks and Crump obtained justice for the family and settled the case for the sovereign immunity limits.
- An eight-month-old baby girl and her father were tragically killed when their apartment building exploded from a natural gas leak. The gas company took over three hours to find and shut off the gas line. Because the emergency rescue personnel could not go into the building until the gas line was shut off, the baby and her father died from smoke inhalation. This case settled for a confidential seven figure amount.
- An honor student at Florida A&M University was paralyzed when the rental van he was riding in flipped on the interstate. The rental car company failed to verify the age of the driver of the van, who was under the minimum age required by law. The case settled during the course of federal litigation for $8.7 million.
- An eight-year-old boy was riding his bicycle with his friends when he was struck and killed by a Coca Cola truck making a right turn at an intersection in a residential neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. Maryland Statutes held that motorists owed a greater duty to pedestrians, especially children, in residential areas. A lawsuit was filed and the case settled out of court for one million dollars.
- A 25-year-old plumber’s assistant went to a call with his boss to install a bathroom facility at a church. While his boss was upstairs, he got stuck as he tried to exit the church basement between the air conditioning unit and the hot water heater and was electrocuted and died a horrific death. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) cited the church and plumbing company for several violations. The plumber’s assistant first and only child was born one month after the tragedy. The case settled out of court for a confidential seven figure settlement.
- The head usher of a central Florida Baptist church was driving with her pastor and his wife to a church conference on Interstate 95 when the vehicle they were in collided with a rental van driven by a college lacrosse team. Everybody in the vehicles were injured, but the head usher died from her injuries. Liability between the two drivers was heavily contested. An eye witnessed said that the college driver was speeding and that the pastor did seem to change lanes suddenly. The day before jury selection, both the Church insurance company and the rental car company entered into a confidential seven figure settlement with the head usher’s family.
- Parks and Crump recovered $875,000 on behalf a 19-year-old whose mother was killed at an intersection where another vehicle made a left hand turn and hit the side of the pick-up truck where she was a front seat passenger. Liability was contested.
- A house fire claimed the life of a father and his son, while his wife received 3rd degree burns to 30% of her body. Parks and Crump joined a co-counselor and sued a furniture manufacturer for using non-fire repellent material that easily caught fire. Lawyers for the manufacturer claimed the fire started due to a space heater placed too close to the curtains. The case settled for $2 million.
- A 17-year-old high school senior drowned on field trip to an area lake where no lifeguards were posted. The contract between the Lake officials and the county school board stated that if the Lake doesn’t have a lifeguard on duty, the guest group may not use the waterfront or related activities unless the Guest Group provided a person with a current advanced life saving certificate for each of the 50 people in the water. The school should have required 3 life guards for the 134 students. The case settled out of court for $1 million.
- In central Florida, an 18-year-old high school senior was shot and killed outside of his car as he waited for his friend to pay for gas at a Circle K. Known as a popular after club hang out spot, Parks and Crump sued Circle K alleging the teenager’s death was due to their unwillingness to provide adequate security for their store and/or to take proper measures to make sure loiters did not hang out around the property. During the litigation, it was discover that the police department had been called to that location over 89 times the month preceding this tragedy, yet Circle K still didn’t hire security as neighboring businesses did. The case was settled out of court for $1.2 million.
- A 25-year-old woman, confined to a wheelchair was run over and crushed by the trailer of an eighteen wheeler while she was crossing the street. The defendant in the case denied that the woman had the right of way. The case settled for $1 million dollars.
- An 8-year-old boy drowned in a pool of water located within an unfenced construction company’s sandpit closely located near a residential community. After filing a lawsuit based on the attractive nuisance doctrine, the case settled for $1 million dollars.
- An 8-month-old infant asphyxiated (suffocated) after a defective baby crib disengaged and trapped the child between the crib’s railing and mattress. Parks & Crump settled with the crib’s manufacturer for a confidential amount.
- A 15-year-old teen was sexually molested and exploited by an administrator working for the Florida Department of Children and Families. The administrator denied all allegations. After a pre-suit mediation, the case ultimately settled for a confidential amount.
- A middle aged gentlemen who worked in the Volusia County, Florida, school system for approximately 35 years and who served as a classroom teacher, dean of students, assistant principal, principal, area director, and area superintendent was instantly killed when his car was struck by a speeding vehicle that was allegedly being pursued by the police in a high speed chase. After years of complex litigation, the case settled for the statutory limits.
- A woman and her two daughters were returning home from church, when suddenly another vehicle pulled out in front of their vehicle. The woman did not have time to stop and the two vehicles collided. The other driver claimed the woman was speeding. The woman suffered a fractured wrist and one of her daughter’s suffered a mild head injury. The case settled for $550,000.
- A woman was driving a school bus and came to a complete stop to let one of her students off the bus. There was one car that was stopped behind the bus when a man driving a tractor trailer truck fell asleep causing his truck to run into the car and the bus. The bus driver was ejected from her seat and was thrown to the back of the bus, hitting her head on the roof of the bus. After the lawsuit was filed, the parties reached a settlement at mediation for $650,000.
- Two young women were driving home from Atlanta, Georgia, to Tampa, Florida, for a holiday. While driving on I-75 South, a tractor trailer truck came over the middle line into the two young women’s lane, causing the first of several collisions. Both young women were killed. The case went to trial in federal court in Tampa. Because liability was disputed, and there were no witnesses to speak on behalf of the decedents, the parties reached an agreement for $800,000.
- A senior citizen living in a nursing home was taken to her doctor in a company van. On the way back to the nursing home, the senior fell out of her chair because she was not properly strapped into her seat. When a worker reporter the incident to the nursing home, he was instructed to bring the senior back to the nursing home and not take the senior to the emergency room. The senior was not analyzed by anyone upon her return to the nursing home. She was merely placed back in bed. Later, it was found that the senior had suffered a fracture and because she was not properly treated, she ultimately died a few days after the incident. The case settled in pre-suit for $750,000.
