Verdicts & Settlements

September, 2011: In a dispute with an insurance company regarding insurance coverage for damages awarded to a Polk County homeowner, the insurance company agreed to pay the homeowner $1,000,000.00 for damages resulting from the construction of the home.

July, 2011: An insured reached a settlement agreement with its insurance company after the insurance company initially refused to pay hospital and medical expenses associated with the birth of the insured’s newborn child. The insurer denied coverage based on its position that it was never notified of the birth of the newborn. After suit was filed and extensive discovery was taken, the insurance company agreed to pay the expenses, interest, and attorney’s fees.

October, 2008: After a two-week trial, a Polk County homeowner was awarded a Jury Verdict totaling $903,000.00 for damages and loss of use of the home after suing the contractor who built the home. The home suffered damages resulting from improperly installed windows, stucco, HVAC units, and a host of other problems.

Jury Awards $6.5 Million to Family

A Tampa jury has found the director of a hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit and the hospital’s responsible for the brain damage of a Polk County toddler.

The jury awarded $6.5 million in damages after finding that no one at the hospital noticed that the infant daughter’s blood sugar had fallen dangerously low after heart surgery in May 1993.

Woman Faces Legal Battles

A nine-month-old child died in her care in August 1998.

WINTER HAVEN – Legal problems facing a Winter Haven babysitter who was caring for a nine-month-old baby when she was strangled by a high chair strap, continue to mount a year after the child’s death.

The Woman is facing a civil lawsuit, filed by the baby’s parents, and a final determination by the county to permanently revoke her privileges to ever baby-sit again.

Fired Rehab Worker Files Suit

WINTER HAVEN – A top administrator at Polk County’s primary drug treatment program filed a federal discrimination complaint Friday saying she was fired because she’d had an affair with a boss who thought she was in the way of his promotion.

The director of special programs at Tri-County Addictions Rehabilitations Services in Winter Haven, filed the complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Tampa.

The complaint was filed against her two superiors, with whom she said she’d had the affair, and the agency’s executive director.

‘Honky Tonk’ Again Facing Barrage to Close Place Down

TAMPA – City officials are mounting a second campaign against Juanita’s Place, a bar police say is a haven for crime and a “drive-through supermarket for drugs.”

City Attorney Tom Saunders said police officials are compiling a second report about the bar that will include details not included in an original report delivered last month to the City Council.

The bar, at 4309 N. 34th St., is known to its patrons as the Honky Tonk.

Man Sues Gessler Clinic

WINTER HAVEN – A Winter Haven man who lost his leg to infection after what he says was improper medical treatment will take his case to court Monday.

A retired mobile-home inspector for the Department of Motor Vehicles is suing Gessler Clinic and one of its doctors for negligence in treating an infection three years ago.

The man contends in his lawsuit that his right leg had to be amputated because his physician did not treat him properly.

Family Settles Fondling Case

A lawsuit filed against a Winter Haven man who pleaded guilty last year to fondling a 15-year-old girl has been settled. The Winter Haven man was sentenced in May 1996 to 30 days in jail and seven years of probation.

The girl and her parents filed a lawsuit against the Winter Haven man and his wife seeking more than $15,000 in damages. The family is not identified in court records to protect the girl’s identity.