Beasley Allen attorney Preston Moore recently secured a million-dollar settlement for his client, highlighting the importance of having a dedicated legal team on your side.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Ralph Stuart Paulk against Chaney-Bush Irrigation, Inc. and Bill Wayne Arant following a 2021 accident that left Paulk seriously injured.

Arant, who was driving a truck belonging to his employer, Bush Irrigation, Inc., failed to stop at an intersection. Because Mr. Arant failed to yield to oncoming traffic, he caused a collision with Mr. Paulk that left him injured.

Before Beasley Allen got involved in this case, State Farm rejected a verbal settlement offer from Mr. Paulk himself of less than $50,000. Despite State Farm’s sharp position, Moore was determined to secure a settlement that reflected the full value of Mr. Paulk’s damages.

After months of preparation and factual development, Moore successfully secured a $1,000,000 policy limit settlement for his client.

“This settlement is one more piece of data that shows just how important quality plaintiff-side representation is,” said Beasley Allen attorney Preston Moore. “I am glad to report that once again, our team at Beasley Allen’s ensured that another injured person saw justice.”

In personal injury cases, having a knowledgeable and compassionate attorney is crucial.  Preston Moore and the team at Beasley Allen can help you ensure your rights are protected and that you receive the compensation you deserve.

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Beasley Allen, in partnership with Neinstein LLP, a Toronto-based civil litigation firm, is leading legal action against tech giants Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Snapchat and TikTok on behalf of Ontario’s largest school boards.

The $4.5 billion lawsuit represents the Toronto District School Board, Peel District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, and Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. It alleges that social media products have disrupted student learning and the education system by reprogramming how children think, behave and learn.

Beasley Allen and Neinstein LLP argue that social media products have been negligently designed for compulsive use, causing massive strains on the four school boards’ finite resources, including increased IT costs, additional administrative resources and the need for in-school mental health programming and personnel.

The litigation aims to equip school boards with the resources necessary to support student programming and services while addressing the school-based problems caused by social media giants.

“As a law firm that has been at the forefront of social media lawsuits, Beasley Allen is committed to holding social media companies accountable for not just harms in the United States, but for their actions internationally. These lawsuits continue to warn social media companies that they will be held accountable for their actions, not only by the adolescents they have harmed but also by those who support our youth. Beasley Allen seeks to ensure that our Canadian clients receive the support and resources they need to hold these companies accountable,” Beasley Allen’s Joseph VanZandt said.

VanZandt serves as co-lead counsel in the largest U.S.-based litigation against the social media giants, the California state court consolidated action (JCCP) based in Los Angeles. That litigation consists of over 620 personal injury plaintiffs from 40 states and 546 school district plaintiffs from 35 states. VanZandt also serves on the Plaintiff Steering Committee for the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL).

Beasley Allen began filing social media personal injury lawsuits nationwide in 2022 for adolescents harmed by social media addiction. Additionally, our firm represents hundreds of school districts and government entities across the United States in claims of nuisance and negligence resulting from social media’s harmful impact.

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The Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Gadsden can proceed with its lawsuit against several defendants it contends are responsible for the negligent, willful and wanton conduct that has led to PFAS contamination in the Coosa River Basin.

According to the EPA, PFAS are widely used, long-lasting chemicals whose components break down very slowly over time.  PFAS chemicals are linked to negative health effects, including cancer and decreased birth weight. PFAS cannot be removed from drinking water with conventional technology used in the water treatment process. 

The lawsuit names DuPont, Daikin America and other PFAS manufacturers who sold PFAS to carpet and textile manufacturers. Industrial wastewater produced by these customers contains high levels of PFAS, which resist degradation and migrate from the Conasauga River into the Coosa River, the source of Gadsden’s drinking water. The suit also alleges contamination from nearby Three Corners Landfill.

The litigation was briefly stayed due to a proposed MDL settlement aimed at resolving claims for PFAS contamination in U.S. Public Water Systems. The MDL settlement was approved by Judge Richard Gergel of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina in February, which cleared the way for the remaining trials to proceed. Gadsden opted out of this settlement. 

As a direct result of the contamination, the Water Works and Sewer Board of Gadsden alleges it has suffered expenses associated with the installation and operation of a filtration system capable of removing PFAS from the water and monitoring PFAS contamination levels. 

“I am pleased that we can move forward with our lawsuit against these defendants who we believe have caused significant expense to our client,” said Beasley Allen attorney Rhon Jones. “It is important that those responsible for this contamination are held accountable for their actions.”

The lawsuit seeks damages in an amount to be determined by a jury sufficient to compensate it for removing PFAS from Gadsden’s drinking water, disposing of PFAS removed from Gadsden’s drinking water, real property damage, and future expenses. 

Currently, the EPA has issued a lifetime health advisory recommending that drinking water should contain less than 0.004 parts per trillion (ppt) PFOA and  0.02 ppt PFOS.

Defendants in a prior similar case settled for confidential amounts with the Water Works and Sewer Board of Gadsden. 

Along with Jones, Gadsden is represented by Matt Griffith, Jeff Price, David Diab, Elliot Bienenfeld, Gavin King, and Elizabeth Weyerman. 

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Regina Allen Elsea, a 20-year-old bride-to-be, was fatally injured while on the job at AJIN USA, located in Cusseta, Alabama.

“Regina was a loving person,” Angel Ogle, Regina’s mother, said. “She loved animals…she never met a person she didn’t love. She was always making everybody laugh. The bright star in the room.”

Just two weeks before her wedding, tragedy occurred.

On June 18, 2016, Regina and three AJIN coworkers were sent to the robotics station to clear a sensor and restart the assembly line after it had stopped, halting production. She and the other workers were inside the operations zone when the machine abruptly restarted and crushed her.

“About 11 a.m., we got a phone call…saying that her arm had got caught in a machine and we needed to get up there,” Angel said.

Regina was initially taken to a hospital in Opelika, Alabama. She was later airlifted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.

Angel said they sat for hours waiting on news of Regina’s condition.

“About four in the morning, the doctor called us back for the third time. He told us that only 1% of Regina’s brain was working and her organs had failed,” Angel said.

After Regina’s death, Angel was referred to the Beasley Allen Law Firm and began working with Principal attorney Kendall Dunson. He helped guide Angel through her fight for justice in the wrongful death of her daughter.

“Workers like Ms. Elsea want to put in a good day’s work and go home to their families at the end of the day. Every company has a legal obligation to ensure its workers get to do that,” Kendall said. “Unfortunately, companies like AJIN value profits more than the safety and well-being of their employees, and the results are devastating.”

Regina would have been spared from injury and death if her employer had complied with basic workplace safety regulations.

OSHA officials found 51 safety violations at the AJIN plant after her death. All but three of those violations were willful, indicating a purposeful disregard for worker safety. The plant was cited for lockout/tagout violations, where supervisors in Alabama failed to enforce the procedures effectively.

“Had Ajin done their job properly, we would not be here today,” Angel added. “They made the decision to bypass safety features on that machine to allow their employees to go in and fix it to get their product out. To me, Aijin is 100% at fault for my daughter’s death.”

Angel says Kendall was there through every hurdle and hardship, living up to the motto of helping those who need it most.

“Even when it wasn’t part of the case that Kendall and Beasley Allen were part of, the criminal case with the U.S. Attorney General, Kendall and Beasley Allen were still there every step of the way and went with me to every meeting,” Angel recounted. “I would recommend Kendall Dunson to anyone in this situation or any work he does with Beasley Allen. He treated us like family and still does.”

“Regina’s death represents the true cost of the company’s reckless disregard for safety,” Kendall said. “Her life was just getting started. A permanent, painful void exists among her family, friends, and community.”

An Alabama federal court ordered AJIN to pay a $500,000 criminal fine plus $1 million in restitution to Regina’s family. The company must also complete three years of probation, during which Ajin must comply with a safety compliance plan overseen by a third-party auditor.

If you have been injured at work or your employer disregards OSHA regulations, we would like to hear from you. Contact us today for a free case evaluation.

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The trial, set to take place, was previously stayed to do a proposed MDL settlement for PFAS contamination in U.S. Public Water Systems.

The Water Works and Sewer Board of Centre, Alabama (Centre Water) can proceed with its lawsuit against 3M and DuPont for contaminating the Coosa River with toxic chemicals, namely PFAS.

The litigation, which was scheduled for trial in October 2023, was briefly stayed due to a proposed MDL settlement aimed at resolving claims for PFAS contamination in almost all U.S. Public Water Systems. The MDL settlement was approved by Judge Richard Gergel of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina in February, which cleared the way for the remaining trials to proceed. Centre opted out of this settlement.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants’ past and present release of a class of toxic chemicals known as PFAS, such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), has damaged Centre Water’s raw water source in the Coosa River Basin and exposed its customers to these dangerous chemicals, which have been linked to various cancers.

“We are pleased that the stay has been lifted in this case,” said Beasley Allen attorney Rhon Jones. “This is a significant step toward holding the defendants responsible for their actions and guaranteeing that customers have access to clean and safe drinking water. We will continue to pursue this case vigorously and fight for justice for the damage caused.”

These chemical compounds are manufactured by 3M and DuPont and sold to carpet mills in Georgia. There, the mills use PFAS to make carpet and textile products resistant to water, stains, and grease. This has led to the discharge of industrial wastewater containing PFAS, which resist degradation during treatment and contaminate the Conasauga River, which flows into the Coosa River. As a result, Centre Water has suffered economic and consequential damage, including costs for filtration, to remove the chemicals from drinking water and monitoring for PFAS levels. This lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages in order to allow Centre to remove these chemicals from its drinking water. Currently, the EPA has issued a lifetime health advisory recommending that drinking water should contain less than 4 parts per trillion of either PFOS and PFOA.

Other defendants in the case settled prior to trial for confidential amounts.

Along with Jones, Centre Water is represented by Matt Griffith, David Diab, Elliot Bienenfeld, Gavin King, Jeff Price, and Elizabeth Weyerman.

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Beasley Allen has secured a $4 million settlement for our clients who were injured in a mishap involving a negligent trucking company.

The incident happened in January 2019 when our clients were traveling eastbound on US-80 in Lowndes County, Alabama.  At the same time, the defendant was driving a tractor-trailer on US-80 when his trailer became detached from the cab, blocking both eastbound traffic lanes. Our client’s vehicle subsequently collided with the trailer.

Besides the considerable damage to the vehicle, our clients also experienced both short-term and long-term physical harm and pain, loss of their quality and enjoyment of life, emotional distress and incurred medical expenses.

“Our clients were innocent victims of a preventable tragedy caused by the negligence of a trucking company,” said Beasley Allen attorney Warner Hornsby. “We are pleased that we were able to secure a fair settlement that will help them move forward with their lives and recover from the physical, emotional and financial toll of this incident.”

Commercial vehicle and truck accident cases can’t be treated like typical car accident cases. They are unique in their own way due to various reasons, including:

• The size and experience of the defendants.
• The need to immediately preserve and record evidence.
• The complicated relationships between trucking companies, insurance carriers and other possible defendants.
• Navigating complex insurance issues.
• Familiarity with federal and state trucking laws.
• Collecting, processing and analyzing technical data.

We understand that peace of mind is essential to recovery, especially after a traumatic event like a truck accident. We want to take this challenging, sometimes scary process off your shoulders.

Our attorneys have helped countless clients get the justice they desperately needed and deserved. You pay us nothing if we do not win for you. Contact us today for a free case evaluation.

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It started as an average morning for David Welch. But, the typical day was interrupted by a life-changing phone call.

David’s wife, Kimberleigh, was a bus driver for the Mobile County Public School System. Shortly after making her first successful drop-off, she was involved in an accident on Interstate 65 South.

“I got a call that there had been a wreck,” David said. “On my way to downtown Mobile, I had no clue. I kept thinking, my wife is a bus driver- there shouldn’t be any problems.”

According to reports by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, a 2017 Nissan Altima struck the school bus near the I-65 off-ramp to US 45 in Prichard. The crash caused the bus Kimberleigh was operating to leave the roadway and overturn. The bus’ roof collapsed during the tip-over onto Kimberleigh, suffocating her.

When David arrived at the hospital, he was told Kimberleigh had passed away.

“Once I had left, just me and the kids in the truck, I had to pull over on the side of the road. I just told the kids, ‘I don’t know what to do.’” David recalled tearfully.

David was put in touch with Beasley Allen’s Greg Allen to try and make some sense of his wife’s tragic death.

“Nobody would tell me any information…no one had contacted me. I was clueless as to why we were in that situation,” David added.

David learned another vehicle had wrecked into Kimberleigh’s bus, causing the change of events. But he wasn’t sure who was at fault for her death.

“At the time, I didn’t know if it was his fault because he was negligent? Was he under the influence or something like that? Nobody had answers,” David added.

Beasley Allen investigated the crash and found that while the accident caused the bus to tip over, the bus’ negligent design was the direct cause of Kimberleigh’s death.

IC Bus and Navistar placed a defective, unsafe bus on the market without an adequate roof and body structure. The rollover occurred at only 12 miles per hour.

“If the bus had been constructed differently, under different safety guidelines, she would have walked away,” David said.

“The defendants created an unreasonable risk of harm by failing to use proper designs available when the bus was designed, manufactured and sold,” Beasley Allen Lead Product Liability Attorney Greg Allen said. “They continued placing at risk the lives of school children and bus drivers daily when these passengers boarded the defendants’ defective school buses.”

David credits Beasley Allen’s, specifically Greg’s thorough investigation, for helping him understand his wife’s crash and working to prevent future incidents.

“Greg treated me not only as a client but as a family, a person, and a friend and helped me walk through this step by step. At the end of all this, I had absolute confidence that Greg had overturned every stone and we knew exactly what took place.

While the settlement won’t bring back Kimberleigh, David hopes it can save someone else’s life.

“One of the things I hope that is accomplished from this is that a change is made going forward. Greg Allen and the Beasley Allen Law Firm have uncovered a problem with school buses and the way most of them are designed,” David said. “Hopefully, this information can be used to make a change.”

The case was filed in the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama, case number 02-CV-2019-903280.00. According to Allen, Presiding Judge Micheal Youngpeter was instrumental in resolving the case for this deserving family. Beasley Allen attorneys Stephanie Monplaisir, Kendall Dunson and David Greene of the Greene and Phillips Law Firm represented the family in this deadly school bus crash case.

The settlement amount for this case is confidential.

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The State of Alabama has settled with two opioid distributors, resolving litigation for their roles in the state’s opioid crisis.

Beasley Allen is pleased to announce a $220 million settlement with opioid distributors Cardinal Health and Cencora (formerly AmerisourceBergen) to resolve the opioid crisis litigation in Alabama.

The case was successfully resolved after more than a year and a half of litigation in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

The terms of the agreement call for Cardinal and Cencora to pay $220 million in abatement funds over ten years instead of the maximum of $180 million over 18 years offered in federal multidistrict litigation.

Cardinal and Cencora will also pay fees and costs for the State’s counsel. This allows the State to direct all settlement funds to opioid abatement.

As in previous opioid settlements, the State will share the settlement funds with local governments and public hospitals. The State’s portion of the settlement funds will be deposited directly into the State’s General Fund.

“While this settlement cannot bring back those lost to this devastating epidemic, it presents a historic opportunity to ameliorate the harm that opioid abuse has caused in our communities,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said.

“Our team worked tirelessly to ensure that the State received a fair and just outcome, and we hope that this settlement will serve as a step towards healing and recovery for our communities,” said Beasley Allen Toxic Torts Section Head Rhon Jones.

Along with Jones, the State of Alabama was represented in this matter by Jeff Price, Matt Griffith, Elliot Bienenfeld, Gavin King, Elizabeth Weyerman and the late Rick Stratton of Beasley Allen; Josh Hayes and Bob Prince of Prince Glover Hayes; and Attorney General Steve Marshall, Clay Crenshaw and Michael Dean of the Alabama Office of the Attorney General.

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Beasley Allen associate attorney Caty O’Quinn has been named to the 2024 class of Compassionate Counsel honorees.

The Compassionate Counsel Award acknowledges attorneys who prioritize their clients’ needs and represent them tirelessly while also being sensitive to the trauma they have endured.

Caty works in the firm’s Mass Torts section, which focuses on helping with the national talcum powder litigation. Before joining the firm, she worked for private practice attorneys handling social security disability claims and working on probate and family law cases.

“Caty reflects what it means to be Compassionate Counsel by going above and beyond to ensure her clients receive the respect and support they deserve,” Mike Volpe, The Milestone Foundation executive director, said in a release. “Passionate about her plaintiffs, Caty understands that accessibility to financial support is a right to justice.”

The Compassionate Counsel Award is awarded annually by the Milestone Charitable Foundation to a chosen group of attorneys nationwide who are innovative in their pursuit of justice.

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