Young Girl Catastrophically Injured Awarded $2M
A young girl and her family recently settled with a group of companies in a lawsuit over a bike accident that left a young girl, Hailey Kramer, now 12, with catastrophic injuries. Her mother, Robin Kramer, filed suit in October on her daughter's behalf, seeking damages from the companies that designed and built Lake Haven Drive, where Hailey was injured on June 24, 2005. Bax Engineering, Bax Development Inc./J.C. Bax Construction Co. and the Forest Lake Estates trustees recently settled with the Kramers for $2 million. There are other defendants in the case that have yet to go to trial or settle. While riding her bike she fell and hit the side of her face on a wooden post alongside the road. The doctors said that wearing a helmet probably would not have prevented her injuries. The family’s attorney said the defendants cut corners to save money and built a road with a 17 percent grade in defiance of a county’s ordinance that says slopes on private roads cannot exceed 12 percent. The family’s attorney says the settlement allows the Kramers to modify their home to allow wheelchair access, install devices which help move Hailey in and out of bed and into the bathroom and pay for experimental medical treatment not covered by insurance.
