HOUSTON - It's a $300,000 verdict for a father who sued City Ambulance after his 21-month-old daughter was sent flying onto the highway while being transported.
Romeo Tchakoute sued City Ambulance and others in 2022 in Harris County District Court on behalf his daughter FGK, who was injured in a traffic accident in October 2020 allegedly because she was not secured to a safety seat.
Instead, personnel instructed FGK's mother to hold her, as she had received scald burns and was being driven to a hospital.
"On the way to the hospital, the ambulance encountered traffic on Interstate 610 and came to a stop," the lawsuit says.
"While the ambulance was stopped, another motorist collided with the rear of the ambulance. Minor Plaintiff FGK, who was not secured in a child safety seat, or otherwise properly restrained, was ejected from the vehicle and onto the freeway, where she sustained severe bodily injuries."
City Ambulance assumed the liabilities of its employees who were alleged to be negligent in failing to ensure FGK was safe. The complaint says FGK suffered a fractured skull.
City Ambulance defended the actions of its employees, even though a car seat and pedi-mate transporter device were available. But placing FGK in either was "intolerable" due to burns on her chin and torso.
"Confronted with the problem of how to transport the child and the concern that her airway may become obstructed, due to the nature of the burns sustained by (FGK) and potential swelling which could close her airway, the decision was made to place the child's mother on the stretcher and have the mother hold her child..." attorneys for City wrote.
The impact of the rear-end collision caused the transport compartment to be breached, resulting in FGK "being thrown out of the ambulance and onto the highway."
"The accident which injured the minor child was not foreseeable, therefore the defendants are not responsible in the capacity in which they have been sued," Karl Drews of Jackson, Drews & Boanerges wrote for City.
However, Judge Beau Miller on Nov. 7 disagreed following a bench trial in October. He awarded $200,000 for past pain and suffering and $100,000 in future pain and suffering but had to adjust his total verdict to accommodate the state's $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages.
The total awarded ended up being $259,189.61, plus another $46,174.81 in interest for a total of 305,364.42.
Clayton Rawlings and others at Hampton & Rawlings represent the plaintiff.