| Gun Victim’s Widow
Settles Suit for $840,000
By PEG WARNER
Union Leader Correspondent
DERRY
– The
widow and the estate of a local man who died in a bizarre
gun accident in 1994 have settled out of court with the
weapon’s seller in the second of their three lawsuits
arising from the incident.
B.J. Branch, the Manchester lawyer representing
Margaret Brockway and
the estate of her husband, Richard, said he reached an
$840,000 settlement this week with Arizona-based Davidson
Distributors. The
wrongful death suit also sought emotional distress damages
for Margaret Brockway, who has since moved to Pelham.
Richard Brockway, 51, died 12 hours after a bullet
came through the floor and struck him as he watched
television on his couch, and lodged in a beam in the
ceiling of his apartment at the Fairways Apartments.
The bullet came from an assault-style rifle that
accidentally discharged while it was being cleaned in the
apartment below.
Police found that the Chinese-made SKS rifle –
which Branch said looks like an assault rifle but has no
automatic function – could misfire, but only when loaded
with the type of ammunition that killed Brockway.
The investigation also showed that misfires left
certain markings on the ammunition, and that those
markings appeared on the fatal bullet.
The high-caliber, Brazilian-made ammunition is a
missile-like bullet 31/2 inches long, 1-inch around with
an extremely sharp point, said Branch.
No criminal charges were brought.
Branch said yesterday the case resonates to the
nationwide gun control debate.
“When (President) Clinton banned the manufacture
of assault weapons in the United States, what the result
was was this country being flooded by poorly made SKS
rifles made in China,” he said.
The settlement brings the total money recovered so
far in the case to $1.24 million.
Margaret Brockway also filed suit against the
gun’s owner, Matthew Trull, and Bryan Borsa, who was
cleaning the weapon in Trull’s apartment when it
discharged. They
settled with Brockway for $400,000 in 1995, though their
lawyer said at the time the responsibility lay with the
manufacturer, China North Industries Corp.
Brockway has one suit still pending against Magtech
Recreational Products, Inc., the sellers of the
ammunition. That
is scheduled to go to trial next year.
This week’s settlement also resolves a suit
Davidson filed against China North and several companies
involved in importing the weapon, said Branch.
All the suits were filed in Hillsborough County
Superior Court, mostly in the Nashua branch.
Caught in the legal crossfire was Al’s Gun &
Reel Shop of Derry, which Brockway initially named as a
defendant along with the other companies.
The shop was later dropped as a defendant when
Brockway learned that it was a family-owned business with
no knowledge of the problems with the weapon.
Brockway will use some of the proceeds from the
settlement to pay the legal fees for the shop, which she
considers “an innocent victim”, said Branch.
He said Brockway also has donated some of the
proceeds to organizations that deal with the aftermath of
situations similar to hers – the 100 Club, the New
Hampshire Law Enforcement Officers Memorial fund and the
National Organization for Parents of Murdered Children.
|
Hart Estate Gets Nearly
$1.5 Million for Lawsuit
By CAROL CARTER
Union Leader Correspondent
MEREDITH – The estate of well-known restaurateur,
Glenn Hart – a former co-owner of Hart’s Turkey Farm
Restaurant in Mereidth – was awarded nearly $1.5 million
this week in a medical negligence case triggered by
Hart’s death nearly four years ago.
A jury in Belknap
County Superior Court in Laconia awarded $1.497 million to
Hart’s estate on Wednesday afternoon, saying Dr. A.
Frederick Hartman, Jr. and Lakes Region General Hospital
of Laconia deprived Hart of a “lost opportunity for a
substantially better result.”
This is the first
case in which a verdict for damages for “lost
opportunity” has ever been awarded in New Hampshire,
according to Attorney B.J. Branch of Manchester, who
represented Hart’s estate.
Although jurors
didn’t find the defendants liable for Hart’s death,
they determined that medical actions deprived Hart of a
better chance of survival, Branch said.
The jury delivered
its verdict about five hours after the seven-day trial
concluded on Wednesday.
Hart, 44, died in
February 1998 from endocarditis, an infection of the heart
valve. His family argued that doctors discharged Hart
prematurely from LRGH, then prescribed flu medication
after repeated calls for help were placed to Hartman by
Hart’s wife, Linda.
Linda Hart ultimately
rushed her husband to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
in Lebanon where doctors determined he needed emergency
heart surgery. He was taken to Boston Medical Center where
he died following surgery.
Yesterday, Branch said he
anticipates an appeal will be filed. Attorney Ronald
Lajoie, who represented the defendants, was unavailable
for comment.
Although Branch believes
Hart would have survived with better care, he expressed
satisfaction with the verdict. Hart was an active
44-year-old man, who didn’t smoke or drink, Branch
pointed out. “The guy was in great shape. I truly
believe in my heart he would have survived if appropriate
care had been taken,” said Branch.
Branch said an abscess destroyed
crucial structures of the heart known as the “conduction
system” – a serious development that Branch said was
masked by high doses of Motrin to reduce Hart’s fever.
Hartman also failed to repeat
blood cultures to monitor Hart’s progress and waited
hours before responding to phone calls from Hart’s
panicked wife after his discharge from LRGH, Branch added.
Linda Hart testified she phoned
Hartman three or four times that day beginning at 8:30
a.m. but the doctor didn’t return her calls until about
6 o’clock that evening.
During that conversation, Hartman only
prescribed a flu medication, she testified.
“The delay in getting back to
her and blindly diagnosing flu over the phone added more
than 24 hours in addressing the situation. With this
particular disease you can be dead in eight hours,”
Branch said.
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