William J. "Bill" Ronalter

Our client, a 63 year old man, suffered third degree burns to 40% of his body when a defective product exploded during a social event. We brought claims against the product manufacturers, a large national retailer, and a third party consumer who used the product. After preparing a multi-media presentation, the claims against the various defendants were settled following an arbitration and mediation for a combined amount of $5,025,850.

Our client was a married, 46 year-old mother of three, and an award-winning emergency room nurse stopped for traffic on I-84. She was struck from behind by defendant traveling 45 mph in a company SUV and had a mild concussion, but it never resolved. Permanent post-concussive symptoms included headaches, depression, and visual deficits with sensitivity to light. She lost both of her ER nursing jobs at local Connecticut hospitals and cannot work in any capacity. Defendants admitted causing the crash but argued: (1) x-rays and 4 MRIs failed to show any objective evidence of a brain injury; (2) some symptoms pre-existed the crash; and (3) she might recover later. Our expert was Erin Bigler, PhD, a top international researcher in traumatic brain injuries from Brigham Young University in Utah. His testimony explained how this mild traumatic brain injury with “no objective findings” on radiological tests caused our client’s permanent significant problems: she sustained traumatic axonal injuries (microscopic stretching injuries at the cellular level, too small to be revealed by available imaging). An economist quantified the economic loss of her two jobs and benefits. A professional video company worked with us to create a video of our trial witnesses describing dramatic changes they observed of our client before and after the crash. The defendants’ insurance company and the experts saw the anticipated powerful trial testimony. After presenting at a mediation an hour-long PowerPoint bill-boarding much higher damage potential at trial, the case settled two weeks before trial for $4,875,000, with $4,500,00 for our brain-injured client and $375,000 for her husband’s loss of consortium claim. A portion of the money was placed in a structure and in trust to ensure our client’s well-being for her entire life. This settlement is Connecticut’s largest known settlement reported for a mild traumatic brain injury.

Through a referral from an in-house attorney from one of our corporate clients, we represented an executive in a dental malpractice case. Our client was injured during a root canal where the dentist over instrumented leading to a large over fill of sealer some of which went into our client’s mandibular canal. The defendants disputed liability, causation, and damages. The defendants’ insurance company offered only $200,000 two weeks before trial. After three weeks of evidence, including the use of technology at trial, Robert Simpson and Bill Ronalter obtained a verdict of $4,500,000, which consisted of $165,000 for past and future medical bills and $4,335,000 for additional harms, including constant pain, fatigue from prescription medications, and the reduction of enjoyment in many aspects of her life. In addition, we filed an Offer of Compromise agreeing to settle for $750,000 the year before the trial. Since the verdict was in excess of $750,000, interest runs from when the litigation started in February 2013 bringing the total amount to up over $5,300,000. This verdict is the largest dental malpractice verdict in Connecticut history and is believed to be the largest dental malpractice verdict ever nationally.

Our client was riding his bike on a State roadway when his front wheel struck a narrow 2 inch deep crevice, which catapulted his body over the bike's front wheel. His face struck the pavement resulting in a catastrophic traumatic brain injury. Due to severe deficits in cognition, self-care, mobility, feeding and toileting, he needs permanent residence in an extended care facility. The law on such cases is extremely challenging for a plaintiff requiring that he prove a defect in the road, that the state knew or should have known of the defect, and that the sole proximate cause of the crash was the defect (i.e.--that the plaintiff did absolutely nothing unreasonable). By aggressively investigating the matter, our team took photographs of the defect and retained an accident reconstruction expert to establish the defect. We located neighbors that had complained of problems with the roadway prior to the crash to prove the State had notice. We also videotaped a key independent witness early in the case to establish that our client did nothing unreasonable under the circumstances. The case settled for $3.5M and a special needs trust was created to care for our client's needs for the remainder of his life.