Atlanta personal injury practitioner Andrew Goldner ended 2017 on a high note, nailing down four settlements worth a total of nearly $5.5 million in the space of three weeks.

In a twist, each case involved events or parties in other states, including Alabama, Tennessee, Colorado and Maine.

All of the cases were less than a year old at settlement, including two that involved June accidents just two days apart.

Goldner credited both the professionalism of his opposing counsel and his own focus on maintaining a limited caseload with helping resolve the cases relatively quickly.  

“I was fortunate to draw defense counsel that recognized they had problematic cases and that, had any of them proceeded, it could have represented high potential exposure for their clients,” he said.

“When you have a practice that handles a small number of high-value cases, you're able to aggressively push them,” said Goldner, whose firm boasts one other lawyer, of-counsel Joshua Stein.

High-Voltage Lake Mishap

The first to settle involved a bizarre accident in April when two friends were sunbathing on a lakeside dock in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Unbeknownst to the women, the area of the lake around the dock was charged with electricity. Shelly Darling, 34, and Elizabeth Whipple, 41, were dead when they were discovered in the water.

Both victims were attorneys and worked at the University of Alabama Law School's Domestic Violence Clinic, where Goldner's client Whipple served as interim director.  

“We believe one lady jumped in and probably got shocked and lost muscle tone,” Goldner said. “The other one recognized she was in distress and jumped in to help, and she too was electrocuted.”

The women were at Darling's grandparents' lake house when the accident occurred, he said, and the homeowner said a local handyman or electrician had been hired to run electricity to the dock a decade or more ago.

“We never have been able to find him,” Goldner said.

He enlisted the assistance of Dustin Brown with Columbus' Daughtery Crawford & Brown, who is licensed in Alabama, to pursue the case.

The homeowners' policy had a limits of $300,000, which was split between the estates of the two deceased women following a late November settlement, he said.  

Trucker, At-Fault Driver Die in Fiery Crash

Also in November, a settlement hammered out at mediation resolved a wrongful death action filed by  the wife of a tractor-trailer driver who suffered “total incineration” when another trucker lost control of his rig near Chattanooga, Tennessee.   

According to Goldner and other documents, Michael Cardin,  59, was traveling on I-24 on June 2 when a semi driven by Lackson Chidule left the roadway at about 2 a.m., went through dividing barriers and entered the opposite lanes, causing several accidents before plowing into Cardin's truck.

Both drivers perished in the fiery explosion, Goldner said.

“It was a catastrophic collision; I-24 was shut down for nearly an entire day,” Goldner said. “We never were able to determine a definitive cause.”

“We had to file the case,” said Goldner, because the original, Tennessee-based defense lawyers “were claiming sudden medical emergency for the at-fault driver and wanted a liability discount,” he said.  

Chidule's employer, T. and Associates Inc., is based in DeKalb County, so his widow and estate administrator filed suit there.

According to a demand letter, T. and Associates carried a $1 million insurance policy, and Cardin's employer, CKS Packaging, also carried $1 million in excess uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

Following several hours of mediation before Victor Faenza with  Bay Mediation and Arbitration Services, the case settled Nov. 22 for $1,775,000.

Young Mother Dies in Early Morning Wreck

The third accident occurred just two days after the tractor-trailer wreck, and involved the death of a young mother.

According to Goldner and a demand letter, Cheykeisia Sapp and three friends had been out celebrating her 33rd birthday with three friends and were returning home in the early morning hours. Sapp had enlisted one of her friends as a designated driver, and they were traveling south on I-85 near North Druid Hills Road in Sapp's Kia Sorento.

A Colorado man, Andrew Scantland, had reportedly arisen at about 4 a.m. to catch a flight after attending a graduation party the night before.

The southbound entrance to the highway had been rerouted with traffic barrels to accommodate a repaving project, and Scantland apparently became confused in the dark as he attempted to merge into traffic. His Nissan struck Sapp's car on the left side, sending it into a roll and ejecting the young woman, who was in the passenger seat.

Sapp died at the scene, leaving behind three young children who now live with their father in Oklahoma.

There were no allegations of impairment on either side, Goldner said.

“The investigating officers did not feel the need to conduct field sobriety tests on anybody,” he said. “They were concerned about the traffic control devices.”

Scantland's carrier, State Farm, tendered his liability and excess policy limits of $2,225,000 on Dec. 6.

Goldner said he expects to file additional claims against the paving contractor who placed the traffic cones, “because the wreck reports place the fault squarely on the poorly designed roadway construction zone.”

Maine 'Local Legend' Hurt in Accident

The fourth case involved injuries suffered by a Maine man as he crossed an auto repair shop parking lot and was struck by an employee backing a vehicle out of a service bay on Dec. 21, 2016.

According to Goldner and related documents, 88-year-old Bob Higgins was an active and well-respected “local legend” near Bangor, Maine. At the time of the accident, Higgins lived in his own home, worked out daily, tended a multiacre property and went four-wheeling with his great-grandchildren.

Higgins had taken his truck to the Twin City Tire Tube; after it was serviced, he was walking to retrieve it and was about 30 feet away from a service bay when an employee backed out “at what we contended was a fairly high rate of speed” and hit him, Goldner said.

“It was not a catastrophic impact, but his head hit the ground and caused a massive brain bleed,” he said.

Higgins never recovered and is now confined to a nursing home and dependent on the staff to care for him, Goldner said.

Higgins had a granddaughter in Atlanta who sought out Goldner's advice. He said the tire company's insurer, Liberty Mutual, never offered anything presuit, so he enlisted the assistance of Christiane Williams of Portland, Maine's Terry Garmey & Associates as local counsel, and filed suit in Penobscot County Superior Court.

The case settled for $1.3 million on Dec. 8 after a mediation in Maine.

The total amount of all four settlements: $5,4450,000.