The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a $3.1 million verdict last month in the case of Bowden v. Lincoln County Health System. The verdict had been returned by a federal jury in April 2007 in the federal district court for the Northern District of Alabama. The wrongful death lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Bowden family against the Lincoln Medical Center Ambulance Service after 18-year-old Dianna Bowden was killed when a Lincoln County, Tenn., ambulance driver crashed into her car on Highway 231 in Hazel Green, Alabama. Dianna died instantly in the crash. It was reported that the ambulance driver was traveling at 81 miles per hour on a non-emergency call at the time of the crash.

The defendants, Lincoln County Health System and the ambulance driver, appealed the verdict, saying neither the Alabama nor the Tennessee statutory cap on a governmental entity’s liability applied where an Alabama plaintiff sued a Tennessee county entity and its employee in federal district court in Alabama. The appeals court, after review, affirmed the district court verdict. The Bowden family was represented by Harvey Morris, Joe King and Joey Aiello from the firm of Morris, Chonchin & King in Huntsville. They did an excellent job on the case.

Source: Associated Press

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