One day, you wake up while it’s still dark out to go to work. The next, you wake up in a hospital 12 days later with no clue where or why you’re there. That’s how quickly life can change and how quickly things changed for Jeremy Childress.*
But first, let’s go back to March 11, 2022, when Thomas Skids, who was vacationing in the South Florida area with his family, rented a 2021 Toyota Highlander from Kramer Car Rental Company. On March 20, Mr. Skids contacted a local company to rent a personal watercraft for his family and himself. The individuals renting the personal watercrafts suggested to Mr. Skids that he park his vehicle on the shoulder of the eastbound highway of I-195. There, they would meet another person who would take them to the rented personal watercrafts.
Once on the personal watercraft, Mr. Skids put his keys in the center compartment of the watercraft. While on the personal watercraft, it rolled over, the compartment opened, and the keys to the Toyota Highlander sank to the bottom of the bay. Eventually, Mr. Skids contacted Kramer Car Rental. Kramer told him to leave the vehicle on the shoulder of the road while they scheduled a tow truck operator to come and pick up the vehicle. Mr. Skids was then instructed by Kramer he could come by their airport rental location, pay a lost key fee, and exchange the Highlander for another vehicle. Instead of towing the vehicle, Kramer allowed the vehicle to remain on the shoulder of the roadway for more than five (5) days and did nothing further to retrieve it.
Fast forward to the morning of March 26, 2022, when Jeremy Childress left his home around 6:30 am to head east on I-195 to his job in Miami Beach. As Jeremy attempted to change lanes, he lost control of his vehicle and fishtailed. His vehicle went onto the shoulder of the highway, and the driver’s side door crashed into the rear of the abandoned Toyota Highlander.
Jeremy was rushed from the scene of the accident by City of Miami Fire Rescue to Jackson Ryder Trauma Center with reports of a head injury. Health care providers immediately intubated him and rushed him to a surgical room due to his life-threatening injuries.
There, doctors found Jeremy suffering from a subdural hematoma, pelvic fractures, fractures to both temples, a liver and splenic laceration, bruising to his intestines, and a femur fracture. Jeremy remained intubated and in a chemically induced coma for 12 days. When he woke up, he had no clue where he was, nor did he have a memory of the crash. Jeremy was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. He needed surgery to repair his femur fractures with the insertion of a rod and screws. He underwent abdominal surgery to repair his intestines, resulting in the removal of a portion of his bowel. In addition, Jeremy suffered a stroke while at the hospital, caused by the medication he was given to treat his subdural hematoma.
While Jeremy lay comatose in the hospital, his wife Natasha wanted answers about what happened to her husband and, frankly, help paying what she knew would be insurmountable medical expenses. She reached out to a friend who was a lawyer. That lawyer then reached out to David Sampedro for help. David understood the gravity of the situation and of Jeremy’s injuries. David decided that he and his partner, Josh Wintle, would take the case on and investigate what happened and why. After Kramer Care Rental failed to acknowledge the gravity of the situation, David and Josh filed suit.
David and Josh reached out to the Florida Highway Patrol officer who investigated the scene. Unfortunately, the officer was relatively new in the field and could not answer many of David and Josh’s questions. They then hired Miles Moss, an engineer who is also an accident reconstructionist. Through his testimony, David and Josh were able to determine that Kramer bore a significant responsibility for Jeremy’s injuries.
David and Josh argued that the Kramer Highlander should never have been left on the shoulder of a public highway. They cited section 316.1945 of the Florida Statutes, which makes it illegal to park a vehicle for more than 5 hours on an interstate highway shoulder, or what is known as the roadside recovery area of the interstate highway. Moreover, they said Kramer knew the vehicle was on the side of the road for 5 days and yet did nothing further to retrieve it. Kramer had told Mr. Skids to leave the vehicle there and to get a new vehicle at their rental lot, absolving Mr. Skids from any further responsibility.
Finally, David and Josh argued that the interstate highway was abutted with a guardrail meant to protect motorists from serious injuries who leave the roadway for any reason. A guardrail is a safety barrier intended to protect a motorist who has left the roadway by absorbing much of the energy generated by a crash. One of the purposes of a guardrail, as asserted by David and Josh, is to reduce the chance of injury to occupants of a vehicle by allowing for a safer, more controlled deceleration of the vehicle.
David and Josh established that, regardless of why Jeremy lost control of his vehicle, the legal cause of his injuries was Kramer’s negligence for leaving the abandoned vehicle on the shoulder of an interstate highway. Had the vehicle not been illegally parked, Jeremy’s crash would either have been avoided or would have been a far less violent collision.
Approximately six weeks after the crash, Jeremy’s condition stabilized enough for him to be discharged to an acute inpatient rehabilitation center, where he was diagnosed with a TBI (traumatic brain injury) as well as blunt trauma to multiple sites.
After a lot of hard work during physical and occupational rehabilitation on Jeremy’s part, he was sent home. However, Jeremy continued to have difficulties. He still had left-sided facial paralysis associated with his stroke; continued to have difficulties walking because of his fractures, and was now suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly referred to as PTSD.
Throughout the course of litigation, David and Josh continued to fight the legal battle for Jeremy and Natasha so they could focus on Jeremy’s health. David and Josh fought motions to dismiss, dealt with an interlocutory appeal, they filed their own motions for summary judgments, legally establishing Kramer’s violation of the law, and they took dozens of depositions to preserve testimony for trial. They participated in two mediations, which failed to resolve the case. David and Josh knew how active Jeremy was before this crash. He loved music, dancing, travelling with his wife, and participating in the lives of his two daughters. They knew Jeremy and Natasha deserved justice and were prepared to have a jury determine Kramer Rental Car’s responsibility for Jeremy’s injuries and the compensation Jeremy and Natasha deserved.
Only two weeks before trial, lawyers for Kramer reached out to David and asked for a third mediation. Although not optimistic that the case would get resolved, David and Josh agreed. They, nonetheless, made it clear that they would not be accepting any dollar amount that would not bring full justice to Jeremy and Natasha. Eventually, after both parties agreed to what is known as a mediator’s proposal, the case was settled for a grand total of $2,100,000.00.
Today, Jeremy is back on his feet. He is dancing again, albeit a little slower than before. He still faces a long road to recovery, but with the settlement achieved by David and Josh and with Natasha by his side, he won’t have to do it alone. Jeremy has the funds he’ll need for what will be a lifetime of rehabilitation.
* The names of all parties and individuals involved have been changed pursuant to a Confidentiality Agreement.
