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Former Marine Awarded $18.1 Million for Catastrophic Injuries in Gym Accident

Harold Leon Bostick doesn’t remember much about the accident at his regular gym in 2001 that left him with such catastrophic injuries, but he does remember lifting a few sets of weights on the Flex Equipment Co. Smith machine, before the horizontal weights fell down on his neck. For a while after the accident everything was a haze, and Bostick suffered from temporary amnesia about what happened after. It was only later that the full impact of his injuries struck him – he had a spinal cord injury, and was now a quadriplegic. An athlete, a lawyer in the making, with degrees in law, chemical engineering and business, Bostick was now confined to a wheelchair, unable to grip with his hands, although he does have some mobility in his arms.

The Flex machine that Bostick was working out on at the time of the accident was found to have missing safety straps that could have prevented the weights from falling on him. He filed a lawsuit against Gold’s Gym, where the accident took place, as well as Flex.

The road to a settlement has been a long and complicated one. His lawyers offered to settle with Atlantic Mutual, the company that insured Flex, for a sum of $1 million which was the amount of Flex’s policy. However, Atlantic Mutual was under some kind of misconception that the machine that Bostick was working out on hadn’t been a Flex product at all, and its lawyers never got back to Bostick’s lawyers with their response. The case went to trial. A verdict of $14.6 million was announced. Upset that their insurer hadn’t settled for a lower amount when they had a chance to do so, Flex gave Bostick the go-ahead to sue the insurer for bad faith. Gold’s Gym reached a settlement for $7.3 million. Finally, a court has now ruled in favor of Bostick with an additional verdict of $11.3 million against Atlantic Mutual.

To say that Bostick won would be an overstatement. No matter what the settlement amount, this man will never have the life that he had before an innocent weightlifting session at the gym left him so brutally injured. Living in a wheelchair is something that Bostick has gotten used to, and it will be how he will live out the rest of his life. It’s a cruel fate to condemn a lifelong athlete, and a promising lawyer to. Bostick has adjusted himself to his living conditions, pursuing a dream as a litigator, and planning a gym for the disabled that he hopes to set up one day.

His medical bills in only the first year after the accident amounted to $700,000, and no doubt have multiplied since then. As he gets older, Bostick is bound to need more care to look after himself. This man’s indomitable spirit and enthusiasm has him participating in sports, and working towards helping other disabled persons like himself, but as the years pass, he will require more specialized care. A product liability lawsuit settlement like this will take care of his future, while also allowing him to purse his dream of helping others like him.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of catastrophic injuries. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

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