Green Bay Hilton Garden Inn

As news surfaced of yet another carbon monoxide poisoning at a Green Bay hotel, it shed light on the reluctance of the hotel industry to address a major safety concern. On December 30, 2011, as many as 16 people were hospitalized after being exposed to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide while staying at the Green Bay Hilton Garden, 1015 Lombardi Ave., Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Green Bay Fire Department recently released their records that indicate four small children and several other people were suffering from common symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure, including vomiting, nausea and headaches.

The Green Bay Fire Department detected dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in several areas within the hotel, including the swimming pool area, the workout room, two restrooms and a stairway. Apparently the carbon monoxide level in the swimming pool area was a 800 parts per million (ppm) and 957 ppm in the pool equipment room. Buildings are typically evacuated at 9 ppm. Sustained exposure to carbon monoxide at levels as high as 800 ppm can be lethal. Carbon monoxide exposure can also result in severe long-term consequences, such as brain injury and heart problems. The Hilton Garden Inn general manager, Michelle Lang, has continued to remain silent as to how this could have happened to their guests.

Green Bay Hilton Garden Inn Swimming Pool

The hotel industry has long recognized the dangers of carbon monoxide exposure, yet some hotel chains have failed to institute uniform policies requiring the installation of carbon monoxide detectors throughout their hotels. Ironically, exactly one year prior to the date of the Green Bay Hilton Inn carbon monoxide poisoning incident, our office joined forces with the Brain Injury Law Group to file suit on behalf of victims who were poisoned by carbon monoxide while staying at the Green Bay Day’s Inn back in May of 2009. Now 2 1/2 years later, it is apparent that some hotel chains have still done nothing to protect their guests from carbon monoxide exposure, like simply installing working carbon monoxide detectors. Under Wisconsin Safe Place Law, hotel owners are required to keep their hotels as “free from danger to the life, health, safety, and welfare of guests as the nature of the hotel will reasonably permit.” The failure to install carbon monoxide detectors throughout a hotel clearly violates this law and until the hotel industry gets this message loud and clear, hotel guests throughout the world will continue to get sick and even die from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is a progressive disease that results in a gradual decline in cognitive function. Victims of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy exhibit symptoms consistent with dementia, including confusion, memory loss, depression, and aggressive behavior. The hallmark indicator of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy on autopsy of the brain was the buildup of a plaque referred to as tau protein. While it was always understand that repeated concussions could result in the buildup of tau protein, it wasn’t until recently that researchers were able to identify the buildup of tau protein in individuals with only a single head injury. (Victoria E. Johnson, William Stewart, Douglas H. Smith. Widespread Tau and Amyloid-Beta Pathology Many Years After a Single Traumatic Brain Injury in Humans. Brain Pathology, 2011; DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-3639.2011.00513.x).

Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive form of dementia. It is the most common type of dementia, resulting in confusion, anger outbursts, lack of long-term memory, and language deficits. The cost of Alzhiemer’s Disease on society is great. Because most Alzheimer’s patients will continually and progressively decline, at some point they will have to rely upon others for their care. While family members and loved ones usually try to provide care initially, the challenges of caring for an Alzheimer’s sufferer can take an incredible toll on every aspect of a caregiver’s life. What makes it additionally challenging and unrewarding is that, at some point, the Alzheimer’s sufferer will no longer have the long-term memory required to remember the identity of their caregiver. On autopsy it has been show that tau protein buildup is also a hallmark indicator of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. Studies have shown that brain injury victims have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease.

Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive disorder of the central nervous system with its origins in the midbrain. The initial symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease involve movement disorders, but later Parkinson’s Disease patients typically develop cognitive symptoms including dementia. Parkinson’s Disease, while typically idiopathic in origin, can follow traumatic brain injury that results in damage to the basal ganglia which can result in a dopamine production disruption. (Traumatic Brain Injury in Adult Rats Causes Progressive Nigrostriatal Dopaminergic Cell Loss and Enhanced Vulnerability to the Pesticide Paraquat Che Brown Hutson, Carlos R. Lazo, Farzad Mortazavi, Christopher C. Giza, David Hovda, and Marie-Francoise Chesselet Journal of Neurotrauma 2011 28:9, 1783-1801). Unfortunately, there is no lab test to definitively diagnose Parkinson’s Disease as of yet. Due to the degenerative nature of Parkinson’s Disease, patients and their loved ones face an enormous burden when dealing with long-term care for the Parkinson’s patient.

As if traumatic brain injury survivors did not have enough to deal with just attempting to recover from their injury, now studies have established that victims of TBI have an increased risk of developing early onset dementia, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Parkinson’s Disease.

The new office is conveniently located on Madison’s East Side in the Park Bank Plaza building near I-94 and Highway 151.

If you or a loved one are in need of any of the following, please do not hesitate to contact our office:

• Madison Car Accident Attorney
• Madison Truck Accident Attorney
• Madison Drunk Driving Accident Attorney
• Madison Bus Accident Attorney
• Madison Motorcycle Accident Attorney
• Madison Bicycle Accident Attorney
• Madison Premises Liability Attorney
• Madison Dog Bite Attorney
• Madison Construction Site Accident Attorney

The new office information is as follows:

Rozek Law Offices, SC
2810 Crossroads Drive
Suite 4000
Madison, Wisconsin 53718

Telephone:  608/208-1147

Our office also immediately sends out a demand for preservation of evidence. Often the key to establishing liability on the part of the trucking company lies in the internal company documentation, which can include the hours of service driver logs, the bills of lading, credit card receipts, toll receipts, and gas cards. Our preservation letter sets out what must be retained. If the trucking company ignores our demand for preservation and intentionally destroys this evidence, then they can face severe sanctions later in the case. Most trucking companies have implemented internal policies that require the destruction of this key evidence after 6 months, as allowed by the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Regulations. Ideally, we prefer to file a lawsuit within 6 months following the truck crash in order to ensure that this key evidence is preserved. Unfortunately, many of our truck crash injury clients come to us after they realize their previous attorney lacks the experience to handle a trucking crash case. By then it is often too late and the evidence is already destroyed.
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Click here for more information about Wisconsin Truck Accident Law.

Jamie Leigh Jones Testifies Before Congress

The recently concluded rape trial of Jamie Leigh Jones is a textbook example of how large corporations escape responsibility from wrongdoing by attacking their victims. Instead of the trial being focused on the character of KBR and the alleged rapist, firefighter Charles Boartz, the trial was focused on the character of the victim, Jamie Leigh Jones.

KBR, a former Haliburton subsidiary, has a despicable track record which includes lawsuits ranging from poisoning its employees with unsafe drinking water, food and hazardous fumes to using shipping containers that were previously used to haul dead bodies for ice that was served to soldiers to storing 1,000 asian men in a warehouse with 12 toilets. However, the jury didn’t hear about these stories during the trial. There is also the story behind the alleged rapist, Charles Boartz, who had several run-ins with the law concerning domestic violence reports. However, the trial did not focus on the character of Charles Boartz.

Instead, the attorneys defending KBR and Boartz focused the entire trial on the victim, Jamie Leigh Jones. This is not surprising. It is taught on the first day of Defending Large Corporations 101. Civil Defense Attorneys make a living by helping large corporations escape responsibility by trying to discredit innocent victims. In this case, Jamie Leigh Jones happened to be their target because she courageously stood up against KBR in an effort to protect other innocent women from being raped at the hands of KBR employees and contractors.

Despite  ignorant news media reports, the Texas jury did NOTfind that Jamie Leigh Jones was not raped. They simply didn’t find enough evidence that it happened the way Jamie Leigh Jones reported. This is very convenient for KBR, since they initially controlled most of the evidence of the rape. Also fortunate for KBR is the fact that Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged and cannot remember the details of the actual rape. The jury also had a hard time reconciling all of the evidence, which unsurprisingly contained many inconsistencies, many of which were bought and paid through KBR’s experts. For example, KBR hired several experts to go through all of Jamie Leigh’s past medical and psychological records with a fine tooth comb and then regurgitate certain excerpts to portray Jamie Leigh as someone that was unbalanced before the alleged rape. They also hired a substance use psychiatrist, Thomas Kosten, M.D., to testify that Jamie Leigh Jones had 5 drinks over 3 hours which caused her amnesia for the actual incident. Seriously, 5 drinks over 3 hours rendered her completely amnestic as to the rape by several men which left her with bruising as well as vaginal and anal fissures. Unfortunately, the Texas jury was not intelligent enough to see through this ridiculous defense. It also was wonderful for KBR that they were able to delay the trial for years by attempting to force Jamie Leigh to arbitrate her case instead of present it to a jury, a fight won by Jamie Leigh but after two years of appeals and federal legislation introduced by Senator Al Franken.

Perhaps most damaging was the military doctor that examined Jamie Leigh Jones after the incident. Dr. Jodi Schultz wouldn’t offer an opinion that Jamie Leigh’s physical injuries were consistent with being raped. This is absurd. As a military doctor, Dr. Schultz is likely trained to keep soldiers from dying, not to determine whether a patient has been raped. That being said, to not offer an opinion that bruising and vaginal and anal fissures are consistent with rape is difficult to justify. Considering the importance of Dr. Schultz’s opinion in Jamie Leigh’s life, she may want to educate herself concerning the physical symptoms of non-consensual sex.

Fortunately for Jamie Leigh there appears to be several appealable issues which ideally will allow her another trial. Unfortunately, it will likely take years to obtain another day in court. Jamie Leigh’s bravery and perseverance is beyond reproach and she has been a role model for so many other victims, it would be a shame if she were to give up now.