Oestreicher wins $1.5 million case against Ambulance Manufacturer

A federal court jury awarded a former New Orleans paramedic more than $1.5 million in damages this week for injuries he sustained while treating a gunshot victim in the back of an ambulance. The jury found the ambulance manufacturer, Medtec Ambulance Corp., knowingly designed a dangerous ambulance bench seat that caused paramedic Ryan Earls’ injuries in December 2010.

Earls, 26 at the time, was in the rear of the ambulance working on the patient when the truck hit a bump in the road. The faulty seat collapsed and Earls was sent sprawling, said his attorney, David Oestreicher. Earls wrenched his back, and he had to be removed from the ambulance at the hospital, Oestreicher said.

The jury’s award to Earls included $200,000 for his loss of future wages and benefits, $600,000 in medical expenses and $700,000 for his pain and suffering.

The five-day trial took place in U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle’s courtroom.