Postal Services Pays Over $11 Million for Family’s Injuries
Posted on Nov 24, 2010 1:45pm PST
As ordered by a federal judge, a former Monroe resident and her son will receive $11.6 million from the U.S. Postal Service for injuries sustained in a car accident with a postal worker four years ago in Walton County, as reported by the Athens Banner-Herald.
According to court documents, Anthony Bilbrey suffered a severe brain injury while still in his mother's womb during the accident. He will be four years old this December 22; the accident occurred on December 22, 2006.
Immediately following the collision and while comatose, Mary Bilbrey delivered Anthony via an emergency C-section.
After a three-day trial in the U.S. District Court in Athens, Judge Clay Land decided the amount of compensation to be paid by the Postal Service.
Anthony Bilbrey is to have $8.9 million to pay for the care he will need for the rest of his life. Mary Bilbrey will receive $2.7 million that will not only reimburse her for what she has paid in medical expenses, but also to compensate for her pain and suffering.
Court documents show that on the day of the accident Mary Bilbrey, 23 at the time and eight months pregnant, was returning home after spending the day holiday shopping with her fiancé, Jason Murray.
Murray, Anthony's father, was driving the car when a Postal Service truck cut him off as it pulled away from a mailbox and onto Georgia Highway 11 in Monroe. Murray, in an effort to avoid colliding with the truck, swerved and drove into an embankment.
Murray's car then ran into a fence and one of the wood boards from the fence smashed through the windshield - hitting Mary Bilbrey squarely on the stomach.
Attorneys contend that while Mary ended up being in a coma for more than four months, her son Anthony continues to live in a near-vegetative state where he is fed through a tube and needs constant care.
Land said, "Because of this brain damage, Anthony Bilbrey is completely disabled and unable to attend to his basic necessities without complete assistance. His injuries and disability are permanent, and he has lost the opportunity to ever participate in the most basic daily activities."
One of the attorneys for the family, Stephen Lowry, has stated that even with the care that the award will cover, doctors have estimated that Anthony Bilbrey will only live into his 40s.
Lowry continued by stating that besides these injuries the small family had other irrevocable damage.
Murray had taken charge of Anthony's care while his mother was comatose in the hospital. But the baby's severe brain damage more than just strained the bond between father and mother, they neither married nor maintained their relationship.
Lowry said, "It was one of those tragedies that not only destroyed people's health, but a family's well-being."
Mother and son have moved from Monroe to Conyers.
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