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The Landaverde case ( vitamin poisoning )

The Landeverde case is an interesting one, which we handled a number of years ago.

A Central American couple lived in an apartment complex out in the valley that the landlord didn't take care of at all; it was a real pigsty. As a result of the landlord’s failure to clean it properly and completely, their child, who was crawling around, came upon pills underneath the kitchen sink. These pills were One-A-Day multiple vitamins, something one would think of as innocuous. But the bottle of One-A-Day multiple vitamins contained a sufficient amount of iron to overload the boy's system with toxic metal.

The toxic metal poisoning resulted in him going through a very substantial hospitalization and ordeal, ultimately leading to his death. Of course his parents, who were very poor and did not speak English, were beside themselves. The landlord evicted them, blaming them for the death of their child by some unknown manner. It was a very desperate and difficult situation to become involved in. What we did in that case was get involved in an investigation. We found evidence of iron in his system and when we had his blood tested, the iron content was very high. Then we had an expert go to the apartment and literally rip apart the kitchen cabinetry. Under the cabinetry in the presence of the defense, he found two of the multiple daily vitamin pills. That was the only evidence, the bottle was never found. But the fact that we found those two multiple vitamins gave proof to the fact that this was something that was the result of the previous tenants, who we established had taken multiple vitamins of that type.

Our clients had never purchased any such thing. So, you know, when you really do it, it's one plus one equals two plus one equals three; it's a process, and our firm takes the time. When I took that case all I knew was that our clients were being blamed and I had no liability theory. Our belief is that a substantial injury case warrants a proper investigation. The Landeverde case is a really good example of the fruit that grows from a persistent investigation. And we were able to get a substantial recovery for that family.

The settlement we achieved for them helped put their other kids through college and got them on their feet. It certainly didn’t replace the child, but it did put their minds to ease that they weren't, in fact, at fault for the loss of their child. And remember the implications of being evicted; they wouldn't be able to get another property, they wouldn't be able to get another place to live, and every time they applied somewhere, they would have to go through a repeat of the same sad memories. So our firm feels very proud about helping this family.

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