Personal Injury

Motor Vehicle Liability

Aertker Legal, LLC represents the interests of persons injured or killed in accidents involving motorized vehicles, including:

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• Cars & trucks

• Motorcycles

• 18-wheel trucks and other commercial carriers

• Buses, streetcars & other mass transit vehicles

• Boats, jet skis, Sea-Doos, and other recreational watercraft

• Dirt bikes/off-road motorcycles, 3-wheelers, 4-wheelers, and other recreational vehicle​

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For example, Stephen recently enabled a client to recover a sizable sum of money for a traumatic injury to his eye sustained during a car accident.

Products Liability

Aertker Legal, LLC represents the interests of individuals injured or killed by a product that is “defective” in terms of its construction and composition, design, warnings, and/or warranties, including:

• Cars & trucks

• Recreational vehicles

• Tractors

• Industrial equipment & heavy machinery

• Medical devices and instruments

• Pharmaceuticals/prescription drugs

• Drywall, asbestos, and other building products

• Ladders & scaffolding

• Food products & beverages

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For example, Stephen recently represented a St. Tammany client negotiate a favorable settlement for a traumatically-amputated finger in a products liability action against a international tractor manufacturer.

Admiralty & Maritime Law

Aertker Legal, LLC represents the interests of individuals injured or killed on vessels, including tugs/towboats, crew boats, tankers, cargo ships, fishing vessels, diving vessels, cruise ships, and recreational boats.  He also represents clients seriously injured on offshore production platforms and semi-submersible or jack-up drilling rigs, and vessels servicing oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico.  Stephen’s legal training (e.g., Certificate in Maritime Law from Tulane University School of Law) and experience enable him to represent clients in cases involving the following:

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• Jones Act

• Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensations Act (“LHWCA”)

• Death on the High Seas Act (“DOHSA”)

• Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (“OCSLA”)

• State Worker’s Compensation Schemes

• General Maritime Law.

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For example, Stephen enabled a Slidell-based client whose leg was traumatically amputated during an accident that occurred in a fabrication yard as a result of negligence of a crane operator on a barge to recover in excess of $1,000,000 by means of prosecuting a 905(b) action under the LHWCA.

Premises Liability

Aertker Legal, LLC represents clients injured in slip-and fall accidents, trip-and-fall accidents, and other misfortunes involving defects within public or private property, including:

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• Hotels & motels

• Parking lots, sidewalks, and parking garages

• Department stores & other commercial establishments

• Grocery stores

• Casinos

• Banks and other commercial establishments

• Restaurants, bars, lounges & taverns

• Parks, stadiums, golf courses, campgrounds and other recreational areas

• Homes, apartment complexes, & condominiums.

Medical Malpractice

Aertker Legal, LLC has assisted many clients in recovering substantial sums of money as a result of being victimized by medical negligence committed by doctors, nurses, physician assistants, hospitals, and other health care providers.  He is experienced in a variety of medical malpractice scenarios, including:

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• Failure to remove foreign objects (e.g., surgical instruments, gauze, stents, etc.) utilized during surgery

• Failure to diagnose and treat aortic dissections and other heart-related injuries;

• Failure to prevent and timely diagnose/treat vascular injuries such as blood clots, deep vein thrombosis (“DVT”) and pulmonary embolism (“PE”)

• Failure to diagnose and treat placental abruptions within pregnant clients involved in car accident or other trauma resulting in the wrongful death of an unborn child

• Failure to timely diagnose and treat cancer

• Failure to ensure the health and welfare of patients who sustain injuries such as compression sores/decubitus ulcers or broken/fractured bones as a result of negligent care received during hospitalization.

Civil Assault & Battery, Etc.

Aertker Legal, LLC also represents the interests of people injured or killed as a result of being assaulted and/or battered by another person in a variety of circumstances, including:

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• Bars, lounges, clubs & taverns

• Places of employment

• Professional and amateur sporting events

• Parks, campgrounds, & other areas of outdoor public recreation 

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For instance, Stephen previously secured a notable monetary settlement for a Texas client who sustained a serious, permanent brain injury on account of being beaten up by a bouncer employed by a well-known establishment on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, LA.  He also recently won a settlement of a civil rights lawsuit under 42 U.S.C § 1984 on behalf of a client who was battered by excessive force applied by sheriff deputies and municipal police officers.

Toxic Torts

Aertker Legal, LLC also represents claimants in “toxic tort” lawsuits for personal injury, medical monitoring, and/or property damage arising from exposure to environmental contaminants by means of air, water, soil, and/or waste products in workplace or residential settings.  A list of example contaminants includes:

• Lead paint

• Toxic mold

• Chemicals

• Heavy metals

• Petroleum hydrocarbons

• Pesticides

• Herbicides

• Industrial solvents

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These “toxic tort “lawsuits may include a single individual or, alternatively, a group of claimants in a mass tort or class action lawsuit.  Likewise, such “toxic tort” lawsuits may concerns exposures of varying duration, ranging from single-incident releases such as pipeline accidents, plant, or refinery explosions, train derailment or vessel spills to long-term exposures typified by occupational and residential settings.