Lawyers often joke to clients that it was not like they ran over a group of girl scouts. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal partner Paul Glad made that common joke a reality when he ran over a group of mothers and children selling Girl Scout cookies in Burlingame, California. A prosecutor has announced that he will not be criminally charged. The managing partner of the San Francisco was taking the painkiller OxyContin under a doctor-proscribed regime, but insists that he was not impaired.
Glad said that he specifically went to the shopping area to buy girl scout cookies. He first parked in a handicapped spot and then got out of the car without putting it into park — resulting in it ramming the adults and children. Holly Rogers, 49, suffered two broken legs and one was amputated above the knee. Her 8-year-old daughter, Caroline Schoustra, also suffered a broken leg.
Deputy DA Sean Gallagher said Glad passed a field sobriety test and that there was little evidence that he was impaired to support a criminal charge.
He still faces a torts lawsuit for millions that charges reckless conduct by Glad and will likely focus on his use of OxyContin. The case could raise some interesting question of whether a field sobriety test is an adequate measure of impaired driving in such cases. While warnings do not specifically refer to a side effect related to driving, it does include a warning about “somnolence” — or “sleepiness, the state of feeling drowsy, ready to fall asleep. ”
He should be prepared for this and any other tort actions — in addition to being the head of the San Francisco office, he is one of the country’s top insurance lawyers.
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