ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
The family of a severely disabled woman who died after her hospital bed caught fire has settled two lawsuits against the bed's manufacturer.
Twenty-year-old Melody Caldwell died in a fire at her Roanoke home in October 1993. The fire marshal ruled that the blaze started beneath her bed. Her family believes a faulty component of the bed caused the fire.
In settling the federal lawsuits, bed manufacturer Maxwell Products Inc. did not admit any liability.
As the administrator of her daughter's estate, Cheryl Smith filed a wrongful death suit against Maxwell. That suit, the settlement of which was made public, was resolved after Maxwell agreed Wednesday - the day after the trial was to begin - "to pay or have paid on its behalf" $575,000.
Almost $277,000 of that will be paid to Smith's attorneys, who spent thousands of hours and traveled to Canada and around the country trying to find evidence about the beds. Smith's other daughter, Amy Caldwell, also will share in the settlement.
Caldwell's grandfather, Thomas Leffel Jr., was seriously injured during the fire trying to carry her to safety. Leffel had become the young woman's primary caretaker before the fire.
"I put my life on hold," Leffel, 68, said in an interview two months after the fire. "I did nothing for myself. She knew as long as I was around, she could feel safe. I believe God called me to it."
Brent Brown, an attorney for the family, said Wednesday that the settlement amount in the grandfather's lawsuit is confidential, but was "significant." He said Leffel will have lifelong health problems from the fire, "but the greatest injury came from the loss of his granddaughter."
Caldwell had defied medical odds by surviving an automobile crash five years earlier in which a metal gear shift pierced her brain. She had not walked or spoken since, but her family said she enjoyed watching TV and always had a smile on her face. She also had learned to reach out and to laugh.
"They had gotten her so far," Brown said.
Maxwell maintains that there is no problem with its hospital beds, but Brown said Caldwell's family "is satisfied the manufacturer understands what we said the problem was." Other beds, made by another manufacturer but with similar plugs, were ordered recalled by the government, he said.
Brown said the family was ready to go to trial Tuesday, but the settlement was welcome because they will not have to relive the fire again.
After Caldwell's death, Smith and Leffel transferred much of their attention to her grave at Evergreen Burial Park in Southwest Roanoke. The cemetery's manager reached a compromise with them after her grave was covered with more flowers and decorations than the park's rules allowed.
The family is allowed more than the single vase of flowers adorning most graves, but may not plant as many flowers they had been tending.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB