EAST ST. LOUIS - Sandra Scott of Washington County testified at a default judgment hearing about the death of husband Toby Scott; but if U.S. District Judge David Dugan grants her request for $10 million, she’ll have to collect from a Chinese company that fired its lawyers and never returned.
The Chinese company, Global Vasion, dissolved its California entity after Scott claimed one of its electric socks burned her husband so badly that infection set in, and he died of sepsis.
At a hearing on Nov. 28, her counsel Mark Schuver of Belleville said, “What Global Vasion did in this case is particularly horrible.”
Schuver asked for $2 million in punitive damages and an opportunity to find Global Vasion’s funds.
Earlier this year, Scott settled a claim against Amazon.com as seller, and Thomas Berra of Lewis Rice in St. Louis stood first at the hearing to wrap up their agreement.
Lewis Rice jointly represented Amazon.com and Global Vasion in 2021; but after a few weeks, Berra moved to withdraw the firm as Global Vasion’s counsel.
“Global Vasion has directed Lewis Rice to stop defending its interests,” he wrote.
Berra claimed Global Vasion failed and would continue to fail to fulfill an obligation to Lewis Rice.
He provided an address for Global Vasion in Walnut, California.
Dugan granted withdrawal and gave Global Vasion 21 days to replace Lewis Rice.
No one appeared, Schuver moved for default judgment, and Dugan granted it on liability.
“At the conclusion of this case and upon plaintiff's request, a hearing will be set to address the question of damages,” he wrote.
Dugan entered an order in October stating he’d been advised of a settlement and he’d give the parties time to finalize an agreement.
Schuver filed a motion to approve the settlement on Nov. 6, stating Scott entered into a contingency fee agreement calling for reasonable and customary attorney’s fees in the amount of 40% together with all costs and expenses attributable to this lawsuit.
“During the mediation, the law firms agreed to a reduction of their reasonable and customary attorney’s fee in an amount available to the Court in camera," he wrote.
This October, Dugan stated he’d been advised that Scott and Amazon.com settled.
He gave them time to finalize an agreement and set a hearing on Global Vasion.
At the hearing, Schumer called Sandra Scott and asked how she met Toby.
She said she went to visit an aunt, and Toby was there instead.
“He’d send me notes and come to this, come to that,” she said.
Scott said the next time she saw him he told her, “Some day you’re going to be my wife.”
She said she had five children when she married Toby.
She said she has eight grandchildren, and he helped raise one.
Scott said Toby went to school right away and became a truck driver for Sysco in Nashville.
She added that he later stopped working due to diabetes.
Scott said he helped around the house and was a mechanic if family vehicles broke down.
Schuver asked about the socks, and she said he wore them for three hours or so.
Scott said she came home from shopping, and he said, “Those socks burned me.”
She said she took him to an emergency room and they recommended wound care.
Schuver asked if she dressed his wounds and took him to appointments, and Scott said yes.
She said he got worse, and Schuver asked if he spent most of his time in a recliner.
Scott said he slept there and ate meals there.
Schuver asked if she cut his hair in the recliner, and she said yes.
Schuver asked if he acted strange, and Scott said, “It was like his brain was going away.”
She said he was in and out of emergency rooms for five months and gained 100 pounds.
She said his heart went into shock at Missouri Baptist, and he was taken off off a ventilator.
“I had to do that to get him home,” she said.
Schuver asked what she missed most about Toby, and Scott said, “He made me laugh.”
“I called him goofball,” she said.
Schuver said the socks got up to 179 degrees and third degree burns happen at 130.
He said other electric sock makers warn that persons with diabetes shouldn’t use them or should ask physicians.
He said damages totaled $9,701,035.33.
Dugan took it under advisement.