Former inmate's injury case settled before trial

A lawsuit filed by a former LaRue County jail inmate against the jail and Jailer Ralph “Mac” Trumbo has been settled before trial.
And according to court documents, all parties have been ordered to remain mum about the terms.
Michael Wayne Embree, 53, of Hodgenville and formerly of Buffalo, claimed in the 2008 civil suit that he was not properly treated for injuries sustained while an inmate in LaRue County.
The suit, which was filed in LaRue Circuit Court, claims that on Nov. 1, about 1 a.m., jail employees brought a table into Embree’s cell.
Embree claimed that when he sat on the table’s bench, the table collapsed causing him to fall and break his wrist and injure his hip, leg and back. Embree claimed the table had not been bolted to the floor and collapsed when “light weight” was placed on it. He said also that other inmates in the cell laughed when he fell until they realized he was injured.
The suit alleged that the detention center staff refused to take him to Hardin Memorial Hospital for treatment. Embree claimed that although a bone was “sticking out of his wrist,” he had to wait an hour for Trumbo’s brother, Homer Trumbo, to take him to HMH.
According to hospital records in Embree’s file, he was treated at HMH for a broken wrist.
Embree asked for $50,000 for pain and suffering; $100,000 in punitive damages; $100,000 for gross negligence of the LaRue County Detention Center; and $50,000 for the defendant’s refusal to “bargain in good faith.”
The suit was filed by Embree’s attorney, James Maples.
Embree had been in the detention center about nine months at the time of the injury, according to his 2009 deposition. He was charged in September 2007 with trafficking in cocaine. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in Blackburn Correctional Complex in Lexington and ordered to serve 20 percent of the sentence.
Blackburn originally was named in the suit.
The case was ordered to mediation which resulted in settlement. Circuit Judge Charles Simms ordered “all terms of settlement are to remain confidential between the parties.” Maples did not return phone calls.
 

Michael Embree