Injury & Accident Law

Death caused by fall on display case wasn’t reasonably foreseeable, appeals court rules

Fatal injuries caused when a woman fainted and fell on a display case were not reasonably foreseeable, a Tennessee appeals court has ruled. In a decision (PDF) on Monday, the Court of Appeals of Tennessee at Knoxville affirmed dismissal of the premises liability suit, the Legal Profession Blog reports. The…

Apr 27, 2016 8:13 AM CDT

Lawsuit filed in US over intentional crash of German flight in French Alps

Lawyers for survivors of some of the 150 individuals who died when a co-pilot intentionally crashed a Germanwings flight in the French Alps last year have found a way to file suit over the incident in the United States. Investigators said privacy laws that allowed co-pilot Andreas Lubitz to conceal…

Apr 13, 2016 4:00 PM CDT

Punitive verdict for carbon monoxide poisoning was ‘excessive and arbitrary,’ 10th Circuit says

A federal appeals court has embraced a 1-to-1 ratio of compensatory-to-punitive damages in a Wyoming renter’s lawsuit over a brain injury due to carbon monoxide poisoning. The April 1 decision by the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cuts the punitive verdict for Amber Lompe from $25.5 million against…

Apr 5, 2016 1:50 PM CDT

Plaintiffs in California asbestos cases feel they’re being questioned to death

Grainy video shot last August shows 75-year-old Nader Kordestani lying in a padded recliner at his home in Calabasas, California, near Los Angeles. Off camera, a defense lawyer asks him whether it's true his health is failing.

Apr 1, 2016 3:20 AM CDT

In first GM ignition-switch case to go to verdict, jury awards zip, saying defect didn’t cause crash

Both sides proclaimed victory Wednesday after the first jury verdict in a General Motors ignition-switch case. That’s because the jury, while finding a 2007 Saturn Sky unreasonably dangerous because of an ignition-switch defect, also found that the defect did not cause the plaintiff driver to lose control on an icy…

Mar 30, 2016 3:20 PM CDT

‘Blown off’ toilet by explosion from sewer work, woman claims physical injuries and PTSD

A Baltimore woman whose lawyer says she was “blown off” the toilet one day in November 2014 due to work that was being done on backed-up sewer lines is suing for damages. Angela Wright says she suffered physical injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder from the incident, which left both her…

Mar 11, 2016 4:00 PM CST

Nation’s largest youth football league settles suit over brain disease

The nation’s largest youth football league has settled a lawsuit that claimed that hits to the head from playing the game caused a degenerative brain disease that led a 25-year-old man to commit suicide. The Pop Warner organization settled for an undisclosed amount, report the New York Times and the…

Mar 11, 2016 6:15 AM CST

Landmark sleep apnea ruling helps plaintiffs collect $6M in Greyhound crash

A court-ordered sleep apnea test of a Greyhound Lines bus driver is said to have paved the way for a $6 million settlement in a Texas rollover crash case. This was the first such overnight assessment ever OK’d by a trial court and upheld on appeal, according to attorney Ryan…

Mar 10, 2016 5:00 PM CST

Personal injury lawyers turn to neuroscience to back claims of chronic pain

Personal injury lawyers see neuroscience as a way to document their clients’ pain if and when it might be contested. The problem, many scientists say, is that the research, while showing much promise, is still in its nascent stage. Read this ABA Journal feature recently honored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

Mar 1, 2016 4:30 AM CST

Woman who OK’d $900K settlement in phone call with her lawyer is bound by it, federal judge rules

The mother of a 22-year-old man shot to death in 2014 by police in a Utah city is bound by her oral agreement to a $900,000 settlement, a federal judge has ruled. Susan Hunt initially agreed to the pact in a recorded phone call with her lawyer. But she then…

Feb 23, 2016 1:05 PM CST

Sued over fatal shooting, Chicago cop files $10M emotional distress counterclaim

A lawsuit filed by the father of a slain 19-year-old college student said the young man posed no threat to the Chicago police officer who fatally shot him in December. But in a counterclaim filed Friday, the officer gave a very different account of what happened and sought $10 million…

Feb 9, 2016 12:10 PM CST

Appeals court nixes Florida suit over fatal Italian shipwreck of Costa Concordia

Although the parent company of a sunken ocean liner is based in Miami and five plaintiffs are U.S. residents, a Florida appeals court last week nixed a U.S. lawsuit over the fatal 2012 shipwreck. Because the Costa Concordia struck a coral reef off the Italian island of Giglio, the 3rd…

Feb 2, 2016 1:50 PM CST

Is grievance filed over lawyer’s blog post a ‘lightweight defamation claim’?

A Michigan psychiatrist who is a member of the state’s attorney discipline board is seeking investigation of a lawyer’s blog post that questioned whether her expert testimony used “hatchet job tactics.” The lawyer blogger, Steven Gursten, has posted at his Michigan Auto Law blog the request for investigation (PDF) filed…

Feb 1, 2016 5:45 AM CST

Officials sue estate of man who shot at assessor, killed himself in courthouse

Officials who helped tackle a man who fired a shot at an Iowa tax assessor and then killed himself at the Jackson County courthouse in 2014 are pursuing individual lawsuits against his estate. The gunman was former Maquoketa City Manager Francis “Gus” Glaser, 71, and the incident took place during…

Jan 22, 2016 3:45 PM CST

New evidence of possible plaintiff fraud derails GM bellwether case; voluntary dismissal is filed

A real-estate agent who contacted General Motors last week has derailed a bellwether case against the automaker over an ignition switch defect. A notice of voluntary dismissal (PDF), with prejudice, was filed on Friday after GM sought to add the real-estate agent and a forensics technology expert as witnesses. The…

Jan 22, 2016 7:39 AM CST