Injury & Accident Law

Vegas PI Lawyers Say Insurers Are Delaying Settlements and Offering Less

A plaintiffs personal injury practice isn’t what it used to be, at least in Las Vegas. Plaintiffs lawyers in the city tell the Las Vegas Business Press that insurers are dragging their feet on settlements and offering less money. Personal injury lawyer Ed Bernstein says a typical claim used to…

May 21, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

iPad a Great Low-Profile Tool for My 4-Day Jury Trial, MacLitigator Says

When a Utah lawyer needed to persuade a jury that an Ogden City golf cart path had been negligently designed, he found his MacIntosh iPad a handy tool. It wasn’t too flashy, simply a low-profile, easy-to-operate tool for presenting the trial documents into evidence, Partner Peter Summerill of Hasenyager &…

May 4, 2010 11:01 PM CDT

Class Action Suits Are Filed Over Gulf Oil Spill; Leak Could Be Gushing 25K Barrels Daily

Updated: Two commercial shrimpers have filed a federal lawsuit in Louisiana against the owner and operator of a oil rig that exploded and sank last week in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a massive oil leak, and similar actions are being filed in federal court in other states, too.…

Apr 30, 2010 5:33 PM CDT

Sex Abuse Victims Sue Vatican, Claim Officials Knew Year Earlier of Abuse

A new suit filed Thursday against Pope Benedict XVI claims that the Vatican knew at least a year earlier than previously disclosed about the case of a priest who molested deaf boys for some 20 years at a boarding school in Wisconsin. One of the estimated 200 victims wrote a…

Apr 23, 2010 10:28 AM CDT

Effort to Fine Toyota $16.4M Could Speed Up Plaintiffs’ Discovery in Acceleration Cases

A record fine of $16.4 million that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is seeking to impose on Toyota Motor Corp. will probably help the plaintiffs in hundreds of lawsuits filed against the company over alleged sudden acceleration issues and other vehicle concerns, even though the fine isn’t expected to…

Apr 6, 2010 5:53 PM CDT

Burned Ex-Reed Smith Associate Back on Track for Trial After Appellate Win

An ex-associate who said her use of her dominant hand was impaired after it was burned during a Reed Smith trial training program is back in the litigation ballgame against her former employer. A trial court in 2007 had dismissed the 2003 disability discrimination case that Danielle Cesarano brought against…

Mar 4, 2010 10:31 PM CST

DOJ Sues 18 Lawyers, Says $300M PCBs Pact in 2003 Didn’t Include Medicare Reimbursement

The Department of Justice has sued 18 lawyers, as well as law firms, manufacturers and insurers, contending that a $300 million settlement agreed to in 2003 in an Alabama environmental case wasn’t properly allocated to include reimbursement of Medicare costs for 907 of the 3,500 plaintiffs. It isn’t clear exactly…

Mar 1, 2010 11:51 PM CST

Suit: Law Firm, Medical Clinic Made Reciprocal Referrals

A Kentucky woman has filed a suit against a law firm and medical clinic that she says both deceived her and deprived her of her right to treatment by her own doctors. Sharon Langford of Louisville, Ky., went to Tampa, Fla.-based Winters Yonker & Rousselle after she was injured in…

Mar 1, 2010 8:17 PM CST

US Appeals Court Reinstates Suit Claiming Injury from Exploding, Hot Sandwich

A federal appeals court has reinstated a $2 million lawsuit that claims a Florida carnival operator was injured by a McDonald’s chicken sandwich that was so hot it exploded with hot grease. Plaintiff Frank Sutton claims the grease from the sandwich purchased at a Virginia truck stop burned his lips…

Mar 1, 2010 1:18 PM CST

Forensic Meteorologist Is Go-To Guy in Slip-and-Fall Cases

Bad winter weather is good business for forensic meteorologist Howard Altschule. “Already from the attorneys in New York City I’m getting tons of calls,” says the former TV weatherman who calls himself a weather detective. Altschule talked to the New York Daily News about his work testifying in slip-and-fall cases.…

Feb 26, 2010 6:48 PM CST

Could Toyota Troubles Lead to Redemption for Jailed Minn. Man?

New revelations of safety problems with Toyota automobiles have breathed new life into claims by a Minnesota man who was sentenced to eight years in prison when his 1996 Toyota Camry shot up an interstate ramp and plowed into another vehicle, killing three people. Koua Fong Lee has long insisted…

Feb 25, 2010 5:02 PM CST

Feds Launch Toyota Criminal Probe as SEC Scrutinizes Investor Disclosures

In the latest blows to Toyota Motor Corp.’s once-sterling reputation, federal authorities have announced a criminal probe of automotive safety issues and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the company’s disclosures to investors concerning unintended acceleration problems. Announcing these developments yesterday, Toyota gave few details and it’s…

Feb 24, 2010 1:52 AM CST

PI Lawyer Takes ‘Honest Services’ Plea; Case Once Thought ‘Massive’ Fizzles

A Nevada personal injury lawyer accused of settling cases to his clients’ detriment has taken a plea, on the eve of a second trial in a federal “honest services” medical insurance fraud case once thought potentially to involve hundreds of professionals. Attorney Noel Gage has agreed to plead guilty on…

Feb 23, 2010 10:02 PM CST

DOJ Nixes Potential Civil Rights Case Over Sean Bell’s Wedding-Day Death in Hail of Police Bullets

Citing a lack of evidence to prove that New York City police “acted willfully” when they fired some 50 shots at an unarmed African-American man leaving his bachelor party on his wedding day in 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice has declined to pursue civil rights charges concerning the death…

Feb 16, 2010 8:08 PM CST

Complex Toyota Case Could Rival Tobacco Litigation, Plaintiffs Lawyers Predict

Plaintiffs lawyers are predicting that what has the potential to be the largest-ever automotive products liability case will result in a complex federal action equivalent to tobacco litigation. It may not be easy to prove the diminished-value claims being asserted in perhaps 30 of the more than 40 would-be class…

Feb 12, 2010 7:53 PM CST