Tort Law

Lawyer’s idea spawns industry that finds successful accident plaintiffs to repay insurers

A Kentucky lawyer who represented insurers came up with an idea in the 1980s: Why not identify personal injury judgments that can be used to repay medical costs covered by insurance companies? The lawyer, George Rawlings, asked Humana Inc. for a printout of codes for injuries such as broken bones…

Jun 11, 2015 7:55 AM CDT

Metro workers to blame in lawyer’s falling death for not finding him until 4 days later, suit says

Mass transit workers didn’t find a lawyer’s body until four days after his fall at a Washington, D.C., Metro station, a $25 million lawsuit alleges. The lawyer, 35-year-old Okiemute Whiteru, didn’t receive prompt aid after the fall, leading to his death in October 2013, the suit says. The fall was…

Jun 10, 2015 7:15 AM CDT

Lawyers pay $1M and apologize to resolve ‘provably false’ claims made in sex-abuse suit

Two lawyers have paid at least $1 million and apologized to resolve counterclaims and countersuits brought by two entertainment industry executives in a teen-sex-abuse case that the attorneys say they now know was baseless. Attorneys Jeff Herman of Florida and Mark Gallagher of Hawaii made the settlement concerning lawsuits filed…

Jun 8, 2015 1:00 PM CDT

‘Unclean hands’ doesn’t bar medical pot biz from recovering $25K taken by lawyer, 9th Circuit says

‘The doctrine of “unclean hands” doesn’t bar a medical marijuana dispensary from recovering $25,000 taken by its lawyer, a federal appeals court has ruled. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday, citing two reasons why the $25,000 was not dischargeable in the lawyer’s bankruptcy. The…

Jun 8, 2015 7:39 AM CDT

Atlanta lawyer sues after his patent is featured in ‘stupid patent of the month’ blog post

An Atlanta lawyer and inventor has filed a defamation suit against the Electronic Frontier Foundation for featuring his patent as “stupid patent of the month.” The May 26 suit (PDF) by lawyer Scott Horstemeyer claims the post defamed him partly because of its assertion that he has “shown advanced skill…

Jun 4, 2015 9:02 AM CDT

Man sued for sawing neighbor’s garage in half isn’t liable, judge rules

A Minnesota home buyer who discovered days after the property closing that his garage had been sawed in half has lost a civil suit against the neighbor who did it. Judge Lois Lang of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, ruled against home buyer Mark Besemann on May 29 because half of his…

Jun 4, 2015 8:08 AM CDT

Chili’s waiter spit ‘loogie’ in my drink, customer says; suit is filed after cops test DNA

A police DNA test confirmed that a Chili’s restaurant waiter spit into a customer’s drink last July, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday. Ken Yerdon says he discovered the spit after taking his drink to go and the lid popped off in the car, report ABC News and Syracuse.com.…

Jun 4, 2015 7:26 AM CDT

Alan Dershowitz lawsuit blames lack of paper towels for fall in sports arena bathroom

Lawyer Alan Dershowitz is suing TD Garden in Boston for injuries he suffered in a bathroom fall during a Celtics game. Dershowitz claims in the lawsuit that he was injured nearly three years ago because of a wet floor in the bathroom caused by a depleted supply of paper towels,…

Jun 4, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Former senator exits Bryan Cave after his testimony helped widow win $77M judgment from firm client

A former U.S. senator and state attorney general has exited Bryan Cave—after a career there that dated back to the early 1960s—following friction over his court testimony for a friend’s widow that helped her win a $77 million verdict against Wells Fargo. The $77 million judgment won by Barbara Morriss…

Jun 3, 2015 12:55 PM CDT

Snake infestation forced home buyers from house, $2M suit alleges

Home buyers in Maryland claim in a $2 million lawsuit that they were forced to move out of their Annapolis home after spending nearly $60,000 in a fruitless effort to eradicate snakes that were nesting in the walls. The suit by Jeff and Jody Brooks, filed in Anne Arundel County,…

Jun 3, 2015 10:07 AM CDT

Man sues funeral home after wife’s casket somehow exits concrete vault and floats away in flood

When Richard Lee got a call telling him that his wife’s casket had floated about 100 yards from her Texas burial site because of recent flooding, he thought there must be some mistake. She was laid to rest in 2007 in a concrete vault, so how could that be possible?…

Jun 2, 2015 4:25 PM CDT

Insurer sued over claim it refuses to cover disabled homeowners who have pit bulls as service dogs

A major insurer is facing a federal housing discrimination case over its alleged refusal to provide homeowner coverage to individuals who have a pit bull as a service animal. Several Travelers insurance companies and two insurance agents are named in the suit brought by the Fair Housing Council of Oregon.…

Jun 2, 2015 1:50 PM CDT

Lawyer sues owner of racehorse American Pharoah for $10M, says response to client’s suit defamed him

A New York lawyer representing a man seeking repayment of a claimed seven-figure gambling debt from the the owner of Triple Crown contender American Pharoah has now added a new lawsuit to the legal drama. Attorney Joseph Bainton filed a federal suit Monday in New Jersey against racehorse owner Ahmed…

Jun 2, 2015 1:05 PM CDT

Nonlawyer is still at his desk, 12 years after court ordered him to stop practicing, newspaper says

In 2003, a nonattorney, Jesus Lozano, was ordered by a California court to stop “assisting individuals to fill out pleadings, motions, and court forms or other documents and providing counsel or advice related to any legal matter.” But authorities say Lozano continued taking money from individuals who thought he was…

Jun 2, 2015 10:55 AM CDT

Those who refuse vaccinations can cause outbreaks: Should they have to pay for it?

Let’s say your kid’s birthday party seemed to have gone well. She was happy with her gifts, only one of her little friends upchucked, and the clown wasn’t too creepy. But that was two weeks ago. This week, it’s a whole different story. It turns out that one of the…

Jun 1, 2015 1:10 AM CDT