Tort Law

Busting a Move

Woman Sues After Boss’s Hubby’s Heave-Ho Causes Her to Hit Hard in Dance Floor Debacle

Jun 5, 2007 8:41 AM CDT

Pal Tipped Plaintiff Attorney about ‘Flea’

One question remained unanswered – until today – about “Flea,” the once-anonymous physician whose biting blogging about his ongoing medical malpractice case recently led to a Perry Mason moment at his Boston trial. How did the plaintiff lawyer learn that the defendant doctor might have authored the blog? Another lawyer…

Jun 4, 2007 9:37 PM CDT

Death Suit Dismissed in Holloway Case

A Los Angeles judge has dismissed a California wrongful death suit filed over the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. The parents of the Alabama teen, who vanished on May 30, 2005 while on vacation with high school classmates on the Dutch Caribbean island, have no jurisdiction to sue in…

Jun 4, 2007 7:16 PM CDT

Doc: Vaccine Claims Risk Child Health

Litigation over some 4,800 autistic children allegedly injured as a result of being vaccinated could mean the end of much-needed programs to protect millions from potentially fatal diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. Even though the link between childhood vaccination and at least many of the injuries claimed,…

Jun 4, 2007 6:52 PM CDT

Plaintiffs Firms Bring International Tort Claims

Plaintiffs class-action firms are starting to get involved in international human-rights cases. Previously such suits were usually brought by public-interest lawyers. But now plaintiffs firms such as Motley Rice of South Carolina are suing international defendants for human-rights violations, according to Adam Liptak of the New York Times. Motley Rice…

Jun 4, 2007 12:47 PM CDT

Med-Mal Rx

#### 50% The percentage of winning plaintiffs in medical-malpractice jury trials where reviewing physicians rated the evidence of negligence as “strong,” according to professor Philip G. Peters of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. In Doctors & Juries, a research paper published in the May issue of the Michigan…

Jun 2, 2007 12:09 AM CDT

Judge Seeks Baseball Arbitration in Church Sex Abuse Cases

A federal judge thinks an arbitration method developed in major league baseball could help resolve litigation over alleged sexual abuse within the San Diego diocese. So-called baseball arbitration, in which the plaintiff and defendant each pick a figure and the arbitrator selects one of them, could help resolve a case…

Jun 1, 2007 9:15 PM CDT

Lawsuits for Quarantined TB Lawyer?

An Atlanta personal injury lawyer stricken with an unusually severe case of tuberculosis and quarantined in a Denver hospital could soon be involved in cutting-edge litigation. Experts say Andrew Speaker, 31, could be either the plaintiff or the defendant in various potential claims. They include a suit by him against…

Jun 1, 2007 7:19 PM CDT

Bomb Image in Business Fax a Bad Idea

Among the new causes of action and subjects of potential claims constantly developing in the ever-changing American legal arena, add one to the list that some might consider a no-brainer – faxing an image of a bomb in an internal business communication. A faulty fax containing such an image, from…

May 31, 2007 6:37 PM CDT

Blogging Defendant Unmasked

A physician accused of malpractice agreed to a substantial settlement after he admitted on the stand that he was the pseudonymous blogger writing about a trial with striking similarities to his own. Pediatrician Robert P. Lindeman admitted he was blogger “Lindeman Flea,” who revealed defense strategy and criticized opposing counsel…

May 31, 2007 4:35 PM CDT

Suits Target 401(k) Fees

Several major corporations are facing lawsuits claiming they charged hidden, excessive or high fees to employees participating in 401(k) plans. Among the companies named as defendants are The Boeing Co., Kraft Foods Inc., Bechtel Group Inc., General Motors Corp., and Radio Shack Corp., according to the National Law Journal. Schlichter,…

May 31, 2007 12:42 PM CDT

Med Mal Creates Unlikely Safety Teams

Stereotypically, those injured or killed by medical errors and their family members sue for redress. But some victims and their relatives are banding together in partnership with representatives of the very medical facility where the problems occurred, seeking to improve the situation for other patients. Sorrel King, for instance, and…

May 30, 2007 9:52 PM CDT

ACLU Sues Boeing Subsidiary re U.S. Rendition Aid

A subsidiary of airline giant Boeing Co. has been sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for allegedly aiding “extraordinary rendition” efforts by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The suit, which the ACLU says it is filing today in federal court in California, claims Jeppesen Dataplan Inc. provided transportation for…

May 30, 2007 8:02 PM CDT

A $2.6 Million Verdict in Accutane Suit

An Atlantic City jury warded an Alabama man $2.62 million yesterday in his lawsuit against the makers of acne drug Accutane. The verdict against Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. of Nutley, N.J., is the first in a case claiming the drug causes inflammatory bowel disease, according to the Associated Press. Plaintiff Andrew…

May 30, 2007 4:13 PM CDT

$6.6 M in Chicago Priest Abuse Cases; Settlements Total $50 M+

A $6.65 million settlement has been announced in a Chicago archdiocese priest sex abuse case, reportedly bringing the total of all such settlements paid by the Chicago archdiocese to more than $50 million. The $6.65 million resolves lawsuits brought by 15 plaintiffs in 2005 and 2006 concerning a dozen allegedly…

May 30, 2007 1:26 AM CDT