Total Injury

Student safety should obviously be a top concern of schools, especially in this day and age when schools may not seem as safe as they once were. With that said, a Tampa elementary school seems to have taken the issue a bit far after a young girl with knee problems was denied using her crutches due to a "communications" miscommunication involving a school policy about having a doctor's note for such devices.

The result of the school being too overcautious: the girl's knee was damaged even more significantly and her family has notified the school of its intention to sue:

• School Nurse Takes Crutches from Injured Student.  

In what is one of the more disturbing stories that I've come across the Web in a long time, the parents of a North Carolina high school student have had to file a personal injury lawsuit against their son's bullies.

It seems that these bullies have been harassing the high school student at great lengths, from mugging and robbing him to even going as far as to create a Facebook page to incite further bullying. Check out the story below and let me know if you're wondering what the heck is wrong with the school in question and the parents of the bullies:

•Personal Injury Lawsuit Is Last Resort Against Bullies!

From a local Arkansas paper, the news of an officer suspending for Tasing a cow.

To test out a Taser that he thought was malfunctioning, a Rogers, Arkansas police officer tried to stun the cow with the Taser while friends videotaped the incident.  The officer accidentally shocked himself first when he missed the cow, to the apparent hilarity of the group.

Now he faces a two-week suspension and the department has planned to better account for its Taser cartridges.

My only thought on this is: it's a potential misdemeanor (which won't be charged because of a one-year statute of limitations) for using a Taser on a cow, but perfectly legitimate to use a Taser on a person?  Wouldn't it be a far more worthwhile investigation to redefine standards for Taser use on humans?

A Los Angeles woman received a winning verdict of $9 million after an arbitration judge decided against Health Net, her insurance provider.  Most of that award ($8.4 million, to be exact) came in the form of punitive damages, and you'll see why he came to that stinging amount if you consider the case.

The woman was diagnosed with breast cancer and had started chemotherapy treatment to remove the tumor that doctors had found.  However, doctors stopped her treatments and notified her that her bills were going unpaid by the insurance company.

And hers wasn't the only patient's bills that were being unpaid.  Health Net stopped paying on around 1,600 patients, according to the Associated Press, whose accounts were frozen while a third-party review board was initiated to review the cases.

This halt to payment was deemed illegal under California law.  Health Net was also sued by a Los Angeles county attorney for this practice.   Also, Health Net received flak after it was learned several years ago that they were giving bonuses to adjusters who could reject the most number of claims, a policy which Health Net officials claim was reviewed and ended.

And now, they have 9 million reasons why they should review their health coverage practices once again.  Ouch.

New claims against Eli Lilly Co. over harmful side effects of the defective drug Zyprexa have now brought the total number of drug settlements to over 25,000.

900 new cases, including 5 that were set to go to trial in February, were settled recently, leaving the total number of unsettled cases at 1,100.

You can read all the details about the new Zyprexa claims at Total Injury!  Also, don't forget to check out our Articles section for more on defective drug cases and other class action settlements!

As David Cross's character Tobias in the Fox cult TV favorite "Arrested Development" found out, the Blue Man Group is not a support group for sad men.

Just ask James Srodon of California, who filed a lawsuit with the Cook County Circuit Court, indicating that he was not a "willing" participant with the Blue Man Group during one of their infamous audience participation bits.

The Blue Men used Srodon for a bit in which they used an "esophagus cam" in Srodon's throat and projected footage of the inside of someone's stomach on the stage screen.  Srodon alleges that he did not want to participate, and the Blue Men forced the tube with the camera down his throat, and that the tube was covered in food and other disgusting debris from the theater floor, as well as blue paint from Blue Man hands.

The lawsuit seeks $50,000 for battery, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress.  Srodon claimed in the suit that the camera injured his mouth, throat and dental work.

For the latest in injury verdicts from outrageous cases such as these, visit Total Injury's injury verdict page!

A man from Arizona has filed a patent with the US Patent Office for an "energy weapon protection device," which from the diagram he provided with his application, consists of a jacket made of non-conductive material that won't allow the taser (or, tazer, as it's often misspelled) attacks to jolt the wearer.  I.e., we've got Taser-proof clothing.

No word yet on whether or not people who wear this crazy outfit can be cited for "excited delirium" before they get tased.  In fact, the fashion police might be more appalled by this set of threads than any law enforcement agency.

If you're interested in reading more about tasers and police brutality, check out the Taser page at Total Injury!

If you did any shopping at the mall or other retail store over Christmas, you probably experienced the headache of shoppers jawing away on their cell phones in store aisles, in line for the cashier and generally all over the place.  It can get quite uncomfortable when an oblivious cell-phone-talker starts airing personal business over the phone while ignoring those in his or her physical presence.

Common courtesy (and probably common sense) dictates that if you have to take or make a cell phone call, you should move to a more private location than a bustling retail store.  But in this day and age, don't be surprised if a bit of common courtesy confuses the heck out of people. 

Take the case of Elizabeth Beeland, a holiday shopper who stepped out of a Best Buy to talk on her cell phone, forgetting her credit card at the cashier's desk.  The ever-vigilant Best Buy clerk, surprised by Beeland's beeline for the door, suspected she was fleeing the scene after using a stolen credit card, and called over a police officer to confront her.

According to the police report that officer Claudia Wright filed, when Wright confronted Beeland outside the store, Beeland was "verbally profane, abusive, loud and irate."  After warning her to calm down or face arrest, Wright shocked Beeland with a Taser.  Security video of the incident shows Beeland backing away and trying to avoid the officer, then falling to the ground as the Taser strikes.

Officer Wright was not disciplined for using the Taser on Beeland.  The Chief of Police defended Wright, saying that Beeland was disobeying an officer's orders and that the Taser was a better alternative to another weapon.

Beeland has reportedly hired a lawyer and is looking into the possibility of a lawsuit, since she was not behaving violently or attempting to flee from the officer when she was shocked.

For more unbelievable police brutality, excessive force and Taser shock weapon news stories, visit the personal injury articles page at Total Injury!

National news sources such as USA Today have been reporting on a new study issued by the United States Justice Department of Justice that claims that police brutality incidents have been on the rise since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Compared to the previous seven-year period, the period from 2001 to 2007 exhibited a rise of 25% of police brutality incidents, with a rise in convictions of police officers for use of excessive force of 53% (the report was obviously intended to tout its own successes in prosecution).

Nowhere is this more evident than in the nation's arguable police brutality epicenter, Chicago.  With 40% more complaints of police brutality and misconduct than the national average, Chicago has garnered an infamous reputation for police brutality from a public that is becoming increasingly more suspicious of individuals in uniform.

Read a round-up of the most sensational Chicago Police Department police brutality stories of the year at Total Injury!

In one of the most clear-cut cases of insurance fraud possibly ever, a Los Angeles doctor has pleaded guilty to running a scam that's being called "rent-a-patient."

Mamdouh S. Bahna of Bel Air allegedly paid patients to undergo unnecessary procedures so that he could bill insurance companies.  Examples of the surgeries that he would perform include colonoscopies and something called a "sweaty-palm" surgery.  (Surgery always makes my palms sweat, so I'm still waiting for another distinction.)

The lawyers prosecuting the case allege that Bahna defrauded his insurance companies out of $1 million.  As a result of his guilty plea, he'll be put in jail for 58 months and have to pay a $150K fine.

Check out Total Injury for more about insurance companies and the clever and not so clever perpetrators of fraud against them.

Rhode Island Hospital was recently fined $50,000 by the State Department of Health and reprimanded for reports that a doctor at the hospital operated on the wrong side of a patient's brain during a brain surgery procedure. 

The reason for the fine?  It's the THIRD time this year that this mistake has happened at this hospital.  Remarkably, all three wrong-side brain operations were performed by different doctors.  At this point, the latest patient to be mistakenly operated upon is okay, as was the first victim of the botched operation.

However, the second patient tragically died as a result of the surgery in August of this year.  That prompted an investigation into the hospital procedures, which apparently did not correct the problem.

Let's hope the doctors at Rhode Island Hospital have learned their lesson and we won't have to read in the coming months of a fourth flipped surgery victim.

Let the following be a lesson to those who, like many of us, have employee health insurance through their employers.  If you seek compensation in a personal injury case, as is your right, you may have to reimburse the insurance company if they covered any of your medical bills after the personal injury, under a common process called "subrogation."

The point of subrogation is to avoid having medical bills paid for twice, once by the insurance company, and then by a defendant who is ordered to pay for medical bills as part of a verdict or settlement of a personal injury case.  However, in practice, it can seem like another way for a personal injury victim to be victimized, this time by their insurance company.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, 52-year-old Deborah Shank was involved in a semi tractor trailer accident seven years ago, which left her with permanent brain damage and confined to a wheelchair.  As part of a settlement with the trucking company, she and her husband received $700,000 to pay for her medical care.

At the time of the accident, Shank was an employee of Walmart, and received their healthcare coverage for medical expenses following the accident.  Whether she knew it or not, a subrogation clause was part of her Walmart health insurance, and after paying out $470,000 for medical coverage, the insurance company aimed to get back the money.

After legal fees and other expenses, the Shanks were left with $417,000, which they set up in a medical expenses fund.  However, Walmart sued them for the money, and though they appealed an initial verdict in Walmart's favor, the Shanks eventually lost the case as well as the money.

What makes it particularly difficult for them is that the money left over from the settlement would not have been enough to pay her medical costs in the first place.  Thus, rather than fairly paying back money for medical expenses that Walmart covered, in their case it was closer to being taken for all they had by Walmart's insurance plan.

Walmart, of course, was perfectly within its legal right, and pursued subrogation to restore funds back to its insurance coverage for the entire employee pool.  However, in this case, the fine print made the Shanks feel more betrayed than compensated when they won their personal injury case.

As news outlets have been reporting over the past few weeks, the dioceses of the Catholic church in Seattle, Louisville and Kansas City have reached settlements to resolve sexual abuse lawsuits filed by parishioners or former parishioners.  These are of course just the latest in a serious of ongoing settlements over alleged sexual abuse of young people by Catholic priests.

The Seattle Archdiocese has announced a settlement of $380,000 with two unnamed plaintiffs who claim they were molested by two priests, now deceased.  The settlement includes $270,000 to one man whose initials were given as M.P., $110,000 to another, initialed J.P.

The Kansas City diocese paid a $225,000 settlement to Frank Scheuring from Independence, Missouri, who alleged that a priest began abusing him when he disclosed in confessional that a neighbor was abusing him.

Many lawsuits against other dioceses feature more plaintiffs and substantially higher sums of money.  Previously, the Pittsburgh archdiocese reached a $1.25 million settlement with 32 victims, the San Diego archdiocese paid out $198.1 million to 144 victims, and the Los Angeles archdiocese paid out a whopping $764 million.

More recently, the Louisville, Kentucky archdiocese agreed to pay $25.7 million to 243 people who alleged that they were sexual abuse victims, and 11 of the lawsuits were against retired Monsignor Robert Bowling.  One of the plaintiffs is a woman who accused Bowling of molesting her while she was pregnant and in the hospital.  This settlement is the largest of its kind in Kentucky.

Mark Contois has launched a campaign for safety in a “sport” he has never played. Mark and Colette Contois’ 10-year-son asked if he could play paintball with his friends. After researching the safety of the “sport,” the Contois’ said “yes.” According to the New York Times, a player inadvertently detached a valve, launching his gun’s carbon-dioxide-filled cylinder as an unguided missile. The cylinder struck Ms. Contois, who was watching from a picnic area, in the back of her head, killing her.

Mark Contois won $8 million in a lawsuit against the valve’s manufacturer and distributors of the valve and cylinder. Now, he is working to increase safety for paintballers. Thanks, in part, to Contois’ campaign, manufacturers are working to improve the valves and cylinders used to fire paintballs at players.

Paintball was started in New Hampshire in the 1970s, by two friends holding a duel using dye-capsule pistols developed for foresters to mark trees for cutting. Since that time, masks and protective vests and gloves have been developed to protect players from serious injury. 

Who would have thought that playing war could be dangerous? Jeff Weaver, owner of the facility where Ms. Contois was killed, has closed his paintball park, saying “I pretty much lost heart for the whole thing.”

A federal jury in New York city has found Isiah Thomas, Madison Square Garden, and its chairman, James Dolan, guilty of sexual harassment and creating a hostile working environment from a discrimination lawsuit filed by former MSG employee Anucha Browne Sanders.  As a result, Browne Sanderse will receive $11.6 million in punitive damages.

In the lawsuit, Browne Sanders alleges that Thomas, the head coach of the New York Knicks professional basketball team, sexually harassed her and that she was fired from the corporation for complaining about Thomas' unwelcome advances.

In their defense, lawyers for MSG and Thomas claimed that Browne Sanders was fired for incompetence, and her dismissal had nothing to do with any kind of retaliation for complaining.

Certainly, Thomas' case was not helped by testimony offered by MSG employees, including Knicks' guard Stephon Marbury, which portrayed the administrative offices as a center for lewd and inappropriate activity.  Marbury, for instance, testified that he had engaged in sexual relations with an intern after a company outing to a strip club in 2005.

The jury awarded Browne Sanders a total amount of $11.6 million, including $6 million for the hostile working environment created at MSG and $5.6 million for the unlawful firing.  Dolan is responsible for $3 million of the total, and MSG with the rest.

Though the jury found in favor of Browne Sanders, Thomas was not found liable for punitive damages himself.

The jury will decide compensatory damages, meaning compensation for back pay and benefits, at a later date.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge did not approve a motion filed by the lawyers of Lindsay Lohan to dismiss part of the lawsuit filed against her by a man who was involved in an auto accident with Lohan in October 2005.

The lawyers for Raymundo Ortega included as part of the personal injury lawsuit against Lohan a statement that they had reason to believe the singer/actress had been drinking at the time of the accident, and fled the scene to hide in a retail store after it occurred.  One piece of evidence they offered was the fact that Lohan was admitted into rehab shortly after the incident.

Lohan's lawyers countered that the lawsuit lacked legal sufficiency, that Ortega's inclusion of the assertion that Lohan was "tipsy" at the time of the accident is just an attempt to be "inflammatory" and get her to settle, but Judge Michael L. Stern rejected their motion and set the court date for April 7.

Although California Highway Patrol officers determined that Ortega had caused the accident while executing an illegal U-turn, Ortega is demanding $200,000 from Lohan to compensate for injuries sustained during the accident, in which he was knocked unconscious.  He claims that she was negligent when she ran away and hid, leaving him unconscious, as well as in driving while intoxicated.

Lohan is currently in rehab in Utah, where it is reported that she must complete a county coroner program which includes visiting the morgue and talking to victims of DUI and drunk driving.

A man from Mobile, AL, who was arrested in the summer of 2005 for making an obscene gesture with his middle finger at a police officer, has recently been awarded a $3,000 settlement by the city.

56-year-old Addison DeBoi pled not guilty to disorderly conduct and was acquitted.  He later sued the city because he believed that the officer acted inappropriately and trumped up the charges in order to get DeBoi convicted.

However, before the case could unfold, the story of his arrest and subsequent lawsuit made national news.  On his popular, controversial Fox News Channel show, commentator Bill O'Reilly profiled the case in a segment titled "Is It Legal?"  O'Reilly's determination: "This is a pinhead judge."

In the ruling on DeBoi's case, the Judge Michael McMaken declared that precedent dictates that police officers must have “thicker skin” than a normal citizen.

The city of Mobile is contesting the award, moving for a new trial at a higher court.

In an interesting twist of events in a recent FELA case in Omaha, Nebraska, the jury who was deciding on a verdict for the injured railroad worker only wanted to know one thing before they made their decision: were they allowed to award more than he was asking?

That was good news for 36-year-old Kendall Walsh, who received nearly $2.8 million after seeking $2.3 million in compensation for injuries he sustained as a maintenance crew member replacing railroad ties for Union Pacific Railroad.  The Columbus, Nebraska man was standing near a stacked pile of concrete railroad ties when the pile shifted and one of the 900-pound ties fell and critically injured his right arm. 

Walsh has undergone three surgeries since the accident, but will never regain full grasping ability with his right hand as a result of the injury.  His lawyer successfully argued that Union Pacific was negligent for not stacking the ties with standard wooden dividers that are used to maintain stability.  The award was made for lost wages, future impairment of earning capacity, pain and suffering and the loss of the victim’s ability to enjoy life.

The suit was made according to the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA), which was enacted in 1908, as the United States expanded its railroad network, to compensate railroad workers injured on the job.  In FELA cases, as in other workers’ compensation cases, the employee must prove that the railroad company was negligent in any accident; however, FELA cases tend to carry significantly higher compensation awards than those for non-railroad employees under State Worker’s Compensation.

Perhaps even more strange given their insistence on increasing the award, the jury decided that Walsh was 2 percent to blame for the incident.  This knocked $56,000 off of the $2.8 million award.  Still, it’s far better than Walsh was expecting.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a Pennsylvania Superior Court judge was indicted on charges of money laundering and mail fraud in connection with a personal injury verdict of $440,000 that he received in 2001.  In August 2001, Judge Michael T. Joyce was struck from behind at 5 miles per hour while in his car, prompting him to file an insurance claim for personal injuries that prevented him from enjoying his normal lifestyle.  He claimed to be in constant pain.

Subsequently, Joyce was seen playing golf in such exotic locales as Jamaica, scuba diving, and receiving his airplane pilot’s license, as well as exercising at a gym and inline skating, all activities which he claimed he was prevented from doing in the insurance claim. The money laundering claims stem from purchases he made with the insurance settlement money through a brokerage account. 

Legally, Joyce was not required to step down, since his crimes were unrelated to his area of legal jurisdiction.  But, in conjunction with the charges, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has suspended Joyce with pay.  Amazingly, Joyce maintains his innocence in the charges.  In a move that can been seen as either extremely brave or extremely foolish, Joyce has claimed that he will stand for re-election in November when his term is up.

Apparently Drew Carey couldn’t handle equipment Bob Barker has been working with for decades. TMZ.com reports that the new host of The Price is Right was injured when he got his arm caught in rotating device used in one of the show’s games. A source said he is already back on the set wearing a soft cast to protect a bruised bone.

Carey was only bruised, but we’re sure he’ll have a good time trying to live this down.

Six Ocean City, Maryland Police Department officers, as well as the City, are being sued for $18.6 million in damages for police brutality. Demar Leonard and Brandon Bishop have filed a 93-count civil lawsuit alleging assault, battery, excessive force, and false imprisonment.

According to the Maryland Coast Dispatch, the plaintiffs say the officers confronted them in front of a 7-Eleven store, questioning them about a shoplifting spree at a nearby CVS Drugstore. Questioning escalated into a physical alteration, resulting in the arrest of the boys who were charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

According to police reports, the officers asked the boys for identification. When Leonard ignored several orders to keep his hands out of his pockets the officers attempted to restrain him, after which the violence ensued. 

The lawsuit alleges Leonard was “approached from behind and choked, yanked to the ground and thrown into the side of a paddy wagon before four officer piled on top of him, pushing him into the ground and pulling at his limbs.” According to court documents, when the Leonard’s parents picked him up after booking, they allegedly found he had been badly beaten and required medical attention. Leonard’s family pursued brutality charges against the officers, but an internal investigation amounted to nothing.

Leonard was convicted of two counts of assault, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct. His conviction was overturned on appeal.

A Florida jury awarded a couple $21 million for a “wrongful birth.” Daniel and Amara Estrada have two sons, both suffering with a genetic disorder called Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome. The Washington Post reported that the Estradas sued doctors at the University of South Florida for misdiagnosing their first child’s disorder.

They argued that if doctors had correctly diagnosed the first child’s disorder, a test would have indicated whether the second child was similarly afflicted and they would have terminated the pregnancy. The Estradas asked the jury to award them sufficient funds to allow them to at least care for the second child.

Now the Estradas enter the political realm. Because the University is an agency of Florida state government, the State Legislature must agree to the award. State law limits awards for negligence claims against government agencies to $200,000. The Legislature could pass a bill allowing payment of the full amount.

Banana plantation workers have filed lawsuits over pesticides they claim have made them sterile. Over 5,000 workers in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama have filed five lawsuits against U.S. operators of the plantations. The workers were exposed to the chemical known as DBCP in the 1970s.

The first of the trials is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

According to the Associated Press, the cases raise the issue of whether multinational companies should be held accountable in the country where they are based or the countries where they employ workers. Workers are suing in the United States due to the gap between civil justice in the U.S. and in developing countries.

The lawsuit names Dole Fresh Fruit Co. and Standard Fruit Co. (now part of Dole) as defendants. The plaintiffs allege Dow Chemical Co. and Amvac Chemical Co., manufacturers of DBCP, “actively suppressed information about DBCP's reproductive toxicity.” The lawsuit claims Dow and Amvac know about DBCP’s toxicity as early as the 1950s, but continue, even today, to market the pesticide outside of the United States.

The father of a student at the Citadel in South Carolina has sued the Beaufort County coroner for failing to perform a legally required autopsy, claiming the coroner’s failure hurts his wrongful death lawsuit against the Xpress Lane convenience store.

20-year-old Leith Paul Trask III, died in a car crash after purchasing beer at the Xpress Lane convenience store. According to The Sun News, L. Paul Trask, Jr’s lawsuit claims authorities, including Coroner Curt Copeland failed to perform an autopsy for positive identification of the body, that was burned beyond visual recognition, and to take blood samples for toxicology exams.

Copeland then took over the funeral arrangements for the boy. His body was cremated by Copeland’s funeral home. Trask claims Copeland coaxed him to sign a permission form to have the boy’s body cremated and then lied about when it was signed.

Popular Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Contains Highly Toxic Lead Paint!

A Chicago parent recently filed a proposed class-action personal injury lawsuit against "Thomas the Train" manufacturer RC2 for children's toys featuring red and yellow surface paint containing lead. Plaintiff Channing House claimed in her personal injury lawsuit that she is worried about the possible effects on her children from the defective toys, which include the popular Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway, as lead is highly toxic when ingested. The suit states that children often put toys in their mouth and then claims that children under six will absorb about 50 percent of the lead they ingest, with IQ deficits, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, stunted growth and impaired hearing just some of the possible side effects from ingestion.

On June 14th, the Consumer Product Commission ordered a voluntary recall of the toys. However, House has claimed that RC2 has not properly responded to this potentially serious health hazard. The company has agreed to exchange the dangerous toys with new and safer ones but will not be offering a reimbursement program. RC2 markets its kids products under popular brands like Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder, John Deere, Nickelodeon, Winnie the Pooh and Sesame Street.

With that said, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Wednesday night that two more lawsuits have been filed against RC2 concerning these toys. Also aspiring for class-action status, these lawsuits are seeking more than $5 million in damages combined.

$942,000 Personal Injury Verdict Awarded to Man Working for Union Pacific

A 56-year-old Nebraska man who suffered serious slip and fall injuries outside of a motel that he was paid to stay at by his employer, Union Pacific, was recently awarded a $942,000 personal injury verdict. Terry Sigler worked as a Union Pacific railroad conductor for nearly 40 years when he was stationed to stay at a Super 8 Motel in Missouri Valley on March 7, 2002. While returning from dinner that night, Sigler slipped on a patch of ice and suffered torn knee ligaments that eventually progressed to profound arthritis. This case fell under the Federal Employers Liability Act, which holds employers liable for even the slightest negligence in the workplace. Union Pacific naturally claimed that it was Sigler's fault for not paying attention to the ice, but his personal injury attorney was able to show that the Super 8 parking lot and sidewalk were not adequately lit and that the motel in question failed do anything about earlier reports that the lightning needed to be changed.

An Omaha World-Herald story detailed that Union Pacific's bottom line would not be affected in this case because the railroad requires contract hotels to have insurance for such costs and the $942,000 personal injury verdict falls under the company's $2 million maximum on its insurance policy.

The Boy's Parents Supported the Lawsuit to Get a Refusing Insurance Company to Pay a $100,000 Claim!

On Thursday, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a boy who suffered brain injuries as a toddler during an SUV car accident can file a personal injury lawsuit against his parents for improperly installing and maintaining his car seat. Now nine years old, Teddy Harrison suffered a serious brain injury that left him permanently disabled six years ago when he flew from his mother's SUV during an accident caused by an uninsured driver. A  Pioneer Press story detailed how Harrison initially sued the car seat manufacturer Century Products Co. on the claim that the seat was defective since its buckle could click as locked while having a penny lodged in it. Century Products Co. claimed that the boy should have sued his parents in part for failing to install and maintain the seat. After reaching a confidential settlement with the company, the boy filed suit against his parents, whom fully supported the legal action in an effort to get Progressive insurance company to pay for a $100,000 claim.

It turns out that Progressive refused to pay the insurance claim for the boy's injuries and cited a 1963 "gag rule" barring evidence about the lack of use of seat belts and child-restraint seats in personal injury cases. Progressive told the family that it would pay for the claim if the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in favor of Teddy, and now must do so after yesterday's decision. Teddy Harrison's personal injury attorney Robert King expressed satisfaction with the decision and reaffirmed that the lawsuit was not about a boy suing his parents but rather making an insurance company do the right thing.

Congratulations to King and the Harrison Family for not backing down to Progressive, which once again showed how insurance companies operate with their bottom lines ahead of everything else during personal injury cases.

Ex-Supreme Court Nominee Robert Bork Suing Yale Club for Personal Injuries

Robert Bork, a tort reform advocate who once criticized juries for handing out "lottery-like windfalls" in personal injury cases, has found himself on the other side of the fence recently. Bork has been severely criticized and even called hypocritical by some for his recent $1 million personal injury lawsuit against the Yale Club. Bork was set to give a speech at the Yale Club of New York last June when he allegedly fell backward while trying to mount a platform. Bork's personal injury lawsuit claimed that the Yale Club failed to provide stairs between the floor and the dais and that he suffered personal injuries which required surgery and physical therapy. The 80-year-old Bork also claimed that he now walks with a cane and a limp because of the fall, and sued for unspecified punitive damages and actual damages for pain and suffering, medical treatment, and losing income and time at work.

Bork's personal injury lawsuit especially drew the ire in this editorial in The New York Times. Of further interest, Bork was a federal appeals judge in Washington from 1982 to 1988. He was once nominated to the Supreme Court by late President Ronald Reagan in 1987, but the Senate denied this request.

And We Thought the Cicadas Were Bad in Chicago!

In one of the more "bugging" personal injury cases to be seen in the last 17 years, a railroad worker is suing the Kansas City Southern Railway Co. for damages sustained from an insect sting on the job three years ago. Michael Aguillard claims it was the responsibility of the railway to inform him about the dangers of bug bites and stings and thus negligently failed to provide him with a safe workplace when it did not warn him of this information, spray for bugs and give him the proper working equipment. Aguillard was stung on June 20, 2004 while working with track materials and has claimed that he suffered injuries to the soft tissues, ligaments, tendons, muscles and blood vessels of his hands, arms, back and heart, including a mitral valve prolapse. Aguillard also claims in his personal injury lawsuit that he has suffered severe pain and suffering and is suing for lost wages, earnity capacity and benefits.

As the song goes, it's a hard knock life for bugs. Oh wait. That's us, not bugs.

A West Palm Beach, Florida personal injury jury found Ford Motor Company responsible for a woman’s crippling injuries and awarded her $10.4 million. 66-year old Donna Grimes of Boca Raton was left a quadriplegic when her Ford Explorer was struck from behind.

The jury found that her injuries occurred when the reclining mechanism in her seat failed, throwing her backward and snapping her neck when her head struck the back seat.

Ford said it will appeal the personal injury award. A spokesman said the crash was so severe that Ford’s seat design could not be held responsible for Ms. Grimes’ injuries.

An 11-year-old girl gets bitten by a Rottweiler back in 1999 and is left with serious injuries to her face. As a 19-year-old woman, she files a personal injury lawsuit against the owners of the animal. How is she able to do this? Hasn't the statute of limitations long run out on her filing a personal injury claim?

Not so in this case. Laura Haidet was attacked eight years ago by a dog owned by Gregory and Nancy Kovalchick while she was playing video games with other children at the home of the defendants in Bristolville, Pennsylvania. A Vindy.com story explains that while the statute of limitations for filing for bodily damages in Pennsylvania is two years, this does not apply to a minor under normal circumstances. Haidet’s personal injury attorney, Rick Bush, elaborated in the story that the statute of limitations for a case involving a minor begins from the date of the person’s 18^th birthday. In other words, Haidet had two years from the day she turned 18 to file her Pennsylvania personal injury lawsuit for bodily damages; which thus makes her claim as a 19-year-old acceptable.

Haidet suffered deep wounds to the face during the dog attack, which was described in the personal injury lawsuit as being “without warning or provocation.” She needed 150 stitches to close the wounds and required surgery for scar revision. Haidet now claims that she needs surgery to improve the positioning of her nose cartilage and a noticeable difference between both sides of her nose. She is thus seeking more than $25,000 from the Kovalchick family, who was not available for comment in the story.

This personal injury case once again reveals the importance of talking to an experienced lawyer as soon as possible after suffering a personal injury. Statutes of limitations vary from state-to-state and sometimes even by the type of claim, and thus may not be as clear cut as you think. With that said, a local personal injury attorney can fill you in on the statute of limitations in your state and provide the clarity that you may need.

No, it’s not some cliffhanger to the season finale of some popular television show but rather a real-life personal injury case that is to be continued. A medical emergency has forced an Illinois judge to stop a personal injury case in which William Clawson was suing the man who repossessed his car. Clawson had claimed that he suffered severe neck injuries and medical anguish when he drove a golf cart in front of his car on February 27, 2005. Clawson has also alleged that he thought his car was being stolen (it was actually being repossessed) and thus drove the golf cart in front of it. While on the way to court to testify as a key witness in the trial last week, Clawson’s wife suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized; thus prompting Madison County Circuit Judge David Hylla to reassign the case to June 18^th.

While he had been seeking $100,000 in damages, Clawson must now wait for his wife to recover from her own physical damages. Hylla has said that 11 of the original 13 jurors in the case will continue in the case, and that he will choose two replacement jurors before the trial begins. Read more about this interesting personal injury case in this story from The Madison County Record.

A New York medical examiner has determined that a 17-year-old track star died after overusing sports cream. Arielle Newman, a cross-country runner at Staten Island’s Notre Dame Academy, died after her body absorbed high levels of methyl salicylate, a compound found in many anti-inflammatory creams, such as Bengay and Icy Hot.

A medical examiner’s spokeswoman said it was the first case of death from using a sports cream the office had encountered. She said Newman was spreading the muscle cream on her legs between competitions, applying adhesive pads containing the anti-inflammatory, and using an unspecified third product containing the chemical.

A spokesman for Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Bengay, expressed sympathy over the death, but reminded consumers about “the importance of reading the label on this and all over-the-counter medicines to ensure safe and proper use.” According to the Associated Press, the label on Ultra Strength Bengay says the product should be applied no more than three or four times daily and consumers should stop and see a doctor if the condition worsens or symptoms persist for more than a week.

Can we expect a personal injury lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson?

The mother of a man who was shot and killed seven years ago in a struggle with a New York police officer was awarded $10 million in punitive damages on Wednesday. A NY1 News story detailed how 23-year-old Malcolm Ferguson was unarmed in March of 2000 when he was shot during an altercation with plain-clothed police officer Louis Rivera, who is still with the NYPD but now works a desk job and no longer carries a gun. While the death was ruled accidental, the victim’s mother, Bronx resident Juanita Young, has claimed that her son was a victim of police brutality. While Young has vowed to continue to fight for the rights of victims of police brutality, the New York City Law Department has said that it will appeal the ruling of this personal injury lawsuit as the jury agreed that the shooting was an accident. The NYC Law Department added in a statement that it is confident the wrongful death verdict would be dropped in the appeals process.

Young has said that she will like to see the criminal case reopened and charges filed against Rivera. We’ll keep you updated on any more developments with this case.

An interesting Boston Globe story detailed how the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad recently came to a “good faith” safety agreement with the Federal Railroad Association in which the MBCR will try to get its workers’ union to agree to random drug testing. Amazingly, the MBCR does not have the authority under federal rules to require drug tests of the 276 members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees that work for them. This safety agreement comes in the wake of a January train accident in Woburn in which two train workers were killed and four others suffered serious personal injuries. A source close to the investigation revealed that one of the workers who was struck by the train tested positive for marijuana.

Specifically, the workers involved in this accident failed to install a required safety device which activates signals to train conductors that workers are on the tracks. Federal investigators later found the metal shunt device in the truck nearby and learned that a dispatcher mistakenly let the train go through the work site.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that railroad workers have been found to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Two employees tested positive for drugs and alcohol during a fatal train accident in Gloucester last June. The story said that federal officials are considering fining the MBCR for failing to send specimens from the dead workers for testing in proper time, which begs the question of why they are still considering the fine and haven’t implemented one already.

With the safety of not only these workers but also daily commuters who use the MBCR on the line, it is vital that random drug testing be allowed. The union has expressed a willingness to discuss the proposed safety agreement and will meet with officials of the railroad on June 26^th. Here’s hoping that they are able to agree on the importance of drug testing in preventing these types of disturbing train accidents in the future.  

The death of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock in a drunk driving accident last month was detailed throughout the country, and Hancock’s father just recently sued the bar which served his son prior to the fatal accident. In a somewhat similar light, the father of a Virginia Beach teenager who died in a recent drunk driving accident caused by someone else has filed a multi-million personal injury lawsuit against the restaurant which served the DUI suspect. Alison Kunhardt and her friend Tessa Trachant were killed on March 30^th when alleged drunken driver Alfredo Ramos slammed into the back of their vehicle shortly after leaving the Ensenadas Mexican Restaurant. In a personal injury lawsuit seeking in excess of $10 million, David Kunhardt has claimed that employees at the restaurant knew that Ramos was intoxicated but served him throughout the evening of the fatal accident.

A WAVY.com story detailed how Virginia is one of a few states that does not hold restaurants liable for the actions of their patrons and how this personal injury lawsuit is hoping to change this law. Current Virginia law also prohibits restaurants from serving patrons who are drunk, which Ramos allegedly was when he entered the restaurant on the night of the deadly accident. Ramos has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths and is scheduled to appear in court on June 26^th. We’ll keep you updated on any more developments with this Virginia personal injury lawsuit and this challenged law.

A recent report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission revealed that 64 injuries and one death were reported last year involving the Heely, which is a popular children’s shoe containing a wheel on the bottom that can be used to roll around like a roller skate. In Illinois, this report drew the interest of several news sources on Monday night. A short piece on Chicago's Fox 32 News on Monday night detailed this CPSC report while a story on WMBD-WYZZ TV examined one Peoria orthopedic surgeon’s opinion of the product. Dr. James Williams alleged in the story that rocks can often get caught in the gaps between the wheels and the sole of the shoe and cause kids to lose control and fall down. Williams suggested that these shoes are especially harder for younger kids to balance; thus making them more susceptible to injury.

Williams added that he has already seen anywhere from 20 to 30 children this year for treatment of Heely-sustained injuries, which most notably included hurt wrists and ankles. The surgeon suggested that parents require their kids to wear helmets and elbow and knee pads when using Heelys. It will be interesting to see if there are any more stories in the future about Heely injuries or whether this is just a matter of the need for better safety with the product.

The Injury Blog has detailed in the past how ATV accidents can lead to serious personal injuries, and a recent WKYT–WYMT story provided some disturbing numbers about these dangers in Kentucky. The story examined state police records from 2000 to 2007 and noted that 131 people have died in Kentucky ATV accidents during that time. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has ranked Kentucky as the number state in the country for fatal ATV accidents during the last three years.

The story added that the six deadliest counties for Kentucky ATV accidents were in the mountains of East Kentucky. Coroner Richard New said in the story that most of those accidents occurred due to people who were riding ATVs in areas that they were not familiar with. Pike County has witnessed 9 ATV deaths from 2000-2007 and led all Kentucky counties in this dubious distinction in the time period.

A Boston pediatrician who was blogging under the name of “Flea” about a personal injury lawsuit in which he was a defendant quickly came to terms with the family of a boy suing him for their son’s death after it was revealed during the trial that he was the arrogant blogger. Specifically, Robert P. Lindeman was sued by the family of Jaymes Binns, a 12-year-old boy who died of diabetic ketoacidosis in March of 2002, in a personal injury suit claiming that Lindeman failed to diagnose their son’s diabetes. A Boston Globe story detailed how Lindeman used his personal blog, the drfleablog, to ridicule the case of the Binns’ family and their lawyer Elizabeth N. Mulvey, who pulled out a surprise in court when she asked the doctor whether he was in fact Flea. Lindeman confessed to his alter-identity, settled the case a day later and took down his blog shortly thereafter.

So if you’re wondering why Lindeman would use the word “Flea,” here’s the medical explanation. A flea is apparently what surgeons call pediatricians in training. Neither Lindeman nor his attorney had any client on the case, even though the pediatrician did a lot of talking on his blog. Lindeman apparently revealed the strategy of the defense, accused the jury of dozing off, and even made fun of Mulvey for biting her nails during the case.

Lindeman’s arrogance was especially apparent in claims on the blog that the plaintiff was not going to win with its current approach of painting the defendant as a jerk. After his disclosure in court, Lindeman apparently felt the heat when Mulvey relayed that she was prepared to leak his unabashed comments about the jurors, lawyers and legal process. Lindeman came to a quick settlement, which was not revealed but described as being substantial. The parents of Jaymes Binns did not have any comment on the case.

Read more about this case at the New York Personal Injury Law Blog: Doctor "Flea" Settles Malpractice Suit After Blog Exposed In Court.

Under the impression that a jury deviated from settlements typical to similar personal injury cases, a Manhattan judge had reduced a $14.1 million verdict for a woman’s car accident injuries to $3.2 million. Lori Keating was struck by a cab in 2003 and left with leg injuries that required many surgeries, prevented her from working and limited her physical activities. After being awarded $14.1 million last year by a jury in the Manhattan state Supreme Court, Keating and her New York personal injury lawyer saw one of the highest personal injury verdicts for a Staten Islander be severely reduced yesterday. Justice Lottie W. Wilkins was described in a Staten Island Advance story as saying that she needed to find a balance between “the jury’s magnanimous impulses” and legal requirements that awards fall in line with verdicts in similar cases.

The story clarified that Wilkins essentially ordered a new trial on the amount of damages for pain and suffering that was originally awarded to Keating last year. Specifically, the jury awarded Keating $7 million for future pain and suffering, $5 million for past pain and suffering, more than $1.1 million for lost earnings and nearly $900,000 for medical bills. Her husband Kevin Keating was awarded $100,000 at the time for past loss of his wife’s services.

With that said, Wilkins let the awards for Keating’s husband, lost earnings and medical expenses stand. However, she reduced the awards for future pain and suffering to $500,000 and past pain and suffering to $600,000. Mrs. Keating has not accepted these terms, and the case has been appealed. We’ll keep you updated on the latest developments with this New York personal injury case.

If you’ve suffered a personal injury due to someone else’s negligence, you will likely hear from an insurance company in the days afterwards. The Injury Blog has detailed how insurance companies are not your friends and work with their bottom lines in mind when handling personal injury claims, and a recent Florida car accident verdict validates this point. After her insurance company offered her $10,000 for injuries that she sustained during a drunken driving accident, 61-year-old Joan Ruch was awarded $232,866.71 in her personal injury case against Donald Ray Clawson, a three-time convicted drunk driver who caused the accident. The lesson once again: don't let insurance companies force you into rushed decisions when dealing with your personal injury claim, and rather enlist an experienced personal injury attorney in your area for more assistance.

On May 11, 2004, Ruch was involved in a four-person car accident that was caused by the 69-year-old Clawson. A Naplesnews.com story detailed that Ruch’s personal injuries included a herniated disk, chronic headaches and connective tissue damage. The personal injury lawsuit claimed that Ruch now suffers from chronic neck pain that will hamper her "golden years" and prevent her from working as an interior decorator. The story added that Clawson’s defense attorneys tried to minimize Ruch’s personal injuries and said that she could work again.

On Friday, a Collier Circuit Court jury awarded $180,067 in damages to Ruch, a former Fort Myers resident. Upon hearing that Clawson was convicted three times of DUI, the jurors added $52,800 in punitive damages. Ruch now lives in Georgia. Of further interest, her daughter Kimberly Carpenter was involved in the accident and originally awarded $1,050,979 for her neck injuries. The story added that a judge later reduced the $275,000 in punitive damages in that case to $25,000.

The “unofficial passage” of spring to summer occurs this Memorial Day Weekend, so enjoy your extra day off. If you decide to take your ATV vehicle out for a ride this weekend, please be careful. ATV accidents can lead to serious personal injuries and even death, as the case of Chandler Saylor depicts. The 16-year-old Saylor died in a South Carolina accident four years ago when he lost control of the vehicle and slammed into a tree. Just recently, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford vetoed a bill in honor of Chandler for the third straight year. Known as “Chandler’s Law,” this bill would have required children to wear protective gear when riding ATVs.

Sanford was quoted in a story in the online edition of The Times and Democrat as saying that such ATV legislation would infringe on the private property rights of people in the state by requiring them to take an ATV safety class with their kids in their own backyards. Proponents of this bill say that it is necessary to prevent more children from dying on ATVs. Chandler Saylor’s mother Pamela said in the story that three more children have died on ATVs in the state since Sanford’s veto last year. State Senator Brad Hutto added that he will mobilize fellow Senators to try to override Sanford’s veto.

South Carolina is not the only state to witness ATV safety legislation fall to the wayside this year. A Louisiana ATV safety bill that would have required children between the ages of 7 and 16 to take safety lessons and wear eye protection and a helmet in order to ride these vehicles recently failed in the state legislature. A KTBS3 story detailed that this Louisiana ATV legislation would have also banned children under six from operating an ATV and imposed fines of $50 to $500 for violators. Opponents to the legislation claimed that it would have punished parents riding ATVs with children on their laps while proponents said that it would have reduced the death and injury rate.

Despite these setbacks to ATV safety legislation, the need to understand proper riding techniques should not be discounted. Learn more about ATV safety at the ATV Safety Institute.

A man and woman seeking a combined $200,000 in damages in their Texas personal injury lawsuit against a driver who they said failed to yield the right of way and thus caused their car accident injuries was recently awarded a quarter of what they were asking for. Carl Skiles and Alicia Weaver claimed that they sustained a combined $70,000 worth of damages when defendant Michael Choate failed to yield the right of way in September of 2005 and then struck their vehicle. After a one day personal injury trial, a jury awarded Skiles and Weaver a combined $51,167 in damages on Tuesday.

An online story in The Southeast Texas Record detailed that Skiles was awarded $35,190 of the personal injury settlement, with his awards including:

• $10,000 for physical pain & mental anguish; 

• $1,500 for future pain and mental anguish; 

• $3,000 for past physical impairment; 

• $19,190.57 for medical costs;

•  $500 for disfigurement; & 

• $1,000 for property damage.

Weaver was awarded $15,977 with $1,440 of that accounting for lost wages. Both plaintiffs alleged in the personal injury lawsuit that Choate failed to properly look out into traffic and brake in time prior to the accident.

A proposed personal injury law that would let Illinois courts award monetary damages for suffering to the families of victims who were killed because of someone else’s negligence is waiting for a signature from Governor Rod Blagojevich. Illinois law currently forbids juries from considering emotional suffering during wrongful death cases. A Chicago-Sun Times story detailed how the measure would allow juries to consider the “grief, sorrow, and mental suffering” of the deceased victim’s family members during a wrongful death lawsuit. Senator Kwame Raoul sponsored this personal injury legislation and opinioned how it is wrong to not let juries consider these feelings of family members during wrongful death cases.

The story added that state Republicans have criticized this bill out of a fear that it will undermine the caps set in a 2005 Illinois law that currently limits wrongful death medical malpractice lawsuit judgments to $500,000 for doctors and $1 million for hospitals. At that time, lawmakers in favor of that law had argued that having no caps on medical malpractice awards was resulting in higher insurance premiums and forcing some doctors to leave the state.

This proposed Illinois personal injury law is thus challenging the 2005 law and would also create a new way for families to receive compensation in medical malpractice cases. This legislation passed the Democratic-controlled Illinois Senate by a 31-23 vote last week after being passed in the House  by a 63-52 vote in April. A Blagojevich spokesman said that the Governor has not yet decided whether he will sign the bill. We’ll keep you updated on the latest developments with this Illinois wrongful death legislation.

Last week, four brain injury patients and the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts filed a class-action lawsuit against the state, Governor Deval Patrick and other state officials for being in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Specifically, the lawsuit claims that the state of Massachusetts has failed to provide community-based care for brain injury patients and has thus required them to face a lifetime of nursing home confinement, which is against the law. A Boston.com story detailed how the lawsuit is not seeking damages for personal injuries but rather asking the state to implement a community care policy for all patients with brain injuries within five years.

Supporters of these brain injury patients have said that approximately one-fourth of the 8,200 patients in Massachusetts with severe brain injuries have requested community-based care, which would thus allow them to be with their families and still have access to caregivers. 54-year-old Catherine Hutchinson is one of the plaintiffs in this class-action lawsuit and wrote that being confined to a nursing home has made her “feel isolated from the real world.” Lawyers of the plaintiffs have cited similar statements echoing that Massachusetts brain injury patients have been left in isolation due to the state’s unwillingness to pay for community-based care.

In response to the lawsuit, state officials said that the state is committed to providing the best possible care for patients with brain injuries and is currently in the process of implementing new programs offering community care options for these types of patients. State officials also added that they have taken similar requests of brain injury patients in the past with great seriousness and disputed the notion that they did not care for their needs.

The Boston.com story added that the lawsuit seeks to represent all Massachusetts brain injury patients who are in nursing homes and then noted that a federal judge would determine who could participate in the suit. The story also detailed how this case may take years to be resolved in litigation. In the meantime, we’ll keep you updated on the latest developments with this issue.

An executrix has filed a personal injury lawsuit in West Virginia against 45 companies on behalf of the estate of a man who died from alleged asbestos exposure. A story in The West Virginia Record detailed the lawsuit’s allegations, including a claim that Melvin Cunningham Sr. died of mesothelioma which he supposedly contracted from abestos-related products at various power companies in 27 years. Patricia Paith filed the personal injury lawsuit against a long list of companies, including American Electric Power, Ohio Power Company and West Penn Company; all of which the deceased Cunningham worked for between 1966 and 1993. Melvin Cunnigham’s widow Angela is also listed as a plaintiff in the personal injury lawsuit. We’ll keep you updated on the latest developments with this personal injury case, which has yet to be assigned to a judge.

The Injury Blog has detailed the concern involving personal injuries from New York gap-related train accidents in the past, and here’s the latest update on the issue. A Newsday story from Tuesday detailed that Long Island Rail Road has experienced a nearly 67 percent increase in reported customer accidents in the first quarter of this year as compared to the same period for 2006. Specifically, the railroad logged 135 total customer accidents in January through March; 39 of those incidents involved gap-related incidents. The number of reported gap-related incidents for the first quarter tripled as compared to last year when there were just 12 such reported incidents.

An LIRR spokesman said in the story that this spike in reported accidents, especially gap-related incidents, may be an offspring of increased public awareness concerning the gap issue. LIRR has been heavily criticized for failing to take proper action in relation to injuries that were occurring in the gaps between their loading platforms and trains. Newsday investigated the problem after the gap-related death of a Minnesota teen last summer, and some of the findings can be seen here. 

Of further interest earlier this week, the LIRR/Long Island Bus Committee approved a $427,000 contract to analyze gap measurements at more than 225 platforms. We’ll keep you updated on any more developments with this analysis and the New York gap issue.

A Texas woman has filed a $10 million personal injury lawsuit against the manufacturer of a bowel preparatory solution that she said left her with renal failure and other side effects. A recent United Press International story did not reveal the name of the plaintiff but did detail the circumstances surrounding this product liability lawsuit against U.S. firm C.B. Fleet Company for its Phospho-Soda Bowel Prep solution. The Texas woman claims that she was given this solution in preparation for a colonoscopy, a medical procedure that is often preceded by a cleansing of the bowel. The woman has alleged in her lawsuit that the solution interacted with blood pressure medication that she was taking and caused permanent kidney damage and eventual kidney failure, and that Fleet knew of these potential dangers of this product with certain medications for 12 years but failed to do anything about it.

The woman’s Norfolk, Virginia personal injury attorney charged in the story that this case is a clear example of a company putting its bottom line ahead of the safety and best interests of its consumers. Jeffrey Breit and other members of his law firm added that while there have been other complaints about this product, they believe their lawsuit is the first one to be filed claiming personal injury from the solution. We’ll keep you updated on any developments with this personal injury case.

The husband of a woman who was killed in a fatal car accident on a bridge in Mansfield, Louisiana has been awarded a $1.3 million personal injury settlement. A ShreveportTimes.com story detailed how Jeremy Jason Vailes lost his wife Stephanie in 2005 when her car plunged off a White Springs Road Bridge connecting Caddo and DeSoto parishes. Stephanie, a hearing-impaired teacher, drowned after her car landed in Bayou Pierre. A DeSoto Parish civil jury ruled in favor of Mr. Vailes and struck the Caddo Parish Commission and its insurance company with the large verdict.  

The story detailed that the wooden-railed bridge in question has been the site of numerous car wrecks over the years. Another accident occurred a year after Vailes’ death and ultimately prompted officials to post more warning signs and speed up plans on building a new bridge. After beginning to hear testimony in this case exactly a week ago, the jury returned its verdict this past Saturday afternoon.

The family of a Fox Lake, Illinois man who was killed in an alleged drunk driving accident has filed a personal injury lawsuit seeking more than $50,000 from the bar which supposedly served alcohol to the driver who has been charged with DUI. 22-year-old Curtiss Phelan was killed on February 3^rd during a car accident with 29-year-old Nicole Cerk, who had allegedly been drinking at Halftime Bar and Grill prior to the crash. Frank Phelan filed the personal injury lawsuit against the Johnsburg bar on behalf of his deceased son.

A Northwest Herald story said that Cerk could face 14 years in prison if convicted of aggravated Illinois DUI. Cerk is currently free on $63,000 bond. While having her driving privileges revoked at the time of her arrest, Cerk has been issued a driving permit allowing her to get to and from work and alcohol therapy sessions. On Friday, prosecutors tried to modify this aspect of Cerk’s bond to prevent her from driving at all or consuming any alcohol.

Specifically, prosecutors cited a past incident in which Cerk was allegedly driving drunk. However, Cerk was not convicted in that 1997 incident and rather pleaded guilty to a reduced charge. Judge Joseph Condon denied the request, saying that Cerk’s driving record was clear and that the prosecutors should have made such a request at the time of her bond being set. Visit The Injury Blog and The DUI Blog for the latest updates on this case.

The mother of a Canfield, Ohio man who fell off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship nearly a year ago and was never found again has filed a personal injury lawsuit seeking in excess of $15,000 in damages from the cruise line. A Vindy.com story details how Susan DiPiero filed her wrongful-death lawsuit earlier this week in Miami, Florida on the behalf of her 21-year-old son Daniel DiPiero’s estate, and his father and three sisters. Daniel DiPiero had just started vacationing with friends on the Mariner of the Seas vessel en route to the U.S. Virgin Islands from Miami on May 14^th of last year before his untimely death. His friends reported him missing the following day, and a surveillance video later revealed that Daniel fell over a rail early in the morning hours of May 15^th.

Among its many claims, this wrongful death lawsuit alleges Royal Caribbean of negligence. It turns out that DiPiero had been drinking throughout the day from a bottle of liquor that he and friends smuggled on the ship and at night in various bars on the vessel. DiPiero was cut off from drinking at one of the ship’s bars and then went to another establishment where he was served more alcohol. Records revealed that DiPiero was served five drinks during a four-hour period that night. The surveillance footage clearly showed DiPiero sleeping on a deck chair for about two hours, waking up and then leaning and falling over a fourth-deck rail at about 2:15 a.m.

Susan DiPiero’s personal injury lawsuit said that crew members never took the effort to make sure that her son made it back to his cabin and also alleged Royal Caribbean of negligence for several reasons. To begin with, the suit said that while the cruise line sold alcohol as a normal part of its business, it failed to prevent injury or death in a much more dangerous environment at sea. As one example, the lawsuit alleged that there was no deck watch, precautions and warnings to let patrons know of the dangers of being on an exterior deck at night while the ship was moving about the sea. It further claimed that the ship let Daniel get so intoxicated that he became a danger to himself and only exacerbated the problem by serving him more alcohol.

Royal Caribbean declined comment on the allegations in the suit and extended its sympathy to the family and friends of Daniel DiPiero. We’ll keep you updated on any more developments with this personal injury case.

On June 14, 1998, Michael Jordan crossed over Bryon Russell of the Utah Jazz en route to a picture-perfect jump shot that gave the Chicago Bulls its sixth NBA championship in eight years (if only the Bulls had such a player in its current series against the Detroit Pistons). In the midst of the championship celebration later that night, Chicago police officers fired 25 bullets into a vehicle carrying 11 young people. Several of those passengers were wounded. On Tuesday, the city council committee recommended that the city of Chicago pay a $2 million personal injury settlement. A Daily Southtown story indicated that the full council is likely going to approve this settlement for these police brutality injuries from almost nine years ago today!

The night of the Bulls’ six championship celebration, the involved youths were turned away from a liquor store when its owner and police officers told them they were closed. The store manager and police said that the car containing the youth then made a U-turn and pulled up on