Archive for the ‘personal injury’ Category
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Texas A&M has settled claims against it arising out of the 1999 bonfire collapse that killed 12 people and injured dozens more. A&M agreed to pay $2.1 million to several of the victims and their families to resolve the suit, which will continue against some of the contractors involved. Hats off to Darrell Keith and Geno Borchardt for fighting the lengthy battle despite all the roadblocks involved in suing a governmental entity, and perhaps concluding these claims can help the families find some closure.
I’m amazed at those Aggie fans who express disappointment over the victims and their families bringing suit against the school. That illustrates what I see among many potential jurors in this state, which is a general distrust of others who have been injured and skepticism of others’ damages, but by God, they’d better get full justice if they happen to be the ones who get injured. Just goes to show that nobody likes a lawyer until he or she needs one.
Tags: A&M, bonfire, lawsuit
Posted in Negligence, corporate negligence, personal injury, workplace safety, wrongful death | Comments Off
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
Good article in the Houston Chronicle today about how the recent bus wreck tragedies in Texas, Nevada and Mississippi have brought bus safety to the forefront of the politicians in D.C. and Austin. Among other things, there are bills being floated that will require buses to have seatbelts for passengers. That sounds reasonable and somewhat of a no-brainer. I would also suggest that bus carriers be required to carry vast amounts of liability insurance, something on the order of $25 million or thereabouts. Because when a tragedy occurs like the one we just saw in Sherman, dozens of lives are affected and I’ll bet there will be little - if any - insurance to help compensate victims.
One striking statistic in the Chronicle article is that in the past six years, 52 people have died in passenger bus accidents in Texas. That is appalling.
As an aside, Chronicle writer Clay Robison has had some great articles in the past exposing the plights of injured consumers. Tip of the hat to Clay.
Tags: bus accidents, bus wreck, legislation
Posted in car wreck, consumer safety, personal injury, truck accident, wrecks | Comments Off
Monday, April 21st, 2008
A man rented a U-Haul truck to help his daughter move. While getting out of the rear of the truck, the 6-ton truck rolled over the man and left him a paraplegic. 14 surgeries later, he still requires around-the-clock care.
He filed a lawsuit against U-Haul, alleging negligence for renting out a truck that was not roadworthy with faulty emergency brake and worn-down gears. A Dallas County jury last Friday found U-Haul liable and awarded the plaintiffs $87 million.
U-Haul says it plans to aggressively appeal the verdict. It issued a statement that this verdict “is another example of abuse of the legal system against corporate citizens in America.”
Shame on U-Haul. There has never been a more corporate-friendly time in our justice system than right now. Big Business has lobbied to change the laws in their favor, they’ve plowed thousands of dollars into electing judges who are favor corporations over consumers, and they’re benefiting from a 20-year media campaign to vilify victims and their lawyers and poison the jury pool against plaintiffs.
The fact that a Dallas County jury hit them hard tells me that the evidence was truly damning, but U-Haul will no doubt string this out in the appellate system for years to come.
Tags: Dallas, Jury, lawyer, truck
Posted in corporate negligence, personal injury, truck accident | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
FWST covers the story here.
This seemed to me to be an incredibly challenging case. The wife of a long-time BNSF employee alleged that her stomach cancer was caused by years of cleaning chemicals off her husband’s work clothes. He and other workers used creosote in making railroad ties and they testified that they often went home caked in the chemical. The plaintiffs apparently presented evidence linking creosote to the wife’s cancer but it wasn’t enough to overcome the defense that she had a pack-a-day cigarette habit.
Tough case, particularly in Tarrant County, home of BNSF. Hats off to the plaintiffs’ attorneys for teeing it up, though.
Tags: workplace safety
Posted in personal injury, workplace safety | Comments Off
Tuesday, December 18th, 2007
Remember this case from back in the summer?
A Kentucky judge will decide next week which company will perform testing on the broken cable from the ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom that severed the feet of a 13-year-old Louisville girl in June. Kaitlyn Lasitter’s attorneys are asking that a local company test the cable, while Six Flags “wants to award the contract” to a laboratory in Chicago.
“Award the contract” for testing the cables that cut this poor girl’s feet off sounds so crass.
Tags: personal injury
Posted in personal injury | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
Rarely does a week pass without someone forwarding me an email complaining of “frivolous” lawsuits. You’ve probably seen them, too. They usually reference the so-called “Stella Awards,” in dubious honor of 79-year old Stella Liebeck. Stella was severely burned when scalding hot coffee spilled in her lap and she sued McDonald’s for $2.7 million. Most people hear only this and automatically assume it was a frivolous suit filed by a greedy plaintiff. Unfortunately, few seem to know the true facts about Stella’s case, such as:
- Stella was severely injured, suffering third degree burns to her legs and genitals which required hospitalization and multiple skin grafts;
- Her doctor testified that her injury was one of the worst scald burns he had ever seen;
- She asked McDonald’s to simply pay for her medical treatment, but they refused;
- McDonald’s kept its coffee at 180 to 190 degrees, a temperature which by its own admission made it unfit for consumption (hot beverages are typically served from 130 to 150 degrees);
- Spilled coffee at that temperature causes third degree burns in 2 to 7 seconds;
- McDonald’s had been aware of the risks of serving super-hot coffee for over 10 years;
- Over 700 people had been burned previously by its coffee; and
- The jury’s assessment of $2.7 million in punitive damages representing merely two days’ worth of McDonald’s coffee sales, and the trial judge reduced this amount to $480,000.
Sound frivolous? So the next time one of these emails pops up in your inbox, consider replying to the sender and giving them the real facts. After all, just like Stella Liebeck, that person may someday need a personal injury lawyer, too.
Tags: lawyer, personal injury
Posted in personal injury | 2 Comments »
