Personal Injury News: Pick Of Last Month: Dec-2020
Single Trucking Company To Pay $411M Over 45-Vehicle Pileup
A motorcyclist who was severely injured in a 45-vehicle pileup in 2018 received a massive $411,726,608 verdict from a jury of Florida’s Second Circuit Court.
According to the court documents, the 45-vehicle pileup crash occurred on westbound I-10 in Tallahassee, Florida, on July 24, 2018. It was a stormy day, and due to heavy rain, the traffic slowed down on the interstate. During the traffic, a semi-truck owned by Top Auto Trucking Company, based in Pembroke Pines, Florida, tried to avoid a collision, which instead resulted in a series of crashes, ultimately involving 45 vehicles.
The plaintiff, a motorcycle rider, was part of the pileup who attempted to deviate to avoid the crash but instead collided with a stopped truck that had no lights on in the emergency lane.
The collision left the plaintiff with severe, life-threatening injuries, which included a broken pelvis, severe colon and urethra damage, permanent incontinence, and loss of sexual function. A total of eight people injured in the crash were taken to the hospital.
The attorney representing the plaintiff said that the company tried to settle for $1 million but was rejected as the medical expenses were nearly $750,000.
It is considered to be the largest nuclear verdict ever against a single trucking company, and the case was heard via Zoom, including all the testimony and jury deliberations.
Family Of Man Killed By Police Chokehold Receives $7.3M
A lawsuit filed by the family of a man who was killed after police used a chokehold has been settled after the city of Pittsburg to pay $7.3 million in a settlement.
According to the lawsuit filed, the incident happened when the victim was on the run after he fled from a traffic stop and was being chased by Pittsburg officers. The officers chased him through a home and tried to detain him in the kitchen. Officer Ernesto Mejia said that the victim tried to bite, punch, and headbutt during the arrest.
An autopsy revealed that the chokehold had cut off the victim's breathing and fractured cartilage in his throat, which caused extensive hemorrhages. It further unveiled that methamphetamine was found in the victim's system, which the pathologist testified might be a factor for his death.
The controversial neck hold is banned across the country after a similar incident happened in May in Minneapolis. The city of Pittsburg was the first to pass the resolution in early June to ban the technique. A couple of months ago, California also banned arm-based grips, including chokeholds and carotid holds.
The settlement is considered to be the largest ever paid to settle a chokehold death lawsuit in California and is the third time the Bay Area police department agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement in recent times.
Scandies Rose Crab Boat Sinking Disaster Settled For $9M
Last month, a settlement agreement of more than $9 million was reached between the owners of Scandies Rose Fishing Company LLC and two surviving members and the families of four men who died when the company's vessel went down on its route to start a winter fishing in the Bering Sea.
According to the lawsuit filed, the vessel was on a voyage from Kodiak to the Bering Sea to pursue cod and crab on stormy New Year’s Eve last year. A freezing spray was forecasted by The National Weather Service, which could result in the formation of ice on the vessel and its pot load, severely undermining the vessel's stability.
The 130-foot vessel never reached its next port, and the disaster took the lives of five crew members, which also included a 60-year old Kodiak, Alaska-based captain who is also a part-owner of the boat. The captain's family will receive money from other insurance and is not a part of the settlement.
The other four members included the captain's 30-year old son, who also lived in Kodiak, a 47-year old man from Kellogg, Idaho, the boat’s engineer, 50, who had lived in Sand Point, Alaska, and Puget Sound region, and a 31-year old man who lived in the Silverdale area.
The two survivors stated that they were all prepared with survival suits to abandon the rapidly sinking vessel when a big wave knocked them off the boat. Both of them reached a life raft, and a swimmer from a Coast Guard helicopter reached them on New Year’s Day and lifted them into the helicopter safely.
A lawsuit was filed for all damages permissible under the law, including damages for pain and suffering, emotional distress, psychological damage, economic losses, and loss of services.
An attorney representing the Washington and Alaska owners said that the settlement would be funded by insurance. The agreement will be reviewed by the state's Superior Court, and distribution of the amount is under discussion. The damages trial will be held next spring before a federal judge in U.S. District Court.
Tobacco Companies Settle Montana's Lawsuit For $100M
In November, Montana's Attorney General Tim Fox announced that the state's Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement agreement worth $100 million with tobacco companies for wrongfully withholding $3 - $4.5 million from 2006 through the present.
The attorney general commented that the settlement is the largest in the history of the state’s consumer protection counsel and seeks fund under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, as well as a premium and protection for Montana’s future MSA payments.
The Montana DOJ alleged that the tobacco companies withheld the payment for more than a decade, which the state discovered in 2018. The attorney general said that the companies had withheld payments to Montana for 2003 and 2004, stating that the state did not follow the terms of the 1998 settlement, which was later proved to be a false statement.
The defendants involved in the lawsuit include Altria Group, Inc., R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, American Tobacco Company, Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp., RJR Nabisco Inc., and Hill and Knowlton Inc.
The settlement amount is expected within 60-90 days, and more than $49 million is reserved for the Tobacco Trust, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), public health programs, and, as per statute, a percentage will go to the State General Fund, as per news release from the attorney general’s office.
The case was settled while on appeal in the Montana Supreme Court, and the settlement value to the state through 2030 will be more than $100 million. The tobacco companies are waived off from rights to recover nearly $4.5 million per year through 2030, which preserves an additional $55 million.
The case was settled while on appeal to the Montana Supreme Court by the tobacco companies as notified by the attorney general's office. The Montana state has even received a ruling agreement that no other state participating in the agreement has been able to achieve. The ruling states that Montana's case can be litigated in Montana court itself.
Wrongful Pregnancy Lawsuit Results In $10M Settlement
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik awarded $10 million as a settlement to the family of a severely disabled child who was born after a nurse at the Neighbourcare Health Clinic in Seattle gave a flu shot instead of a birth-control injection.
According to the lawsuit filed, the woman visited the clinic for a quarterly injection of Depo-Provera, a hormone used for birth control. The nurse at the clinic, which is federally funded and serves low-income and uninsured patients, failed to check the patient's chart and gave her a flu vaccine instead.
The woman was already pregnant when she became aware of the clinical slip-up, which she realized more than two months later when she called to fix her next appointment.
The lawsuit was brought up as a "wrongful pregnancy" and "wrongful life" in the court by the lawyers representing the family. The federal government was held liable for the damages and was heavily criticized for not accepting accountability.
The child suffers from a birth defect known as bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria (PMG), which resulted in cognitive delays, slowed speech and language skills, epilepsy, vision problems, and other complications. The family's lawyers said that the child will live a normal life span but would need care and assistance for the entire life.
The child was awarded $7.5 million for her medical, educational, and other expenses, and her parents received $2.5 million in damages. Lawyers of the Justice Department are appealing to form a "reversionary trust" that would require the family to return the money that is not needed by the child.
Concerns Over Disabled Girl's Safety Raised After Settlement
Earlier this year, the family of a 16-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who attends Bainbridge High School reached a settlement agreement with the district over a 2016 incident in which her wheelchair tipped while in the bus and hit her head. The father has now raised concerns with his daughter's safety after she was assaulted by another student on the first day of school.
In the previous incident, the district awarded $200,000 to the family on behalf of their daughter in January 2020, without admitting liability in the settlement document. The wheelchair fall resulted in multiple surgeries, including the placement of stents in her brain, which made her more vulnerable to head injuries.
According to the recent incident that happened on September 2, the father and the daughter reported that another 10-year-old boy with special needs was shaking her wheelchair aboard a school bus and also hit her in the head. Although classes began remotely this year due to the pandemic COVID-19, some special needs students received in-person services at school buildings.
The bus driver, in his statement, said that the boy who was alleged to have assaulted the girl was acting out from the time he was picked up and had taken off his mask, threw his shoes, stood up out of his seat, and banged on the windows.
The father said that he is satisfied that the district has separated his daughter from the boy on bus rides but is concerned over the district's policies over assigning one-on-one paraeducators, which is not being followed consistently.
The case was reviewed by the Kitsap County Prosecutor's Officer, who declined to file charges against the student, stating that the prosecution of children under 12 is extremely rare, especially when the student has developmental disabilities.
The father noted that he is happy that his daughter is not hurt severely and wants to see Bainbridge Island and other school districts implement measures to prevent physical and sexual assaults against vulnerable students.