The trust is one of the largest ever established for asbestos related claims. By establishing the trust and limiting the amount the company must pay out to claimants, Owens Corning is actually able to emerge from the bankruptcy it filed in 2000.
The trust establishes set amounts to pay victims based on the severity of their asbestos related disease. The compensation amounts range from $240 to $420,000. Many victims may receive less of a settlement than if they sued Owens directly, but the claims can be handled more quickly and equitably without overtaxing the court system.
Three trustees will manage the trust in order to process an estimated 850,000 claims stemming from asbestos product exposure during the 1940’s through the 1970’s.
On March 5, 18 year-old Michael Cummings was killed in an automobile crash by an uninsured drunk driver. The settlement is against Allstate insurance who provided Michael’s mother Vicki with uninsured motorist coverage on her policy at the time of the accident.
The parents plan to use this $100,000 personal injury settlement and to sue other parties in order to recoup damages for expenses related to Michael’s death.
Polaris Sales, Inc. failed to issue a recall notice soon enough for Willard Long to avoid suffering a massive head injury from a defective boat. The boat that broke apart and injured Willard Long was a Polaris 2000 personal watercraft and was known to be defective well before the recall notice was issued. Long actually received the recall notice while he was in the hospital recovering from his extensive face and skull injuries.
A jury awarded Willard Long $3.4 million for damages which is most likely the largest personal injury award in the history of Kalkaska County, Michigan.
Stephen Roberts now needs to use the same civil justice system he has fought against for so long. Roberts is currently the president of the West Virgina Chamber of Commerce and actively advocates for state tort reforms. Roberts has lobbied to enact tort reform laws in West Virginia that would be similar to nearby states by setting limits on punitive damages.
Ironically, Roberts was forced to file a West Virginia personal injury suit of his own after his unsuccessful attempts to settle a claim with an insurance company. His neighbor’s son allegedly shot Robert’s daughter in the eye with a paintball gun which resulted in her partial vision loss and expensive medical bills. Now Roberts gets to learn firsthand how difficult it is to settle claims with an insurance company, which is exactly the reason many personal injury claims ultimately end up in court.
A Hawaii personal injury attorney sought to prove that Doctor Danielle Bird at Tripler Army Medical Center administered carbon dioxide instead of oxygen to a newborn for more than forty minutes on January 14, 2005. The newborn, whose name is Izzy, suffered severe brain damage and will require constant care for the rest of his life. His parents, Army Staff Sergeant Dwight and Shalay Peterson filed the suit against Tripler Army Medical Center with the help of a Hawaii personal injury attorney and the government immediately admitted guilt.
The trial began on August 15, 2006 and the Hawaii personal injury attorney argued that the family should receive enough compensation necessary to cover all the expenses related to the baby’s current and future care. The Chief U.S. District Judge David Ezra made his final ruling on the malpractice case this week. The judge awarded the family $16.5 million for future care and loss of future income for Izzy.
An Illinois personal injury case against Starbucks that was dismissed earlier this year has been revived by the Appellate Court. The Circuit Court Judge had ruled that the personal injury suit could not go forward because the facility was operating on Southern Illinois University property and the university was liable under a contract with Starbucks. Thus, the Judge determined that sovereign immunity barred the suit.
The Appellate Court determined that the agreement between Starbucks and the school was simply an indemnity agreement, and that to bar suit against Starbucks because of it would allow governmental entities to transfer their sovereign immunity to private corporations.
A Pennsylvania jury awarded $1.5 million in compensatory damages and was scheduled to consider punitive damages when a mistrial was declared, overturning the jury verdict against Wyeth. The lawsuit was only the second of approximately 5,000 pending suits against Wyeth to reach trial. The lawsuits alege that the hormone replacement drugs Prempro and Premarin raised the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, stroke or heart attack.
Following a tragic plant explosion at a British Petroleum facility, several of those affected by the incident are refusing to settle. While many of those who have suffered injuries or been affected by deaths as a result of the accident have settled with BP, Eva Rowe, whose parents died in the accident, wants to take the case to trial. Hundreds of people filed suit against the petroleum company after the explosion in Texas City, Texas. Most have settled, but some choose to pursue a Texas personal injury suit, citing a desire to show the world BP’s practices.
15 people died in the plant explosion, while 170 were injured. Investigations later determined numerous mistakes made by the company, including poor management and maintenance, faulty chemical sensors, and improperly placed trailers and work spaces. BP has already settled more than 500 Texas personal injury cases, having set aside $1.2 billion for that purpose.
In a New York personal injury case, the city of New York will pay out a $3 million settlement to the estate of a woman who was injured and later died as a result of a 2003 Staten Island ferry accident. Debra Castro died several months after she suffered massive internal injuries and loss of limbs when the ferry collided with a concrete pier.
This settlement concluded one New York personal injury case of several. Ten other people died as a result of the ferry crash, with dozens more injured. A man who lost both legs in the accident earlier received a $9 million settlement from the city, and other cases are yet to be resolved. The ferry pilot received an 18-month jail sentence after he passed out at the helm of the ferry, thus causing the accident. At the time, the pilot had disregarded a rule that requires two pilots to work together during docking procedures.
In an Illinois personal injury case, a jury determined that Walgreens was responsible for $31 million in damages after filling one man’s prescription incorrectly. Leonard Kulisek went to Walgreens to fill a prescription for his gout medication, but was instead given diabetes medicine. The mistaken medication caused Kulisek’s health to quickly decline, and he later died after extensive kidney failure.
Through the course of the Illinois personal injury trial, it was determined that the pharmacist responsible for the mistake suffered from an addiction to pain killers, which he stole from his own pharmacy. The jury’s damages will go to a friend of Kulisek’s and his family, and it was Kulisek himself who filed the Illinois personal injury suit before he passed away.
While Walgreens admitted that a mistake occurred, the company claimed that Kulisek had a preexisting kidney condition. The jury disagreed. An appeal of the Illinois personal injury verdict by Walgreens is possible, and may include new information about a potentially ineligible jury member.