A Hampton County, SC judge rejected an appeal by Ford Motor Co. to overturn a $31 Million verdict in a 2001 automobile accident that left a 12-year old athlete and Olympic hopeful with head injuries so severe that he can not play sports again. Jesse Branham III spent three months in the hospital and was actively pursuing a dream to join the U.S. Olympic karate team.  Branham had been named among the nation’s best for his age group. In a 2001 accident, Branham was ejected from a 1987 Ford Bronco in a rollover accident. Branham’s father sued Ford Motor Co. for “knowingly manufacturing and selling a vehicle that was “unreasonably prone to roll over,” and was awarded $31 in damages against the automaker by a Hampton County jury in October.

The National Transportation Safety Board is urging federal and state governments to ban cell phone use by bus drivers in order to prevent similar personal in injury accidents like the 1994 non-fatal bus accident involving a Massachusetts Catholic school bus driver who, while using a hands free cell phone, caused a personal injury accident involving 11 teenagers on a class trip.  The NTSB also recommends that bus associations develop formal policies related to cell phone usage for its drivers.

In a recent report, the NTSB indicates there are not accurate statistics regarding cell phone use and personal injury accidents.  There are still 20 states that do not have driver distraction codes on accident report forms.   Those states would need to utilize some sort of driver distraction codes when reporting the cause of an accident in order to determine exactly how many personal injury accidents involve cell phone usage.

A jury has awarded $3.2 million to John Gordy in his personal injury lawsuit against a Colorado nursing home.

After being rendered paraplegic in a 2002 bicycle accident, Gordy chose the Red Rocks Health Care Center in Denver based on its marketing materials and skilled care. However, Gordy found his three years at the facility to be much different than what was promised.

In his Colorado personal injury claim against the nursing center, Gordy alleged that he was deprived of needed assistance for daily living activities, victimized by repeated acts of degradation that included being left in waste for hours, and subjected to retaliation for complaining about his care. Gordy also claimed that he developed severe bed sores during his stay and was the victim of various intentional injuries, including being dropped on his neck and burned. 

The jury agreed with Gordy and consequently ruled against Red Rocks, which has been in trouble before. In 2001, Colorado state officials withheld Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements for new patients of Red Rocks after the facility was cited for 21 violations.

Two places that most people would rather avoid have been the setting for alleged slip and fall injuries, and it will be interesting to see what results of the recently filed personal injury lawsuits.

? An inmate at South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, West Virginia is suing the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority for his alleged slip and fall down a flight of stairs at the jail on December 5^th. Nalone Stallings says he slipped on a puddle of water that was left on the floor of the jail premises and then fell down the stairs. In addition to making a claim for punitive damages for his bodily injuries, Stallings is seeking compensatory damages for his physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, limitations in his activities and diminution in his ability to enjoy life. Whether he can prove negligence on behalf of the jail remains to be seen.  

? A woman who tripped and fell at Anderson Hospital in Maryville, Illinois is seeking more than $100,000 worth of damages in a personal injury lawsuit against the hospital. Paulette Green claims that she was present in a labor and delivery room at Anderson nearly two years ago when she became entangled in wires from an unused medical machine, fell down and suffered personal, pecuniary and permanent damages. Green is claiming Anderson to be negligent for not warning her of the wires and for failing to inspect the floor, maintain the wires in a safe area on the floor, barricade that area from her, and protect her from any threats posed by the wires. Green claims she has paid more than $28,000 in medical expenses, lost wages and suffered pain and mental anguish because of the fall.

New York personal injury attorneys for an 11-year old boy in Long Island have filed the first lawsuit against Taco Bell in wake of a recent three-state E-Coli outbreak that the fast food chain believes was caused by its green onions.  

Taco Bell is accused of negligence in the personal injury lawsuit after the child ate three tacos last month and had to be hospitalized because of his resulting illness. The suit does not specify any monetary damages. The boy is currently back in school.

There have now been 46 confirmed cases of the Taco Bell E-Coli outbreak in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Taco Bell is currently in the process of pulling green onions from its 5,800 locations nationwide.

This personal injury case follows a September E-Coli scare in which three people died and more than 200 fell ill after eating packaged spinach. E-Coli has been estimated to cause some 73,000 infections and 60 deaths in the United States each year.

It took eleven years, but Lucy Ballard’s lawyers just finished settling all claims related to her Jacksonville personal injury case.  In 1995, state troopers found Ms. Ballard comatose on the pavement  after a three vehicle accident on Interstate 95 in Jacksonville, Florida.

The troopers assumed that Ms. Ballard caused the accident which left her unable to walk and barely able to speak.  It was an entire year before her attorney, Steve Pajcic caught a break in the Jacksonville personal injury case.  An armored car driver admitted to cutting off Lucy, causing her to swerve and collide with two different semi trucks.

The insurance carrier for the armored car company was the last to agree to the personal injury settlement with Judy Ballard.  Pajcic said the Jacksonville personal injury case was the third longest case he had dealt with in his own career.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to change a court ruling made by the Illinois Supreme Court last year in a class action personal injury case against Philip Morris USA.  

The original personal injury lawsuit involved smokers alleging that Philip Morris knew its "light" and "low tar" cigarettes were not really less harmful than regular cigarettes.  In March 2003 an Illinois judge ruled in favor of the smokers and awarded $10.1 billion as a personal injury award. 

The Illinois Supreme Court  overturned the personal injury settlement last year stating that Philip Morris could not be held liable under state law since the Federal Trade Commission allowed the cigarette companies to falsely characterize the cigarettes.