Sustaining a brain injury is a serious manner, regardless of how it is caused. While football fans in Chicago, New Orleans, Indianapolis and Foxborough get ready for today’s NFL conference championship games and a potential shot at the Super Bowl, the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of former All-Pro saftey Andre Waters demonstrate this point. A standout player during his 12-years in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals, Waters committed suicide last November at the age of 44. A University of Pittsburgh forensic pathologist determined on Thursday that the brain damage Waters suffered on the football field ultimately led to his suicide.
More specifically, Bennet Omalu determined that Waters’ brain tissue displayed early characteristics of Alzheimer’s Disease and was similar to that of an 85-year-old man. Omalu said that he believed the brain injuries were related to multiple concussions that Waters suffered during his career. In the years prior to his death, Waters had shown signs of depression which Omalu also believed to be related to his brain trauma. Omalu indicated that Waters would have been fully incapacited within 10 years if he had not committed suicide. An NFL spokesman said that the league is continuing to devote resources for independent research further exploring concussions and player safety.
The state of Connecticut has agreed to a $50,000 car accident settlement with a North Haven woman whose van was hit by a car being chased by a police officer six years ago. Michelle Reed claimed in her personal injury lawsuit that the accident caused post-traumatic disorder which requires her to rely on the comfort of a service dog 24/7 to deal with her pain. Reed did not sustain any physical injuries from the accident.
The strange case began when Connecticut Trooper William Urgo pulled over Ricky Lyons for speeding in July 2000 and developed what he described in testimony as a “gut instinct” that the woman in the car with Lyons was being held against her will. This feeling proved wrong as the passenger, Colleen Shea ,was in the vehicle based on her own will. In fact, Shea owned the car.
Nervous by Urgo’s suspicions, Lyons suddenly sped off from the officer. A chase ensued for the next 4.5 miles with speeds reaching 90 mph. Immediately after Urgo’s supervisor called off the chase when Lyons drove down a North Haven ramp, the suspect slammed into Reed’s van at a stoplight. In addition to the state and Reed’s Connecticut personal injury lawyer coming to terms on a settlement, Lyons and Shea agreed to pay $7,000 and $500 respectively to Reed.
Two sisters have filed a personal injury lawsuit against their former swimming coach and Florida preparatory school after learning that they were secretly videotaped while changing into their swimsuits in his office. Kimberly Brabson III secretly taped the two girls when they were 15 and 17 years of age at Tampa Preparatory School. Police say he had been videotaping students for at least three years.
Tampa Preparatory School fired Brabson on November 10th of last year after learning that he had asked members of the swim team to change in his office rather than the girls’ locker room. Brabson faces 10 charges of voyeurism. Under Florida law, illegally videotaping a person is only a felony for a repeat offender. Brabson has no criminal record.
Ironically, the father of the two girls bringing the suit is a Clearwater personal injury attorney. Tom Carey filed the suit on behalf of his daughters, who are now in college and for privacy reasons have been listed as Jane Doe Carey and Jane Roe Carey. He said he is seeking legislation to change Florida law, which appears imminent. State Senator Mike Fasano has said that he is working on a new bill that would make it a felony for anyone who videotapes nude children.
Due to his own personal feelings in the case, Tom Carey has turned representation in the suit over to his law partner, Jodi Leisure, who says the school should have known Brabson was a problem. Brabson had been reprimanded once before when a student complained that he made her model a swimsuit. She added that police have identified 21 of 50 victims on a seized Brabson videotape.
A Washington Court of Appeals has ruled against employees of a psychiatric hospital near Tacoma who claimed that the hospital intended to injure them when it failed to address a history of attacks on staff members by criminally-insane patients. Employees of Western State Hospital alleged in personal injury lawsuits that they were injured by patients during various attacks from 2001-2004, and argued that the hospital was negligent in not training them for "certain" incidents in the future.
Personal injury lawyers for these employees specifically contended that this history of patient assaults was proof enough to the hospital that future attacks were certain to happen. In not providing employees with training to defend themselves for future assaults, the hospital willfully disregarded the problem, according to the plaintiffs. The court did not agree and wrote that these types of assaults were foreseeable but not certain. The Appeals Court’s decision reaffirmed a previous Superior Court ruling on these claims.
Stories of train accidents and settlements have frequently been in the news recently. Just yesterday, some residents of Bullitt County, Kentucky were either evacuated from the town or ordered to stay inside their homes following a CSX train derailment that caused a chemical fire.
This accident follows last week’s personal injury settlement of a 2005 Graniteville, South Carolina train wreck which released a toxic cloud that killed nine, injured hundreds and forced some 1400 people to evacuate the small town. Also happening last week, 18 people were injured in a Washington Metro derailment, and an Iowa man was awarded $1.1 million in a railroad car accident settlement with CSX Railroad.
Trains are safe and reliable means of transportation for many Americans each day. In those instances when there is a train accident, you need to know your rights if involved and should speak to a local personal injury attorney.
Back in August, we reported on a DC Circuit Court decision that determined that non-economic damage awards in personal injury cases were not "income" for federal income tax purposes. Now, in an unusual move, the same court has scheduled the matter for oral arguments this spring and invited briefs on the issue.
Until 1996, the Internal Revenue Code itself made it clear that awards in personal injury cases were intended to "make the plaintiff whole", and as such were not "income". However, a 1996 amendment limited the exclusion to awards stemming from physical illness or injury. The change apparently shifted a wide range of awards in civil cases–awards for damages such as loss of reputation and enjoyment of life–into the taxable column.
The DC Court’s initial ruling relied upon the definition of "income" as "gain" to determine that any award intended only to restore the plaintiff to his or her previous position could not be considered income. As such, no compensatory award would be subject to taxation as income.
Now, with the Court’s strange and apparently unprovoked order, the question is once more open. The New York Personal Injury Law Blog has a nice overview of the progress of this case with links to some more extensive writings on the issue and the text of the court’s most recent (and largely unenlightening) order.
The family of a radio contestant who died from ingesting huge amounts of water in an attempt to win a Nintendo Wii may have a personal injury case against the radio station.
Jennifer Strange died last Friday of water intoxication (hyponatremia), a fatal dilution of sodium in the blood, after participating in the radio contest for 107.9 FM “The End.” The morning show responsible for the contest has been indefinitely cancelled, and the General Manager of 107.9 FM said the station is waiting for more information on why the tragic event occurred.
While Strange and other contestants signed waivers, 107.9 FM could have responsibility for the death if the waiver did not state such a risk, according to one California personal injury attorney in an online story on KCRA.com.
It is unknown if the family of Strange will file a personal injury claim in the future.
A 55-year-old Iowa man was recently awarded $1.1 million by a U.S. District Court during his civil personal injury suit against a Grand Rapids railroad company.
Reginald Booker worked as a carman for CSX Railroad for 24 years but had to leave the job when a hopper car fell off its jacks and nearly crushed him in September 2003.
Booker suffered serious nerve, vertebrae and pelvis injuries from the train accident, and now walks with a cane and a limp because of his disabilities.
The railroad car accident verdict originally awarded $1.4 million but was reduced 25% due to Booker’s own “contributory negligence” during this Iowa personal injury incident.
The widow and estate of a man who burned to death inside his airplane following a crash during a 1999 Washington air show was awarded about $10.5 million in a personal injury suit against the show’s sponsors.
Donald Allen Corbitt initially survived the airplane crash of his experimental RV-6A during the 1999 Arlington Fly-In but remained trapped alive when a fire broke out inside the plane. Bystanders attempted to put out the fire with fire extinguishers that gave out before fire officials arrived nearly six minutes later. Corbitt died before fire officials could put out the blaze.
The Washington personal injury attorneys of Corbitt’s widow and estate successfully argued that the show’s sponsors, the Northwest Experimental Aircraft Association and the Experimental Aircraft Association based in Wisconsin, should have had ample fire and emergency response personnel at the event given the risks involved.
The city of Arlington and its fire department were also originally sued, but those charges were dropped two years ago in the lawsuit.
A police officer was recently awarded $14.8 million against New York state in a very interesting personal injury lawsuit involving a freak ATV accident and liability questions.
Police officer Scott Brumber was driving down a closed pathway after a shift in May 2002 when his ATV got snagged on a metal pipe sticking out of the sandy roadway, flipped over, and then landed on him and crushed his spine. Brumber is now confined to a wheelchair.
Brumber was unaware that he was not supposed to be driving on the shortcut, and his New York personal injury attorney showed that the state posted no signs indicating the pathway as off-limits and didn’t even close off the area.
The personal injury attorney also demonstrated that the state created and knew of the hazard as the pipe was leftover from a state-constructed snow fence that hadn’t been maintained, and successfully proved negligence since the state did nothing to remove the danger.