A jury recently awarded a $122,400 personal injury settlement to a Flushing, Michigan man who suffered such a nasty bite from his sister’s Siamese cat that his fingers were left swollen and looking like “plump hot dogs.” 57-year-year old Michael Sabo was awarded the money on March 16^th for the injuries he suffered from the 2004 bite by his sister’s cat Randy. Sabo’s Michigan personal injury attorney Tom Pabst said in a story in The Flint Journal that his client suffered an infection after the animal bite and had to be hospitalized for three weeks.

Pabst added that Sabo’s sister, Jean Toney, had warned people to not pick up Randy because he had bitten people in the past. The newspaper story said that the cat leapt into Sabo’s lap and then bit him. Left with thousands in medical bills following the three-week hospitalization for his infected fingers, Sabo tried to get his sister’s homeowner’s insurance policy to cover the treatment costs. When that request fell through, Pabst said that Sabo was left with no choice but to take the matter to court.

An Associated Press phone call to a telephone listing for Toney was not answered. A call to Pabst was not immediately returned at the time of the personal injury settlement. According to some news reports, Randy the cat hissed at some reporters who showed up at his door seeking comment. Just kidding. We at The Injury Blog share an equal love for cats and dogs.

A Chicago police brutality case involving an off-duty officer and a female bartender at a Northwest Side bar has gotten nationwide press and is one of the most disturbing images of violence in a long time. After drinking at Jesse’s Bar earlier in the day on February 19^th, off-duty officer Anthony G. Abbate returned later that night around 9:30 p.m. Upon having one drink, Abbate asked for another but was turned down by Karolina the bartender, who recalled that he appeared drunk. Abbate allegedly told the female bartender that “No one tells me what to do” and then walked around the bar and begin to punch and kick her. The attorney of Karolina, who did not want her last name used, is expected to file a personal injury lawsuit in a couple of weeks.

The disturbing video shows Abbate walking into the back of the bar with a chair in hand before Karolina attempts to get him to leave and he starts to attack her. Specifically, the video shows Abbate kicking Karolina, grabbing her hair, slamming her against the bar, throwing her to the floor and punching her repeatedly. Sadly, other bar patrons apparently did nothing while the 6-foot-251 pound Abbate wailed on the 5-foot-4 and 115 pound Karolina. One man appeared to make a cell phone call.

After the beating, Abbate has been accused of trying to bribe Karolina and the bar’s owner to not press charges. A Chicago Sun-Times story said that an unidentified individual entered the bar shortly after the incident and offered Karolina money to keep her mouth shut and not prosecute Abbate. A couple of days later, a friend of Abbate allegedly called and warned Karolina and the bar’s owner that police might find drugs in their car if they took legal action.

Abbate, a 12-year police veteran, was not arrested for the February incident until nearly a month later on March 14^th. Abbate checked himself into a substance abuse program shortly after the incident, and police did not have access to him. He was later charged with a felony and released for the meantime on 10% of a $70,000 bail. Karolina’s personal injury attorney Terry Ekl said that his client suffered bruises on her arms, shoulders, legs and head from the attack and has also experienced headaches and nausea.

A Virginia woman who suffered a closed brain injury more than five years ago when a bus slammed into the back of her vehicle has been awarded a $3 million personal injury settlement. Fatima Laila Fortmuller said in an online WVEC.com story that she was in a routine traffic jam in a Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel in February 2002 when a Hampton Roads Transit slammed into the back of her Dodge Neon, which was propelled into an SUV. Fortmuller explained in the story how her brain is now twisted in the skull as a result of the closed brain injury from the car accident.

Fortmuller said in the story that she will never get her life back, even when considering her $3 million Virginia car accident settlement. She detailed how the car accident has left her with constant headaches, a lost sense of smell, short-term memory problems and an inability to get a full night’s sleep. She also added that the accident has caused her to not only experience depression and bouts of illness but also to lose most of her friendships. Fortmuller claimed that her illnesses and changes to her personality following the accident were so severe that they became to much for “all but one” of her friends to bear.

Just last week, The Injury Blog detailed how the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) was planning to inspect more than 1,300 miles of railroad track owned by the CSX Corp. in the wake of three different New York train accidents in the last couple of months. On yesterday, federal regulators released the findings of its three-day “focused inspection” in January of CSX properties, and the results were quite disturbing. Specifically, a story in today’s Louisville Courier-Journal details that federal administrators said they found 199 safety violations in the 23 states in which the company serves. The inspection was ordered after a series of CSX train accidents that somehow luckily averted serious personal injuries.

The FRA revealed yesterday that CSX Corp. failed to replace defective trails and didn’t make repairs to tracks that they knew needed to be repaired. Federal administrators added that CSX did not properly perform or record brake tests and also hauled tank cars with loose closures and without the right shipping papers. Federal administrator Joseph Boardman voiced his opinion that the company is not doing enough to make safety a chief priority, and inspectors are expected to recommend monetary penalties against the company for these violations. While not addressing the FRA findings, CSX Corp. called safety a “top priority” in a released statement and added that it plans to work with the FRA to solve any issues.

Prior to the investigation, CSX Corp. trains were involved in a number of serious accidents. On January 15^th, four CSX train cars broke off in Eastern Kentucky and traveled 20 miles before smashing into a parked engine and exploding. Just the next day, another CSX Corp. train accident occurred in Kentucky, this time in Brooks when 25 cars of an 80-car train derailed. More than a dozen of those cars caught fire, prompting firefighters to fight the blaze for days. Some of those blazing cars carried hazardous chemicals, thus causing about 500 people to evacuate the area. Also occurring that day, a CSX train derailed and caught fire in East Rochester, New York.

Before these Kentucky and New York train accidents, there were five other major CSX accidents in roughly six weeks. While CSX has said that it spends a billion dollars each year to maintain and improve its tracks and equipment, it may need to shell out more money when looking at the specific numbers of CSX problems as detailed in yesterday’s report, including:

• 3,518 defects;

• 17 track violations;

• 22 operating practices violations;

• 101 violations involving locomotive power and equipment;

• 25 signal and train control violations; and

• 34 violations involving hazardous materials.

The widow of a 73-year-old South Carolina man who died when a doctor mistakenly gave him the wrong drug following a 2002 surgery has been awarded a $1.775 million personal injury settlement.

After undergoing bypass surgery at Piedmont Medical Center on October 30, 2002, Mary Cogan’s husband Herbert experienced problems and needed a second surgery. Cogan’s wrongful death lawsuit said that before the second surgery, Dr. Suzanne Lupo retrieved two IV bags but only checked one of the labels. While both bags were supposed to be Hespan, a blood expander that keeps a patient’s blood pressure up, one of them turned out to be Lidocaine, which deadens nerves so patients don’t feel pain. The lawsuit said that Lupo then told nurse Adam Darden to administer the drug and claimed that he also did not check the label.

Upon being given the Lidocaine, Herbert Cogan’s blood pressure dropped, and the Rock Hill resident died in a few minutes. According to depositions, Lupo and surgeon Dr. Steven Chapman said they tried to revive Cogan for 20 minutes. They then told the family that Cogan’s blood pressure dropped really low, and that they could not get it back up. The wrongful death lawsuit claimed that Chapman didn’t tell the family about the medication errors until January 2003, some two months after Herbert’s November death.

In addition to the aforementioned doctors, Mary Cogan’s lawsuit named Piedmont’s parent company Tenet Healthcare, Amisub of South Carolina and Anesthesia Associates of Rock Hill. Piedmont Medical Center will pay $1.275 million of the personal injury settlement while The Medical Protective Co., an insurance company on behalf of the previously mentioned doctors, will pay $500,000. Half of the settlement minus fees and expenses will go to Mary Cogan while the remainder will be divided equally among the couple’s children.

A 19-year-old Piedmont College student who was left paralyzed following back surgery more than three years ago was recently awarded an $11.7 million personal injury settlement by a Fulton County jury. Joshua Coleman had sued his spine surgeon, Dr. Stephen B. James, and a group of doctors at North Fulton Medical Center after a routine back surgery left him paralyzed below the waist.

During Coleman’s surgery, a technician hooked up a monitor to his head and feet to track nerve impulses along his spinal chord. While the monitor’s alarm went off during surgery, doctors failed to remove screws and rods installed during the surgery for six hours. Coleman was thus left paralyzed.

While James previously came to an out-of-court settlement with Coleman, neurologist Dr. Frank Puhalovich maintained his innocence and went to court. His attorney, Mary Katherine Greene, claimed that Puhalovich was only in the operating room for ten minutes to make sure that the monitor was properly hooked up by a technician. Puhalovich’s decision to take his chances at trial obviously proved costly when the jury came down with the final verdict.

Earlier this week, the National Transportation Safety Board detailed how a 2005 Jacksonville, Mississippi train accident which resulted in the fatal personal injuries of four people should have been avoided. Specifically, the NTSB attributed the fatal train accident in Yazoo County to the fatigue of a railroad crew, the failure to stop at a signal and a lack of equipment designed to prevent accidents.

A KATC3 story detailed that the accident occurred around 4:15 a.m. on July 10, 2005 when northbound and southbound freight trains collided on the north side of a bridge in Yazoo County. Four Canadian National Railway Co. crew members – two from each train – died during the accident, which also caused the derailment of six locomotives and 17 cars. This derailment then prompted the release of 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel and an ensuing 15-hour fire.

After reviewing a preliminary report, the NTSB said on Tuesday that the northbound train should have seen an approach signal and slowed down. There was no indication that the brakes of the northbound train were applied by its conductor, Lee Samuel Jones Jr., who was one of the four casualties. The NTSB also attributed the crash to the lack of a “positive train control,” a piece of equipment which would have automatically stopped the northbound train before the collision.

Canadian National spokesman Jim Kvedaras told the Clarion-Ledger newspaper that the company would not comment on the accident until the final report is released. Other victims in this 2005 Mississippi train accident included northbound engineer Arthur L. “Buddy” Irby, and southbound conductor Shannon Purvis and engineer Mark Cain.

Also this past week, federal railroad administrator Joseph Boardman said that a specifically designed train will examine more than 1,300 miles of CSX Corp. track following three train derailments in the past couple of months.

As previously detailed at The Injury Blog, a $5.3 million personal injury settlement for a three-day old girl’s traumatic brain injuries in a 2003 ambulance crash has been approved by a Pennsylvania judge. Venango County Judge Oliver J. Lobaugh has signed off on what’s believed to be the largest personal injury settlement in the county, a $5,307,000 award to the parents of the child.

A story in The Derrick detailed that the child, who was born with a hole between the ventricles of her heart, was being transported by ambulance to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on February 22, 2003 when a drunken driver slammed into the vehicle. The newborn was thrown out of a malfunctioning transport incubator during the crash. Specifically, the child was thrown out of the apparatus when a retractable bar that attached the incubator to the ambulance snapped in half.

The accident not only left the child with traumatic brain injuries but also injuries to her bones, cartilage, ligaments, muscles, nerves and body tissue. As a result of her traumatic brain injuries, she will require skilled medical care for the rest of her life. Now four years old, she may never go to school because of her injuries.

Under the terms of the signed-off Pennsylvania personal injury settlement, the bulk of the damages will be paid by the manufacturer of the incubator and transporter, International Biomedical of Austin, Texas. IBI will pay $4,362,000 with $2.30 million of that going to the purchase of two annuities paying the child 13-grand per month for the rest of her life. IBI will pay the remaining $2.32 million in cash to the parents.

Two Louisiana brothers have reached a $10,000 personal injury settlement out-of-court in regards to their lawsuit against the Shreveport Police Department for claims of police brutality and false arrest. Justin and Corey Blanchard alleged that Cpl. Kevin Strickland acted intentionally, maliciously and in bad faith during a confrontation at a Lincoln Parish steak house in September 2003.

Corey Blanchard had specifically claimed that Strickland’s actions consequently caused him to get hurt during the confrontation, according to a story in yesterday’s Shreveport Times. The Blanchard’s personal injury lawsuit not only named Strickland and the Shreveport Police Department but also the city of Shreveport. It specifically alleged that Strickland was not legally commissioned or deputized to act as a police officer outside Shreveport’s city limits.

Under the terms of the personal injury settlement, Justin Blanchard will receive $6,500 while Corey will get $3,500. The March 5^th settlement came a day before the case was set to go to trial. This Louisiana police brutality settlement comes in the wake of other recent claims of police brutality in various locations throughout the United States, including Mississippi and Chicago.

A Greenwood, Mississippi man is seeking at least a $15 million judgment during his personal injury suit against the city and others. The attorney of 28-year-old Rogric Washington is claiming that his client was the victim of police brutality, false arrest, false imprisonment and civil rights violations in June of 2006, according to a story in The Clarion Ledger.

Attorney Carlos E. Moore said that Washington was walking from his mother’s home  to his grandmother’s house with a DVD player in his hand on June 11^th of last year when police approached him and began to ask questions. Moore claims that Washington answered the officer’s questions but continued walking. After Washington delivered the DVD player to his grandmother, one of the officers allegedly sprayed him with mace on two separate occasions and repeatedly kneed him in the back.

Washington was shortly arrested for resisting arrest, disturbing the peace, and disorderly conduct but later found not guilty on those charges. Moore described Washington as being “mentally challenged.” In addition to the two police officers, the lawsuit named Greenwood Police Chief Henry Harris, Mayor Harry Smith, police Sgt. Tanisha  Lewis and the entire City Council. We’ll keep you updated on any developments with this case.

Three New York train derailments in the last three months, including one last week in Oneida, have prompted a federal investigation of tracks from Albany to Buffalo. Federal railroad administrator Joseph Boardman said in an online Observer-Dispatch story that a specially designed train will examine more than 1,300 miles of track owned by CSX Corp. Just last Monday, CSX train cars derailed and then exploded near Oneida, causing the evacuation of homes and businesses in the city of 10,000. No personal injuries were reported following this train accident.

Specifically, Boardman said the investigation will examine whether the two CSX rails are level and whether the width between tracks is acceptable. This announcement of a federal investigation into CSX-owned tracks comes nearly a week after US. Senator Charles Schumer of Brooklyn said he’s pushing legislation which would toughen regulations on rail companies, increase penalties for negligence and direct millions of dollars to improve rail infrastructure. Schumer, who said that federal regulators haven’t done enough to combat these problems, also issued a report detailing 527 upstate New York train accidents in the last seven years.

In addition to last Monday’s derailment, CSX Corp. had witnessed similar accidents in the previous months. Thirteen cars on a CSX train left the tracks in East Rochester on January 13^th. Luckily, no one was injured. In December, a CSX train carrying canned vegetables derailed on an overpass in Cheektowaga, leaving one box car teetering over the edge of a bridge, according to the Observer-Dispatch story.

On Wednesday, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it has notified approximately 14,000 employers in the United States about their injury and illness rates being higher than average. Specifically, the OSHA said that it sent letters to these employers as a proactive means to prevent future work-related personal injuries by encouraging them to improve the safety and health environment of their workplaces. You may view the 14,000 sites which received an OSHA notification by state and alphabetical order right here.

The OSHA identified establishments with the highest workplace injury and illness rates by gathering employer reported data from a 2006 survey of 80,000 worksites. Workplaces receiving an OSHA letter were identified as having 5.3 or more injuries or illnesses resulting in time off, restricted work activity or job transfer (DART) for every 100 full-time employees in 2005. The national DART average for every 100 full-time employees in 2006 was 2.4 instances. The OSHA letters contained copies of the employer’s injury and illness data and a list of the most frequently violated OSHA standards in its specific industry.

If you’ve suffered an injury at work due to the negligence of your employer or another employee, speak to a personal injury attorney as soon as possible. The statutes of limitations for filing workers compensation claims vary by state, so having an experienced personal injury attorney is a smart way to make sure that you are doing all that is possible to best ensure any potential damages.

A former Indiana railroad worker who claimed that he was run over by three train cars and lost his left leg more than two years ago was awarded $8.4 million in damages earlier this week by a Jefferson Circuit Court jury. Keith Baird alleged in his personal injury lawsuit that while he was working as a trainman between two cars in an Indiana train yard on October 2, 2004, a supervisor failed to warn him that other cars were moving toward him. When a car hit the car that Baird was working on, his legs were run over, according to details in The Courier-Journal story.

Baird claimed in his lawsuit that his former employer, Louisville & Indiana Railroad Co., was negligent for not warning him. The railroad company countered that Baird was not paying attention and thus at-fault. The jury found the railroad company 90 percent responsible for the accident and Baird 10 percent responsible. The original $9.3 million jury verdict in favor of Baird was thus reduced by $930,000. Following the verdict, Baird and the railroad company reached a settlement in which the railroad agreed to pay him $7.9 million within 30 days and not appeal the case.

The 27-year-old Baird has had more than 36 operations on his legs since the accident. He expressed relief over the settlement and said that he’s looking forward to moving on with his life. An attorney for the railroad company could not be immediately reached. Tuesday’s settlement brought an end to a trial which began on March 5^th.

Earlier this week, an Atlantic City jury awarded a man and his wife a combined $47.5 million verdict in their personal injury lawsuit against drug behemoth Merck. Idaho postal worker Frederick Humeston suffered a heart attack after taking the pain-reliever Vioxx. He successfully showed that Merck knew of these potential side effects from this drug but did not warn prescribing doctors about these dangers. The jury also found that Merck acted recklessly and committed consumer fraud by misrepresenting and failing to disclose important safety information about the drug.

The jury specifically awarded Humeston $18 million in compensatory damages and his wife, Mary, $2 million for loss of consortium. An additional $27.5 million was awarded for punitive damages. Manhattan personal injury attorney Robert Gordon helped represent the Humeston family and said in a Business Wire story that the verdict shows how the public will not accept anything less than full disclosure from pharmaceutical companies. He added that he believes plaintiffs will successfully be able to show how using Vioxx significantly contributed to heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular injuries.

Merck still has to deal with 27,000 pending personal injury cases involving Vioxx. Personal injury attorney Jerry Kristal said that Merck’s decision to take on each of these cases head-on is financially irresponsible. Kristal estimated that even if plaintiffs are successful in only 30 percent of the pending cases, with verdicts in the $5-10 million range, Merck will have to shell out anywhere from $40.5 billion and $85 billion for compensatory and punitive damages as well as defense costs.

Allegations of police brutality have been making headlines recently, and The Injury Blog is here to keep you updated. Seven people claimed police brutality against the Chicago and Calumet Park police departments last week on the same day that the nearby village of Villa Park settled a similar personal injury lawsuit.

• On March 8^th, Chicago personal injury attorney Eugene Pincham filed civil complaints on behalf of seven people who claimed they were mistreated by police officers on August 6, 2006. Pincham alleged in an ABC7Chicago.com story that the Chicago Police Department arrested two minors in the front of their home as part of a drug investigation that day. When the family dog came out of the house, one of the officers shot  at it, with a stray bullet hitting an innocent bystander, neighbor Gwendolyn White.

Plaintiff Dwayne Spencer alleged that he ran into his house to tell his parents that the police were arresting his brother when things allegedly got out of hand. His mother and respective plaintiff, Danielle Spencer, said that police came in the house and violated the rights of herself and children, whom she added were traumatized by the incident. Pincham is also representing 23-year-old William Snodey, who alleged he was half a block away at the time when police officers approached him. Snodey claimed that he thought the officers were gang members and ran away out of fear before being shot in the back of the leg and apprehended.

Monique Bond, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, did not comment on the pending litigation but added that the allegations are being taken seriously. She said that an internal investigation into the matter has been launched and that disciplinary action has been recommended.

• The very same day that Pincham filed civil complaints, the village of Villa Park reached an undisclosed settlement with 36-year-old Jason Zubov, according to a Daily Herald story. After being arrested on August 24, 2003 on charges of aggravated assault and resisting or obstructing a police officer, Zubov alleged that he was hit several times without justification by officer David Subject at the village’s police station. Two other officers were named in the personal injury suit, which also included Deputy Chief Mark Johnson and the village as defendants. The village denied all allegations of abuse at the time.

Attorney Arthur Loevy said he was satisfied with the undisclosed settlement for his client, who was acquitted on all charges in regard to a physical confrontation with Subject according to the lawsuit. Subject and the two officers in question remain on the Villa Park police force. Deputy Chief Johnson refused comment on the settlement.