Employers have been warned to take their employee’s stress seriously or risk the potential of costly personal injury claims.

Ginny Hallam, the head of employment at a large law firm, has warned that stress in the workplace is projected to increase as businesses brace for the hit of the spiraling economy. Hallam suggests employers offer counseling services for its staff if they are facing with too much stress.

But in a recent case, a judge ruled that providing counseling services for stressed-out employees without additional support was an inadequate defense to a personal injury claim.

If you feel like conditions at work are unbearable, unfair or illegal, you have the right to file a personal injury claim. Talk to a personal injury lawyer today.

It was a normal day for Leon Bostick. Like usual, he warmed up on an elliptical machine at Gold’s Gym in Venice, California and stretched for a while before he moved over to a Flex Equipment Co. Smith machine to do squats.

He started with about 90 pounds of weight and gradually increased it after each set. After a few sets, the bar of weights fell because it lacked a safety device and Bostick went to floor with a couple hundred of pounds crashing down on his neck.

Bostick, a former Marine and lifelong athlete, is now confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

He sued Flex and the gym. He offered to settle with Flex and its insurer, Atlantic Mutual, for its policy limit of $1 million, but the company never responded so the case went to trial.

Gold’s Gym settled for $7.3 million.

A Superior Court jury found Flex liable and awarded Bostick $14.6 million. Frustrated that its insurer didn’t settle, Flex gave Bostick the right to sue Atlantic Mutual for bad faith for refusing to settle earlier in the case.

After 7 years of litigation, a U.S. District Court jury ruled against the insurance company and awarded Bostick an additional $11.3 million.

For more information on filing a personal injury lawsuit, check out our feature section, Personal Injury Case Steps.

A lawsuit was recently filed against Victoria Secret on behalf of a Florida woman who suffered itching and blistering of her skin after wearing one of the company’s undergarments.

The lawsuit alleges that Victoria Secret misrepresented the safety of its intimate apparel. It further charges that Victoria Secret knew—or should have known—that its products were defective and failed to warn consumers.

The victim who filed the defective products lawsuit is seeking compensation for physical and economic injuries related to the defective undergarments, as well as compensation for all medical expenses.

This isn’t the first time Victoria Secret has been under fire, numerous complaints have been filed alleging some undergarments have caused painful and serious rashes, hives, scarring, allergic reactions, contact dermatitis, blistering and other health problems.

Media reports have said that some Victoria Secret items have tested positive for the chemical formaldehyde, which is sometimes used in the textile industry to make fabrics crease-resistant.

If you’ve suffered any injury from defective products, talk to a personal injury lawyer today.

Nestle Prepared Foods just recalled more than 875,000 pounds of frozen Lean Cuisine chicken meals because they contain small pieces of hard blue plastic that could injure eaters.

The recall, which was announced on Nov. 17, was initiated following numerous consumer complaints.

Here’s the Lean Cuisine meals that were recalled, which were produced between Aug. 18, 2008 and Oct. 27, 2008 and sold nationwide at numerous retailers:

• Lean Cuisine Pesto Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta: Production Code 8280595912. Use-by date of “Best Before MAY 2010”
• Lean Cuisine Chicken Mediterranean: Production Codes 8231595912, 8241595912, 8263595912, 8269595911, 8274595912, 8291595912 or 8301595912.Use by dates “Best before SEP2010″, “Best before OCT 2010″ or “Best before NOV 2010″.
• Lean Cuisine Chicken Tuscan: Production Codes 8234595911, 8253595911, 8269595912, 8292595911 or 8296595911. Use by dates “Best before SEP 2009″, “Best before OCT 2009″ or “Best before NOV 2009″.

A spokesperson for Nestle Prepared Foods Company said that the plastic pieces entered the facility “in a single lot of incoming raw ingredient”. If you have questions about the recall, contact Nestle directly at 800/227-6188.

If you’ve suffered an injury because of the Lean Cuisine plastic shards, you may want to contact a personal injury lawyer. Remember, time is typically a factor in personal injury cases.

Jordan Gruver was 16 years old in 2006 when he was severely beaten by several KKK members who thought he was an illegal immigrant.

Gruver, an American citizen of Panamanian and Native-American descent, suffered a broken jaw, bruised ribs and permanent nerve damage in his arm because of the hate crime.

The Southern Poverty Law Center sued the country’s second-largest Klan group on behalf of the teen. The Klansmen who beat Gruver were convicted and they severed two years in prison. Edwards represented himself and denied the charges, saying the group is not generally violent.

Last week a jury ordered Imperial Klans of America “grand wizard” Ron Edwards and two former “lieutenants” to pay Gruever $1.5 million for lost wages and medical expenses and for Edwards to pay him $1 million in punitive damages. Edwards said he would appeal the verdict.

The lead personal injury lawyer in the case said he plans to seize Edwards’ property (which serves as Klan property) and any other assets that could be found. The judgment against Edwards’ is good for 15 years, so they have plenty of time to pursue assets.

A similar lawsuit bankrupt the Idaho-based white supremacist group Aryan Nations in 1999.

If you’ve been a victim of a hate crime or any other intentional injury crime, you deserve fair compensation.

Last week Roberto Hernandez sued American Apparel Inc. and its CEO for wrongful termination after he refused to stretch the company’s books to make them look more appealing to potential investors.

Hernandez, who worked in the company’s accounts payable and IT departments, brought the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

American Apparel disputes that he was an accountant for them and calls the lawsuit “fictional”. It said that Hernandez was fired for legitimate reasons.

“The best they can come up with was ‘legitimate reasons’,” Herndandez’s personal injury attorney said. “I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist—is it tardiness, is it insubordination?—if they had a single reason, they would’ve told you that.”

In a written press statement, the company attributed the allegations to Hernandez’s personal injury lawyer trying to get “phony leverage” because he’s been “engaged with the company in other litigation for over three years”.

His personal injury attorney also represents a client in a separate sexual harassment lawsuit, which in one of several that have been filed against the clothing company.

The company just reported that a third of its profit fell 61 percent after it spent $13.2 million on stock-based compensation; however, its revenues have risen 45 percent. Shares fell 35.2 percent after the new lawsuit went public.

An Ohio jury decided that the estate of a truck driver who died in a 2006 crash with a train should not be awarded any money for personal injury.

The jury ruled that the 62-year-old man was 51 percent negligent in the crash and that the railroad was 49 percent negligent but didn’t raise the level of “actual malice”.

The man was killed when his tractor-trailer hit a train when he was crossing the road. The intersection was not marked with light or gates at the time.

It’s a sad story when injured people and/or their families don’t get fair compensation for their injuries. If you’ve been injured, make sure you have a personal injury lawyer on your side.

Barney, the White House Scottish terrier, bit Reuters reporter Jon Decker who was doing on story on the dog when he reached down to pet the pint-sized pooch.

The bite wasn’t that dramatic; however, it did draw blood. Decker had to receive medical attention and antibiotics from the White house physician.

So, if he wanted, could Decker sue for damages?

Personal injury laws vary state by state, so we go to Washington, D.C.’s law on the matter, which presumes negligence of the dog’s handler. In this case, that would be a White House staffer.

The fact that Barney’s bitten before—(in fact, he’s not allowed on the lawn when tour groups come out because he’s been known to bite visitors)—and he wasn’t muzzled makes the case look even better for Decker.

If he decides to sue for the dog bite injury, he should probably contact a personal injury lawyer because under Washington D.C. law, if the person who was bitten was even 1 percent responsible for the injury, he/she can’t collect for personal injury.

A Connecticut judge just quadrupled a jury award to a developer who said he was shut out of a building project due to corruption in the city of Bridgeport.

The judge added punitive damages, attorney fees and legal costs to the June jury verdict. The total award now amounts to $1.4 million owed to the man’s development company.

The man claimed his development plans were axed due to corruption in Bridgeport City Hall under former Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration. Ganim is currently in prison after being conviction on corruption charges and he must pay part of the jury award.

Corruption is a form of Intentional Injury. If you believe that you’ve been intentionally injured, consider talking to a personal injury lawyer today.

A federal judge just approved $6.5 million in lawyer fees to the personal injury attorneys who brought a class action lawsuit over a massive data breach at TJX Cos., which is estimated to have involved 100 million accounts that were compromised by hackers.

It cost the retailer an estimated $256 million to resolve the data breach when it was thought that “only” 45 million credit card and debit accounts were compromised. The company will also provide nearly $200 million of free credit monitoring, among other services, to customers who settled the case.

Two former teachers from Cedar Rapids, Iowa claimed they were illegally strip searched in 2004 after they protested President Bush’s policies. They subsequently filed a personal injury lawsuit.

A jury initially awarded the two more that $750,000 in damages; however, the award was thrown out by a U.S. district judge who said it was “excessive”. That judge reduced the award to $75,000 and told the teachers that they could either accept that injury amount or opt for a new trial.

The women opted for a new trial, which just ended. The jury in the second trial awarded the teachers about $55,000 in damages.

This story highlights the influence a court decision can have on a person’s life. If you are filing an injury lawsuit, be sure to a have a personal injury lawyer on your side.