A gruesome whale attack last year at a popular Orlando, Florida theme park left one woman dead and a crowd of onlookers horrified. Today, the legal consequences of the incident have begun to take shape.

Last February, Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old animal trainer at SeaWorld, was pulled into an exhibition pool by one of the park’s killer whales. According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, she died from drowning and traumatic injuries inflicted by the six-ton killer whale.

Immediately after the attack, Brancheau’s family worked in concert with SeaWorld to prevent tapes of the incident from being released to the public. In addition, the two sides seemed to be willing to cooperate while they waited for an investigation of the incident.

However, recent findings by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) suggest that SeaWorld may have been partially responsible for the incident, and reports indicate that Brancheau’s family may soon file an animal attack lawsuit.

After an extensive six-month investigation, OSHA cited SeaWorld for three safety violations. In the most severe blow for the theme park, the agency found that SeaWorld frequently exposed its employees to potential attacks by killer whales without having proper safeguards in place.

The failure to have proper safeguards to prevent personal injury was deemed “willful” by OSHA, which is the most severe category of violation, reserved for the worst workplace safety violations.

In addition, OSHA criticized the water park for exposing Brancheau to Tilikum, the whale who attacked her, because the offending whale was more than twice the size of similar animals at the park and was known to have “aggressive tendencies.”

Even worse, sources indicate that Tilikum was involved in another drowning incident 20 years ago at a Canadian park. Perhaps proving that its aid was too little too late, the agency proposed a relatively meager $75,000 fine for the violations.

While Dawn Brancheau’s family weighs the merits of filing a personal injury lawsuit, one New Hampshire family has filed a lawsuit of their own.

In the wake of OSHA’s findings, Suzanne and Todd Connell filed a lawsuit against SeaWorld, claiming that their ten-year-old son suffered severe emotional distress from witnessing the killer whale attack last year.

According to reports, the Connells’ lawsuit paints a negative picture of SeaWorld’s response to the whale attack, claiming that there “seemed to be no plan as to what to do to save Dawn” and that the park’s “employees were acting in an unorganized and chaotic manner.”

Wrongful death lawsuits come in all shapes and sizes. If you have a loved one who suffered an untimely death as a result of someone else’s negligent behavior, contact a local attorney to learn more about your legal rights.

In a bittersweet victory for thousands of patients and their families, a California nursing home recently agreed to settle a lawsuit for $50 million.

A large group of current and former patients filed a personal injury lawsuit against Skilled Healthcare Group, based in Orange County. The company had been under fire after accusations that it severely understaffed its 22 nursing homes in California.

California state law requires that nursing homes maintain an average amount of 3.2 nursing hours per patient per day. The jury found that the healthcare business had failed to meet this benchmark.

The settlement stipulates that Skilled Healthcare must have an independent supervisor keep track of its nurse staffing levels for all 22 California locations for at least two years.

Unfortunately for the plaintiffs, the $50 million award pales in comparison to the original $677 million awarded to the plaintiffs by the Humboldt County Superior Court jury.

Sources indicate that the $677 million awarded this July by the jury is the largest jury verdict issued in the country in 2010.

The settlement money will have to be distributed among the estimated 32,000 patients included in the massive class-action lawsuit.

The attorney for the plaintiffs said in a released statement that, “Although the monetary amount of the settlement is less than the verdict, we are satisfied that it reflects the best possible recovery for our clients taking into consideration the uncertainty, risks and delays associated with proceeding to judgment.”

Sadly, nursing home abuse is fairly widespread across the country. According to the National Center on Elderly Abuse (NCEA), statistics on elderly abuse are difficult to gather because many instances of abuse go unreported.

Nevertheless, the NCEA estimates that between 1 and 2 million elderly Americans have been injured or mistreated by someone who is in charge of their care or protection.

Further, roughly 2 to 10 percent of the elderly population has suffered from abuse, depending on the particular survey used. Sadly, less than 10 percent of these incidents are reported to the proper authorities.

In addition to physical and mental abuse, elderly individuals also experience high rates of financial exploitation. Sources indicate that nearly 5 million senior citizens are swindled to some degree every year. Other common forms of elderly abuse include neglect abandonment.

Of course, there are plenty of nursing homes that provide needed care to elderly Americans. However, the proliferation of thousands of such facilities across the country has led to a rising number of patient complaints.

If you or a loved one has experienced a personal injury as a result of poor treatment at an elderly health center, contact a local personal injury lawyer today to learn more about your legal rights.

The legal consequences have begun to strike two major egg distributors after their tainted eggs caused hundreds of cases of salmonella poisoning across the country.

Iowa companies Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms are at the center of a major controversy after their egg recall led federal investigators to find “widespread food safety problems” at their facilities, as reported by the New York Times.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, a woman in central Texas has filed one of the first personal injury lawsuits against the two offending companies whose actions resulted in a nationwide recall of more than 500 million eggs.

The woman, Amanda Sanchez, 34, was hospitalized for four days after contracting salmonella poisoning as a result of eating allegedly tainted eggs.

The plaintiff’s complaint says that she began to feel ill after eating eggs at a Taco Cabana restaurant. Shortly thereafter, she was admitted to the emergency room while experiencing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, high fever, and abdominal pain.

Sanchez had to stay in the hospital for four days and claims to have accrued roughly $25,000 in medical bills.

Testing on the offending eggs has not yet been completed, so it is still uncertain whether the eggs caused her illness. However, Sanchez’s lawyer says that she didn’t eat anything else that could have caused salmonella poisoning.

Sources indicate that more than 1,400 people have been affected by the salmonella outbreak since May. A Wisconsin woman has also filed a defective product lawsuit against the companies, and more are sure to follow.

A study conducted this week by the Food and Drug Administration revealed an unsettling lack of cleanliness and safety procedures at the Iowa eggs farms.

Specifically, investigators found barns infested with rodents, flies, maggots, and over-filled pits of manure at the egg-producing facilities. Officials also found traces of salmonella in test samples taken from Wright County Egg that matched the strains of affecting people across the country.

While salmonella was discovered in some of the facilities, FDA officials have not yet discovered how the bacteria was contracted by the hens.

The owner of Wright County Egg, Jack DeCoster, is described by some publications as having a long history of environmental and labor violations at previous egg operations. His son, Peter, is the chief operating officer of the business’ interests in Iowa.

In response to the public concern generated by these findings, the FDA plans to inspect all of the roughly 600 major egg producers across the country during the next 15 months.

The FDA says that salmonella bacteria can be killed by pasteurization or by thoroughly cooking the infected eggs.

If you have contracted salmonella as a result of bad eggs, or have been the victim of other tainted food products, consider contacting a personal injury lawyer to learn more about your legal options.