More than 30 million pounds of peanut butter have been recalled in the face of a salmonella outbreak at one of the country’s largest peanut butter producers. The peanut butter found its way into cookies, sandwhich crackers, granola bars and other products.
Now, the first personal injury lawsuits are being filed against Ohio-based company King Nut and the Peanut Corp. of America, of Lynchburg, Va.
Wrongful death lawsuits are being filed by the families of two residents of the same nurisng home in Brainerd, Minn. Shirley Mae Almer, 72, died on Dec. 21 from salmonella poisoning, and Doris Flatgard died 14 days later.
A family in Vermont has also filed a personal injury lawsuit against the manufacturer’s on behalf of their seven-year-old son. The boy spent six days in the hospital, and tests concluded he contracted salmonella.
According to the Associated Press, "at least 529 people have been sickened as a result of the current outbreak, and at least eight may have died as a result. More than 430 products have been recalled."
Get a full list of product recalls on the FDA’s Web site.
The Associated Press carries news of a ruling that could have a major impact on personal injury lawsuits.
The Wisconsin Supreme Ruled that cheerleading is a contact sport, which means that participants cannot be sued for accidental injuries. From the article:
"The court ruled that a former high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who failed to stop her fall while she was practicing a stunt. The court also said the injured cheerleader cannot sue her school district."
The ruling stems from a lawsuit brought by a teenager that injured her shoulder when a spotter failed to catch her during an aerial stunt.
Cheerleading injuries have received lots of news lately, and for good reason:
"Researchers at the University of North Carolina have found that two-thirds of the roughly 100 cases of “catastrophic” sports injuries among high school girls since 1982 have involved cheerleading.
More than 95,000 female students and 2,100 male students take part in high school cheerleading every year, according to the North Carolina researchers."
The growth of cheerleading, and the increasing complexity of their routines, stunts and throws, has lead to increased popularity and exposure - national high school and college finals are aired on ESPN. However, the AP reports that the athletic regulating bodies in few states include cheerleading.
While the ruling does define cheerleading as a contact sport, it appears to leave the door open for personal injury lawsuits in cases of negligence.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel today has an interesting story on how the Tennessee Valley Authority handled communications in the moments after holding pond levees broke and sent 5.4 million cubic yards of fly ash, a toxic byproduct of coal combustion, into the surrounding areas of Roane County, Tennessee.
The story states:
"The Tennessee Valley Authority didn’t use a mandated command structure for interagency disaster response at the Kingston Fossil Plant’s fly ash spill, making coordination with local emergency personnel an ad hoc affair for the first couple of days following the disaster, according to Roane County’s top emergency responder."
This revelation could have a big impact on the class action lawsuits that are being filed by area residents whose homes, property values, personal belongings and possibly even health have been affected by the spill.
As we mentioned in our last post about airline crash landings, personal injury and liability, one factor that may play an important role in a personal injury case is negligence. TVA’s procedures, protocol and response will all be examined closely to see if there was negligence on the part of the agency as residents - and, later, juries - examine the personal injury lawsuits.
The tale of US Airways Flight 1549 is nothing short of amazing. From engine-jamming geese to the harrowing water-landing, this was one full flight.
Thankfully, the passengers and crew all survived. But almost as soon as everyone was back on land safely, some commentators began raising the question of whether personal injury lawsuits would be filed.
In December, at Denver International Airport, a Continental Airlines flight veered off the runway as it was trying to take flight. Although none were killed, 38 passengers were injured. The Aero-News Network is reporting that the first personal injury lawsuits against the pilot were recently filed.
The two passengers filling the lawsuit claim negligence on the part of the pilot. When asked if similar claims could be made about the pilots of US Airways Flight 1549, many commentators said they didn’t think such claims would hold water.
The problem with such lawsuits, according to Brooklyn Law School tort professor Aaron Twerski, as quoted in the New York Times, is there may be no indication of negligence.
The passengers of Flight 1549 may very well have suffered emotional distress, but proving that the pilot, crew or airline caused the distress through negligence may be a tough sell. Since it is impossible to sue the birds, there may be no cases to be won in this particular situation. But that doesn’t mean some lawyers and wont’ try.
Total Injury posted some information about the first round of lawsuits to come against Chinese milk producers whose products were contamined with high levels of melamine, "a toxic chemical illegally added to dairy products to give the false appearance of high protein counts."
The first lawsuits involved high ranking officials in the milk companies. The New York Times reports that lawyers are now bringing a class action suit on behalf of the families of children injured or killed by the milk. The suit was filed in the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing against 22 dairy producers.
There are two fascinating items in the New York Times piece. First, they report that lawsuits such as this, with multiple plaintiffs, are rare in China. They are discouraged by the government, and an earlier claim brought against the dairy manufacturers was rejected by a lower court.
Secondly, the families filling the lawsuit have rejected money already offered by the dairy producers. The current suit seeks compensation totalling $5.2 million, with payments varying depending upong the injury suffered by the children. The milk producers originally offered far less, with some payouts being as low as $300 for an injured.
Patriotism is high this week as a new president is inaugurated, but looking at this case is a nice reminder of the freedoms America offers its citizens, such as the right to seek legal recourse if you’ve received a personal injury.
Madison Hobley, an exonerated death-row inmate who sued the City of Chicago because police allegedly tortured him into making a fake murder confession, is finally allowed to collect his $6.5 million personal injury settlement.
Hobley had been sentenced to death for a 1987 fire that killed his wife, son and five other people.
He contended he was tortured by Chicago police into making a fake confession and later sued the city for that illegal conduct.
In 2003, he was pardoned and freed by former Illinois Gov. George Ryan.
Hobley initially received $1 million and was scheduled to receive $6.5 million more if he wasn’t indicted in a new investigation by Jan. 3, 2009.
The case was reopened in 2007. Officials say Hobley hasn’t been indicted in the case but would not give further details to reporters.
Hobley’s personal injury lawyer said he’s confident Hobley won’t be indicted. Hobley now lives in North Carolina.
Read about other personal injury awards and settlements
For years, a 29-year-old Georgia woman has alleged that members of her former Texas church abused her during a forced exorcism when she was just a teen.
The woman’s personal injury lawyers have now asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review her intentional injury lawsuit.
Laura Schubert alleges that members of the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God held her down, cut and bruised her and forced carpet burns on her back.
She further said she suffered hallucinations after being held down for hours while others tried to dispel a demon. Schubert reportedly attempted suicide after the ordeal.
The Texas Supreme Court threw out her $188,000 jury award this summer, saying that it drew the court into deciding on religious issues, which is unconstitutional.
But Schubert’s personal injury lawyers argue that the court improperly tried to expand the First Amendment’s religious protections, saying that someone’s religious beliefs don’t protect them from state laws prohibiting assault and false imprisonment.
The church’s attorneys argue that the case shouldn’t go before the U.S. Supreme Court because it’s a personal injury lawsuit for pain and suffering and mental anguish and because it concerns protected religious conduct.
Schubert’s lawyers expect to hear by late January as to whether the high court will hear the case.
In October, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury verdict resulted in the largest award to a plaintiff under the federal law that covers railroad workers injured on the job.
This is an important case because railroads and their employees are not covered by state workers’ compensation laws that generally govern most other on the job injuries.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Eric Doi worked for Union Pacific Railroad last year when a work-related car accident caused by a co-worker’s negligence left him a quadriplegic.
He now lives with his parents and requires round-the-clock care and physical rehabilitation.
At the end of November, a judge approved the $48 million jury award.
A Connecticut woman was awarded almost $300,000 last week for injuries she sustained when a taxi slammed into her car more than five years ago.
It took the jury about seven hours before ordering the taxi company to pay the 47-year-old single mother $292,000 for her spine injury.
The woman’s spine injury was so severe that it required surgery. Even though she went ahead with two surgeries, she still experiences extreme pain.
The woman’s personal injury lawyer said she “suffered a tremendous injury with significant pain as a result of the incident and appreciates the jury’s verdict.”
R & B Star Brandy is facing yet another lawsuit in connection with her 2006 automobile accident. That accident resulted in the death of 38-year-old Awatef Aboudihaj, whose family is seeking $50 million in damages from the singer. That case is scheduled for trial in April, 2009.
Now, Donald Lite, another party to the accident, has filed suit against both Brandy and Aboudihaj, claiming that each had failed to follow road regulations and thus contributed to the accident which left him with "serious and permanant" injuries.
The singer was not charged criminally in connection with the 2006 accident.