Injury & Accident Law

Woman survives accident after 6 days trapped in car, gets recall notice and sues GM

Kristin Hopkins survived an accident that left her trapped in her upside-down vehicle in freezing conditions for nearly six days last year. Finally a passer-by happened to spot her, some 140 feet off the road, at the bottom of a wooded embankment. However, she had to have both legs amputated…

Oct 26, 2015 12:15 PM CDT

Judge says Ohio woman can collect damages from ex-husband for domestic violence

An Ohio woman can collect damages from her ex-husband over a domestic violence incident that occurred in 2013, while the couple was still married, a state-court judge has ruled. Jerry Bailey is liable to Jennifer Bailey for a beating in their Franklin County home in which her facial bones were…

Oct 21, 2015 2:15 PM CDT

Airport worker sues Halle Berry and husband for $5M over shoving incident

A viral video seems to show Halle Berry doing nothing but walking through Los Angeles International Airport with her husband and children amidst a barrage of paparazzi camera flashes earlier this year. However, the actress has now been sued for $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages, along with spouse…

Oct 20, 2015 1:10 PM CDT

Insurer ‘ecstatic’ about $413K judgment on $100K policy, defense lawyer says

Denying a demand for payment of its $100,000 insurance policy limit in a 2012 accident proved expensive for Allstate. After a jury trial this summer in Henry County, Georgia, found policyholder Daniella Barry negligent, the insurance company paid a judgment of $413,543 to an injured motorcycle driver, including interest, explains…

Oct 16, 2015 9:25 AM CDT

Jury finds 8-year-old not liable for leaping into aunt’s arms and breaking her wrist

What would a prudent 8-year-old do when he spotted his beloved aunt arriving at his birthday party? That was the question a Connecticut jury had to answer on Tuesday, and it took the group only about 20 minutes to do so. It found Sean Tarala, now 12, not liable for…

Oct 14, 2015 4:36 PM CDT

Giant pine cone caused severe head injury, suit says; park officials post warning signs

A tourist taking a nap under bunya pines in a federal waterfront park in San Francisco suffered serious head injuries last year when he was struck by a falling 16-pound pine cone, a lawsuit says. Filed last month in federal court in San Francisco, it seeks $5 million in damages…

Oct 13, 2015 10:15 AM CDT

Jury awards $1.6 million in bellwether case claiming DuPont contaminated Ohio River

An Ohio woman was awarded $1.6 million yesterday in a lawsuit alleging DuPont Co. contributed to her cancer by contaminating the Ohio River, the Associated Press reported. Carla Bartlett’s case was one of two that could influence thousands more from people living along the river at the Ohio-West Virginia border.…

Oct 8, 2015 4:05 PM CDT

Sen. Harry Reid sues over exercise-band accident

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has sued the makers and distributors of an exercise band that he blames for a January accident that caused him to lose eyesight in his right eye. Reid, 75, claims in the Oct. 6 lawsuit that the TheraBand was unreasonably dangerous for use by the…

Oct 8, 2015 9:31 AM CDT

Caitlyn Jenner won’t be charged in fatal car crash but faces ongoing civil suit

Although Caitlyn Jenner was driving within the speed limit, she was driving too fast for conditions when she rear-ended another vehicle in February as she was towing a dune buggy behind a SUV, officials say. The accident on California’s Pacific Coast Highway proved fatal to the driver of the rear-ended…

Sep 30, 2015 4:40 PM CDT

GM will pay $900M to end US criminal probe over ignition-switch issues

General Motors has agreed to pay a $900 million fine to resolve a federal criminal probe into the automaker’s reported delay in dealing with ignition-switch issues in some 2.6 million vehicles. The issue has been linked to over 100 deaths and many more injuries. The settlement also involves a three-year…

Sep 17, 2015 12:50 PM CDT

Family sues over fatal shooting of Texas man, seeks release of videos of shooting

The family of a Texas man who was fatally shot by two Bexar County sheriff’s deputies last August has filed a wrongful death suit against the county, the sheriff’s office and the two deputies. The suit, filed Monday by the family of Gilbert Flores, alleges that officers used excessive force…

Sep 16, 2015 3:15 PM CDT

Blamed by lawsuit for nursing student’s suicide, Penn and Amazon say her death was not foreseeable

Blamed in a lawsuit for the death of a nursing student who committed suicide in 2013 by taking cyanide, the University of Pennsylvania and Amazon say in a Thursday filing that they are not responsible because the death was not reasonably foreseeable. Penn also contends it had no special relationship…

Sep 15, 2015 10:25 AM CDT

14 years after Sept. 11 attacks, families of victims and others await justice

Fourteen years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the legal system is still dealing with those alleged to be responsible for the hijacked commercial airlines that crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. (The fourth plane is thought to have been headed toward…

Sep 11, 2015 12:20 PM CDT

Lawyers ‘lean to the left,’ study says; which schools, firms and practice areas are most liberal?

Many conservative commentators have aired claims that trial lawyers appear more liberal than the rest of the population, and they overwhelmingly contribute to Democratic candidates. Is it true? And is the legal profession on the whole left-leaning? A study by professors from Harvard, Stanford and the University of Chicago Law…

Sep 2, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Lawsuit calls keyless ignition system a deadly defect in millions of vehicles

Two well-known trial law firms sued 10 automakers Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles, contending that millions of vehicles equipped with keyless ignition systems pose a danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. Without an automatic shutoff, the electronic ignition systems can result in a car running indefinitely. In an enclosed…

Aug 26, 2015 4:55 PM CDT