Injury & Accident Law

Top state court reverses $37M default judgment, calls efforts to serve bar owner insufficient

A $37 million default judgment against a bar accused of overserving a patron was reversed Friday by Alabama’s top state court, which found that insufficient efforts were made to notify the owner of Club Volcano about the suit. Daryl Williams was eventually noticed by publication. The family of Derric Edwin…

May 9, 2014 5:50 PM CDT

BP cries foul, says crafty lawyers and claimants collected $500M in comp unrelated to oil spill

In a written settlement agreement concerning the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began with a 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, BP agreed to a compensation formula to reimburse businesses. But now BP is unhappy about language that is being interpreted not only by plaintiffs lawyers…

May 5, 2014 10:00 PM CDT

A risky move? GM heads to bankruptcy court today in effort to head off ignition class actions

Lawyers for General Motors go back to bankruptcy court today in a bid to ban class-action lawsuits over faulty ignition switches. General Motors said in a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it is aware of 59 would-be class actions filed on behalf of car owners…

May 2, 2014 2:25 PM CDT

GM seeks bankruptcy court ban on class actions alleging lost value due to car ignition-switch issues

In a Monday filing, General Motors asked a federal bankruptcy court in New York to put the kibosh on nearly 50 class actions. They allege that owners of small cars manufactured by the automaker have seen their vehicles’ value diminish recently because of news about a massive recall over ignition-switch…

Apr 22, 2014 4:55 PM CDT

GM seeks court ruling it is protected from ignition-switch suits under bankruptcy law

Amidst a recall of at least 2.6 million vehicles over ignition-switch issues and a growing number of would-be class actions claiming that company officials knew of defects for years, General Motors is seeking a freeze on the litigation and a court ruling that it is protected from liability by bankruptcy…

Apr 16, 2014 6:15 PM CDT

Judge orders AIG to pay $7M to injured lawyer over insurer’s bad-faith conduct in accident case

Blasting a major insurance company for what he called unfair settlement practices in an egregious case, a Massachusetts judge Tuesday ordered American International Group Inc. to pay at least $7 million to a lawyer hit by a bus making a left turn as a he crossed a street in Boston.…

Apr 11, 2014 6:10 PM CDT

Could massive GM vehicle recall get bigger? Single key in ignition isn’t safe, says plaintiff lawyer

As the CEO of General Motors appeared before federal lawmakers in the nation’s capital this week amidst a massive recall of vehicles over an ignition-switch issue blamed for a number of fatal accidents, the situation continued to escalate. On Wednesday, testifying before a Senate committee, Mary Barra reiterated earlier advice…

Apr 4, 2014 5:25 PM CDT

GM hires disaster master Ken Feinberg as auto recall grows; he will look at victim compensation

Amidst a recall of some 2.6 million compact vehicles to fix a faulty ignition switch and questions about why the recall didn’t happen earlier, the CEO of General Motors told a congressional panel Tuesday that the automaker has hired attorney Kenneth Feinberg to help evaluate possible options for compensating accident…

Apr 1, 2014 11:20 PM CDT

Judge axes first law firm filing over missing Malaysia Air flight

An Illinois judge on Friday threw out a civil court filing by a Chicago law firm over the Malaysia Air flight that disappeared earlier this month. The Ribbeck Law Chartered petition for discovery, believed to be the first court filing concerning the missing plane, is inappropriate because it isn’t supported…

Mar 31, 2014 7:45 PM CDT

City to pay $3.25M to bicylist injured in pothole crash

A delayed response to complaints of potholes in a California roadway will cost the city of Oakland $3.25 million. In a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, the city council agreed to pay that amount to Dulcey Bower, a 35-year-old bicyclist who was severely injured in an Aug. 2011 crash on Mountain…

Mar 21, 2014 1:00 PM CDT

Toyota to pay $1.2B in deferred prosecution agreement related to sudden-acceleration disclosures

Updated and corrected: Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that Toyota will pay $1.2 billion in a deferred prosecution agreement related to its disclosures about sudden-acceleration problems. Holder announced the agreement today, report USA Today and a press release. The criminal penalty is the largest of its kind imposed on…

Mar 19, 2014 12:05 PM CDT

Solo practitioner ‘single-handedly set the stage’ for massive GM recall

Although it had known for years about an issue with ignition switches in some General Motors vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration didn’t require a recall, lawyer Lance Cooper told Bloomberg. It wasn’t until the Georgia solo practitioner dug for evidence against the automaker in a wrongful death case…

Mar 17, 2014 5:40 PM CDT

Posner: Appeal brief is ‘a gaunt, pathetic document’; lawyer ‘shenanigans’ should have been reported

Judge Richard Posner of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had little patience for a Georgia lawyer and the law firm representing him in an appeal from a contempt order. In a March 12 opinion (PDF), Posner called the appellate brief “a gaunt, pathetic document” and said the…

Mar 13, 2014 3:30 PM CDT

Judge OKs injury suit by lawyer decked in court by death-row client

A Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer who says he is still trying to recuperate from being struck in the face by a handcuffed death-row client and knocked to the courtroom floor last May has gotten a green light to proceed with his personal injury suit against Blair County, its prison board…

Feb 27, 2014 5:30 PM CST

Wrongfully convicted ex-cop imprisoned almost 20 years is awarded $9 million by jury

A federal jury in Tacoma, Wash., has awarded $9 million to a police officer who spent almost two decades in prison because two police department colleagues fabricated a case alleging he sexually abused his own children, the Columbian newspaper reports. Clyde Ray Spencer, who was a motorcycle patrolman with the…

Feb 6, 2014 9:11 PM CST