How to be a boss | More hot coffee lawsuits on horizon?

Corrected: The LexisNexis offer of six free months of LexisNexis Firm Manager described at Robert Ambrogi’s Lawsites and announced at the ABA GPSolo fall conference is not a member benefit and is not endorsed by, or offered in cooperation with the ABA or the ABA GPSolo fall conference. The ABA…

Oct 4, 2013 1:29 PM CDT

‘Routine’ wrongful-death lawsuit turns into 11-year ‘unholy mess’

In 2002, lawyers filed what should have been a routine wrongful death suit on behalf of a 7-year-old Romanian girl who had watched in horror as her mother was crushed under the wheels of a Greyhound bus. But 11 years later, as the Chicago Tribune (sub. req.) reports, that suit…

Sep 9, 2013 9:30 PM CDT

Is Missouri bill gunning for the First Amendment? | Audience member sues, alleging Blue Man goof

One aspect of a proposed Missouri law that would override federal gun laws would make it a misdemeanor to “publish the name, address, or other identifying information of any individual who owns a firearm” or who has applied for a firearm license, University of California at Los Angeles law professor…

Sep 6, 2013 2:05 PM CDT

Chemerinsky: Paradox in drug injury cases must be solved by Congress, says SCOTUS

In June 2013, for the third time in four years, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with the question of when federal law preempts state tort liability for those injured by prescription drugs. What emerges from these cases is a strange distinction: Those who take the brand name version and are…

Sep 4, 2013 2:10 PM CDT

Blistered bottom was caused by car seat warmer, suit says

An 85-year-old personal injury lawyer in Eugene, Ore., has taken on a 20th case alleging seat warmers in cars caused third-degree burns in people with sensory disabilities. Art Johnson and his firm have won pretrial settlements for 16 clients in seat-warmer cases for undisclosed amounts, the Oregonian reports. His 20th…

Sep 3, 2013 12:45 PM CDT

Cop shoots man holding underwear, man sues

A Pennsylvania man shot by a cop who thought the man was holding a gun, when the man was actually holding a pair of underwear, filed a federal lawsuit against the agency. James Weyant was walking down an alley around 4 a.m. when he was shot by an Altoona, Pa.,…

Aug 30, 2013 9:16 PM CDT

Remote texter can be held liable for distracted driver’s crash, appeals court rules

In a case of first impression, a New Jersey appeals court has held that a remote texter can be held liable to third parties for injuries caused when the distracted driver has an accident. However, that is only true if the individual sending the texts from another location knew they…

Aug 27, 2013 6:02 PM CDT

Ron Motley—asbestos and tobacco ‘class-action pioneer’—has died

South Carolina lawyer Ronald L. Motley who led billion-dollar suits against the asbestos and tobacco industries died Thursday. He was 68. “Ron was a true giant of the legal profession. A trail blazer and innovator,” Motley’s longtime friend and Motley Rice co-founder Joe Rice said in a statement. Rice described…

Aug 22, 2013 10:43 PM CDT

Judge OKs $1.6B pact in Toyota class action as trial begins in first wrongful death case

A record $1.6 billion settlement approved last week by a federal judge in Orange County, Calif., is only part of the potential liability that Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc. is facing as the first trial begins in more than 80 state court suits filed over alleged sudden-acceleration defects in the…

Jul 22, 2013 7:57 PM CDT

As sanction for destroying evidence, federal judge finds US negligent in wrongful death case

As a sanction for destruction of evidence by the National Park Service in a wrongful death case, a federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., ruled Tuesday that the United States was negligent. The case concerns the July 2009 death of Tommy Botell, 9, after a retaining wall that he and his…

May 15, 2013 8:08 PM CDT

Dangerous desk toy Buckyballs voluntarily recalled by retailers

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, stymied in attempts to get a manufacturer to foot the bill, persuaded several prominent retailers to voluntarily join the agency in a recall of Buckyballs, the super-magnet desk toys which have seriously damaged the intestines of children who swallow them. The CPSC sought the cooperation…

Apr 29, 2013 4:50 PM CDT

71 percent of young people surveyed would favor an individual over an insurance company at trial

Apr 1, 2013 8:50 AM CDT

Famed tort lawyer Stan Chesley is disbarred for ‘unreasonable’ $20M fee in diet-drug case

Mass tort lawyer Stan Chesley has been disbarred for his role in a diet-drug case in which he earned $20 million to help negotiate a $200 million settlement. The Kentucky Supreme Court released its opinion (PDF) disbarring Chesley on Thursday, report the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Associated Press. The Herald-Leader…

Mar 21, 2013 3:54 PM CDT

Two Toyota sudden acceleration cases are settled; terms and evidence are secret

Toyota has settled two bellwether sudden-acceleration cases in recent weeks, including a personal injury suit involving a Utah crash that killed the driver and a passenger. Terms of the settlements are confidential, and much of the evidence in the cases is sealed, the Los Angeles Times reports. The settlements follow…

Jan 18, 2013 11:30 AM CST

Columnist who is injured by an immersion blender finds other mishap stories, and a lawsuit

A columnist who Googled “immersion blender” learned she is not the only one who suffered a mishap while trying to pry food out of the blades. Writing in the New York Times, writer Alexandra Jacobs tells how she injured her fingers with the hand-held blender. It’s important to unplug the…

Jan 17, 2013 2:59 PM CST