Personal Injury News: Pick of Last Month: Aug-2019

Hamilton County Jury awarded $3 million to a plaintiff against Jack Casino after she fell by a collapsed “wet floor” sign in September 2016.

According to her attorney, the customers knocked the sign, and a Jack employee, walked around it but failed to pick up moments before she tripped over it. Plaintiff suffered from a broken knee cap, and metal hardware was placed in her knee. She also stated that the casino had no safety policies in place for floor inspection or fall prevention and had no criticism of the employee’s who failed to pick up the trip hazard. 

The defense attorney argued that the sign remained visible and the plaintiff failed to pay attention to her surroundings. A Hamilton County Common Pleas jury found that the defendant failed to use ordinary care for the plaintiff and to maintain a safe environment which resulted in an injury. The complaint stated that plaintiff suffered from permanent bodily injury, endured pain, suffering, and the fall led to her losing the "enjoyment of her good health."

Baltimore jury awarded $229 million to the plaintiff and her daughter in the verdict against John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center for brain damage that resulted from misdiagnosis of preeclampsia during labor and delivery. 

Plaintiff was 25 weeks pregnant when she got admitted to Hopkins Bayview Medical Center after showing signs of severe preeclampsia. Doctors told her that the baby was viable outside the womb, but the baby would die or be severely brain-damaged if she undergoes the cesarean section in the delivery. The plaintiff indicated that she declined a C-section procedure based on doctors’ recommendations.

The allegations raised at trial stated that the doctors' recommendations were incorrect, and as she did not go through a c-section delivery, her daughter suffered oxygen deprivation which led to brain damage and cerebral palsy. The $229 million jury verdict is one of the largest verdict medical malpractice lawsuits.

On May 15, 2019, a Suffolk County jury settled a $30.6 million medical malpractice lawsuit that alleged the defendants, Cross Country Staffing of negligence in the medical process that resulted in brain injury to the newborn. The incident took place in January 2013 when the parents of the injured child rushed to the hospital as the mother was pregnant and required urgent medical treatment. The lawyer for the plaintiffs said that the kid was not breathing and had almost no heartbeat during his birth. The neck of the child was wrapped in the umbilical cord of the mother that resulted in severe brain injuries to the baby.

A city sanitation worker won $8.5 million against National Grid NY, in the lawsuit filed six years ago when he was injured at the sidewalk trench as it collapsed beneath him at New Drop beach.

According to the plaintiff’s lawyer, the plaintiff was making his rounds on January 29, 2013, on Isernia Avenue, when the incident occurred. While traversing the sidewalk, he stepped on a metal plate on the sidewalk, and his right leg plunged into the hole beneath the plate, causing him injuries.

The court filing stated that he suffered injuries on the spine, shoulder, knee, ankle, and abdomen, which resulted in 10 surgeries and a right knee replacement. He also suffered from traumatic brain injury. The plaintiff alleged that the defendants failed to cover the trench properly and adequately secure the area around it. He further alleged that they also failed to set up any warnings or barriers to protect pedestrians.

The plaintiff sued Brooklyn Union Gas, doing business as National Grid NY, as well as Hallen Construction Company, the contractor, in Brooklyn state Supreme Court.

In a medical malpractice lawsuit against a prison medical staff, a former Virginia inmate won more than $1 million for improperly treating his broken finger.

The plaintiff sued Armor Correctional Health Services Inc. after his release from Lunenburg Correctional Center in 2017. According to the court documents, he fractured a finger bone in the prison recreation yard for which the medical staff only gave him an ice pack, ignoring the X-rays that revealed he could need surgery. 

The complaint details that Armor - including three nurses - either denied or delayed any additional treatment or imaging for his hand. It also stated that he had to wait for over 100 days before being taken to a specialist, who confirmed his hand had healed wrong.

A total settlement of $1,058,761, with $700,000 of that amount in compensatory damages and over $300,000 in punitive damages was awarded to the plaintiff.

A 19-year legal struggle ended with three former makers of lead paint agreeing to pay $305 million to settle lead paint lawsuits brought by several communities of California.

The lead paint settlement was disclosed in a filing in Santa Clara County Superior Court on July 17, according to which defendants Sherwin-Williams, ConAgra Grocery Products Co. and NL Industries agreed to pay out the sum over six years, starting with a $75 million payment later this year. The allegations stated that the paint suppliers knew how dangerous lead contained in their products, but hid that data from the public. An initial verdict was passed in 2014, ordering the companies to pay $1.1 billion in damages, which was later overruled in 2017 stating that they could only be held responsible for lead paint in housing that predates 1951.

The settlement would benefit the counties of Alameda, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solana, and Ventura. The cities of Oakland, San Diego, and San Francisco are also included. Similar lawsuits have been filed against lead paint manufacturers other states, including Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.

Earlier, in June 2019, three plaintiffs were awarded $6 million in damages, $2 million each for the effects of lead poisoning. The lawsuit was settled in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Major paint manufacturers, Armstrong Container Corp., Sherwin Williams, American Cyanamid Company, Atlantic Richfield Co., and DuPont were the defendants. Plaintiffs alleged that they contracted lead poisoning due to lead exposure in their childhood.

Children are vulnerable to lead poisoning for decades. Most landlords and owners of dilapidated properties face such lawsuits due to the toxic paint that peels off the wall that risks the lives of children.

A man who lost both his legs after an accident at the Dura-Bond Coating Inc. pipe yard facility in Duquesne in 2013, has been awarded $10.6M as settlement.

According to the lawsuit, the man was delivering eight 5,000-pound pipes which he picked up from Camden, N.J. After reaching Dura-Bond yard and while the pipes were being unloaded with a Pettibone Cary-Lift, one pipe dislodged and fell off the trailer bed, knocking him to the ground and crushing his legs. His legs had to be amputated after the accident. The incident dates back to Dec. 24, 2013.

A lawsuit was filed against Dura-Bond for failing to properly inspect the cargo of eight 42-foot-long steel pipes. The negligence lawsuit against Dura-Bond Coating of Duquesne was settled in July, granting the verdict in favor of the plaintiff.

The defendant parties in St. Louis announced $47 million settlement over boiler explosion lawsuit filed by injured plaintiffs against them alleging that they failed to include corrosion allowance on the pressure vessel and owners failed to do proper water chemistry treatment, sediment removal, and inspections which resulted in a boiler explosion.

A boiler explosion occurs, and, in 2017, and in April, at the Loy-Lange-Saint-Louis-the property. The explosion drove a single one-ton boiler, by means of the buildings and the roof, sending it down into the laundry room, killing four and injuring three others.

On April 3, 2017, a 3000-pound pressurized steam container exploded at the Loy-Lange Box Company facility on Russell Avenue. The container flew 500 feet high before landing into the Faultless Linen Facility. It resulted in killing one person and injuring two at Loy-Lange, while three or more were killed at Faultless Linen.

Those who died included Kenneth Trentham, who died in the plant, and Clifford Lee, Christopher Watkins, and Tonya Gonzalez-Suarez, who was died when the boiler fell into Faultless Healthcare Linen nearby. Those at the linen organization were starting their first day on the job.

In this case, resulted in four of the trials for the accidental death claims for personal injury or two to recover damages for damage to property to Kickham boiler rooms, and Technology, Chicago Boiler Company, Aquacomp for Water Treatment, the Loy-Lange, and, Incorporated.

Lawsuits were consolidated for trial before Judge Micheal Noble in St. Louis. A two-day mediation was conducted by retired Judge Glenn Norton. During the mediation, plaintiffs reached the settlements with Kickham Boiler and Engineering, Chicago Boiler Company, Aquacomp Water Treatment Services, Loy‐Lange, Clayton Industries, and Arise Incorporated.

According to a local news channel report by KSDK.com, the boiler explosion settlement fixes all of the remaining cases, and resulted in the manufacturers paying $21 million, inspection consultants Arise Incorporated giving $17.5 million, and Loy Lange giving $4 million. The organization that was supposed to do the maintenance of the boiler will give $728,000. The accord comes out of mediation meetings in June 2019.

Even if the settlement of the lawsuit, the case has still left concerns in the St. Louis area after local news channels produced stories, sometimes involving anonymous inspectors, who say the city is not doing proper boiler inspections and maintenance, and that such incidents were inevitable.