Personal Injury News: Pick Of Last Month: July-2023

Man Who Suffered Brain Damage Gets Record Breaking $16.1M

A man who experienced significant problems following what ought to have been a routine operation was awarded a malpractice judgment of a record-breaking 16 million dollars.
 
This decision came in a case before the Fifth Circuit Court. A young man who now has lifelong brain damage received millions from the jury after a three-week trial, including hundreds of witnesses and documents.
 
The affected guy, a 26-year-old marketing manager who had recently relocated to Nashville and had a video CV looking for a job in Music City, was described in the case as thus. He underwent what ought to have been a standard gall bladder operation soon after getting to Nashville.
 
He later experienced a major bile leak, a digestive fluid leak, which his doctors failed to adequately treat. This bile accumulated in his abdomen as a result of his suffering, even spilling out the side of his belly. This ultimately resulted in cardiac arrest, strokes, and irreversible brain damage. 
 
The jury arrived at a decision in about eight hours following a trial that lasted over a month. The victim's illness was blamed on two physicians from Tristar Skyline Hospital and their practice group.
 
According to the plaintiff's counsel, this might have been avoided if the doctors had adhered to the accepted standards of care. The plaintiff received the $16.1 million award from the jury as payment for his lifetime treatment. 
 
The trial has concluded. Despite the ruling, the lawsuit is not yet over. The appeal of such judgment is anticipated.

J&J To Pay $18.8M To Cancer Patient In Baby Powder Suit

A Californian man claimed that exposure to Johnson & Johnson's baby powder caused him to get cancer, and the company must now pay him $18.8 million.

The company's efforts to resolve hundreds of similar lawsuits involving its talc-based products in U.S. bankruptcy court have been thwarted by a jury decision.

The plaintiff who sued J&J in a California state court in Oakland last year demanding financial damages was successful in getting his case heard by the jury. The plaintiff claims that heavy exposure to the company's talc beginning in his early years caused him to acquire mesothelioma, a fatal malignancy, in the tissue around his heart. The six-week trial was the first talc-related case that J&J, located in New Brunswick, New Jersey, had to deal with in over two years.

The jury decided that the plaintiff was entitled to damages to cover his medical expenses and agony and suffering, but they decided against punishing the firm with punitive damages. Thanks to a bankruptcy court ruling freezing much of J&J's talc case, the plaintiff won't be able to collect the judgment anytime soon.

In a statement, J&J's vice president of litigation said the company will appeal the decision since it was incompatible with decades of independent scientific reviews that found Johnson's Baby Powder to be safe, free of asbestos, and unable to cause cancer.

J&J's attorneys said there was no proof that the plaintiff had ever been exposed to contaminated talc or that his specific kind of mesothelioma could be linked to asbestos in their closing remarks to the jury on July 10. In their final remarks, the plaintiff's attorneys charged J&J with covering up asbestos contamination for decades in a "despicable" manner.

In his testimony before the jury in June, the plaintiff said that if he had been informed that J&J's talc included asbestos, as his case claims, he would have avoided it. The mother of the plaintiff spoke before the jury, claiming that she often applied J&J's baby powder to her son during his infancy and boyhood. She sobbed as she talked about her son's condition.

Numerous lawsuits have been filed by individuals who claim that J&J's baby powder and other talc products occasionally contained asbestos and contributed to the development of ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. According to J&J, its talc products are risk-free and free of asbestos, which has been associated with mesothelioma.

LTL Management, a J&J company, filed for bankruptcy in Trenton, New Jersey, in April with a plan to pay $8.9 billion to resolve more than 38,000 complaints and stop further litigation. After a federal appeals court rejected an earlier offer, it was the company's second effort to settle talc claims in bankruptcy.

The U.S. Chief Bankruptcy Judge, who is in charge of LTL's Chapter 11, allowed this trial to go on despite the fact that most litigation is put on hold during bankruptcy procedures since the plaintiff is only anticipated to survive for a limited time.

Asbestos litigants are requesting that LTL's most recent bankruptcy filing be dismissed since this type of mesothelioma is incredibly uncommon and makes his case distinct from the vast majority of cases now pending against J&J. They contend that the file was made in bad faith in an effort to shield the business from legal action.

In contrast to trial courts, which they have compared to a "lottery" in which some litigants receive significant damages while others receive nothing, J&J and LTL have contended that bankruptcy distributes settlement compensation to plaintiffs more fairly, effectively, and equitably.

The expenses of J&J's talc-related judgments, settlements, and legal fees have reportedly totaled roughly $4.5 billion, according to bankruptcy court records.

Jury Awards $1.4M To A Nursing Home Patient In New York

A patient in an Oswego nursing home who had to have his left leg amputated below the knee received a $1.4 million award from an arbitrator.

The arbitrator ruled that the care and treatment provided to a 64-year-old man from Constantia by St. Luke Health Services, 299 E. River Road, Oswego, breached minimal requirements for nursing home care and constituted negligence.

The man was hospitalized to St. Luke in November 2019 for brief rehabilitation. St. Luke noted that he felt a pressure sore on his left heel one week later. His leg had to be amputated in the end because the pressure sore ultimately grew infected.

St. Luke was the target of the lawsuit filed in Oswego County Supreme Court in August 2020. St. Luke contested the accusations and asked for the case to be dismissed.

The plaintiff's lawyer said that before filing the lawsuit, he took special care to carefully review the pertinent medical documents to ensure that St. Luke was, in fact, accountable for what had occurred to his client. He said that he discussed the matter with a vascular surgeon, a registered nurse, and a physician with experience in nursing homes.

In March 2023, the case was scheduled to go to trial after two and a half years of litigation. Both parties allegedly consented to binding arbitration on the eve of the trial, which took place in Buffalo in early May.

The lawyer said he presented proof before the arbitration showing St. Luke had neglected to take even the most basic precautions to prevent the pressure sore on his client's heel. He claimed that St. Luke neglected to administer basic care after the sore appeared, neglected to arrange a meeting with a vascular expert, and neglected to let the attending physician know that the patient had a pressure sore on his heel.

The plaintiff was discharged from St. Luke after five weeks, despite the wound showing no signs of progress. He also left without having a vascular consultation or having his attending physician notified about the pressure sore or the fact that he was in danger of infection and amputation.

The arbitrator determined that St. Luke was irresponsible in its care and treatment and that it had violated the state's Public Health Law, which provides basic requirements for nursing home care.

For pain and suffering, past and future medical costs, and legal fees, the arbitrator awarded $1.9 million. The attorney said that because the arbitrator found St. Luke to be 75% at fault, the sum was reduced to $1.4 million.

Boat Crash Victim Gets $15M In Wrongful Death Settlement

The family of a 19-year-old lady who perished on a boat owned by the well-known Murdaugh family in South Carolina in 2019 has struck a $15 million settlement deal with the proprietor of a convenience store.

The lady, who was 19, passed away on February 23, 2019, while sailing aboard the Murdaugh family's boat along the South Carolina coast, reportedly under the influence of alcohol. The boat was being driven by the son of a discredited attorney when it collided with a bridge close to Parris Island, throwing numerous people overboard.

Eight days later, a little more than five miles from the crash scene, the woman's body was discovered. The boat's operator is accused of buying alcohol earlier that day at a Parker's Corporation convenience shop without a valid ID using his mother's credit card and his elder brother's ID. In a wrongful death case, Parker's attorney reached a $15 million settlement with the family.

Additional boat passengers, according to the plaintiff's attorney, also resolved their lawsuits with Parker's. The Beach family and the lawsuit were settled in January. The boat driver was found guilty in a high-profile trial and given a life sentence for the slayings of his wife and kid in June 2021.

The fight in the suit is still not over for the woman's family. The |LS|civil|RS| conspiracy case is still pending, and the attorneys are eager to reveal the corruption and lengths to which Parker's was prepared to go in order to threaten and harass the family in an effort to weaken their resolve to hold those responsible for their daughter's avoidable death accountable.

Paralyzed Cyclist Gets $10M From Washington State County

After more than six years, a cyclist who was paralyzed from the neck down in a collision on a King County route received the justice he had been seeking.

The plaintiff was an enthusiastic biker who rode his bike a great deal. When he collided with a metal bollard, a post meant to stop cars from driving on bike routes, he lost his passion for riding forever. In March 2017, the 67-year-old struck the post after failing to notice it amid the Green River Trail.

The plaintiff reportedly tumbled over and shattered his neck, according to the lawyer. He was rendered quadriplegic at that point.

He required a ventilator for almost seven months. He was never going to get off, doctors said, but he did. When the plaintiff hit the post, he was traveling at roughly 15 mph, shattering his carbon fiber frame in two. On the day of the collision, it was cloudy, wet, and foggy.

The plaintiff's counsel claims that riders do not frequently see these metal posts. About ten years before the plaintiff's accident, the federal authorities advised against using them except in extremely limited cases when there is a known history of motor vehicles joining the route. The history of this specific area was nonexistent.

Additionally, court records demonstrate that the Federal Highway Administration is aware of the dangers associated with bollards in general and cautions that even bollards that have been 'properly' erected still pose a major and even deadly safety risk to inexperienced trail users. According to the lawyer, the plaintiff's credibility became crucial to the case. He firmly said that he was paying attention, as he always does, but that he simply did not notice this specific bollard.

The director of King County's Department of Natural Resources and Parks said, while we may never know the precise circumstances surrounding the cause of the plaintiff's injury on our trail, King County Parks wants to express our sympathy to the Schwartz family and our continuing commitment to make our system as safe as reasonably possible for our park and trail users.

When the lawsuit was initially brought, King County successfully argued that it should be dismissed. The Pierce County Superior Court decision was subsequently challenged by the attorney, and the Court of Appeals decided in the plaintiff's favor.

King County then appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which found in the plaintiff's favor, and remanded the matter to the trial court for a jury trial. The trial had been planned for August 2023, but after a full day of mediation, a deal was reached and there was no trial.

The county ultimately agreed to pay $10 million to settle the case, thus recognizing that the plaintiff was not solely to blame.

CA Man Paralyzed From Police Traffic Check Gets $20M

A guy from Northern California who was knocked to the ground during a traffic check and suffered paralysis received one of the highest settlements of $20 million in state history.

In 2022, an army veteran from Yuba City filed a lawsuit against the police force after they employed pain compliance methods and showed scepticism when he repeatedly shouted out, "I can't feel my legs." According to a video supplied by the plaintiff's attorneys, police officers also dismissed the plaintiff when he yelled, "I can't breathe," while being placed facedown on a hospital lawn.

In April 2020, the guy was charged with driving while intoxicated and caused a slow-speed accident. He had two procedures to fuse his spine after suffering a fractured neck. He claimed that because of the officers' use of force, he is no longer able to move or take care of himself and would require 24-hour nursing care for the rest of his life. The plaintiff's counsel declared, "We are not against the police." We support the police, but when it happens, we oppose police brutality.

The agreement is among the biggest in California's recorded history regarding police misbehaviour. In May, the state agreed to pay $24 million to the family of a man who passed away while being held by police after yelling, "I can't breathe," while being detained by several cops as they attempted to draw blood.

According to the agreement, Yuba City will also begin inspecting bodycam footage taken by officers and assessing instances of use of force at random. He offered the man an apology at a press conference.

The man claimed that the police changes are crucial to preventing incidents like his from happening again. He is giving the California Peace Officers' Memorial Foundation $20,000 in his honour.

Additionally, the guy sued Rideout Memorial Hospital in Marysville and the University of California, Davis Medical Centre separately in 2021, claiming that their activities contributed to his health. Invoking client confidentiality, the plaintiff's lawyer declined to comment on the claims' progress.

The plaintiff's attorneys provided a police body camera footage in which an officer can be seen twisting the man's already shackled arms and forcing him to sit down on a grass. The man screamed repeatedly that he couldn't feel his legs or breathe, and at one point cops threw him to the ground and kept him face down.

A democratic governor of California signed a measure outlawing certain facedown holds that have caused several unintentional fatalities in September 2021. The purpose of the law was to broaden the state's ban on chokeholds following a homicide.

CA Jury Awards $9M To Injured Man In DUI Suit

A man who suffered serious injuries in a traffic collision in Lancaster in 2017 caused by a drunk driver has received a settlement of about $9 million.

The plaintiff's lawsuit against a drunk driver resulted in a $8.9 million jury verdict in the Los Angeles Superior Court. The defendant, who did not show up during the trial, was eventually represented by MetLife insurance in the matter.

In the case, it is claimed that on January 13, 2017, the plaintiff and his wife were returning from dinner on Avenue N when the drunk defendant sped into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with their vehicle, leaving the plaintiff with serious fractures and a traumatic brain damage. According to the lawsuit, the defendant's breathalyzer result during a field sobriety test was.101, far higher than the.08 DUI threshold.

The primary plaintiff's attorney stated, "You just had to look at our client to realise that he had a long and challenging road to rehabilitation ahead of him. However, MetLife would claim that his wounds weren't serious and that he could resume living a regular life.

The plaintiff was partially to blame for the collision, according to MetLife experts retained for the case.