Personal Injury News: Pick Of Last Month: August-2021
City of Pleasanton To Pay $5.9M Settlement In A Wrongful Death Lawsuit
A jury awarded a $5.9 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit to the family of a man who died in police custody.
The victim was a 38-year-old man living with his parents in the City of Pleasanton. He was suffering from a mental health crisis. His parents notified Paranoid personality disorder of him to officials as they were afraid that their son might encounter police officials and be killed in their custody, considering that some individuals died in such circumstances.
As per the court documents, PPD officers responded to a call where the victim was talking to himself at a grocery store. The victim had broken some bottles at the shop and was cooperative at the beginning, but suddenly stopped responding and just stared blankly at a distance. The officers responded to the situation by handcuffing, punching and piling on the victim.
Additional forces of officers entered the scenario and piled up on the victim. The victim started screaming and resisting the arrest as it can be heard on the video footage of the scenario. Eventually, the victim started to suffocate from the force of eight police officers. Suddenly, the victim stopped responding, and the officers realised he was no more breathing.
The jury showed grief over the victim's death and even showed concern over the unimaginable loss of the family, but the city's settlement agreement will surely give some relief to the family.
$1.55M Settlement In City of Troy Open Fire Case
A settlement of $1.55M has been reached in a court case against the city of Troy where the police officers were accused of shooting a man in a car chase.
As per the court documents, the incident took place in the early morning of April 17, 2016. The former police officer was chasing the car of the victim, who was drunk and driving the car.
The police officer said that the victim sped the car towards him that forced the officer to fire on him. The man was killed at the end of the car chase after he made a U-turn onto the westbound entrance to the Collar City Bridge. The victim's vehicle hit the concrete barricade, and the officer fired on the car's windshield, which resulted in the victim's death.
Initially, none of the parties were ready to settle the lawsuit, but coordinated efforts of the attorneys resulted in a fair settlement. The settlement would sigh relief to all the individuals involved in the case.
Troy City Council's final approval for the settlement is still pending in the case.
Morgantown Firefighters' Holiday Back Pay Suit Might End Soon
A lawsuit over holiday back pay between International Firefighters Local 313 and the city of Morgantown will go before the jury on September 16.
The lawsuits claim that Morgantown paid the firefighter for 12 hours instead of 24 hours of the shift. In January 2020, Charleston officials negotiated a $1.7 million settlement with firefighters over the same issue. The settlement was finalized after seven months, and back pay of 10 years was compensated for more than 160 firefighters.
Earlier, four professional mediators tried to settle the litigation but failed, and the current court date in the lawsuit has come after two-and-a-half years.
The Morgantown city manager revised the policy that resulted in a $2,000 per year pay decrease for 52 firefighters. The manager explained that the policy revision was implemented considering the suggestion from the consultant. The firefighters declined the policy change by showing a vote of no confidence in the policy change.
Firefighters are firm on their stand of getting paid for 24 hours as per the state's statute- five years of corrected back pay even though the city has offered to pay for 18 hours.
New Orleans DA Agrees to $2M Settlement For Exonerated Man
On August 16, 2021, New Orleans District Attorney agreed to a $2 million settlement for an exonerated man who had spent 23 years in prison on rape and murder charges.
Jason Williams, New Orleans Paris District Attorney, states that the plaintiff will get the money in annual installments until 2026.
The plaintiff, now 48 years old, has welcomed this measure of justice as per the statement by his attorneys.
The plaintiff had to battle 23 years to get vacated from all charges. When the plaintiff was 19 years old, he got convict of a string of crimes in the French Quarter. In the year 1996, he was found guilty of rape and robbery. Immediately after the conviction, he pleaded guilty to the murder of a British tourist.
In 2014, a state appeal court vacated the conviction against plaintiff prosecutors under former District Attorney Harry Connick did not give defense lawyers some favorable evidence. The man was released from Louisiana’s prison in 2015 on parole, while in 2017, on his 44th birthday, his guilty plea got vacated by Judge Jerome Winsberg, where prosecutors dropped their bid to retry the rape and robbery charges. In 2018, the exonerated filed a lawsuit against the office for wrongful conviction.
The settlement agreement comes a long time after Williams' office agreed to resolve the remaining claim in a lawsuit from crime victims and witnesses over fake subpoenas used under former District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro. Williams' office has not yet revealed that settlement's terms.
Williams stated in a news release that he intends to keep working until the day when the District Attorney's Office gets free from wrongful-conviction lawsuits that resulted from previous administrations.
Shore Health Settles Overcharge Lawsuit By Paying $9.5M
University of Maryland Shore Regional Health has resolved the lawsuit of overcharging Maryland Medicaid and Medicare programs by paying $9.5 million to the federal and state government.
In June 2016, the lawsuit came up when the whistleblower brought forward claims that Shore Health purposely overcharged the healthcare programs for the services they provide to their beneficiaries. As per the False Claims Act, private citizens can file lawsuits on the government's behalf for fraudulent payment claims under government programs.
Shore Regional Health provides medical healthcare services in its two hospitals situated in the Eastern Shore to patients covered under Medicare or Medicaid programs.
Trena Williamson, the representative from the University of Maryland Shore Regional Health, said in a statement after the settlement that they always commit to having their billing practice in compliance with state and federal requirements. Apart from the $9.5 million to the federal and state government, they have also borne charges for legal costs associated with the matter.
The original complaint accuses the healthcare body of improperly billing the Medicare program since June 2014 for outpatient services by using a provider transaction access number (PTAN) at unregulated facilities.
The Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) fixes the sum Medicare pays with the reimbursement rates for outpatient services at regulated facilities. The HSCRC does not decide the charges for services provided at unregulated healthcare centers.
The Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office and the State of Maryland came to the $9.5 million settlement with UM Shore Regional Health in June 2021, which UM Shore Regional Health deliberately paid. The healthcare system didn't concede obligation for the over-charging in the settlement.
Jury Awards $34.7M to Family of Permanently Disabled Newborn
On Aug 16, 2021, the Baltimore jury awarded nearly $35 million to the family of the permanently disabled boy who had sued MedStar Harbor Hospital.
The boy was one of the twins born at MedStar Harbor Hospital in South Baltimore on Aug 19, 2007. The newborn baby had trouble breathing and, the medical negligence of the hospital caused brain injuries, which will keep him disabled for his entire life.
As per the lawsuit filed by the family, the boy was born almost a month early and initially had apneic, which is a condition that leads to a breathing problem. During delivery, the boy needed bag valve mask ventilation till he can breathe on his own.
After the delivery, the boy was at the Special Care Nursery ward of the hospital at 5 a.m. in healthy condition and can breathe at that time.
According to the lawsuit, the boy got an apneic episode around 5:15 a.m., where he was struggling to breathe. The hospital staff used blowby oxygen and other methods to cure his condition. At around 5:40 a.m., the boy's condition deteriorated further and, his oxygen readings markings were at dangerous levels.
Later that day, a CT scan of the boy at Johns Hopkins Hospital discovered that lack of oxygen supply during delivery has led to permanent brain injuries.
The boy, who is now 14, has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which requires round-the-clock care.
As per the family's attorney statement, the jury has agreed that the hospital was careless and did not take the newborn baby's condition seriously. The boy was left alone to breathe for several minutes. The staff received the alert of declining oxygen level but did not contact the on-call pediatrician till 5:40 in the morning.
The jury awarded the family approximately $1.2M for past medical expenses, $1.4M in future lost earnings, while $32.2M is for medical expenses to incur in the future.