The Legal News

A Florida jury has declared that two men, a flight teacher and one time student pilot, be awarded 53 million dollars. This judgment is against two makers. The jury has decided the manufacturers were at fault for the plane wreck which caused terrible injury to both of the men. The injured men claimed, and the jury concurred, that the manufacturer of the plane’s carburetor, and the engine maker of the small plane, Cessna 150, were aware of the defects which made   the carburator fail,  then then engine to stall out, and consequently the plane to crash. The carburetor manufacturer is reposible for 70% of the award and the engine maker must pay the rest.

I bet the big wigs who scoff the eldery residents in their nursing homes arent smiling now!

Many coporate executives and others figure that the seniors in their homes wont ever get a settlement of any substantial size due to age or preexistiong condition. enter the  case of an 81 year old man who was savagely beaten by the vioelent and mentally ill roommate he was assigned by nursing home staff.

In a few weeks the victim recovered, but he never recovered mentally and emotionally. He became a shell of his former self.  He was never the same. He died 3 years after the beating.

His family members brougth the suit against the nursing home. They descrive him as vibrant, and someone who enjoyed his family and friends to soemone who became withdrawn, apathetic, and frightened.

The family states that the home knew the other man was unstabe and violent, and he should have been discharged, but discharging that viloent man would mean less money for them. SO he was kept in the facility.

The defense attempted to downplay the injuries but medical records don’t lie. 150 million was in punitive damages alone.

The parents of a child killed in a car collision were awarded money damages by a Montana Court. The defective car seat at issue was made and sold by Evenflo. The Plaintiffs case showed proof that Evenflo was aware the car seat had a issue in its design that might lead to the belt hooks snapping; however, they still made the choice to put in on the store shelves. The total jury award is roughly $10 million , several million dollars in punitive damages to punish and hopefully correct the conduct of Evenflo.

75,000 dollars was awarded to Virginia Cavender from a jury in St Louis. The maker of the diet drug Fen-Phen was found in liable when the drug damaged Cavender’s heart valves.

The jury needed just over 6 hours of deliberation before returning the verdict. The jury found the drug compnay failed to warn users and also guilty of breach of implied warranty.

Cavender states shes used Fen-Phen for 2 months in 1996 in an effort to lose weight. Fen-phen was pulled from the stores in 1997 due to growing evidence of links between heart damage and the drug.

cavender won her claims of failure to warn and also breach of implied warranty, but a US judge granted a motion to the drug  manufacturer as a matter of law, the judges dismissed cavender’s claim for negligent failure to test and also breach of express warranty.

A Brooke County Circuit Court jury has  decided that Massey Energy will pay more 219 million in punitive damages to Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation. The suit was in regards to a failure to deliver on  a contract.  The contract states that Massey Energy was to deliver 104,000 tons of coal per month to Wheeling-Pitt monthly.

The suit alleged that CWVE blamed production problems for its inability to deliver per contract. The plaintiff claims however, that the Massey company  rerouting coal from its contract to another marketplace in an effort to make more money.
The jury demanded Massey and CWVE to give Wheeling -Pitt 119 million in  compensation and 50 million each in damges punitive from both defendants.

Wheeling attorneys maintain  that when the price of coal went up worlwide that the defendants would short them coal and ship it worldwide.

Massey counsel is determined to appeal the ruling.
The jury ordered Massey and Central West Virginia Energy to pay Wheeling-Pitt $119.8 million in compensatory damages, as well as $50 million each in punitive damages from both parties. Wheeling-Pitt’s attorney stated that, “When the price of coal went up, Massey started cheating Wheeling-Pitt by shorting it and sending its coal abroad and making millions of dollars.” Massey’s executive vice president, Baxter Phillips, claimed that the company “will most certainly appeal.”

A jury in Virginia awarded 12.2 million dollars to woman. Annette Ritzmann  was walking into a Miller Mart to get a newspaper, when she slipped on a small puddle. The puddle was there because the awning leaked. The impact of her fall snapped her head back quite violently, she had landed on her chin.

She went back to  work at the beauty salon a few days later, but she said she couldnt do multipple tasks or concentrate for any period of time. After a time her doctors diagnosed her with having post concusiion  symptoms. She still suffers from seizures, during which she appears to stare in the distance for lengthy periods of time.

SHe got an attorney who specializes in brain injuroies. her attorneys got Miller mart people  to admit that they knew the danger they had present and they did not correct it.

Judge Reggie Walton resp[onds to neocon scholars who side withScooter Libby.

42 million dollars has been awarded to plaintiffs by a federal judge. The verdict was against Fruit of the Loom.

Fruit of the loom was acsuced of lying to financial analysts in an effort to increase stock value. The people and agencies who purchased stock in the mid 90’s filed the class action suit against the company.

Two settlements were delivered, one for the stock purchased from july,96 to september 97 for 23 million, and the other settlement of 19 million for the purchases made from setember 98, through november 99.

More than 28,000 were involved in the lawsuit.