Vested Interest - Tort Briefs - December 2005 Issue

Settlement for Family of 12-Year-Old Following Cardiac Arrest

The family of a 12-year-old girl who died of cardiac arrest after a medical procedure agreed to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit. The girl was admitted to the hospital for a bowel obstruction, and during surgery the anesthesiologist inserted an adult size catheter in a blood vein to provide nutrition, when pediatric size catheters were available. The catheter pierced the child’s heart, leading to fluids filling up around the organ, which prevented it from beating properly. She suffered cardiac arrests multiple times before she died. (Chicago Daily Law Bulletin – October 27, 2005)

Jury Returns Verdict for Brain Damaged Woman

A Cook County jury returned an award to a woman who suffered a severe brain injury when she was srtuck by a car after stepping from a Chicago Transit Authority bus and stepped into the crosswalk. She now has a tremor in her right arm, difficulty walking and short-term memory problems. She can’t write her name because of the tremor and can’t cut her own food or pick up a beverage to drink it. The jury award was reduced by 47 percent due to her comparative negligence. (Chicago Daily Law Bulletin – October 28, 2005)

Oregon Hospital Settles Class-Action Claim

A settlement was reached in a lawsuit filed on behalf of patients who claim a major nonprofit hospital system overcharged them. The complaint alleges that Providence Hospital System contradicted its stated mission of providing universal access to health care by charging uninsured patients higher rates for the same services than other patients. Similar lawsuits have been filed against hundreds of hospitals in at least 27 states, alleging that tax-exempt nonprofit hospitals charge higher prices to uninsured patients than insured patients. (ATLA Law News Digest – November 3, 2005)

Insurance Rates, Credit Focus of Ruling

The Fair Credit Reporting Act does not allow insurance companies to charge new policy applicants a higher rate based on their credit reports without telling them why, according to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the first federal circuit to rule on this issue. The 9th Circuit’s main holding, reversing an Oregon district court, could clear the way for litigation over insurance companies’ alleged failure to notify consumers when they take "adverse actions" such as raising premiums based on a consumer’s credit report. The court also cautioned insurance companies in the case before it that they must not rely on "creative lawyering’ to generate "implausible" legal opinions that purport to relieve them of "their clear statutory responsibilities." (ATLA Law News Digest – November 3, 2005)

Law Doesn’t Require Punitive Damage Coverage

The Mississippi Supreme Court says insurance companies aren’t required by law to cover punitive damage awards in their automobile liability policies, but they can if they want. The Supreme Court said the insurance commissioner misinterpreted a previous court decision when he denied requests from two companies to amend their Mississippi automobile insurance policies to exclude liability for punitive damages. Shelter Mutual Insurance Co. and Shelter General Insurance Co. filed the requests in 2002. (ATLA Law News Digest – November 3, 2005)

Family Wins Settlement in Toxic Mold Claim

A family who claims toxic mold in their home caused brain damage in their baby has reached a settlement against a lumber company and 16 other defendants. The parents said their child became sick because of mold on framing studs that had been improperly stored by the lumber company. The lumber company settled the day after the judge barred the wood supplier from using 10 of its 17 experts, including a toxicologist and a microbiologist. The judge excluded the experts because a defense lawyer missed a deadline for designating witnesses and backdated a document to cover it up. (MSNBC.com – November 4, 2005)

Police Union Liable for Retaliation

A Massachusetts jury recently awarded damages to a former police officer who said she was retaliated against by her union for saying she was sexually harassed by male colleagues during a union-sponsored outing. (ATLA Law News Digest – November 10, 2005)

Supreme Court Backs Workers in Pay Dispute

The Supreme Court ruled that companies must pay workers for the time it takes to change into protective clothing and safety gear and walk to their workstations. The issue was one of two the justices settled, both in unanimous decisions. They were the first rulings under the leadership of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in the fall term. In an opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens, the court upheld a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in favor of workers at a meat processing plant in Pasco, Washington. (ATLA Law News Digest – November 10, 2005)

TLPJ Wins Public Access to Decision Revealing Destruction of Evidence

Victims of auto cases are no longer forbidden from seeing, discussing and questioning auto industry expert witness Robert Gratzinger about a scathing court decision finding that Gratzinger and the American Honda Motor Company "deliberately" destroyed evidence in a high-stakes auto safety case. The blistering 36-page decision, which sanctioned Honda for trying to "win by cheating," was unsealed in a legal challenge by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. The decision finds Honda and Gratzinger "wrongfully and intentionally altered the most significant physical evidence in the case." (ATLA Law News Digest – November 10, 2005)

Ford Failed to Warn about Danger

Shortly after a Florida jury ruled against Ford Motor Co, paraplegic Tami Martin said she would give half her award back if the automobile company agreed to forgo an appeal and start warning people not to use reclining seats while driving. (ATLA Law News Digest –November 10, 2005)

Gay Partners Entitled to State Employee Benefits

The Alaska Supreme Court has rejected a ban on benefits for same-sex partners of public workers, stirring up a political controversy over the reach of the state’s seven-year-old constitutional amendment limiting marriage to "one man and one woman." In a unanimous decision, the court said the Marriage Amendment doesn’t bar every challenge to government policies that distinguish between opposite-sex and same-sex couples. "That the Marriage Amendment effectively prevents same-sex couples from marrying does not automatically permit the government to treat them differently in other ways," wrote Justice Robert L. Eastaugh. Instead, the Marriage Amendment ultimately boxed the government into an unconstitutional equal protection corner. Because the Marriage Amendment prohibits same-sex couples from marrying in Alaska while unmarried opposite-sex couples can marry, Eastaugh wrote, the proper comparison groups for an equal protection analysis under state law were same-sex and opposite-sex couples, rather than married and unmarried couples. (ATLA Law News Digest – November 17, 2005)

Settlement for Driver Whose Legs Were Crushed

A trucker whose legs were crushed while freight was being shifted on his truck, agreed to a settlement on the second day of jury deliberations following a week long trial. The Wisconsin trucker went to pick up a load of steel coils at a shipping facility. A forklift operator employed by the facility agreed to arrange other freight on the trailer to accommodate the steel. The freight slipped off the forklift and fell on the trucker’s legs, resulting in amputation of the left leg above the knee and surgical repair of his right leg. (Chicago Daily Law Bulletin – November 14, 2005)

Colorado Bad-Faith Verdict

A Boulder jury awarded a former University of Colorado math professor nearly $3 million. The professor sought $125,000, 85 percent of his actual lost wages, during a year-long sabbatical following a 2003 car accident that left him with a brain injury and mangled arm. After a four-day trial, the jury deliberated two hours to conclude the professor was entitled to much more, including $1.1 million in punitive damages and $1.1 million for pain and suffering. The jury found against his insurer American Family Mutual Insurance Co. for breach of contract and ruled the defendant’s refusal to pay the $125,000 claim was "willful and wanton." (ATLA Law News Digest – November 17, 2005)