Vested Interest - Tort Briefs - October 2001 Issue

Judge’s punitive damage awards found comparable to juries’

An extensive review of punitive damage awards by both judges and juries in state courts finds “no meaningful judge-jury differences” in either the likelihood or amounts of such awards. The empirical study covered a year of trial outcomes, from both judges and juries, in trial courts of 45 large counties – nearly 9,000 trials in all. Although there is a somewhat greater spread among jury awards, they say, few jury awards are outside the range judges might be expected to make. (Liability & Insurance Week – July 30, 2001)

Los Angeles agrees to settle more lawsuits

The city and county of Los Angeles agreed to settle more lawsuits related to law enforcement. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors offered to pay $27 million to settle lawsuits by jail inmates who said they were held too long, unlawfully searched or, in some cases, illegally held because of erroneous warrants. The City Council approved a $3.75 million settlement for police officer Teresa Schell, who was demoted and fired after she testified against the department in a lawsuit. She won a jury award of $3.6 million from the city in June, plus a total of $750,000 from two individual police officials. (Liability & Insurance Week – August 20, 2001)

New York doctors sue six HMOs

Six HMOs were hit with lawsuits by the Medical Society of New York and six individual doctors in a separate filing seeking class action status. The lawsuits allege the plans harmed patients and breached contracts by denying medically necessary care, reducing reimbursements and denying claims. Defendants are Aetna, Cigna, Empire Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Excellus, Oxford and United Healthcare. The Medical Society says they account for nearly half the managed care contracts in the state. (Liability & Insurance Week – August 20, 2001)

South Africa sued over absence of AIDS drug

South African AIDS activists and doctors sued their government demanding it distribute a key AIDS drug that could slash the number of babies born with HIV by half. By refusing to make the AIDS drug nevirapine widely available to HIV-infected pregnant women, the government is denying women and children their constitutional rights to health care, according to the suit filed by the Treatment Action Campaign, an umbrella group of AIDS activists. A German drug company has offered the drug free to developing countries, but South Africa has yet to accept the offer. (Chicago Tribune – August 22, 2001)

Europe’s first tobacco suit planned in Spain

The Andalusia government recently announced plans to file a lawsuit next month against five international tobacco corporations, seeking reimbursement for public health expenses incurred to treat smokers. Backers and local media say the lawsuit, modeled on successful litigation by state governments in the United States, would be the first of its kind in Europe. The main goals of the suit will be to prove a legal responsibility of tobacco firms for health care costs and to set a precedent. The five corporations targeted are Philip Morris, Brown & Williamson, Canary Islands’ Cita, French-Spanish company Altadis and Japan’s JT International, which together produce more than 90 percent of cigarettes sold in Andalusia. (Chicago Tribune – August 20, 2001)

Federal jury backs woman strip-searched at O’Hare

A federal jury found Customs Service inspectors intentionally inflicted emotional distress by strip-searching a former Chicago woman at O’Hare International Airport and recommended she be awarded $129,750 in damages, including $112,625 for emotional pain and suffering and $17,125 for future psychiatric care. Prosecutors contended the inspectors were just doing their jobs when they patted her down, strip-searched her and sent her to a hospital for an X-ray after she returned by jet to O’Hare from a four-day camping trip to Jamaica. (Chicago Tribune – August 22, 2001)

Blood bank settles case for $650,000

The Chicago office of the EEOC won a $650,000 settlement from a not-for-profit blood bank. The agency accused the blood bank of discriminating against 23 disabled employees. Blood Systems Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona, agreed to pay the settlement to former workers it had terminated after they were disabled for 120 days. Blood Systems’ policy of automatically firing workers after 120 days of disability, without considering whether they could return to work after a little more time off, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Chicago Tribune – August 22, 2001)

Doctor’s error costs hospital $883,000

A Macon County, Illinois jury awarded $883,000 to a 51-year-old man who was injured when doctors accidentally left a sponge inside him during a 1995 surgery. The man suffered a ruptured blood vessel in his abdomen when he collided with a parking gate. The sponge was left inside after a second surgery, and six weeks later caused an infection that required a third surgery. He was awarded $450,000 for pain and suffering, $363,000 for loss of normal life and $70,000 for past and future medical expenses. (AP – August 26,2001)

Northwestern sued over death of football player

Bicyclist seeks to sue City of Chicago

A bicyclist who was injured when riding on a Chicago street wants the Illinois Supreme Court to grant the ok to proceed with a suit against the city of Chicago for not keeping up the road well enough for cyclists. The bicyclist contends that cyclists are intended users of the streets in Chicago because an ordinance makes it a crime for adults to ride on sidewalks. The city’s Law Department maintains that bicyclists are permitted on roads it maintains, but that doesn’t mean they are the intended users of the streets. (Chicago Daily Law Bulletin – August 27, 2001)

Stephen King reaches settlement with insurer

Stephen King’s insurance company settled a lawsuit with the horror writer by donating $750,000 to the hospital that cared for him after a car hit him two years ago. King sued One Beacon Insurance for $10 million in February, claiming it failed to provide full coverage for injuries he suffered in the accident. (Chicago Tribune – September 4, 2001)

Injured trucker awarded $3.2 million

A Cook County jury awarded a truck driver $3.2 million as the result of his injuries sustained in an accident using a leased commercial truck. The $4 million verdict was reduced to $3.2 million because of plaintiff’s contributory negligence. Plaintiff’s wife also received $320,000 for loss of consortium. The plaintiff argued the driver’s-side exterior grab handle was missing, causing him to fall. Defendant could not produce the contract signed by plaintiff documenting the condition of the truck. (Chicago Daily Law Bulletin – September 7, 2001)

California judge throws out red-light camera tickets

A San Diego judge has thrown out 292 traffic tickets issued to drivers after cameras recorded they had run red lights. The judge called the camera evidence inadmissible because of the lack of oversight for the city’s program and because the company which installed and operated the cameras collected a set fee of $70 for each of the tickets issued. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates drivers who run red lights account for more than 750 deaths and more than 200,000 injuries each year. (Liability & Insurance Week – September 10, 2001)

$1,050,000 award against physicians for breached standard of care delivery

A judge entered a dismissal order for $1,050,000 for the injuries a newborn sustained during the course of delivery. The infant sustained a brachial plexus injury to the right arm when the delivering physicians failed to utilize the health care appropriate maneuvers to relieve shoulder dystocia. (Press Release - August 29, 2001)

CVS to pay $4 million to settle false prescription claims suit

The Justice Department announced CVS Corporation, a retail pharmacy chain, has paid $4 million for submitting false prescription claims to government health insurance programs. The Department said CVS had cooperated with the federal investigation into allegations some of its drugstores had dispensed partial or “short” prescriptions due to insufficient stock, but had billed the government health insurance programs for the full quantities prescribed. (Liability & Insurance Week – September 10, 2001)

Nicor gas facing several suits over mercury spills

Since Nicor Gas admitted that small amounts of mercury had dribbled out of some gas regulators it had been replacing, lawsuits against the company have stacked up and the company has set aside $148 million to pay for cleanup and claims from homeowners. The Illinois Department of Public Health reports that no cases of mercury poisoning have resulted from the Nicor episode. Residents of a high-profile area most affected fear long-term health damage from the exposure, and some individual lawsuits have been incorporated into a potential class-action lawsuit. (Chicago Tribune – September 11, 2001)

Transit Authority required to furnish copy of notice requirements

Plaintiff was injured on a Chicago Transit Authority bus and filed a written notice of her injury with the CTA. A trial court dismissed the complaint for failure to comply with section 41 notice requirements. An Illinois Appellate Court ruled the trial court erred in dismissing plaintiff’s complaint because the CTA failed to provide plaintiff with a copy of section 41 requirements within ten days of receiving plaintiff’s cause of action. (Chicago Daily Law Bulletin – September 6, 2001)