538 results for 'cat:"Wrongful Death"'.
J. Smith finds a lower court properly dismissed product liability claims brought by the wife of a deceased spouse against Home Depot. The wife, now widowed, argued that Home Depot is responsible for her husband's death after he fell from a Telesteps Model 16S ladder and hit his head on a church pew. However, Home Depot presented sufficient evidence in court that the ladder may have not been fully opened and locked at the time of the incident. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: June 22, 2023, Case #: 22-2437, Categories: Negligence, Product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Sales finds a lower court properly ruled in favor of a coroner on a family's breach of duty against a nursing home. The family argued that their decedent, who has Down's Syndrome and suffered from pneumonia, was deprived of adequate medical care before she died of cardiac arrest. However, the coroner presented sufficient evidence in court that the nursing home applied the proper standard of care. Affirmed.
Court: Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Judge: Sales, Filed On: June 22, 2023, Case #: 23UKSC20, Categories: Health Care, wrongful Death
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J. Kleeh grants in part and denies in part the Lewis County Commission and three deputy sheriffs’ motion for summary judgment in a wrongful death suit claiming the deputies contributed to a parolee’s death when, following the parolee’s arrest on an outstanding warrant, they beat and tazed him while he was face-down on the ground. After determining the estate’s seven state clams is just one for wrongful death under different theories of liability, the court finds the deputies’ actions could be interpreted by a jury as “malicious, in bad faith, wanton, or reckless.” In addition to the finding in favor of the county on all the estate’s claims, including a federal Monell claim for the deputies’ possibly unconstitutional actions in violation of local law, custom or policy, the court finds the deputies are entitled to qualified immunity on the estate’s excessive use of force claim, determining it was not clearly established the parolee had a right not be tazed in his encounter with them.
Court: USDC Northern District of West Virginia, Judge: Kleeh, Filed On: June 20, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv47, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, wrongful Death, Police Misconduct
J. Otake partially denies summary judgment to the county in wrongful death complaint against the county and several police officers. In separate case based on the same events that led to a man’s death after police detained him, similar claims of negligence and police misconduct were granted summary judgment but that decision has no bearing on this case and does not preclude the claims in this suit. Although the plaintiffs in both cases are relatives of the decedent, they are not the same relatives and their claims are separate from each other. However, summary judgment is granted as to conspiracy and due process claims due to a lack of sufficient allegations to support the claims.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Otake, Filed On: June 20, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv202, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: wrongful Death, Assault, Police Misconduct
J. Duffin grants Caterpillar’s motion to exclude certain testimony from two experts appearing for the widow in her lawsuit alleging the defective design of one of Caterpillar’s dump trucks led to her husband’s death when the truck he was driving rolled over. One medical professional will not be permitted to opine about whether the husband was conscious for minutes after his accident before he died and another will not be permitted to opine about whether the husband felt pain or terror or suffering before he lost consciousness, as the opinions are either untimely, based on unclear or unsound methodology or they otherwise violate civil procedures. Caterpillar’s motion for oral argument and the widow’s motion for supplemental briefing are both denied.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Duffin, Filed On: June 20, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv1874, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Product Liability, Experts, wrongful Death
J. Barnes finds that the trial court properly granted the city's motion to dismiss a wrongful death action brought by the parents after their son was fatally struck by a car while trying to cross a road that allegedly lacked sufficient crosswalks and other pedestrian safety measures. The parents claimed the city failed to provide timely public school busing, causing their son to try to walk to school the day he was killed. The parents' original ante litem notice did not contain allegations of negligence by the city, instead identifying only the public school system's allegedly negligent acts. The notice therefore failed to substantially comply with the statutory requirements. The amended notice was provided to the city outside the six-month deadline and did not relate back to the date of the original notice. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Barnes, Filed On: June 20, 2023, Case #: A23A0904, Categories: Civil Procedure, wrongful Death
J. Herrera mostly declines to dismiss a civil rights case brought on behalf of a deceased prisoner alleging that healthcare and prison officials were “deliberately indifferent to and recklessly ignored” the medical condition of the deceased man, allegedly ultimately leading to his death. While much of this case can survive, the warden and a top health official should be given qualified immunity on claims that they allegedly made the call to remove the deceased man from life support, because there is not adequate evidence that the two officials personally made this decision and even if they did, they were operating based on the “unanimous medical consensus” of other officials and did not go beyond their official discretion, even if it went against the wishes of the deceased man’s family.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Herrera, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv20, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Health Care, wrongful Death
J. Blacklock finds the court of appeals improperly ruled in favor of the family of a motorist who was killed in a multi-car pile-up caused by a truck driver. After a jury awarded the family over $15 million in noneconomic damages, the truck driver petitioned for judicial review, arguing that the evidence failed to support the amount of damages. The family failed to justify that they experienced the amount awarded to them based on the evidence of the case. Reversed.
Court: Texas Supreme Court, Judge: Blacklock, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 21-0017, Categories: Evidence, Tort, wrongful Death
J. Jackson denies a “bizarre” request by the East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff for reconsideration of an apparently favorable ruling dismissing constitutional claims of medical neglect against him, arising from the death of a pretrial detainee in the parish prison. The sheriff “quibbles” with the order that he alone, as “keeper” of the keys, should respond to the suit because adding the same official-capacity claims against other sued entities is confusing and unnecessary. All constitutional claims have been dismissed against the sheriff, the city-parish, and the jail’s private health contractor. So, barring any reinstatement of claims, revisiting the dismissal order would be “an exercise of impermissible speculation.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: June 14, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv488, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Negligence, wrongful Death
J. Davies finds a lower court properly dismissed an estate administrator's personal injury claims against a hospital. The estate administrator argued that he is entitled to relief after a neurosurgeon injured his father's spinal cord during surgery, which resulted in his eventual death. However, the hospital presented sufficient evidence in court that neurosurgical experts made the decision to move ahead with surgery based on his unbearable pain and discomfort, and that there was no alternative treatment. Affirmed.
Court: Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, Judge: Davies, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: CA-2022-579, Categories: Health Care, wrongful Death
J. Benton finds a lower court improperly granted summary judgment to a City on civil rights claims brought by an estate administrator. The City argued that the estate administrator's decedent, who was holding a gun and threatening suicide, refused to drop his weapon under the command of an officer, who shot and killed him. However, the estate administrator presented sufficient evidence in court that her son removed the gun from his temple before he was shot to death. Reversed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Benton, Filed On: June 12, 2023, Case #: 21-3001, Categories: Civil Rights, wrongful Death
J. Coburn finds that the lower court properly denied a request from PenAir to dismiss a wrongful death suit stemming from a plane crash. The airline moved for the suit to be tossed for lack of personal jurisdiction, but the suit ties to contracts and business that the company was dealing in the state of Washington. Jurisdictional claims fail as a result, and the lower court properly allowed the suit to progress. Affirmed.
Court: Washington Court Of Appeals, Judge: Coburn, Filed On: June 12, 2023, Case #: 83424-0-I, Categories: Jurisdiction, wrongful Death
J. Willet finds the district court properly entered summary judgment in favor of the city in this suit brought by the father of a teenage boy who was killed by an on-duty police officer shooting at a vehicle in which the boy was a passenger as the driver attempted to get away from shots that were fired by an unknown person. The officer was later convicted for murder, and the father claims the city’s use-of-force policy is unconstitutional. The city’s policy does not affirmatively allow officers to use deadly force absent an immediate threat or to rely on subjective factors when evaluating whether to use deadly force. There is no constitutional violation in the official, written policy. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Willet, Filed On: June 9, 2023, Case #: 22-10269, Categories: Constitution, wrongful Death, Police Misconduct
J. Hutchison denies the agency’s extraordinary writ seeking dismissal of wrongful death suit after the lower court denied its motion to dismiss the suit on the grounds the administratrix failed to file a certificate of merit under West Virginia Medical and Professional Liability Act. The court finds the judge committed no error in declining to dismiss, since the agency’s duty to the decedent inmate was “not that of health care provider to a patient, but of custodian to inmate to provide reasonable care and protection from reasonably foreseeable harm.” Writ denied.
Court: West Virginia Supreme Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hutchison, Filed On: June 8, 2023, Case #: 22-777, Categories: Government, wrongful Death, Prisoners' Rights
J. Nucor denies, in part, a steel manufacturer's motion to dismiss a couple's claims related to the death of their son, who died from a gunshot wound after testing an allegedly faulty bullet-proof vest. The couple has adequately pleaded their manufacturing defect claim.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Bell, Filed On: June 7, 2023, Case #: 3:23CV29, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Coghran reverses a trial court’s order dismissing and compelling arbitration of a daughter’s negligence claims against her late mother’s long-term care facility. The arbitration agreement in this case is unenforceable, and it is not necessary to address the daughter’s remaining claims that the nursing home’s arbitration agreement was unconscionable. Reversed and remanded.
Court: Illinois Appellate Court, Judge: Coghlan, Filed On: June 5, 2023, Case #: 220391, Categories: Arbitration, wrongful Death, Elder Abuse
J. Boardman denies a couple leave for their third amended complaint alleging wrongful death, state-created danger and conscience-shocking conduct against a county school board after their daughter’s ex-boyfriend shot and killed her at school. The couple alleges that the board, along with the principal, the school’s security staff and several teachers are at fault for failing to stop the ex-boyfriend, whom they allegedly knew harassed the daughter. However, the couple falls short of plausibly arguing that the board and staff’s knowledge of the boy’s behavior led directly to the girl's death. Those parties also have qualified immunity. All federal claims are dismissed, and the couple are free pursue any state claims.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Boardman, Filed On: June 5, 2023, Case #: 8:20cv161, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Due Process, wrongful Death
J. Molberg finds that the lower court improperly compelled arbitration of the appellant's claims in this wrongful death and survival action. The appellees failed to establish "the existence of a valid, enforceable arbitration agreement," as they only attached an unauthenticated agreement to support their motion. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Molberg, Filed On: June 5, 2023, Case #: 05-21-00904-CV, Categories: Arbitration, wrongful Death, Contract
J. Riggs issues partially redacted findings of fact in a wrongful death suit against a tire company alleging that manufacturing and design defects on a tire led to a deadly car accident. There was “no defect” in the subject tire, the tire company was “not negligent,” and claims centered on alleged negligence or product defects therefore fail.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Riggs, Filed On: June 1, 2023, Case #: 1:17cv922, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Negligence, Product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Martinez grants discovery requests in a lawsuit alleging wrongful death and other claims brought against private-prison company CoreCivic by representatives of a former inmate. CoreCivic must produce not only a “mortality review” conducted after the inmate’s death but also employment applications of two employees involved in the death, which representatives of the deceased inmate argue may show their “truthfulness,” because CoreCivic has not shown why any of this information should be exempt from discovery despite raising a range of privilege defenses.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Martinez, Filed On: June 1, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv256, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: wrongful Death, Discovery, Prisoners' Rights