17 results for 'cat:"Damages" AND cat:"Wrongful Death"'.
J. Countiss finds that the trial court improperly entered a $222 million judgment favor of the widow of a worker killed in a steam accident at a coal-fired power plant in Kansas. The jury's damages award was excessive and the result of improper arguments the widow's attorney made encouraging the jury to punish the industrial services provider, which had serviced the plant's relief valves. Furthermore, the trial court improperly applied Texas law, instead of Kansas law, when finding that the provider was 100% responsible for the damages. Also, the case belongs in Kansas, so the jury award is vacated and the case dismissed for forum non conveniens. Vacated.
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge: Countiss, Filed On: May 16, 2024, Case #: 01-22-00313-CV, Categories: damages, wrongful Death, Venue
J. Bahr finds that the district court improperly entered judgment after a jury awarded a total of $175 million of noneconomic damages to individuals and denied a driver's motion for new trial in a wrongful death suit following a DUI matter. A driver alleges he is entitled to a new trial because injured parties and decedents' loved ones improperly referred to alcohol at the trial, despite the court’s prior ruling that evidence relating to his intoxication was not admissible. The award was excessive and the jury improperly speculated as to the damages. Reversed.
Court: North Dakota Supreme Court, Judge: Bahr, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: 2024ND80, Categories: damages, wrongful Death
J. Smith finds the district court improperly found the insurer owed the racing event organizer a duty to defend. The organizer sought legal defense when injured parties and estates of deceased sued after a vehicle careened into the crowd of spectators. A motor vehicle exclusion unambiguously excludes coverage for the damages at issue. The policy is not "illusory," as claimed by the organizer, as it does cover spectator slip and falls. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Smith , Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 23-50336, Categories: Insurance, damages, wrongful Death
J. Pipkin finds that the trial court properly denied the company's motion to set aside the default judgment and $25 million damages award entered against it in a wrongful death, product liability and negligence action brought by the estate administrator. The action arose after the decedent was pulled into a steel wire manufacturing machine and decapitated. The trial court correctly found that the company waived any argument that apportionment of the damages was required or appropriate when it failed to appear at the damages trial. The defaulting companies also failed to present any evidence on apportionment. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Pipkin, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: A23A1697, Categories: damages, Product Liability, wrongful Death
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J. Logue finds the trial court properly determined that Florida law blocks the estate representative's claim for punitive damages against Philip Morris in her wrongful death lawsuit claiming the company concealed the dangers of the cigarettes that caused her relative's death from lung cancer. The representative was not entitled to pursue her survival claim for punitive damages because she abandoned it before trial and Philip Morris explicitly stipulated that smoking cigarettes led to the relative's cancer and eventual death. The punitive damages she sought for her wrongful death claim are barred by law in part because her case is a progeny of a class action which resulted in Philip Morris paying at least $198 million in damages, and her case alleges basically the same causes of action. Affirmed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Logue, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: 22-1202, Categories: damages, wrongful Death
J. Fitzgerald Smith finds that the lower court properly entered judgment in favor of the family in a wrongful death suit, awarding them $42.5 million against the hospital after it failed to prevent a patient's baclofen withdrawal, despite being well-informed of his need for the drug ahead of his surgery. The jury reasonably found that a complete breakdown of communication between hospital departments led to to his organ failure from not receiving the drug he needed for his muscle spasms. Affirmed.
Court: Illinois Appellate Court, Judge: Fitzgerald Smith, Filed On: February 13, 2024, Case #: 230355, Categories: damages, wrongful Death
J. Tailor finds that the lower court properly found Chicago police breach its duty to protect a woman from her live-in boyfriend, who came back and killed her after police responded to a domestic violence call. Though the evidence shows the boyfriend was suffering an acute mental health crisis, it also supports a finding he acted knowingly and his actions satisfy the definition of "abuse." The city cannot avoid liability under the Illinois Domestic Violence Act based on officers' perception that the man's actions were not criminal. The jury reasonably awarded the estate $3 million in damages. Affirmed.
Court: Illinois Appellate Court, Judge: Tailor, Filed On: January 5, 2024, Case #: 221232, Categories: Family Law, damages, wrongful Death
J. Lambert finds the trial court improperly allowed the personal representative of the estate of a deceased family member to amend her wrongful death medical malpractice complaint against the inpatient services specialists, a doctor and others to add a claim for punitive damages. The care provided to the deceased, specifically after-hours care to treat complications from colon surgery, did not rise to the level of "intentional misconduct" or "gross negligence" such that a claim for punitive damages is supported by Florida statutes. On remand the trial court is ordered to deny the personal representative's motion to amend. Reversed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Lambert, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: 23-0346, Categories: damages, wrongful Death, Medical Malpractice
J. Kauger finds the trial court properly found in favor of the event venue in a lawsuit accusing it of allowing an intoxicated patron to leave the event, resulting in an accident that killed the family's daughter. Oklahoma law does not recognize a duty on the part of a private venue extending to third parties killed by a voluntarily intoxicated adult who attended but was not "over-served." The parents have not alleged that the patron was over-served. Affirmed.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Kauger , Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: 120915, Categories: Vehicle, damages, wrongful Death
J. Jackson grants a family’s request for default judgment in a wrongful death suit, awarding in excess of $4.8 million in damages against a business that rents floatation tubes for customers on the Amite River. The father and husband of the survivors, who could not swim, drowned when he fell out of the inner tube. The company did not respond to family allegations that if falsely assured its customers who could not swim that the river was safe and that life jackets were not necessary or required because of the alleged shallow river depth. The award included bystander damages. The drowning of the father on Father’s Day can be reasonably expected to cause severe mental anguish to his wife and children, their eyewitness testimony conveys the seriousness of their emotional distress. The decedent’s widow subsequently experienced suicide ideation and was diagnosed with severe PTSD, anxiety and insomnia. His three children have daily dreams about their dad and the events of that day.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv310, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: damages, wrongful Death, Business Practices
[Consolidated.] J. Penzato finds that the trial court erred in the amount of damages awarded for survival and wrongful death claims and in allocating 20% fault to the decedent driver who succumbed to his injuries two weeks after an accident involving a semi-truck. The evidence supported a lesser amount of $2 million in survival damages than the $10 million awarded by the jury, as well as $500,000 in wrongful death damages for each of the decedent's children instead of $1.5 million per child. The evidence also showed the accused truck driver was the sole cause of the accident and thus 100% at fault. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Penzato, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 2022CA0534, Categories: Jury, damages, wrongful Death
J. Currey finds that the trial court must revisit its judgment against a trucking company to allow it to contest its liability for a death caused by its driver and present evidence of comparative fault. The driver's admissions by default are not binding on his employer even if the employer faces vicarious liability for the driver's actions. Reversed in part.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Currey, Filed On: August 21, 2023, Case #: B318956, Categories: damages, wrongful Death
J. Riggs grants summary judgment to a logistics company in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a “tragic” and deadly car accident because representatives of a man cannot show that the logistics company, which had contracted a third-party carrier that was directly involved in the accident, could or should have known that the carrier or its employees were unfit.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Riggs, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv73, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Vehicle, damages, wrongful Death
J. Phipps finds that the trial court properly denied the medical providers' motion for a new trial after a jury found largely in favor of the widower in a wrongful death and medical malpractice action following his wife's death from cancer. The trial court correctly denied the providers' motion to exclude testimony from the widower's expert regarding causation and the survivability of the wife's cancer. The expert's opinions were supported by medical journal articles and the opinions as to causation were supported by testimony from three other witnesses. The $8.5 million jury award, which included $0 for wrongful death damages and $6,900 for funeral and burial expenses, was not improper in light of the conflicting evidence presented as to the wife's life expectancy. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Phipps, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: A23A0413, Categories: damages, wrongful Death, Medical Malpractice