The case of a teen pedestrian who suffered serious injury as a result of being struck by a vehicle will be retried after the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled instructions to the jury prior to the verdict were both erroneous and prejudicial. The case of Samson v. Nahulu was complex for…
Collecting compensation for injuries sustained due to faulty highway design or construction is difficult in Florida, and it was made tougher by a law passed in 2005, codified in F.S. 337.195, limits on liability. The statute serves to limit liability for road designers, consultants and contractors and it does so…
A foreign exchange student from Spain, seriously injured in a crash while riding in a friend’s car, was insured by her host family’s uninsured/ underinsured motorist benefits, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled. In a case that could serve as a guide in other jurisdictions, justices reviewing the facts of Serra…
Citing the 2015 Florida Supreme Court decision in Sanislo v. Give Kids the World, Inc., defendants in a fatal van accident lawsuit argued before Collier Circuit Judge Hugh Hayes that a liability waiver meant they weren’t liable for a 17-year-old’s death in December 2011. Hayes, though, wasn’t buying it. In…
The Fort Myers News-Press reports that Medicare is penalizing Lee Memorial Health System millions of dollars over the next 12 months because the hospital’s rate of avoidable patient infections and other preventable issues is too high. The hospital system will not receive $2.4 million in Medicare payments in 2016 as…
Everyone knows a texting driver is a dangerous driver. But the consequences for doing so – particularly in Florida – are weak in comparison to the penalty paid by victims. That’s why it keeps happening, and why the number of crashes nationally attributed to texting drivers is now at 340,000,…
A commissioner for the City of Portland, Ore. has received an agreement to settle one of the pending wrongful death actions for the loss of her husband for $1.45 million. The settlement was reached with the Oregon Department Transportation following a head-on collision in September 2014 on a stretch of…
Homeowners’ insurance is intended to provide compensation to those injured by members of the household. Usually, this coverage extends to incidents that occur in the home, on the property and sometimes out on the street (though incidents involving motor vehicles are generally excluded). However, almost all homeowners’ insurance policies have…
A woman was traveling less than a mile from her home to her son’s daycare in Arkansas when her vehicle hit a patch of black ice near an intersection. She careened into a nearby pond, and immediately called 911. Frantic as she and her 5-year-old sunk deeper into the icy…
In most car accident lawsuits, plaintiffs take action against at-fault drivers and their insurance companies. Sometimes, plaintiffs may file uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage through their own auto insurer if the at-fault driver’s coverage is inadequate. However, the possibility that a government agency may be responsible for poor construction or…