If our schools are going to have strict policies against bullying and other harassment of students they will need to enforce them. A Kansas teenager who was bullied by his classmates because they believed he was gay was awarded $440,000 in a settlement, ending his longstanding legal battle with his school district. The student claimed he was harassed with homophobic slurs from the seventh...
The Reno-Gazette Journal reports that while the rate at which driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs jumped 43 percent for 17-year-olds from 2000 to 2001, the rate declined in 2002, a trend that held true for all other teenage groups.The Gazette-Journal's study found that the trend reverses itself as soon as drivers turn 20: The rate at which DUI contributes to accidents leaped 34...
A Reno Gazette-Journal study of state and federal accident data shows accident rates among Nevada's teen drivers are increasing, with a particular increase among the state's 17-year-old drivers. Fifteen-year-old drivers also showed high accident-rate increases.The Gazette-Journal reported that this problem appears to be particularly bad in Washoe County, where the accident rate for teen drivers...
Jeremy Legrand is one of our nation's dedicated servicemen, having done tours in Cuba and Iraq. He suffered a traumatic brain injury in a June car accident while on leave in Texas. He spent six weeks in a coma and was transferred to the Minneapolis VA in September. The Beacon News Online offers a touching story of Jeremy's family (from Aurora, now residing in Shabbona) and their plans to...
A news report from Bartow: A woman who gave birth at Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center in 2003 has filed a lawsuit in which she accuses the obstetrician of leaving a sponge inside her. The patient is suing Dr. Edwin Salamanca, Heart of Florida OB/GYN Associates and the hospital, contending the sponge in her vagina led to infection. Normal hospital procedures call for the careful...
Over the years I have been informed by some insurance companies that my client is making a fraudulent claim. Not that the claim may be fraudulent. Not that their investigation raises issues of potential fraud. When that has occurred I have asked for the proof. So far proof has been a close relative of suspicion. In several claims I have so completely disproved the suspicion that the...
Once again, the great debate about tort reform is heating up throughout this Country. Proponents love to cite the most well-known supposed "frivolous lawsuit" is the story of Stella Liebeck - the woman who was burned by hot coffee from McDonalds. Thought I would give some brief facts about the case to show you how corporations ahve managed to get Americans to turn on themselves.1: Stella...
Dianne Reding sued Ford Motor Company on a products liability for the wrongful death of her 13-year-old son in the rollover accident of their Ford Explorer in April 2003. Reding claimed that the vehicle was defective and unreasonably dangerous in the way that it was designed and manufactured. She further claimed that the design of the vehicle made it unstable because the wheelbase was too...
Plaintiff sued a neurosurgeon on a medical malpractice theory claiming that the defendant doctor negligently performed a surgery on the Plaintiff's leg with the result that it is permanently swollen and painful. Plaintiff claimed that Defendant severed a main vein during a 1999 operation and failed to prescribe blood thinners following the surgery. Plaintiffwas a police officer for Rumford,...
With all the insurance industry's tort reform propaganda on the airwaves today, one might think that lawyers are the only ones bringing any malpractice or negligence lawsuits today. Doctor Loomis, a neurosurgeon, had surgery privileges at St. Mary's Medical Center. When he was visiting patients in the hospital, he stopped in the pantry to get a cup of coffee, as physicians often did. He slipped...