John Doe A v. Penn State
First Penn State scandal lawsuit says Coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused a boy more than 100 times and the abuse was enabled by the school's "negligent oversight."
Bradley v. Lohan
Former Betty Ford Center employee sues Lindsay Lohan for assault, alleging the actress threw a phone at her and yanked her wrist while refusing to be breathalzyed.
N.D. v. New York Post
Hotel maid allegedly raped by French politician sues the New York Post for falsely reporting that she is a prostitute who "routinely traded sex for money" with male guests.
Reinhart v. Mortenson
Two Montana residents allege the author of "Three Cups of Tea" "fabricated material about his activities and work in Pakistan and Afghanistan" to sell the book.
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• Roommate referral website does not discriminate by allowing users to list their preferences for roommate characteristics. "Holding that the [Fair Housing Act] applies inside a home or apartment ... would be a serious invasion of privacy, autonomy and security."
Fair Housing Council v. Roommate.com

• Student alleges a prank involving a bottle rocket and another student's anus backfired, causing him to fall off the deck of a frat house.
Helmburg v. Alpha Tau Omega

• 5th Circuit reinstates a jury verdict finding a man employed by an engineering firm was sexually harassed by a male supervisor. "The text message 'I want cock' could be taken as an explicit sexual proposition." 
Cherry v. Shaw Coastal

• The ex-wife of a man who fatally shot himself with a gun he had stolen cannot sue the gun's owner for wrongful death. "We conclude that public policy dictates that [Charles] Milot's criminal conduct acts as a bar to recovery."
Ryan v. Hughes-Ortiz

• Pennsylvania woman alleges her former employer discriminated against her because she wore a fake penis to assist her in her female-to-male transition. "Plaintiff's use of the prosthetic device was concealed and in no way interfered with the ability of Plaintiff to do her job." Davis v. J&J Snack Foods

• Son of a woman charged with murdering her husband cannot use the proceeds from the victim's life insurance policy to fund his mother's criminal defense. "[A]llowing the distribution of these proceeds to a third party who has clear intentions to transfer part of these proceeds to her, undermines the principles underlying the Slayer’s Act and federal common law."
In Re: Estate of Michael Burkland

• Seattle judge says an actress cannot proceed anonymously in her suit against the IMDb.com website for publishing her age. "[W]hile Plaintiff may face public ridicule and embarrassment if she elects to go forward under her real name, the injury she fears is not severe enough to justify permitting her to proceed anonymously."
Doe v. Amazon.com

• Family of an 11-year-old girl who was crushed by a boulder of ice says forest ranger negligence caused her death. Rangers "did not warn users of the risk of harm associated with the dangerous, unstable snow and ice" at the Big Four Ice Caves in Snohomish County, Wash. Tam v. U.S.

• 3rd Circuit dismisses a breach of data security case against a payroll-processing company. "Appellants' allegations of an increased risk of identity theft as a result of the security breach are hypothetical, future injuries."
Reilly v. Ceridian Corp.

• Oregon judge denies First Amendment protections to a blogger. "Defendant cites no cases indicating that a self-proclaimed 'investigative blogger' is considered 'media' for the purposes of applying a negligence standard in a defamation claim."
Obsidian Finance v. Cox

• A transsexual who was fired from her government job while she was in the process of becoming a woman wins her sex discrimination suit. "[A] government agent violates the Equal Protection Clause’s prohibition of sex-based discrimination when he or she fires a transgender or transsexual employee because of his or her gender non-conformity."
Glenn v. Brumby

• New York man sues a Texas fertility clinic for wrongful insemination, alleging it failed to obtain his consent before using a sample of his sperm to impregnate his ex-girlfriend.
Pressil v. Advanced Fertility

• Nebraska judge rules that school officials may have illegally disciplined students for wearing t-shirts in honor of a slain friend suspected of gang membership. "[Q]uestions of fact remain whether Plaintiffs’ speech occurred in a context likely to provoke gang violence or other disruptions of school activities."
Kuhr v. Millard Public Sch. Dist.




Alltop_125x125.jpg







Judge Tosses $5M Award to Taser Victim's Family Print

taser1The judge in a landmark wrongful-death case against the maker of Taser stun guns has thrown out a jury award of $5 million in punitive damages, finding the parents of a California man were only entitled to $1 million in compensatory damages.

A San Jose, Calif., jury jolted Taser International (Nasdaq: TASR) in June by awarding a total of $6 million to the parents of Robert C. Heston, who died after police repeatedly shocked him with Tasers. More than 60 wrongful death or personal injury lawsuits involving Taser shocks have been filed in the U.S. but the Heston case was the first in which a jury has found Taser liable.

U.S. District Judge James Ware last week upheld the key verdict of negligence against Taser for failing to warn customers of the risks of delivering repeated shocks with an M26 stun gun, but granted the company's motion for judgment as a matter of law on the punitives award.

“[T]he Verdict form improperly contained a place for the jury to give an award of punitive damages,” he explained. California law does not allow recovery of punitives in a wrongful-death action.

The jury found Heston 85 percent liable for his death, offsetting the award of $1 million in compensatory damages to Heston's parents and $21,000 to his estate. So Ware's decision leaves a net recovery of only $153,150 (see table below).

Heston, 40, died a day after being arrested by four police officers at his parents' home in Salinas, Calif. An autopsy showed dangerously high levels of methamphetamine in his blood and Taser attributed his death to “excited delirium as a result of his chronic substance abuse, heavy use of methamphetamine, and an enlarged heart caused by his long-term drug abuse.”

But “excited delirium” is not recognized as a diagnosis in official medical manuals and the jury accepted the plaintiffs' theory that the repeated shocks from the Taser caused Heston to have a heart attack.

“The Court finds that there was substantial evidence upon which a reasonable jury could find that under certain conditions, prolonged exposure to electronic control devices posed risks to human health,” Ware said in affirming Taser's liability. “There was substantial evidence upon which a reasonable jury could find, as this jury did find, that a reasonable manufacturer would have warned of those risks.”

Ware reversed the award of $200,000 in punitives on the Heston estate's product liability claim because the jury did not find Taser consciously disregarded the probability that its product would harm others.

Plaintiff Jury Award Judge's Order
Compensatory Punitive Compensatory Punitive

$1,000,000

$5,000,000

$1,000,000

$0

Heston Parents

Heston Estate

$21,000

$200,000

$21,000

$0

Net Recovery

$5,353,150

$153,150


UPDATES

  • Judge Ware awarded $1.4 million to the plaintiffs' attorneys in fees.

  • As On Point reports here, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the attorney fees award in a May 5, 2011 opinion.


  • Other Heston Case Sources


    This story linked by:


    By Matthew Heller
    10/26/08


     
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