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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• 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

• Massachusetts appeals court says 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

• Oregon judge rules that a self-proclaimed "investigative blogger" is not "considered 'media' for the purposes of applying a negligence standard in a defamation claim." Obsidian Finance v. Cox

• 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.




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No "Entire Want of Care" in Clinic's Acid Mixup Print

 

Dr. Bob Mann

A federal jury in Georgia has rejected the punitive damages claim of a man who suffered severe burns on his genitals from highly concentrated acid that his urologist had stored in a mislabeled bottle.

William David Morrison's gruesome injuries resulted from a mixup at the PAPP Clinic of Newnan, Ga. The chemicals that a nurse applied to his genitals as part of a diagnostic test came from a bottle which was marked “3% Acetic Acid” -- but actually contained a solution of 72 percent acetic acid.

Both the clinic and the urologist, Dr. Bob Mann, admitted liability, and a jury last week awarded Morrison and his wife $70,000 in compensatory damages. The nurse, Kay Parsons, was found liable on a claim of ordinary negligence.

“This was a terribly negligent act on the part of all three,” the Morrisons' attorney told the Newnan Times-Herald.

But Mann and his employer avoided an award of punitives as the jury decided their conduct did not demonstrate an “entire want of care” -- even though another patient undergoing a similar procedure was injured by the same liquid from the same bottle in 1991.

Morrison visited the clinic in November 2002 for a post-vasectomy checkup. After he requested a test for human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted disease, Parsons retrieved the “3% Acetic Acid” bottle from a storage cabinet.

After the 1991 incident, Mann had written “DO NOT USE” on the back of the bottle and circled the words in red ink. But Parsons did not notice the warning and proceeded to perform the test, inflicting such agony on Morrison that he was rushed to the hospital.

In July 2005, U.S. District Judge Willis B. Hunt denied a defense motion for summary judgment on the punitives claims against Mann and the clinic, finding that

a reasonable fact finder could conclude that [the defendants'] actions, in storing the dangerous substance in a mislabeled bottle in a location where the contents of the bottle could be accessed by staff members such as Nurse Parsons, demonstrate an entire want of care. Morrison v. Mann

Mann testified that he kept the mislabeled bottle on the advice of an attorney so he could not be accused of tampering with evidence. In addition to the “DO NOT USE” warning, he stored the bottle on the top shelf of what he considered to be a “clerical cabinet.”

The jury appeared to agree with the defense that Mann took care to prevent misuse of the bottle.

But it's hard to imagine anything more careless than putting the acetic acid in the same location as bichloracetic acid, which is used to treat HPV lesions. And what possible danger was there of Mann being accused of tampering 11 years after the 1991 accident?

Morrison, who alleged his injuries left him unable to have sex with his wife for an extended time, sounded remarkably restrained after the verdict. “People might think PAPP Clinic is a great place, but they've got some big problems and I just wanted people to know,” he said.

By Matthew Heller
2/27/07

 
rc_insidestories
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    A guest who paid for sex with a prostitute at a Motel 6 did not assume the risk of being attacked several hours later by the prostitute's pimp, a Pennsylvania judge has ruled in an unusual premises liability lawsuit against the motel operator.
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Marsh v. Air Tran Airways
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RC_OnTrial

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RC_OnTheDocket

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