Our laws place obligations on doctors that correspond with the tremendous amount of trust we place on them. As medical technology advances, however, newer medical devices may exceed the skills that most doctors have worked for years to develop. These devices may offer cost-saving, or even life-sa...
An air traffic controller employed by a private company was negligent in clearing a small plane for flight from the airport in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, according to a recent lawsuit. Bucklin v. Serco, Inc., No. 2:13-cv-00052, complaint (D. Wyo., Mar. 4, 2013). The plane crashed in the mountains, ki...
A cruise ought to provide the opportunity for a relaxing vacation, and while most do just that, some cruises may lead to nightmarish situations. Multiple recent lawsuits for injuries sustained on cruises allege negligence for various failures to protect passengers from injury. These cases provide...
Connecticut applies strict prohibitions on the use of cellphones and other mobile devices while driving. These laws are among the strictest in the nation, and while they address a serious risk posed by certain drivers, it is not yet clear that they actually reduce the overall number of automobile...
Connecticut bans the use of handheld mobile devices, mainly cell phones, while driving, with even stricter bans for school bus drivers and young drivers. Numerous campaigns seek to raise awareness of the dangers of “distracted driving,” which refers to operating a vehicle while also using a cell ...
Questions of liability arise at times between manufacturers of brand-name prescription drugs and manufacturers of their generic equivalents. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled several years ago that federal law preempts state laws regarding drug labeling. This led the Alabama Supreme Court recently to ...
A New Jersey woman received jury verdicts totaling $11.1 million in a lawsuit alleging injuries caused by a medical implant. The suit, Gross v. Ethicon, No. Atl-L-6966-10 (N.J. Sup. Ct., Atlantic Co.), is one of more than four thousand filed nationwide against manufacturers of mesh implants. The ...
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently certified a question to the Washington Supreme Court, asking whether the state's product liability statute would allow a claim for emotional distress for “contaminated” food that the plaintiff did not eat. In re Bylsma v. Burger King Corp., No. 86912-0,...
Five Connecticut towns will pay $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a man shot and killed by police during a raid on a home. Guizan v. Solomon, et al, 3:09-cv-01436 (D. Conn., Sep. 14, 2009). Heavily armed police officers entered a house to search for drugs, and while inside...
Connecticut's motor vehicle laws create a graduated licensing system for teenage drivers, which lifts restrictions as novice drivers get older and gain experience. An increased rate of fatal traffic accidents among teenage drivers in Connecticut led the governor's office to propose stricter regul...
The Connecticut Department of Insurance (CID) announced that, during the calendar year 2012, it recovered $8.7 million from insurance companiesfor taxpayers and policyholders. CID investigates and prosecutes cases of unfair insurance practices, such as bad faith denials of claims or refusals to p...
An accident at a Connecticut ski resort injured five people on New Year's Day 2013 when a cable towing a group of people up the mountain in an inner tube broke. Accidents such as these are apparently rather common, as another accident at the same resort less than a year earlier injured three peop...
A loud car radio reportedly contributed to a fatal collision between an automobile and a train on the Danbury line, by rendering the driver unable to hear the warning bells. One passenger died in the collision, and the driver died several days later. Two more passengers suffered injuries. The rai...
Connecticut's Department of Health (DPH) released its most recent annual report on “adverse events” in October 2012, covering data for the year 2011. The term “adverse events” covers a broad range of incidents in healthcare facilities that result in patient injury or death. Not all adverse events...
A Connecticut man died on Wednesday, December 12, 2012, when his vehicle collided with a tractor trailer in a rest stop off of Interstate 95. The tractor trailer was allegedly parked illegally in a “no parking” area, where the driver had stopped to rest. Accidents like this are not uncommon in Co...
The Supreme Court of Montana ruled that a mother's lawsuit may proceed against the city government over an injury her daughter suffered on a public playground. The mother, suing on behalf of her minor daughter, argued that the city breached a duty to maintain safe premises by failing to provide m...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently suspended the registration of a peanut butter facility in New Mexico after an investigation linked its products to a nationwide salmonella outbreak. The FDA's order prohibits the facility from introducing any food products into inter- or intras...
A recent decision from a Maryland federal court places limits on an online database of consumer product information maintained by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The website, SaferProducts.gov, contains reports of injuries or other damages related to consumer products. A company, a...
A Connecticut Superior Court judge granted summary judgment to a general contractor in two asbestos lawsuits in late November, ruling that it is not a “manufacturer” or “seller” within the meaning of the Connecticut Products Liability Act (CPLA). The court dismissed causes of action for violation...
A court violated the free speech rights of a pharmaceutical sales representative when it convicted him of conspiring to introduce a misbranded drug into interstate commerce. The Second Circuit held in United States v. Caronia, No. 09-5006-cr (2nd Cir., December 3, 2012), that the defendant's conv...
A woman filed a wrongful death lawsuitagainst the federal government earlier this year, alleging that an incorrect diagnosis and incorrect dosages of medication caused her sister's 2010 suicide. The plaintiff in Grese v. United States claims that doctors with the Department of Veterans Affairs (V...
Two insurance companies have filed suit in a federal court in Illinois, seeking a declaratory judgment that they are not obligated to defend or indemnify Phusion Products in a series of products liability and wrongful death lawsuits. Phusion manufactures the alcohol-based “energy drink” Four Loko...
A Connecticut man died after falling from a tree in early November. He was working on a cleanup job after Hurricane Sandy, which caused extensive damage to many parts of Connecticut and the surrounding region. The government is investigating the accident, and both government and health care sourc...
A Massachusetts teenager received a two-year prison sentence for motor vehicle homicide earlier this year for a 2011 car accident that resulted fromdistracted driving. The term “distracted driving” refers to the operation of a motor vehicle while distracted by a mobile electronic device, typicall...
Automobile manufacturers and government safety agencies are working to develop computer systems for cars and other vehicles that can assist the driver, particularly in regard to avoiding collisions and other accidents. Generally known as intelligent transport systems (ITS), this technology would ...
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