Articles Posted in Personal Injury

The issue of gun control in this country is a highly contentious one. While the right to bear arms is generally undisputed, those weapons do sometimes cause unintentional harm and gun owners can be held liable for injuries in some cases.

In 2013, lawmakers in Massachusetts debated a bill that would require gun owners to purchase liability insurance in the event the firearm caused injury or death. The state already has gun storage laws, but police are not allowed to come into someone’s home without a warrant to ensure weapons are properly stored. The idea was that insurance companies could verify proper gun storage prior to issuing a policy. Plus, if gun owners received better rates for adequate gun storage, the thinking went, there would be fewer accidents and fewer incidents of theft resulting in guns falling into the wrong hands.

The measure ultimately failed.
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The fact of injury is never enough to establish a finding of negligence necessary to make litigation a worthwhile pursuit.

In order to establish negligence, one has to prove:

• A duty owed
• A breach of duty
• Proximate cause
• Compensable injuries

It sounds simple, but without any one of these key elements, a civil injury lawsuit will inevitably fail.
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In Hyundai Motor Co. v. Duncan, plaintiff suffered a serious closed-head injury when he lost control of his car. After losing control of the car, he left the road, hit two snow banks, crashed into a large hay bale and ultimately hit a tree on the driver’s side of the car. His vehicle was equipped with a side airbag, but it did not deploy during this accident.

Following his injury, conservators of victim filed civil lawsuit in victim’s name. Defendant was car manufacturer who produced the car. Claims were initially made for negligence, failure of the implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, breach of express warranty, and failure to warn. Boston personal injury attorneys may also have the ability to seek triple damages in a defective products claim pursuant to Chapter 93A of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act.

The case proceeded to trial, and plaintiff pursued only the claims for breach of the implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and unreasonable dangerous design. Plaintiff argued if the airbag sensor had been put in a different place, it would have deployed and prevented claimant from being seriously injured in the crash.
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Martin v. Dematic, a wrongful death case from Supreme Court of Washington, involved plaintiff who was killed by a machine at a paper plant. Decedent’s wife filed a wrongful death and survival action in civil court naming several defendants. One defendant was the company that installed the tissue-making machine that killed decedent.

Two weeks later, defendant filed a response in which it demanded indemnification from another company. This company had actually installed the tissue-making machine and, under the stock tender agreement, was still liable for any actions resulting from negligence occurring prior to 1996. This machine had been installed in 1980, so defendant claimed this company was actually responsible for any damages to plaintiff.
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Grimes v. Saban is a personal injury case from the Supreme Court of Alabama. Plaintiff and defendant, along with others, were in the kitchen at defendant’s apartment after spending the night a local bar. According to court records, both parties were drinking alcohol at the time of the incident.

Plaintiff allegedly offended defendant when telling her to shut up. Defendant locked herself in her bedroom. While there she allegedly posted disparaging remarks about plaintiff on Facebook. Plaintiff confronted her about this and Defendant held up her phone saying she already deleted the post. The two women then got into a physical altercation.

During the fight, the cellphone was thrown against a wall and more fighting occurred. Eventually the parties were separated and her friends drove plaintiff to the emergency room. She later filed a civil action for assault and battery in connection with her injuries.
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Cope v. Utah Valley State College, a case from the Supreme Court of Utah, involved plaintiff who was a member of a dance team at a state-owned university. She was enrolled in college courses that provided academic credit for participation on the dance team.

During a practice session, she was performing a routine where her dance partner lifted her on his shoulders and then she would do a backflip. During the learning phase of new routines, it is common for spotters to be present to prevent the performer from being injured.

On this particular occasion, there were not spotters present, and plaintiff and her dance partner performed the move two times. Both times, the pair was unable perform the lift properly. Her dance partner told the course instructor that he was unable to perform this lift properly, and she instructed them to try a third time. She told partner to lift with more force and plaintiff to push off into the flip with more force as well. She told them if they didn’t get it right, it would be cut from the routine.
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Brantley v. City of Horn Lake, an appeal from the Supreme Court of Mississippi, involved plaintiff who cut his forehead while fixing his pickup truck at his home. He called 911, and ambulance drivers arrived to take him to a local hospital.

In addition to being a trained ambulance driver, EMT was also a city firefighter. After EMS workers bandaged plaintiff’s head, they placed him in the ambulance, so driver could take him to the hospital. After arriving at the hospital, EMS personal began to unload plaintiff from the ambulance to take him into the emergency room. At this time, driver lost control of the stretcher plaintiff was lying on, and he fell to the ground. As result of his fall, he was injured and had to pay substantial medical bills.
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Williams v. Peninsula Reg’l Med. Ctr., an appeal heard before the Court of Appeals of Maryland, involved plaintiff who, at age 34, was brought to a local emergency room suffering from suicidal ideation and auditory and visual hallucinations.

Plaintiff’s mother brought him to defendant’s hospital in April 2009, where a doctor and mental health professional evaluated him. Despite the fact he was alert and able to cooperate during the examination, he informed the medical professionals that he was communicating with “the lord” and also believed his ex-girlfriend had placed a curse on him. He also said he had become blind when looking at a text message from her while he was in the emergency room.

Doctors also noticed cuts in the inside of plaintiff’s arms and the fact that he tried to minimize any of the situations he believed he was going through. After the examination, he was discharged to his mother’s custody, who was told she should remove any firearms from the home. He was diagnosed with insomnia, fatigue, and “bizarre behavior.” He was then given Ambien to help him sleep and told to return to the emergency room if he thought he would hurt himself or other people.
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RGR, LLC v. Settle, a case from the Supreme Court of Virginia, involved a plaintiff who was killed while driving a dump truck. Plaintiff drove his dump truck across train tracks at a private railroad crossing, which contained no bells, warning signals, or flashing lights. While on the tracks, he was hit by a freight train and killed.

Near the railroad tracks, defendant operated a business that offloaded lumber from train cars and then loaded the wood onto tractor-trailers. Defendant had stacked lumber approximately seven feet inside railroad operator’s 30-foot right-of-way alongside the tracks. After passing the large stacks of lumber, plaintiff entered the tracks, and the train hit the front of his truck. At the time of the accident, plaintiff was delivering a load of gravel for a public construction project.

Plaintiff’s surviving spouse filed a wrongful death action in her late husband’s name, alleging defendant was negligent in stacking lumber near railroad tracks, thus breaching the duty of care owed to plaintiff and causing his death.
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Braese, Jr. v. Stinker Stores, Inc., an appeal from the Supreme Court of Idaho, involved a rather unique set of facts. A customer entered the convenience store at a gas station. Store manager permitted customers to bring their dogs into the store because she knew that other area businesses allowed this, and she did not want to be disliked by area dog owners.

One particular day, a customer had his dog on a leash while standing at the counter. However, customer was not holding the leash while at the counter. The dog raised up her paws and put them on the counter. Manager gave the dog a treat. The entire transaction took around two minutes and during that time the dog put her paws on the counter six more times and, on the last time, cashier gave her another treat.

While customer was putting his change in his pocket, plaintiff walked into the store. Customer was facing cashier. Plaintiff put his hand in his pocket to get cash to pay for a lottery ticket. The dog apparently though another treat was involved and jumped up, hitting plaintiff in the chest with her front paws.
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