Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog

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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