A Tennessee railroad worker isn't entitled to $5 million awarded him by a jury for allegedly being exposed to asbestos, the U.S. Supreme Court says.
The High Court ruled Monday against Thurston Hensley, who had sued CSX Corp. for monetary damages based in part on his fear of developing cancer in the future, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The railroad contended that the jury instructions in Hensley's case were too friendly to him. They arguing that they wanted the jurors to be instructed that it was Hensley's responsibility to show his cancer fears were genuine and serious but that was denied by the lower court, the Journal said.
In a 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court sided with CSX, saying the trial judge clearly erred in delivering the jury instructions.
Read Article United Press Interantional
Posted By Phoenix Accident Injury Attorneys
R.J. Reynolds Must Pay Widow $30 Million, Jury Says
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the second-biggest U.S. cigarette maker, was told by a Florida jury to pay $30 million to a woman whose husband died of lung cancer after years of smoking, according to a lawyer.
A six-person jury today in state court in Pensacola, Florida, ordered R.J. Reynolds to pay Hilda Martin $25 million in punitive damages to punish the cigarette maker for the death of her husband, Benny Martin, according to the company’s lawyer, Mark Belasic. The jury last week awarded Martin $5 million in compensation. Belasic said he would appeal.
The case is at least the seventh of its kind to be tried since the Florida Supreme Court in 2006 ruled that smokers couldn’t sue as a class, or group, on behalf of smokers statewide. The court, in the so-called “Engle” case, said smokers could sue individually and extended the time for them to do so. Thousands of such cases are pending across Florida.
Read Article Bloomberg
Posted By Phoenix Accident Injury Attorneys
A six-person jury today in state court in Pensacola, Florida, ordered R.J. Reynolds to pay Hilda Martin $25 million in punitive damages to punish the cigarette maker for the death of her husband, Benny Martin, according to the company’s lawyer, Mark Belasic. The jury last week awarded Martin $5 million in compensation. Belasic said he would appeal.
The case is at least the seventh of its kind to be tried since the Florida Supreme Court in 2006 ruled that smokers couldn’t sue as a class, or group, on behalf of smokers statewide. The court, in the so-called “Engle” case, said smokers could sue individually and extended the time for them to do so. Thousands of such cases are pending across Florida.
Read Article Bloomberg
Posted By Phoenix Accident Injury Attorneys
Lawsuit claims plane crash caused by Fort Pierce pilot's negligence
If David Castle hadn’t decided to fly his single-engine plane into a thunderstorm when he and his friend Frank Delaporte of Fort Pierce took off from the Bahamas on March 24, 2008, it wouldn’t have exploded in mid-air, according to a lawsuit filed Friday at the St. Lucie County courthouse. Both men were killed when the plane broke up, dropping them hundreds of feet into the sea below.
On behalf of his father’s estate, Frank Delaporte, 26, of Sebastian says Castle should have stuck with his original plan to abort the flight instead of deciding to fly in stormy weather. He is asking for a jury trial and seeking monetary damages from Castle’s estate to the extent allowed by law.
Delaporte, who owned Delaporte’s Heating and Cooling, was 54 when he died, his son said. The business closed after the accident.
Read Article Treasure Coast Palm
Posted By Phoenix Accident Injury Attorneys
On behalf of his father’s estate, Frank Delaporte, 26, of Sebastian says Castle should have stuck with his original plan to abort the flight instead of deciding to fly in stormy weather. He is asking for a jury trial and seeking monetary damages from Castle’s estate to the extent allowed by law.
Delaporte, who owned Delaporte’s Heating and Cooling, was 54 when he died, his son said. The business closed after the accident.
Read Article Treasure Coast Palm
Posted By Phoenix Accident Injury Attorneys
Witness settles lawsuit over jail
Harrison County has settled a civil rights lawsuit with a man whose kidneys failed in 2006 after he was left tightly strapped in a restraint chair for about eight hours at the Harrison County jail.
Kasey D. Alves testified against former Sheriff’s Sgt. Ryan Teel in August 2007, when Teel was convicted in a “color of law” case for the fatal beating of inmate Jessie Lee Williams Jr. and a conspiracy to abuse inmates and cover it up.
Alves’ testimony in the criminal case helped corroborate a pattern of abuse at the jail. Terms of the settlement in his suit are confidential. What happened to Alves was “an eerie foreshadowing of what happened to Williams, federal trial attorney John Richmond said at Teel’s trial in the criminal case.
Teel, convicted on multiple counts including murder, was sentenced to life in prison; nine former jailers pleaded guilty to related but lesser charges. Teel was the corrections officer who strapped Alves in a restraint chair a month before Teel led the fatal assault against Williams in the booking room Feb. 6, 2006. Williams also had been strapped in a restraint chair.
Jail surveillance cameras recorded both incidents. Both videos were shown at Teel’s trial.
Read Article Sun Herald
Posted By Phoenix Accident Injury Attorneys
Kasey D. Alves testified against former Sheriff’s Sgt. Ryan Teel in August 2007, when Teel was convicted in a “color of law” case for the fatal beating of inmate Jessie Lee Williams Jr. and a conspiracy to abuse inmates and cover it up.
Alves’ testimony in the criminal case helped corroborate a pattern of abuse at the jail. Terms of the settlement in his suit are confidential. What happened to Alves was “an eerie foreshadowing of what happened to Williams, federal trial attorney John Richmond said at Teel’s trial in the criminal case.
Teel, convicted on multiple counts including murder, was sentenced to life in prison; nine former jailers pleaded guilty to related but lesser charges. Teel was the corrections officer who strapped Alves in a restraint chair a month before Teel led the fatal assault against Williams in the booking room Feb. 6, 2006. Williams also had been strapped in a restraint chair.
Jail surveillance cameras recorded both incidents. Both videos were shown at Teel’s trial.
Read Article Sun Herald
Posted By Phoenix Accident Injury Attorneys
