Ex- Miami Dolphins Receiver wins $11.5 Million in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
McDuffie has been awarded $11.5 million in a lawsuit against his former doctor over his career-ending toe injury, according to the Associated Press. The doctor, John Uribe, used to work for the Dolphins as a team doctor. He called the damage award a travesty and will most likely appeal the decision.
The attorney for McDuffie told the news source that the award is fair compensation for his client’s lost earnings.
The lawsuit stems from the toe injury McDuffie originally suffered in 1999, which eventually forced him to retire after eight effective seasons in the NFL. Several other doctors have settled with the wideout rather than go to court.
McDuffie spent most of his playing career catching passes from Dan Marino. He was reasonably successful in this role, hauling in 29 touchdown passes in his career. His best year came in 1998 when he caught 90 passes for 1,050 yards and scored seven touchdowns. He also returned two punts for scores in his 1993 rookie campaign.
Retrial begins in drowning case
A retrial is beginning for a man accused of drowning his wife in their bathtub almost two years ago.
Jury selection started Monday in the trial of 29-year-old Ryan Widmer. He’s accused of killing 24-year-old Sarah Widmer at the couple’s home in August 2008.
Widmer was convicted in April 2009 of killing his wife, but the conviction was set aside by a judge after allegations of juror misconduct during deliberations.
Widmer has been free on bond while awaiting his retrial.
He was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after his conviction in the first trial. Widmer has maintained his innocence, saying he loved his wife and didn’t hurt her.
New Jersey court finds university not liable in student’s death
The Newark Star-Ledger (12/29) reported, “Fairleigh Dickinson University is not liable for the death of a junior who fell from a fourth-floor dorm window in 2005 after a night of heavy drinking, and won’t have to pay his parents a prior jury award of $260,000, a [New Jersey] appeals court has ruled.” A three-judge panel “ruled the university in Madison-Florham Park has immunity from liability under state law. As a nonprofit educational institution, the college is protected under the state’s “Charitable Immunity Act” from being sued by one of its beneficiaries, in this case a student, for the accidental death, the appellate ruling states.”
Court overturns verdict in ’05 FDU dorm death
Finding that Fairleigh Dickinson University was protected by the state’s Charitable Immunity Act, a state appeals court panel today overturned a jury award of $260,000 given to the parents of a Fairleigh Dickinson University student who was drunk when he fell to his death from his dorm window in 2005.
The panel’s decision, made public today, reversed the finding of a Morris County civil jury that found the FDU campus in Florham Park-Madison shared responsibility, 50-50, for the death July 1, 2005, of student Keith Orzech, 21.
At the time of trial, a Superior Court judge rejected FDU’s claims that it was protected under the Charitable Immunity Act by opining that Orzech’s fall was alcohol-related and FDU’s public safety department allegedly failed to enforce alcohol policies. The case proceeded to a jury trial under wrongful death, negligence statutes.
The appeals court, instead, found that FDU’s negligent failure to enforce its alcohol policy and Orzech’s violation of that police ”do not negate Orzech’s status as a beneficiary of FDU’s educational works at the time of the accident.”
The appeals court said: ”We fail to see how Orzech’s violation of the alcohol policy altered his relationship to FDU as a beneficiary of its works while he was living in the dormitory and thus receiving FDU’s educational benefits….”
The jury awarded total damages of $520,000 but since both FDU and Orzech were found equally at fault, Orzech’s parents were awarded $260,000.
The young student was from Sudbury, Mass., and was serving as a resident adviser in his dorm during a summer session when he partied through the night of June 30 into July 1, 2005. When his body was found outside under his third-story dorm window, he had a blood-alcohol content of .166 percent.
Jury awards $100 million verdict against BP in Texas case
A federal jury in Texas on Friday ordered BP Plc (BP.L) (BP.N) to pay $100 million to 10 workers who were sickened by a 2007 chemical release at its Texas City refinery.
BP spokesman Ronnie Chappell said the company was “shocked and outraged” by the verdict and would appeal.
“We believe the evidence showed that BP did not cause harm to anyone on April 19, 2007,” Chappell said in a statement. “The verdict, and punitive damages award in particular, is utterly unjustified, improper and unsupportable.”
“They’re like an ostrich with its head in the sand,” said Tony Buzbee, the workers’ attorney, of BP. “They don’t understand the meaning of responsibility.”
The workers said they were exposed to the chemicals while repairing two refining units damaged in a plantwide 2005 shutdown prior to Hurricane Rita’s strike on the Texas Coast.
They said BP had a poorly maintained workplace and lacked sufficient monitoring to detect toxic chemicals or warn workers of a release.
BP countered that the plant did not release a toxic substance, and the company had no control over the “odor event” that stemmed from another unidentified party’s negligence.
Buzbee represents another 133 workers suing BP over the chemical release.
Originally his clients asked BP for $5,000 each in damages, Buzbee said, but went to trial when BP wouldn’t budge from a $500 settlement offer to each worker.
BP declined to discuss the settlement negotiations.
The 475,000 barrel per day (bpd) plant, the third-largest in the United States, has a troubled and costly history.
An explosion at the refinery on March 23, 2005, killed 15 workers and injured 180 others, prompting extensive civil litigation and a federal criminal plea to violating the U.S. Clean Air Act.
BP paid more than $2 billion to settle hundreds of blast-related lawsuits and a $50 million fine to resolve the criminal case.
In addition, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has imposed record fines on BP for safety violations at the plant. In 2005, BP agreed to pay OSHA $21.4 million. This year the agency fined the company another $87.4 million for failing to live up to its 2005 agreement to fix safety violations at the refinery. and BP is contesting the 2009 fine.
BP is serving a three-year probation as part of the company’s criminal penalty, and compliance with that 2005 agreement with OSHA is a key part of the probation.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is negotiating a settlement to a lawsuit that could cost BP more than $100 million for violations of pollution regulations at the refinery between 2005 and 2008.
Malpractice Lawsuit Against Anesthesiologists Results in $20M Verdict
An Alabama jury has returned a $20 million verdict in an anesthesia medical malpractice lawsuit filed by the family of a woman who died during surgery when bile entered her lungs.
The wrongful death lawsuit was brought against Coastal Anesthesia, Dr. Randal Boudreaux and Nurse Don Ortego following the January 2006 death of Paulett Pettaway Hall. The complaint alleged that Bourdreaux and Ortego, the anesthetist, failed to identify that Hall had risk factors for breathing fluid into her lungs, despite the information being available in her medical record.
Hall was preparing to receive exploratory surgery to determine the cause of severe stomach pains when she received the anesthesia. Once anesthetized, she began breathing bile into her lungs and later died. According to a report in the Mobile Press-Register, the family alleged that the defendants did not examine Hall’s abdomen or medical records before giving her anesthesia, which could have prevented her death.
Following trial, a Mobile County jury ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and awarded $20 million in damages.
Anesthesia deaths accounted for more than 2,200 deaths between 1999 and 2005, according to a study published this year in the medical journal Anesthesiology. The study found that anesthesia is the underlying cause in about 34 deaths each year in the U.S., and a contributing factor in about 281 other deaths. A little over 46% of those deaths are due to anesthesia overdose, while anesthesia complications like Hall’s accounted for just under 11% of such deaths.
Disney World Cited For Monorail Death
Walt Disney World has been cited by federal officials of a worker during a monorail accident last summer. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Wednesday proposed fining Disney World $44,000 in penalties for the monorail accident that killed 21-year-old Austin Wuennenberg. A spokesman for the theme park resort wasn’t immediately available for comment. Disney World has 15 days to comply with recommendations, contest the citations or seek a meeting with OSHA investigators.
Man Accused Of Running Over and Killing Girl is Sentenced
A man charged with leaving the scene of an accident with death, tampering with evidence and operating a vehicle without a valid drivers license was sentenced to 5 years in prison Thursday.Charles Sanford, 19, is accused of running over and killing 4-year-old Veronica Ford in April of 2008.Veronica and her mother had gotten off a bus on Northwest 60th Avenue in Sunrise and were crossing the street in front of that bus. According to witnesses, a Dodge Magnum driven by Sanford passed the bus and struck the girl.Witnesses told police Sanford sped away.Three days later he was arrested after his car was found in a body shop being repaired.Sanford, who pleaded no contest and waived his right to a trial, faced up to 35 years in prison.
Fan manufacturer to pay $13.5 million dollar verdict after boy’s death
The Philadelphia Daily News (10/15) reported, Jurors brought justice to a little boy and his wife when they rendered their verdict. The Jury entered a verdict against the Defendant, West Chester-based fan manufacturer Lasko Products, Inc., for $13.5 million after a faulty fan motor ignited a 2005 blaze that killed a 7-year-old Germantown [PA] boy. Lasko, the largest fan manufacturer in the United States, discovered a defect in the China-made motors in their portable fans in 1999 and developed corrective technology in 2004, said the boy’s attorney. But the company did not alert consumers who already had the defective fans nor report the problem to the Consumer Product Safety Commission until after the boy’s death.
If lawyers did not pursue these type of lawsuits for their clients, manufacturers would have no incentive to correct the known dangers. Hopefully this verdict will send a message to this manufacturer and others across the country and the world that human life is important and if you know of something that can cause harm, do something to correct it.
Past Verdicts and Settlements
The Shaked Law Firm, a Personal Injury law office, located in Miami, has recovered millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for its clients throughout the State of Florida. A complete case list of all cases are too numerous to list. The following is a small sampling of The Shaked Law Firm’s settlements and verdicts in which personal injury damages have been recovered for our clients. These results demonstrate the excellent representation provided by the Shaked Personal Injury Law Firm in a variety of case types.
