PHILADELPHIA — A federal court in Pennsylvania granted summary judgment to a police officer who was sued by a couple whose 15-year-old son died because he collided with a tractor-trailer while fleeing from the officer, who was trying to pull him over after noticing the teen was driving a motor scooter without a helmet or license plate. The officer did not abuse his power by pursuing a fleeing suspect.
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A federal court in Vermont denied Monsanto and other agriculture firms’ motion to dismiss four teachers and a student’s lawsuit over PCB contamination in their school buildings. The ag giants are not entitled to dismissal because the plaintiffs plausibly alleged justifiable reliance on the companies’ representations.
WILMINGTON, N.C. — A federal court in North Carolina dismissed a motorcycle dealer from a lawsuit filed after it repaired a bike for a couple, who then crashed when part of the braking system failed, killing the wife and seriously injuring the husband. The dealer was fraudulently added as a party to foil diversity jurisdiction, which now exists and the plaintiffs’ motion to remand is denied.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal court in Arkansas denied the state correctional department’s motion to dismiss a civil rights lawsuit filed by a prisoner who was stabbed 10 times by another inmate while watching TV. He says the prison should have protected him from this attack, but the state says his complaint should remain an internal matter. The court agrees the grievance has merit.
BROOKLYN — A federal court in New York grants default judgment to a Queens resident who sued an India-based herbal supplement maker because he was allegedly hospitalized for lead, mercury and arsenic poisoning due to drinking its Ayurvedic supplements. His intentional tort claims are dismissed as untimely but he wins on his product liability claims. A magistrate will determine the damages owed.
NEW ORLEANS — A federal court in Louisiana rules that four prison guards may face sanctions and punitive damages because they “lost” video scans that supposedly justified fruitlessly searching an inmate suspected of inserting contraband in his rectum for four days. The scans they produced were not of the inmate, which the court could tell because there are major differences in build and “other areas (circumcision versus uncircumcised), as well as clothing” between the scans and the man in question.
PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania Superior Court overturned the lower court’s judgment entered in favor of a doctor that was sued by a widow whose husband was allegedly discharged from the hospital without proper warning about the risk of clotting, resulting in his death from a pulmonary embolism. The family has brought enough evidence that a jury could assign liability against the physicians involved in his treatment.
CHICAGO — A federal court in Illinois ruled on defenses in a customer’s lawsuit against an appliance company, whose pressure cooker malfunctioned and burned the user. The company says a third-party manufacturer is responsible for the defective product; six of the manufacturer’s defenses are struck, while eight more stand.
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — A federal court in New York permitted a BMW driver to bring photographs of his injury in his product liability lawsuit against the German auto maker, whose 2013 BMW X5 allegedly severed a portion of the driver’s thumb when its automatic door-closing technology activated when it shouldn’t have. BMW is allowed to bring evidence that other factors caused the injury, but not evidence that it generally complies with unrelated federal safety regulations.
BOSTON — A federal court in Massachusetts denied a Haitian former mayor’s motion for judgment as a matter of law, and denied his request for a new trial, after he was ordered to pay more than $15 million in damages to the family members and supporters of a human rights advocate who he ordered to be killed for voting for the other candidate, and whose family members the politician either had killed or tortured. There was no miscarriage of justice during the trial.
Beet farmers and truckers lay the center of the Minnesota Supreme Court's deliberations over whether employers should be held liable for negligent selection of their independent contractors.
