When it comes to law suits that involve nursing home abuse a recent jury verdict in California has shaken the industry to its core. A Humboldt County jury slammed the Eureka Healthcare and Rehabilitation center to the tune of $677 million due to the living conditions of Cindy Cool’s father and thousands of other residents.
Cool testified to the jury that she often left the nursing home in tears after the things she saw. She said she would often find her father, who suffers from Alzheimer’s sitting in urine-soaked clothes. It would often take up to 20-minutes for the staff to help clean her father after these incidents.

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After the State Supreme Court threw out a $145 billion class-action award for all Florida smokers, 8,000 or so individual lawsuits were filed. In the past few weeks two juries have awarded nearly $45 million in two of these Florida personal injury lawsuits.
The first verdict came March 12 when a Gainesville jury ruled against R.J. Reynolds to the tune of $12.5 million in punitive damages and another $5 million in compensatory damages to the widow of a smoker who died in 1995. Less than two weeks later a jury in Fort Lauderdale awarded a total of $26.6 million to Robin Cohen the widow of a long time smoker who died of lung cancer. This verdict came against Robert Morris and R.J. Reynolds.

A Sarasota County jury awarded the family of James Basher $4 million for a car accident on I-75 that killed Basher and another driver. The jury has also awarded punitive damages but that amount has not been released. According to the Sarasota Herald Tribune those damages could reach upward of $16 million.
The jury award came against Fort Meyer’s Zep Construction and Traffic Control Systems Inc. Basher is survived by his 13-year-old son who survived the car crash but was injured. The Basher’s personal injury attorney showed evidence that the construction company did not follow safety procedures. There were no electronic signs present even though they had been contracted. The accident resulted when a semi-trailer slammed into a line of cars near Sarasota’s Bee Ridge Road.

A judge in Broward County has reduced a $300 million jury verdict in a Florida lawsuit versus Phillip Morris to $39 million according to an Associated Press story. Cindy Naugle was awarded the most damages of any of the thousands of lawsuits filed by Florida smokers according to the article. According to the AP the judge found the jury’s award excessive. He also felt the large sum of money was not supported by the evidence in the case.
Phillip Morris still plans to appeal the lesser verdict. Naugle smoked for 25 years and now suffers from emphysema. The law suit was filed individually because a class action law suit that netted $145 billion for Florida smokers was thrown out in 2006.

A 2004 rear-end collision led to a lawsuit in Pasco County which resulted in a $300,000 jury award for the plaintiff. Francis Collins sued Rebecca Gohn following the 2004 accident and the case finally went to trial last week. The jury award was entirely for past and present medical expenses. There was no money awarded for pain and suffering.
According to TampaBay.com Collins was the passenger in what the paper termed a low-impact collision. The car crash was apparently severe enough to re-fracture Collins’ neck which was originally fractured 18 years prior to the crash. The accident occurred on Grand Boulevard and following the accident Collins had to have four surgeries due to the injury and a subsequent infection.

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A jury verdict awarded to a Miami family who’s child was left with severe brain damage following an off-campus high school party has been reversed by an appeals court in Florida. Gabriel Maynoldi was awarded a $12 million jury verdict following a 2001 drunk driving crash that killed one Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High student and left Maynoldi brain damaged.
The original jury found that the school was partially responsible for allegedly promoting the party where alcohol was served. After leaving the off-campus beer party the two students crashed into a tree. The appeals court overturned the decision from the lower Miami-Dade court and ruled the school and archdiocese were not liable for the accident.

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Jean Simmons was seeking nearly $500,000 in a personal injury lawsuit that claims she was disfigured while having a Brazilian Bikini wax performed. Simmons, an Apopka resident, had the bikini wax performed in 2007. She sued claiming the procedure ripped her labia and weakened her sexual desire. The lawsuit also claimed that she needed stitches following the waxing.
Simmons went to a salon in Altamonte Springs for the wax before she and her husband were scheduled to leave for a trip to Las Vegas. The jury did not award the 37-year-old anywhere near the amount she asked for in the personal injury lawsuit. Simmons’ husband was not awarded any money by the jury.

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A former stripper at an Alabama club called The Furnace received a jury award in the amount of $100,000 following a lawsuit in which she claimed her employers let her drive drunk following a shift at the club. Patsy Hamaker sued the club for $1.2 million following a drunk driving accident that left her with a broken back and nose.
According to testimony in the trial, Hamaker had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit following a stint in one of the club’s VIP rooms. The trial, which lasted four days, featured testimony from one of the club’s top dancers when it comes to selling drinks to patrons and a claim that the club’s management did confiscate Hamaker’s keys but they were unable to produce those keys at trial. Hamaker claimed the club disregarded its own safety rules and that led to her injuries

Bradenton’s IMG Academy was found negligent by a jury and has to pay the estate of a teenage basketball player $1.5 million after two days of deliberation. In a story on BradentonHerald.com it says the family of Christian Chalita had requested $15 million from the school that caters to students who aspire to become professional athletes.
A Bradenton doctor and local nurse were also found to be negligent for not discovering that Chalita had an irregular shaped heart that may have led to his heart attack and death while he was on a treadmill. The jury found those three parties 54% responsible for the death but also found the young man’s mother 46% responsible since she knew the boy’s father died at 33 of a heart condition that could have been passed on to her son.
If you or a loved one has been the victim of negligence and is in need of quality legal representation in your case, please contact Personal Injury Attorney Darren Finebloom at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) or online at FightYourInjury.com to discuss the matter. You can also contact Darren via email.

Calvin Young, a 40-year-old New Port Richey man, successfully won an $85,000 sexual harassment verdict against Golden Corral filing the suit under Florida’s Whistle-blower’s Act which protects employees who are fired for reporting something unlawful in the workplace. In Young’s case he claimed he was fired for reporting sexual harassment on the job by two fellow employees who are gay males. (read more)
In 2006 Young alleged that the two employees pestered him on an almost-daily basis with lewd remarks. He also claimed they pressed up against him from the front and back. After complaining to two managers, Young said nothing was ever done. He then claimed he was fired for as retaliation for the complaints. The jury sided with Young on all three counts. Three other cases are still pending that were filed by Young’s co-workers.
If you or a loved one has been harassed in the workplace, please contact Personal Injury Attorney Darren Finebloom at 1-800-FIGHT-IT or online at fightyourinjury.com to discuss the matter.