Overlawyered » deep pocket

Teen throws concrete onto highway, truck driver gravely injured

Walter Olson — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:44:56 +0000

Now guess who gets sued? [Ted Frank/PoL; Collins v. Navistar, California]

Tags: autos, California, deep pocket, roads and streets, third party liability for crime

Teen throws concrete onto highway, truck driver gravely injured is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Drug Supplier Not at Fault for Teen’s Overdose on Stolen Xanax, Court Rules”

Walter Olson — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 17:34:19 +0000

New Jersey: “Harding Pharmacy, others agreed to pay $4.1M to a man who swallowed stolen Xanax in 2007 and suffered serious injuries. A state court ruled Wednesday that the wholesale distributor, Kinray Inc., was not liable for injuries.” [James Kleimann, Ridgewood Patch, October, earlier here and here]

Tags: deep pocket, New Jersey, pharmaceuticals

“Drug Supplier Not at Fault for Teen’s Overdose on Stolen Xanax, Court Rules” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Bus accident video footage

Walter Olson — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:11:25 +0000

Because of a mounted dashboard camera, you can watch the footage of a Quincy, Ill. municipal transit bus on its seemingly uneventful ride until an oncoming car suddenly loses control and swerves directly into its path. [KHQA] If you do watch the footage, released by the plaintiff’s lawyer, see whether you would have predicted that the legal outcome of the crash would turn out to be “city pays $4 million to passenger in car that lost control.” (& welcome Reddit readers).

Tags: deep pocket, Illinois, transit

Bus accident video footage is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Family of college hazing victim sues bus company

Walter Olson — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:34:42 +0000

“The driver of a bus on which Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion was beaten to death in November stood guard while he was assaulted by fellow band members, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Orlando by Champion’s family.” The bus was parked in a hotel parking lot with the driver not aboard during the incident. The president of the sued company disputes the contentions, saying the driver “did not see any hazing aboard the bus on which Champion collapsed. ‘If she would have seen that, we definitely would have stopped it,’” he said. [Orlando Sentinel]

Tags: colleges and universities, deep pocket, Florida A&M

Family of college hazing victim sues bus company is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Illinois court: don’t blame railroad for asbestos delivery

Walter Olson — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:43:21 +0000

“This January, the justices stopped [attorney James] Wylder’s argument dead in its tracks once again, concluding that the McLean County Circuit Court should have dismissed his three negligence suits against Illinois Central Railroad. Wylder had argued that Illinois Central was responsible for the alleged asbestos-related injuries of workers at an asbestos plant because the asbestos had arrived there by rail.” [Chamber's Madison County Record, more; background on "asbestos conspiracy" line of Illinois cases, LNL]

Tags: asbestos, deep pocket, Illinois, Madison County, railroads

Illinois court: don’t blame railroad for asbestos delivery is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 31 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:06:21 +0000

Latest of periodic Towers Watson (formerly Towers Perrin/Tillinghast) surveys: tort costs fell in 2010 excluding oil spill liability [Towers Watson]
“Will Newt Neuter the Courts?” [James Huffman, Defining Ideas] Obama’s high court appointees are fortunately friendlier toward civil liberties than he is [Steve Chapman]
Unanimous Cal Supremes: companies not legally responsible for other companies’ asbestos products used as replacement for theirs [Cal Biz Lit, Jackson, Beck, Mass Tort Prof]
Claim: jurors considered policy implications of verdict and you can’t have that [On Point; defense verdict in Baltimore, Maryland school-bullying case]
Airfare display mandate: “‘Protecting’ Consumers from the Truth About the Cost of Government” [Thom Lambert, TotM]
Critical assessment of AP-backed new copyright aggregator “NewsRight” [Mike Masnick] Promises not to be “Righthaven 2.0″ [Cit Media Law]
Restatement (Third) of Torts drafters vs. Enlightenment scientific views of causation [David Oliver in June]

Tags: airlines, asbestos, Baltimore, Barack Obama, bullying, California, deep pocket, juries, Newt Gingrich, RightHaven, taxes, Tillinghast, toxic torts

January 31 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Wrongful-Death Suit Filed Against Criminal Defendant’s Parents, Grandmother”

Walter Olson — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:30:16 +0000

“While lawyer Scott Marshall has pleaded guilty to a murder charge, his victim’s mother has filed an unusual wrongful-death suit against not only him but his parents and his 92-year-old grandmother.” [Texas Lawyer]

Tags: deep pocket, Texas, third party liability for crime

“Wrongful-Death Suit Filed Against Criminal Defendant’s Parents, Grandmother” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Montana: “Bicyclist Gets Nearly $100G After Fall on Icy Trail”

Walter Olson — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:37:03 +0000

“The president of the Florence Park District says he’s disappointed in a system that allows a man riding a motorized bicycle on a winter night on a trail that doesn’t allow motorized vehicles to receive an insurance settlement. Half of the settlement came from a Florence bar because snow was pushed onto the trail when the bar parking lot was plowed.” [AP]

Tags: deep pocket, Montana, personal responsibility, recreation

Montana: “Bicyclist Gets Nearly $100G After Fall on Icy Trail” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Sugarland sued over Indiana stage collapse”

Walter Olson — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:16:20 +0000

Lawyers for survivors of a calamitous stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair in August have sued a variety of defendants including country music duo Sugarland, producers, stagehands and others. [Hollywood Reporter]

Tags: deep pocket, Indiana, music and musicians

“Sugarland sued over Indiana stage collapse” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Deep pocket files: Highway 101 crash

Walter Olson — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:15:15 +0000

In 2007, on Highway 101 north of Ventura, Jeremy White plowed his pickup truck into a vehicle parked along the roadside, killing its driver and paralyzing a California highway patrolman who was standing alongside. White “pleaded guilty in September 2008 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and selling and transporting marijuana. He was sentenced to 15 years.” While he had an insurance policy, its limit was a paltry $15,000. So which deep pockets will be left responsible for paying the nearly $50 million a jury has awarded in damages? The answer, apparently: 1) White’s insurance company, despite the policy limit, due to the magic of “insurance bad faith” law; 2) Bert’s Mega Mall in Covina, whose employees, according to the plaintiffs in the case, “didn’t properly strap down two dirt bikes in the back of White’s truck, which caused a distraction and contributed to the crash.”

After the trial ended Tuesday, the mall’s lawyer, Terrence Cranert, said they would appeal.

He said there was significant evidence the jury didn’t receive, including a statement from White’s passenger who told the CHP that he and White had stopped to smoke marijuana after leaving the mall. Cranert said they weren’t able to find White’s passenger for the trial, but felt the information should have been allowed.

The judge, however, disagreed.

White’s passenger also told the CHP that he and White went into the back of the truck and opened a tool box to get the marijuana, according to Cranert. “They would have to unstrap the motorcycles,” Cranert said.

[Ventura County Star reporting, liability and damages phases]

Tags: California, deep pocket, insurance, joint and several liability

Deep pocket files: Highway 101 crash is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system