Author Archive for David Brown – Page 67

Young boy awarded in a suit against Athletic Association and Borough

Zachary Hoffman, a fourteen-year-old boy who suffered a permanent head damage while he was in a youngster’s league game only a day before he celebrates his 12th birthday, was awarded a $1.7-million dollar settlement. The suit was placed against two Athletic Associations and a borough. Zachary received the settlement after a foul ball hit him while he was in a dugout at Chadwick field in Sewickley on April 13th, 2015 leaving him with long-term brain damage.

The incident spurred a debate on whether the playground for children is safe anymore. The incident brings the memory of the 4-year-old who was shot in the head in a Bronx playground in 2012.

Zachary was seated in the bunker at the first base watching his friends bat when the ball passed through an opening in the fence (between where the bunker begins and backstop ends) and struck him on the left side of the head. Zachary sustained a head injury, had a fractured skull and was bleeding intensely in his brain which caused permanent brain damage. In a lawsuit filed on March 2016, Zachary had to change schools and could not attend school on a daily basis due to the symptoms.

“He woke up a different person, his personality totally changed.” Alan Perer said.

Alan Perer, Zachary’s attorney according to the Little League safety the dugout should be properly protected by a fence at all fields across the country. An Allegheny County jury found Sewickley borough and Quaker Valley and the Avonworth Athletic Associations culpable for the injuries sustained by Zachary as a result of not putting in place safety measures. One week after Zachary’s incident the dugout was fenced.

“They knew about it and nobody did anything about it” Mr. Perer told the Jury.

“Everyone at Little League International is heartbroken when we learn of injuries like this and, sadly, this injury did occur within a little league program.” this is a statement issued by Little League spokesman Kevin Fountain.”Because the local program does not carry the insurance cover offered by Little League International, which requires reporting injuries and/or accidents, we were unaware of this unfortunate incident prior to today. Our thoughts are with the boy and his family.” He concluded.

An Attorney in Trouble After a Woman Whose Family Died in Turnpike Sues Him for Negligence

A woman who lost her spouse and daughter in a car accident that occurred on February 22nd, 2016 has come forward and sued her previous attorney of what she terms as a breach of contract and negligence of duty. In her affidavit sworn before a Hudson County headquarters Superior Court on January 29th, Pam O’Donnell claims that her former attorney failed to present a notice of tort claim to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) which effectively prevented her from getting a fair and rightful compensation in her case.

Her late Husband, Mr. Timothy O’Donnell who was a tutor at the County Preparatory High School, and her 5-year old daughter, Bridget crashed into oncoming eastbound traffic as they were fast-approaching the 14C toll plaza on the infamous NJ Turnpike Hudson county headquarters extension.

No Barriers

No barriers were separating the eastbound and westbound highway lanes at the time the accident occurred. Her husband died on the spot while her daughter died shortly after while undergoing medication at the Jersey City Medical Center.

According to the lawsuit, Pam O’Donnell hired Peter Cresci as her lawyer immediately after the tragic accident that led to the death of her 48-year old husband and her 5-year old daughter. However, Mrs. O’Donnell claims that Cresci intentionally sent a notice of tort claim intended for the NJ Turnpike to a wrong address which ended up denying her a fair compensation.

The Lawsuit

The lawsuit lists Peter Cresci, various law firms registered in his name, and some of the John Doe attorney firms as the principal respondents in the case. The complainant has raised three complaint charges of malpractice against Cresci and also seeks different compensatory damages.

Pam has retaliated that she hired Cresci to legally represent herself, the estates of her late partner and daughter Bridget, and her daughter Ali. He was supposed to file the necessary civil litigation proceedings against all the relevant authorities including the NJTA but failed to do so.

State Law

According to the state law, all complainants who wish to file a notice of tort claim are required to first present a notice of tort claim directly to the party in question within ninety days of the cause of action which in Pam’s case was the 22nd car crash. If the complainant fails to do so, then the complaint is automatically dismissed. Pam claims that Cresci didn’t serve the required notice of tort claim until May 16th, 2016, a few days to the deadline. However, instead of sending the claim directly to the NJTA, he chose to send it to the Tort Contract Unit based at the state Department of Treasury.

After discovering the mistake, Pam hired a new attorney in early-August 2016 to try and save the already-worse situation by filing a new complaint several months beyond the deadline day, but NJTA immediately filed a motion seeking to dismiss the complaint.

Doctors Should be Punished for Neglect in Hospitals

Is it justifiable to put a price tag on life? This question can have different answers all depending on the situation. When it comes to religion, people believe one moves on to a peaceful afterlife. In some cases, people believe reincarnation takes place. The following is a story about a child who lost her life and the parents are suing the hospital for wrongful death.

Who Was Stella Miles?
Stella Miles was a young girl with two parents, Michael Miles and Susanne Michels, who unfortunately died at 13 months of age in September 2016. She had been suffering from a life threatening condition known as hyperamonemia which in simple terms is high ammonia levels.

Stella’s parents decided to sue the doctors in-charge ( Dr. Amanda Kopydlowski, Dr. Vanessa Mondestin and Dr. Cori DeSanto) of Stella’s care in St. Louis Circuit Court House together with Washington university and the hospital for wrongful death.

According to lawyer Burton Greenberg, Stella had a seizure and fell unconscious while at home. Her parents immediately rushed her to a medical facility in Lake Saint Louis. She was later transferred on September 1, 2016 to St. Louis Children’s. Reason for doing this not stated.

The lawsuit alleges two main things. First, failure to treat Stella’ s worsened ammonia condition and secondly, neglecting to do an ammonia retest and genetic consultation before being abruptly discharged. Also, the lawsuit still claims the discharge summary was written three months later to hide the medical details of Stella.

On September 4 when Stella was discharged, she passed on five days later. The ammonia levels found in her was a shocking 1242 micro-gram per deciliter of blood. A child should have 11-35 micro-gram per deciliter of blood in normal circumstances. The two autopsies done later on confirmed that Stella died of high ammonia levels.

Another fact is that Nicole Miles, Stella’s 2-year-old sister, suffered from the similar medical condition and later died three months on December 2016. The parents are hoping to reach a settlement soon for $25000 in damages, although investigation is still ongoing.

This story has two sides of it and an investigation will at least bring out some clear answers. The parents are hoping to win this case before a trial date is set. Will winning such a case lessen their grief on loosing their daughter ? They are the only ones who know the feeling of loosing a child in such circumstances.

Widow Sues Power Company for Negligence that Led to Husband’s Death

UHP Trooper Erick Ellsworth’s widow is suing Rocky Mountain Power and a teenage girl (not mentioned in the suit) for the deadly car crash that led to the death of her husband.

Erick was serving in a cleanup of a sagging cable which apparently had been sagging since 28th November 2016. Erick succumbed to his injuries 4 days later after being struck by a car being driven by the teenager who is not mentioned in the suit because she is a minor. The cable was not fixed by the time Erick was arriving there.

The lawsuit was filed on a 3rd district court on 2nd February, 2018 states that “Rocky Mountain Power by acts or omission, caused serious injuries to Erick Dale Ellsworth and ultimately his death.” Rocky Mountain Power had been informed about the cable though no one came to repair before the arrival of Erick.

Erick parked his car at the edge of the street for oncoming vehicles to spot the cable by shining his car head lights on the cable. Erick stopped a semitrailer truck at around 8:37 pm that would have snagged the cable if it attempted to go under it.

After efforts on trying to reach a spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power to speak on the accusations, he declined to comment on the charges. The company made no efforts to comment on any of the accusations against them.

According to the lawsuit, the teenager’s truck struck Ellsworth suddenly and without any warning. This has brought disorientation to the home of Erick Ellsworth. The lawsuit was made accusing the first defendant, Rocky Mountain Power, of negligence. The minor was sued for reckless driving and the issue of underage driving seemed to be a possible lawsuit that will also befall the minor.

Janica Ellsworth, the widow, is inquiring for compensation for Medical expenses, funeral, and other bills. She is also seeking compensation long run wages for loss of care, comfort, guidance, love, society, affection, support, associations, and services that Erick would have provided. Janica has requested for a jury to give the verdict on the case.

Erick Ellsworth was 31 at the time of his death and had served as a trooper for seven years. He left behind his wife and three sons.

Suit Brought Against San Bernardino Starbucks Beverages Contaminated by Employee Bodily Fluids

The unsuspecting Vice family of Redlands strolled into a San Bernardino Starbucks on Feb 6, 2016. The family consisted of four patrons, husband and wife, Louis and Amanda, his mother, Rhonda Agles and their 2-year-old daughter Payton. The family took their drinks home and Louis’s mother noticed a red streak on her cup, she went to smell it and could smell something metallic. She didn’t really think too much of it until more red marks were discovered on the inner and outer portion of other cups. Together they deduced that it must be blood and since none of them were bleeding, it must have come from an employee.

Both mothers of the group called the Starbucks to find out if one of the employees were bleeding and it turned out that one had been. Both women complained that they or their family could be in grave danger due to this misstep. They claimed that the store manager offered them free drinks for a week due to the bad experience, but they declined, claiming that it was insensitive. The Vice’s wanted the Starbucks employee to have a blood test so that they would know if they were in danger of contracting, HIV or Hepatitis or some other blood-borne disease. Due to federal privacy laws, the best the family could do was to have testing done on themselves over the course of six months to see if they had in fact contracted anything.

The corporate office offered the family a total of $4,000 since they had to go to all of the trouble of being tested. This was not enough for the Vices, they filed suit to sue for negligence, emotional distress, assault and the list goes on. They claim that the whole experience has been overtly traumatic, due to the fact that Starbucks did not seem to care about the severity of the issue and they are demanding to be compensated. So far there has been no public response from Starbucks and the San Bernardino store remains open to this day about two years after the incident.

A Jersey Police Sergeant Admits to Hitting a Suspected Drug Offender with a Police SUV

In an astonishing turn of events, a New Jersey city police sergeant has admitted that he hit a drug offender who was trying to flee with a police vehicle. While pleading guilty to the disorderly person’s offense on Feb 9th, the police officer asked for forgiveness and accepted the fact that he was unfit to hold a public office again.

 

Mr. Daniel Welsh, who is the defense lawyer of John Ransom, told the court that his client has been a very noble and dedicated police officer for over 28 years and regretted that the matter had to end up in an unfortunate manner.

Ransom, 50 who spoke calmly admitted that the incident took place on August 6th, 2017 while he was on duty and driving SUV that was equipped with flashing lights and a siren. He said that he saw an individual who was later identified as Shiron Cooper who he suspected was involved in a drug deal.

Ransom further admitted that he drove recklessly and struck the complainant while attempting to arrest him. He further acknowledged that Shiron Cooper suffered a severe injury as a result of the incident.

Rising Cases of Police Officers Pleading to Off-Duty Schemes

The plea plead by Ransom added to the increasing number of black eye cases recorded by the police department which has seen at least 11 police officers plead guilty to off-duty job schemes.

Out of the 11 reported cases, four police officers charged with various offenses related to manipulating time sheets while four other officers have been indicted for their role in a high-speed chase that ended in a deadly crash.

Previous Charges

Previously, Officer Ransom was accused of assault by auto in the 4th degree in an incident that took place in Audubon Park and was recorded on video. Assault by car is a criminal offense that can land an individual in prison for up to 18 months unless you’re a first-time offender.

Cooper, who was also in attendance, has also been charged with six offenses including resisting lawful arrest.

Ransom was effectively suspended without pay until at least March 16th when he expected to be sentenced by Judge Paul DePascale. After the judgment, Ransom will be expected to forfeit his job, but he will be eligible to apply for his full pension.

Arizona Court of Appeal Revives a 2011 Wastewater Snow Case

The court of Appeal in Arizona has revived a lawsuit that was filed by the Hopi tribe against the decision by northern Arizona’s ski resorts to use treated wastewater to obtain snow on a mountain that the community considers holy and sacred.

The lawsuit was first filed in 2011, at the Coconino County Court. In the 2011 lawsuit, the tribe claimed that the scheme to sell recycled water to the Snowbowl ski resort qualified to be termed as a public annoyance and would have negative impacts on the people and natural plants living around the San Francisco mountain peaks. The community had disputed the presence of the ski resort on the hills range long before even the ski resort initiated plans to start using wastewater to prolong its season.

The Lawsuit

The case was first dismissed by the court in 2012 by a superior court adjudicator citing multiple failures of similar lawsuits in the past. However, a three-judge panel agreed that the tribe tabled undeniable evidence that the effects of the recycled water were devastating to its members.

The tribe cited several cases of special injury that constituted a public nuisance. Most of the injury cases cited in the case occurred as a result of contact between the wastewater and numerous ceremonial materials that are usually collected by the members of the Hopi tribe during pilgrimages as well as the environmental effect of the water to the surrounding areas.

Judgment

In their ruling, the three judges noted that the numerous natural amenities that members of the Hopi community gather as well as the sacred areas, springs on the peak of the mountain, and sacred areas would undeniably come in contact with the wastewater. This contact will negatively affect the wellbeing of the Hopi tribe and the utilization of the surrounding wilderness area.

According to the lawsuit, members of the Hopi tribe claim that the mountain range is a holy and sacred place of worship and also serves as a home to the kachina spirits that are an integral part of the tribe’s religion.

The reopening of the lawsuit contradicts the decision by the Arizona Appeal court which ruled that the use of the wastewater by the ski resort wasn’t illegal or unreasonable nor was there concrete evidence that the wastewater could cause harm to the complainants.

Chemours and Its Parent Company, DuPont Sued Again Over Toxin Contamination

DuPont Co. and its former subsidiary, Chemours are once again facing charges by the State of Ohio for perfluorooctanoic acid, PFOA damages. They are accused of inappropriately dumping of the chemical for 60 years even though they knew it was harmful to human health.

Earlier lawsuit

An earlier lawsuit had found them liable for the injuries that resulted from people drinking water contaminated by the chemical from their West Virginia plant.

Additional Liability

Even though the two companies had settled the earlier lawsuits by paying hundreds of millions of dollars, the state of Ohio still finds them liable for long-term damages and cleaning costs. Mike DeWine, the state’s Attorney General, pointed out that since the pollutants are not degradable, its effects are bound to continue.

The state conducted a series of health studies in 2017 to determine the dangers of the chemical. The studies showed that most of the personal injury plaintiffs in the first case still had accumulated levels of PFOA in their blood. The toxin has been shown to cause kidney and testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, and increased level of bad cholesterol.

The lawsuit alleges that DuPont defended its profits at the expense of human life. The company is also accused of having intentionally hidden dangers of the toxin from government officials.

Blame game

DuPont was the parent company of Chemours. However, it sold out to form DowDuPont Inc. Chemours had initially agreed to bear the liability of its parent company concerning the cases in question. However, a later agreement saw them share responsibility. Chemours, however, has declined any liability for punitive damages.

The decision by Chemours has caused an endless blame game between the two firms. The spokesperson of DuPont, Dan Turner, insists that the company is fully insured by Chemours and is consequently not liable for any charges related to its previous projects.

Additional woes

The woes of the two firms are far from over as they face new inquiries by federal regulators over another chemical, GenX, which they used on the same site.

Besides the lawsuits, the value of Chemours fell by 3.6 percent in New York Trading to $46.49 on Thursday when the case was filed.

In a related case, the former producer of PFOA, 3M.Co is facing similar charges in Minnesota. The trial is set to begin in mid-February.

An Estate Files a $9.5m Suit Against Multnomah County After a Falling Tree Kills an Expectant Woman

The Multnomah Estate of a 30-year-old expectant woman who lost her life when a huge cedar fell onto her Ford SUV has moved to court to seek compensation amounting to $9.50 million. The suit has been filed against the registered owners of the Multnomah County land where the cedar tree grew.

According to the information provided in the lawsuit, Olivier was about four months pregnant when the incident occurred on 1st March 2016, at almost 6:30 am as she was heading to work along the Southeast Oxbow Drive. The cedar tree which was approximately 100-foot tall fell onto the driver’s side of Olivier’s 2001 Ford Explorer and killed her instantly.

Denied Permission

After Olivier’s death, Mark Harrington, the owner of the land where the tree grew came forward and said that the county authorities had denied him the permission to cut down the ill-fated tree and other trees near it that were also in a devastating condition.

Although it isn’t clear why Harrington was denied the permission to cut down the tree, Mr. Pullen, the official county spokesman, says that the county lacks a general code governing the cutting down of trees on private property.

At the time of her death, Olivier was a wife to Jeremy Olivier, and they had a baby boy who was three years old.

The estate where Olivier lived has taken the county to court claiming that the county denied granting the landowners where the tree grew permission to cut it down even after informing them about the rotting nature of the tree. The lawsuit argues that if the county had granted the sought orders to cut down the tree, Olivier’s life couldn’t have been cut short.

Portland attorneys Anthony Furniss and Gregory Leineweber are representing Olivier’s estate in the case which was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Related Cases

The lawsuit filed by Olivier’s estate is the fourth one to be recorded in the past two years over deaths caused by falling trees. A case was filed in 2016 in which the parents of an 11-year-old kid, Lake Oswego after he was killed when a tree fell on top of the car he was riding in.

During the same year, another lawsuit was also filed by the estate of an elderly woman who was killed when a neighbor’s tree fell onto her house at night. This happened in Southeast Portland. A similar case was also reported last year when a 27-year old man was killed while driving along the Columbia Highway.

A Chicago Father Sues Foster Care for Negligence After His 9-Month Old Baby Died

A Chicago northwest father has filed a lawsuit against childcare claiming that the program denied him his constitutional rights and freedom as a father and released his 9-month old daughter to her careless mother who later caused her death. Justin Freeman describes the program in question as an option to foster childcare and claims that the program blatantly declined to release Cherish to his care.

Negligence

Justin Freeman filed a lawsuit on February 7th, 2018 accusing the non-profit organization of negligence by declining to release his daughter to him without the mother’s consent after he was employed. He says that the organization, later on, conspired with the mother of the child and released the 9-month old toddler to her mother without him knowing.

The couple had voluntarily taken their baby to the SFC (Safe families for Children) program in early September after they were unable to provide for themselves. The organization, which is based in Chicago’ northwest side, is a non-profit organization that helps parents who are unable to provide for their toddlers.

The baby died on December 20, 2017, shortly after she had been released into her careless mother’s custody against the wish of her father. Justin Freeman believes that baby Cherish Freeman died as a result of Shanquilla Garvey’s actions inside her Joliet motel’s room.

The Lawsuit

The lawsuit further claims that Freeman believes that his child could not have died if her custody had been handed to him instead of the mother since he knew the nature of environment the mother was living in and the kind of people that hang around her although his plea was ignored despite raising these concerns. The lawsuit further states that there had been previous serious allegations leveled against Shanquilla Garvey by the father of her other kids.

Justin Freeman states how he loved his daughter so dearly that he wouldn’t allow anything wrong to happen to her if he was allowed to take her from the organization.

SFC organization declined to talk about the matter and only stated that the organization was shocked and saddened to learn about the death of baby Cherish Freeman and reiterated the fact that parents retain complete guardianship of their kids even when they are at the organization.

Shanquilla Garvey, the baby’s mother was arraigned in court and charged with provoked battery; denied cash bond and is still locked up in custody.