Latest Lawsuits Headlines

All the headlines from our Lawsuits Topic Page, ordered by recency.

LA Jury Awards $10 Million in Suit over School Parking Lot Crash

Feb 9 2007 // A Los Angeles jury has awarded $10.3 million to the family of a 6-year-old girl who was struck by a van and killed two years ago in an elementary school parking lot, determining the school district was largely responsible...

Families File Wrongful Death Suit in Milwaukee Warehouse Explosion

Feb 9 2007 // The families of three factory employees killed in a warehouse explosion filed a wrongful death lawsuit, saying a contractor improperly installed a propane pipeline and should have ordered an evacuation sooner. The propane...

Iowa Wellmark Insurance Sues Hospitals to Stop Building Plan

Feb 9 2007 // Iowa’s largest health insurance company filed a lawsuit this week to stop three health care organizations from building hospitals without seeking state approval. Wellmark Inc., widely known as Wellmark Blue Cross and...

Nevada’s Med-Mal Changes Help Doctors, Hinder Lawsuits

Feb 9 2007 // Physicians’ insurance premiums are down and more doctors are coming to Nevada since voters limited damages in medical malpractice cases, lawmakers were told Wednesday. But trial lawyers said many malpractice victims...

Wis. Appeals Court Revives Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Feb 8 2007 // A Wisconsin state appeals court has revived a wrongful death lawsuit in a dispute over whether a family and its insurance company could be liable because a teenager who drove through a stop sign and caused a fatal crash...

Another Suit Filed Against Bayer by Ark. Farmers

Feb 7 2007 // The company that developed a genetically altered strain of rice intended to resist a herbicide has been sued again by Arkansas rice farmers claiming negligence and seeking compensation. The genetically altered rice was...

Okla. Senate Committee Passes Bill Protecting Volunteers from Lawsuits

Feb 7 2007 // A measure that will exempt volunteers who provide transportation services for charitable organizations or not-for-profit corporations from liability lawsuits passed out of the Oklahoma Senate Judiciary...

Ariz. Lawmakers Move to Raise Burden of Proof on ER Suits

Feb 6 2007 // Hoping for a change of heart by Gov. Janet Napolitano, the Arizona Senate narrowly approved a medical malpractice bill to raise the bar on the legal burden of proof required for malpractice lawsuits involving emergency...

Judge Refuses to Dismiss Feds, Corps From La. Flood Suit

Feb 5 2007 // Residents of the three areas flooded worst by Hurricane Katrina can sue the Army Corps of Engineers over claims that a poorly designed navigation channel caused catastrophic flooding during Hurricane Katrina, a federal...

N. D. Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Fargo Insurance Company

Feb 2 2007 // A North Dakota judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to change the way one of the state’s largest insurance companies picks its board of directors. Northwest District Judge Douglas Mattson of Minot ruled against...

St. Paul Travelers Settles Stun-Gun Suit Against Pa. Suburb

Feb 2 2007 // A Pittsburgh suburb’s former insurance carrier paid $100,000 to an ex-pizzeria owner who sued the municipality after being subdued by police with a stun gun in 2005. Mount Lebanon police used a 50,000-volt Taser on...

Okla. Supreme Court Ruling Puts new Twist on Civil Liability Debate

Feb 2 2007 // For Dr. David Russell, an Enid radiologist and president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, the debate over civil justice reform in Oklahoma isn’t about the politics that has kept many reform measures bottled...

Victims of Calif. Flooding Seek $1 Billion in Lawsuits

Feb 1 2007 // Victims of last winter’s flooding in Marin County, Calif., are seeking more than $1 billion in a suit filed against government agencies they blame for the devastation. Each of the 265 individuals and businesses named...

Arizona Lawmakers Move to Raise Burden of Proof on ER Suits

Jan 31 2007 // Hoping for a change of heart by Gov. Janet Napolitano, the Arizona Senate on Monday narrowly approved a medical malpractice bill to raise the bar on the legal burden of proof required for malpractice lawsuits involving...

Corporate Governance, Capital Drive D&O Liability Prices Down

Jan 30 2007 // Changing corporate governance practices and excess capital in the insurance market have made directors and officers (D&O) liability premiums drop in recent years, according to Advisen Ltd., a provider of analytics,...

Slip slidin’ away: The deterioration of the late notice defense

Jan 29 2007 // Through a series of opinions, courts seem to be gradually chipping away at insurer’s policy defenses based on late notice of claim or suit, or failure to forward suit papers. The new trend started when the Supreme...

Case Law Watch

Jan 29 2007 // Additional Insureds Alpha Holdings Ltd. v. Travelers Indemnity (California Court of Appeals, Second District, July 13, 2006) Ruling: This case involved a declaratory judgment action on insurance coverage under a...

Minn. boy sues parents over injuries in accident

Jan 29 2007 // Amy and Ted Harrison Sr. are being sued over a car crash that left their son permanently disabled, and they hope they lose the case now before the Minnesota Supreme Court. The plaintiff is their son, Teddy Harrison, who...

Enron’s legacies and directors and officers risk

Jan 29 2007 // Shortly after former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling’s Oct. 23, 2006, sentencing, the Enron Task Force said it was closing down, with its mission mostly complete. Yet did that event really signal an endpoint in the Enron...

Case Law Watch

Jan 29 2007 // Bad Faith (Mo. App. Jan. 4, 2007) Ruling: Attorneys fees were awarded under Missouri’s “Vexatious Refusal to Pay” statute. Insured brought suit against insurer for denial of homeowners coverage. In...