CALIFORNIA CASES
Disability discrimination
Verdict: Defense
Plaintiff allegedly denied
promotion due to disability, terminated for reporting misconduct; defendant
denied any discrimination and/or retaliation and alleged plaintiff was
terminated due to her own action of deliberately and fraudulently creating
false client charting entries, which she subsequently willfully deleted (Alldridge
v. Behavioral Health Services Inc., Los Angeles County Superior Court, defense attorney: Margaret Manton Holm).
Snow chains in road
Verdict: Defense
Jury rejected driver's
claims of injury from driving over county's chains; jury found persuasive the
testimony of defense expert Tack Lam, Ph.D. and M.D., a practicing physician
for Kaiser who inspected and tested an exemplar van and drove it over the same
chains on highway pavement at 50 mph while equipped with scientific measuring
devices to record vertical forces exerted on the vehicle and driver (Ellis
v. Mono County, Mono County Superior Court, defense attorney: John P.
Coleman).
Rollover accident
Settlement: $350,000
Defendants' out-of-control
vehicle caused a rollover accident; defendants did not deny liability but
disputed the nature and extent of plaintiff's injuries and damages (Clyburn
v. Slater, Sacramento County Superior Court, plaintiff attorney: Werner R.
Meissner).
Grease slip
Settlement: $1,500,000
Patron slipped and fell on
grease spill at Nation's Hamburgers, allegedly causing Central Regional Pain Syndrome
with pain level at 7 to 8 out of 10 (Oseguera v. Nations, Contra Costa
County Superior Court, plaintiff attorney: Ronald P. Goldman).
Alter ego
Decision: $2,192,000
Former vice president
awarded commissions and salary against defendant Bernhard Keppler,
individually, on an alter ego theory on a showing that the corporation had
ceased to exist or never existed in the first place and adherence to the
fiction of the corporation's separate existence would sanction a fraud or
promote injustice (Silvestro v. NLP International Corp., Butte County
Superior Court, plaintiff attorney: Robert A. Carichoff).
Leg amputation
Decision: $6,338,491
Plaintiff alleged that an
on-duty border patrol agent operating a government-issued vehicle sped through
a blind turn on an unpaved mountain road at an unsafe speed and collided with
plaintiff motorcyclist causing a traumatic below-the-knee amputation of the left
leg and other significant injuries (Hendrickson v. United States of America,
Southern District Federal Court, plaintiff attorney: Robert J. Francavilla).
Dog bite
Settlement: $400,000
Defendant's pit bull bit
plaintiffs' child in the face and lip; defendant's insurer contended plaintiff
placed himself in an unsafe area near the dog (Evangelista v. Anderson, Riverside
County Superior Court, plaintiff attorney: Michael A. Penn).
Brain/spine injuries
Settlement: $4,500,000
Framing worker fell through
an unsecured roof opening allegedly causing traumatic brain injury and thoracic
and lumbar fractures; defendants contended that cross-defendant Bantus,
plaintiff's employer, was primarily at fault for creating the opening and then
not permanently securing it or warning of its existence (Lathrop v. Michael
R. Tolladay Corp., Fresno County Superior Court, plaintiff attorney: Richard
C. Watters).
Wrongful death
Settlement: $375,000
Plaintiffs contended that a
patient-controlled analgesia pump was not functioning properly and contended
that pulse oximetry alarms were not working properly and that had the alarms
been working in accord with industry standards, nursing staff would have been
alerted much earlier and attended to her hypoxic state (Confidential v.
Confidential, Orange County Superior Court, plaintiff attorney: Jeffrey A.
Milman).
Heated saline
Verdict: Defense
Plaintiff contended
defendant improperly used heated saline to assist in the curing of the surgical
cement used in plaintiff's total knee arthroplasty which allegedly caused burns
both inside and outside the surgical wound, tissue necrosis and eventual
infection (Frost v. Boghosian, Riverside County Superior Court, defense attorney:
Sheila S. Trexler).
NATIONAL CASES
Unlawful surcharge
Verdict: $593,000,000
Jury found defendant BP
violated Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act by failing to disclose a 35-cent
debit card fee for more than 7 million gasoline purchases; the value of the
verdict was approximately $593 million awarded to a class of consumers (Scharfstein
v. BP West Coast Prods., Oregon – Multnomah County Circuit Court, plaintiff attorney: David F. Sugerman).
Cancer drugs
Verdict: Defense
Plaintiff claimed he developed osteonecrosis of the jaw and was at risk of
developing other diseases after he was prescribed and took the drugs Aredia
and Zometa as part of his treatment for multiple myeloma - the court granted the defendant summary judgment on
most claims; the jury found for defendant on the failure-to-warn claim because
proximate causation was not proved (Earp v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.,
North Carolina – United States District Court, E.D.N.C., defense attorneys: Katharine
R. Latimer/Peter G. Pappas).