Judge Dismisses Wrongful Death Lawsuit In Mystic Case
NEW LONDON — - A Superior Court judge has dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the husband of Mystic schoolteacher Leslie Buck, but the attorney representing the dead woman's estate can re-plead the complaint, according to a decision released Friday.
At a January court hearing, Donald R. Beebe, the attorney for Charlie Buck, sought a dismissal of the wrongful death lawsuit on the ground that the case — filed in May 2005 — was brought after the two-year statute of limitations for filing had expired.
But Shelley L. Graves, an attorney for Leslie Buck's estate, said the statute would not apply if Charlie Buck had fraudulently concealed evidence of his wife's death.
Shares of Taser Slip After Losing Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Shares of stun-gun manufacturer Taser International Inc. (TASR : News, Chart, Quote) fell Monday morning after a jury ordered the company to pay $6.22 million in damages in a lawsuit brought against the company over its role in the death of Robert Heston.
The stock dropped about 10 percent, declining 77 cents by 10:00 am Eastern Time to $6.13 a share. Shares of the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company broke support and slid to their lowest level since December 2005.
Early Saturday, Taser revealed that a jury verdict in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California awarded a total of $6.22 million in damages against the company. In the case of Betty Lou Heston, et al. v. City of Salinas, the jury found that the extended duration of a Taser electronic control device or ECD contributed 15% to the arrest related death of Robert Heston on February 19, 2005.
Williston doctor cleared in lawsuit
Williston, N.D. (AP) A Williston doctor has been cleared in a civil defamation lawsuit filed by another doctor who assisted him in a kidney removal operation four years ago.
A jury cleared Salem Shahin of the allegations by Inder Khokha.
The patient involved in the 2004 operation later died. Her son filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the two doctors. Shahin settled out of court, but the lawsuit continued against Khokha.
Khokha alleged in his civil defamation lawsuit that Shahin gave family members of the patient who died inaccurate information about his work during the operation. The jury disagreed.
The case of the operation led to a divided state Supreme Court ruling last year that Khokha could not use North Dakota's "good Samaritan" law to ward off the wrongful death lawsuit. Trial is set for August.
Supreme Court rules on drunk driving case
Two friends who conspired to buy beer for a teenager who later killed an aspiring physician while driving drunk are not legally responsible for damages, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said in a decision released Tuesday.
While the friends had an agreement to buy alcohol, the agreement did not include driving while intoxicated, the high court found in a decision written by Justice Patience Roggensack.
The court was divided 4-3 on the case with Justices Shirley Abrahamson, Louis Butler and Ann Walsh Bradley dissenting.
As the court put it, the case involved an ill-conceived idea of some teenagers to "get some beer" that culminated in tragedy the next morning when Robert Zimmerlee, 19, of Greenfield, blew through a stop sign in West Allis and smashed into the driver's side of a vehicle driven by Christopher Richards, 25, in January 2003.
The night before the accident, Zimmerlee and David Schrimpf, also of Greenfield, were together. Schrimpf got Tomakia Pratchet, an older a co-worker at a West Allis restaurant, to buy an 18-pack of beer. They went to a party where Zimmerlee reportedly...
Scott Peterson heading to trial again in wrongful death suit
Associated Press
Scott Peterson heading to trial again in wrongful death suit Eds: APNewsNow; RECASTS second reference to judge.
MODESTO, Calif. (AP) Convicted killer Scott Peterson will be heading to trial again over the death of his pregnant wife, this time in civil court.
The parents of Laci Peterson have filed a North Dakota wrongful death lawsuit against him, seeking a multimillion-dollar judgment.
A Stanislaus County Superior Court judge ruled Friday that Peterson would have to stand trial in the civil case. A jury found him guilty in 2003 of killing Laci Peterson and her fetus and dumping the body in San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002.
At Friday's hearing, Peterson's defense attorney cited in court a videotape made at San Quentin State Prison in which he maintains his innocence.
The judge stayed his ruling until June 23 to allow lawyers to appeal.
The trial is set to begin July 8.
Judge orders assets frozen
Waukesha - A Waukesha County judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order that freezes the assets of Mark M. Benson and prevents him from divesting resources that could be targeted in the wrongful death and personal injury lawsuit filed against him this week.
Supreme Court Caps Drunken Driving Payment
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A passenger in a vehicle that caused a fatal drunken driving crash does not have to pay another $250,000 in the death, a divided Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The 4-3 decision means Badger Mutual Insurance Co., which insured David Schrimpf, will not pay more to the widow of Chris Richards.
Richards was killed when a vehicle driven by Schrimpf's friend, Robert Zimmerlee, crashed into his car in the Milwaukee area. Zimmerlee and Schrimpf were both 19 and had been drinking beer bought by one of Schrimpf's co-workers, Tomakia Pratchet.
Richards' widow, Michelle, reached a $1.3 million settlement with Zimmerlee. She then filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Schrimpf and Badger Mutual alleging...
$1M for motorcyclist’s family in Janklow crash
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Relatives of a motorcyclist killed in a crash with former Rep. Bill Janklow said Wednesday they've settled their South Dakota wrongful death lawsuit against the government for $1 million.
Randy Scott of Hardwick, Minn., was killed Aug. 16, 2003, when his Harley-Davidson struck the back of a Cadillac that Janklow drove through a stop sign at an intersection in eastern South Dakota.
Scott, 55, was killed instantly. Janklow, 68, was injured.
Scott's family sued the federal government for $25 million after the U.S. attorney in Minnesota concluded Janklow was on official business at the time. A trial had been scheduled to start June 16 in Minneapolis, but the family opted to settle Tuesday, said Scott's mother, Marcella Scott of Luverne, Minn.
"Now that it's all over, we can get closure," she said. "And so many people have been helpful and given us the strength to go on."
The family's lawyer, Ron Meshbesher, said federal attorneys settled "begrudgingly." Because it was a nondependent case, meaning Scott's two children are adults supporting themselves, the $1 million is about as much as was possible, he said.
Janklow has not commented on the accident but said Wednesday he's glad Scott's family can move on.
"I'm happy that part of it's over," he said.
Janklow, who has returned to private practice as a lawyer, was a dominating force in South Dakota politics for 30 years. After serving as attorney general, the Republican was governor for 16 years, serving four terms in two separate eight-year stints. In 2002, he was elected as South Dakota's lone member of the House.
Family files lawsuit…
MASON CITY, Iowa - The family members of a Mason City woman who was killed in a 2007 house fire have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the man who shared her home.
According to Cerro Gordo County court records the lawsuit was filed against Ron Larsen on May 19. Young's son, Scottie Lear, as well as Lear's wife and daughter are plaintiffs case.
The lawsuit contends that Larsens unattended burning cigarette that caused the fire that led to his mother's death. A fire marshal's report concluded burning embers from a cigarette ignited the fire last year.
Young was credited with saving the lives of Jennifer and Becky Lear, who were sleeping when the fire was discovered. Larsen was not home at the time of the fire.
South Dakota Wronful death: After ruling, executions reset
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Here in the nation's leading death-penalty state, and some of the 35 others that practice capital punishment, execution dockets are quickly filling up.
Less than three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ended a seven-month halt in lethal injections, at least 14 execution dates have now been set in six states between May 6 and October. The first, on Tuesday, is in Georgia of a man who killed his girlfriend and another woman.
"The Supreme Court essentially blessed their way of doing things," said Douglas A. Berman, a professor of law and a sentencing expert at Ohio State University. "So in some sense, they're back from vacation and ready to go to work."
Experts say the resumption of executions is likely to throw a strong new spotlight on the divisive national -- and international -- issue of capital punishment.
"When people confront a new wave of executions, they'll be questioning not only how people are executed but whether people should be executed," said James R. Acker, a historian of the death penalty and a professor at the School of Criminal Justice at the University at Albany.
Texas leads the list with five people now set to die here in the Walls Unit, the state's death house, between June 3 and Aug. 20. Virginia is next with four. Louisiana, Oklahoma and South Dakota have also set execution dates.
Some welcome the end of the moratorium.
"We'll start playing a little bit of catch-up," said William R. Hubbarth, a spokesman for Justice for All, a Houston-based ... READ MORE