How Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help
One personal injury case can turn into wrongful death lawsuit anytime. If the victim is killed as a result of personal injury or negligence of an individual or institute or organization, a wrongful death lawsuit is brought against the responsible party.
However, unlike personal injury cases, here the compensation is paid to the dependants of the killed person. Any form of personal injury accident including automobile accident, slip and fall, work place accident, medical negligence and other such incidents can be the reason of accidental death. Since recklessness and negligence of an entity ruins the life of another, victims have got all the right to file compensation claim in the court of law.
In case of accidental death, those who are financially dependent on the killed person are considered as the victims. Just imagine if the person on whom you depend financially, god forbid, is killed by a road accident won't you become helpless?
State and federal laws help such people by empowering them to claim compensation from the guilty party. Lawyers specialized in handling accidental death cases can help accidental death victims get compensated in their state.
It is true that the loss of a near and dear one cannot be compensated, no money is enough to balance the absence of a family member; still, monetary compensation helps surviving members get back on to their normal lifestyle.
To file wrongful death lawsuit in the court of law, the family members and dependants of the killed person should take help from accidental death attorneys who can guide them starting from evidence collection to presentation. Along with compensation, the feeling of getting justice reduces emotional suffering.
Families suffering from accidental death of a member have the right to receive compensation from the party responsible for the death. The responsible party can be an individual or an organization. Sometimes the surviving members are eligible for compensation from insurance companies as well. It is recommended to consult wrongful death lawyers as soon as possible, so that the lawyer can guide the claimants on how to protect key and strong evidence and make the wrongful death compensation claim process much easier. Wrongful death attorneys can also guide you learn the importance of Statute of Limitations (SOL) and help prevent your claim from going invalid by taking proper steps timely.
Widow of Wrongful Death Case Only to Receive $1.6 million
Modesto, California (JusticeNewsFlash.com) — It seems that there are more cases of medical malpractice today than in the past, and how can this be with the technological advancements of our time? The answer is doctor’s negligence. This is exemplified in a case involving the Stinnett couple of Modesto, California. On the afternoon of January 6, 2002, Mr. Stanley Stinnett, 49, was riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle when a dog leaped out in his path causing him to crash. He was airlifted to Memorial Medical Center where doctors found six broken ribs and complicated respiratory problems. After only five days, Stinnett’s doctor told him to go home and heal.
But before Doctor Tony Tam could discharge Mr. Stinnett, he passed away, chocking on his own vomit. According to the Stinnett’s attorney Stewart Tabak of Stockton, X-rays taken four hours before his death showed Stinnett had one gallon of liquid backed up in his stomach, which the Dr. Tam never drained. The 12 jurors concurred that Stinnett’s death was unnecessary, stating that Dr. Tam was negligent in his practice. The jury awarded $2.5 million in economic damages and $6 million in compensatory damages to Mrs. Stinnett, but unfortunately and somewhat unjustly, there is a 1975 law which caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits at $250,000. Therefore, Holly Stinnett will most likely only receive about $1.6 million of the suggested amounts.
Family of disabled woman files wrongful death lawsuit
The family of a mentally disabled woman who fled from a group home in Bay City and wound up dead in an abandoned house in Saginaw has sued a social services agency, the group home and a worker.
Rebecca Mullins, 57, walked out of the Brookwood Adult Foster Care Home at 909 Murphy St. on Sept. 21, and police found her body in an abandoned home at 326 S. 10th St. in Saginaw nearly three months later.
Mullins died of dehydration after falling through a rotted floor in the home and becoming entangled by her knee and ankle in a rafter, according to the lawsuit, filed in Bay County Circuit Court. Mullins' family is seeking more than $25,000 from Saginaw Bay Human Services, Brookwood LLC and the caregiver on duty when Mullins ran off.
Mullins, whom family members have said had the cognitive capacity of a child, had a history of running from the home. A "behavior treatment plan" drafted for her in 1992 outlined the "history and potential to run away" and prescribed that staff at the foster care home should remain in the same room with her except when she used the bathroom.
Family sues city
The mother of a Lincoln woman who died after an asthma episode at her home is suing the city in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Rita Choquette, the mother of Emy C. Choquette, claims city emergency medical staff who were dispatched to the residence failed to, among other things, timely begin appropriate medical procedures on her daughter.
Emy Choquette, 28, never fully regained consciousness after the Aug. 10 episode, according to the lawsuit. She died Aug. 14.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Lancaster County District Court by Omaha attorney David Domina, names as defendants the city of Lincoln, Lancaster County and six emergency medical technicians. The technicians’ names were unknown to the plaintiff at the time of the filing.
According to the lawsuit, Emy Choquette began to feel ill the evening of Aug. 10. When medication and a nebulizer failed to relieve her symptoms, she administered to herself two injections of another prescribed medication, the lawsuit stated.
In the meantime, Emy Choquette’s sister, who was at the home at the time, dialed 911. Emergency medical staff arrived about six minutes later, the lawsuit said.
Children of slain woman sue their father
The four children of Elisabeth K. Witte, whose ex-husband is charged with killing her in a downtown parking garage, filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday against their father.
Richard E. Reilly, a lawyer representing the children and their mother’s estate, said the suit is an effort to protect their interests in the father’s estate.
The father, Gerhard Witte, 70, is accused of stalking his ex-wife and slashing her throat in the garage after she performed in a Milwaukee Symphony Chorus concert. Police found him with her body and he confessed to her killing, authorities have said.
Witte, a physician, is awaiting trial on first-degree intentional homicide charges.
Jury to convene in malpractice case
An Olmsted County jury could decide Wednesday whether Mayo Clinic doctors were negligent 11 years ago in their treatment of an infant who ended up with permanent brain damage.
Final testimony in the medical malpractice trial is expected Wednesday morning, followed by closing arguments and instructions from Judge Robert Birnbaum.
The lawsuit was initiated in 2001 by Nancy and Michael Becker, who adopted Nykkole Rossini as an infant. She had already suffered the brain damage at the hands of her biological father, Brian Rossini, who was convicted in criminal court and sentenced to prison.
Jurors have learned through testimony and video that Nykkole, while growing physically, will never function beyond the level of an infant. She can't walk or talk and is fed through a tube. She needs constant care.
Chris Messerly, one of the attorneys for the Beckers, asked jurors to award damages of $20 million.
UIHC sued in death
An Iowa family filed a lawsuit Monday, alleging staff members at the UI Hospitals and Clinics caused the death of their daughter, the third lawsuit of its kind this year.
Larry and Janice Kaberle of Rowley, Iowa, alleged in the suit that their daughter, Lisa Kaberle Zahina, died due to "complications of myocarditis" in 2005, only days after she was discharged from UIHC.
The family's attorney, Larry Helvey of Cedar Rapids, wrote in the suit that Kaberle Zahina, 24 at the time, was admitted to UIHC on May 14, 2005, complaining of a headache, chest discomfort, a rapid heart beat, and shortness of breath. She was eventually diagnosed with myocarditis - the inflammation of a muscular substance of the heart.
On July 1, 2005, Kaberle Zahina was allegedly told at a follow-up appointment at UIHC that her myocarditis was resolved.
Three days later, she was admitted to Virginia Gay Hospital in Vinton, Iowa, the lawsuit read, complaining of dizziness, a headache, nausea, and vomiting. She died later that day.
Inmate gets 4 to 7 more years
WORCESTER— A jail inmate found guilty of manslaughter in the death of his cellmate three years ago was sentenced yesterday to 4 to 7 years’ imprisonment.
Dennis R. Hadley, 52, was charged with murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (shod foot) in the Feb. 23, 2005, death of 42-year-old Daniel McMullen after an altercation in the cell the two men shared at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston.
A 12-member Worcester Superior Court jury convicted Mr. Hadley of involuntary manslaughter Thursday in the death of Mr. McMullen and acquitted him on the charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Judge Peter W. Agnes Jr. sentenced Mr. Hadley to 4 to 7 years in state prison yesterday. Assistant District Attorney Joseph T. Moriarty Jr. recommended a sentence of 12 to 15 years and Mr. Hadley’s lawyer, Margaret R. Guzman, proposed a sentence of time served or a 3- to 4-year prison term for her client.
Mr. McMullen, formerly of Douglas, died from complications of a ruptured spleen caused by blunt trauma, according to a medical examiner’s findings. Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Hadley, while wearing boots, kicked Mr. McMullen in the face and abdomen on the morning of Feb. 3, 2005, after an argument in their cell over a deck of playing cards.
Mr. Hadley, formerly of Rhode Island, told jail officials he pushed Mr. McMullen down after his cellmate poked him in the eye with his finger. He denied kicking Mr. McMullen.
Mr. McMullen, who was serving a sentence for a probation violation on a drunken driving charge at the time, suffered from advanced cirrhosis of the liver and an enlarged spleen, according to testimony at Mr. Hadley’s trial. He was initially treated at St. Vincent Hospital for a cut lip on the morning of the altercation and was returned to the jail. About 15 hours later, he was brought back to the hospital complaining of abdominal pain.
He was admitted at that time after diagnostic tests revealed internal bleeding from a torn spleen. Mr. McMullen developed pneumonia and an infection while hospitalized, lapsed into a coma and died.
Before imposing the 4- to 7-year sentence yesterday, Judge Agnes rejected a suggestion by James Mahoney, the victim’s brother-in-law, that Mr. McMullen’s death was attributable to “a total system failure” at the county jail. Mr. Mahoney said his family believed overcrowding and understaffing at the jail were as much, if not more, to blame for the death of their loved one than Mr. Hadley’s actions.
Wulff completes a long road home (Minnesota wrongful death lawyer)
Not at the news that nobody knew where his mom was. Not at the weekend expeditions when his cousins would drive out into the Northern California farmland, digging for the woman who disappeared.
Paul Wulff never cried, not when he went through junior high as somebody different, the kid with the bizarre family tragedy in his background. Not when he grew to man size, dedicating himself to weightlifting and getting better and bigger and stronger. He never cried, not through the newspaper stories and all the lingering questions, not through an entire adolescence growing up without a mom, and really, a dad.
He never cried.
There would be plenty of time for tears later.
Trying to dig up a body somewhere
So much to do, so little time. Paul Wulff strides into a motel lobby, straight and tall, trimmed down now considerably from a generation ago, when he played center at Washington State on the best offensive line in the school's history.
He needs to recruit. He needs to rebuild a sagging culture. And oh yes, he needs to go just up the hill with his wife, Sherry, to their new house and decide on interior paint colors.
Tuesday, he begins his first fall camp as coach of the Cougars. Who knew that when he was hunched over, cradling a ball he'd snap to Timm Rosenbach on the 1988 Aloha Bowl team that effectively ignited Dennis Erickson's coaching career, that Wulff would someday be back here, making it his team?
"The odds are so far out there," Wulff says reflectively. "I knew if it ever came to this, there'd be so many people interested."
But there wasn't anybody quite like Wulff, no other candidate who embodied what it meant to be a Cougar. Nobody else who had lived in a trailer in the early days of working up the road coaching at Eastern Washington, or won as much while given as little as he was at Eastern.
Nobody else who had been to hell and back.
Iowa wrongful death
FERNLEY--At a Candidates Night forum held in Fernley, three candidates vying for the Third Judicial District Court, Department 1 judge post told the audience of their knowledge and views of the judicial system.
At next Tuesday's primary election, voters will have an opportunity to vote for, incumbent Judge David Huff, Jack Kennedy or Art Mallory.
The top two candidates will advance to the General Election in November.
"¢David Huff (incumbent): Huff has been on the bench for nearly 12 years. He grew up in Iowa and he is the youngest of ten children. Huff attended Iowa University and also Iowa Law School.
He said, with ten children to feed and clothe his family didn't have a lot of money so he worked his way through college and law school.
Upon graduating from law school in 1965, he joined the Navy and was commissioned in the Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps and spent 20 years as an officer in that branch.
After serving a tour in Vietnam, Huff retired at NAS Fallon, where he went on to open a private practice for 10 years.
Then in 1996 when former District Court Judge, Mario Recanzone decided not to seek another term, Huff ran for the post.
While serving as a district judge, Huff said he pursued further education and attended various legal continuing education and also classes at the National Judicial College at the University of Nevada, Reno. He will soon complete a masters degree in judicial studies from UNR.
Huffs legal background includes 43-years in both civil and criminal law.
He served on the Judicial Discipline Commission and currently serves on the Standing Committee for Judicial Ethics and Election Practices, as well as the Ethics and Indigent Defense Commission, which he said was a commission appointed by the Supreme Court to examine the way courts provide attorney's for indigent defendants.
Huff said in closing that he's done a good job on the bench, adding, "There is a learning curve when you become a judge. Experience counts and I can do the job."
"¢Jack Kennedy: The Fernley man encouraged voters to get involved and look particular at the candidates seeking judicial positions, saying, "The judicial office is the most significant one to keep the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches. The judicial is the last ditch effort to make sure we have fairness in the system."
Kennedy said he is seeking the Department 1 judge seat because he has had the benefit of operating a "successful practice in northern Nevada (Reno) for more than 30 years," and that he wants to give back "not only to the profession but to the community."
Kennedy went on to say he understands the benefits of operating a business efficiently and "using the available technology to reduce unnecessary expenditures," which he said "saves both time and financial resources."
He went on to say he chose Department 1 because the motions before the court need to move quicker than they have in the past, adding, "Justice delayed is justice denied."
Kennedy said he has a board base of legal experience ranging from employment law, wrongful death, personal injury, and real estate, to business law.
He continued saying that in family law he learned mediation and the use of a third party finds out what is in the best interest of the child, saying, "It needs to be utilized, we're not using it in Department 1. I'll change that."
Kennedy continued, "We also have to make the system faster, better, and cheaper," saying he would use "Mediation status conferences that are directed by the judge as opposed to non-participation."
He continued if elected he would use electronic filing, which is used in the federal court and noted such procedures were ordered by the Supreme Court in December 2006, but it has not been initiated.
"I'm here to improve the system," said Kennedy.