1UIHC sued in death
24 August 2008
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.
An autopsy performed at UIHC the next day “listed her cause of death as complications of myocarditis,” according to the petition.
2Court to weigh right of parents to sue employer
23 August 2008
The Supreme Judicial Court is slated to decide whether the parents of a murdered high school senior have the right to file a wrongful-death lawsuit against the pharmacy where their son worked as a part-time clerk.
In Saab, et al. v. CVS Pharmacy (SJC No. 10193), the SJC will determine if a lower court judge properly held that the exclusivity provision of the Workers’ Compensation Act prevented the Superior Court from accepting subject matter jurisdiction.
Tamara L. Ricciardone, the author of “Workers’ Compensation in Massachusetts,” said a ruling against CVS would be “incredibly significant.”
“If the court decides in favor of the parents, it would mean that any family member who is not financially dependent on the employee can step in and sue,” said Ricciardone, who is not involved in the suit.
“This case will turn on the court’s interpretation of who is ‘an employee’ under the statute, and whether financial dependence is the distinguishing characteristic that prevents an employee’s family member from suing an employer outside of the workers’ compensation statute.”
While the law is not as clear with respect to financially independent parents, Ricciardone, a lawyer at Smith & Duggan in Lincoln, said an injured employee would certainly be barred from filing suit.
“The only way an employee can waive their right to benefits is if they to do it at the time they are hired,” she said. “If they don’t waive their right immediately, they can’t later turn around and say, ‘I don’t want them. I’m going to sue you.’”
But where the murder happened during the teen’s shift, William J. Dailey Jr. of Sloane & Walsh in Boston, who represents defendant CVS, wrote that the workers’ compensation statute precludes the family from bringing a wrongful-death action against the employer.
3Lawyers Defend Wrongful Death Suit Against City
22 August 2008
Philadelphia - Lawyers hired to represent Danieal Kelly’s estate rebutted criticisms yesterday they had been hired only to enrich her parents and take advantage of the tragic situation. They said the press and city officials have gotten the story all wrong.
Center City trial lawyer George Bochetto said, if monies were awarded in the wrongful death lawsuit brought against the city, the girls’ siblings could get a cut.
During a Center City news conference, the attorney attempted to clear the air about the lawsuit brought against the city’s Department of Human Services.
Mr. Bochetto demanded a public apology from the mayor, the district attorney and the local media for “their factually inaccurate and intentionally inflammatory reporting” of Ms. Kelly’s death case.
Last week, Mr. Mildenberg hired Mr. Bochetto to help him address claims about the media’s and the city’s depiction of his representation of the girl’s estate as well as her parents. Mr. Mildenberg claims to have received death threats, and his reputation has allegedly been smeared, even though he admitted the wrongful death suit could amount to monetary damages for Ms. Kelly’s parents.
Mr. Mildenberg and Eric Zajac, the two lawyers hired in the civil suit, acknowledged Andrea and Daniel Kelly could potentially benefit should they be exonerated from pending criminal neglect and homicide charges. The lawyers claim to have negotiated, with Ms. Kelly’s parents, a settlement of one-third of any judgment to a trust fund for her 11 siblings.
“The siblings of young Danieal Kelly are entitled to compensation,” Mr. Bochetto told the press. “I don’t think I have to tell anybody just how destitute and poor these siblings are.”
Any monetary decision for the children would be contingent on the parents’ receiving an award.
When news broke of the parents’ wrongful death suit last week, Mayor Michael A. Nutter called it “insane, obscene and disgusting.” When asked if he would issue a public apology yesterday, Douglas Oliver, the mayor’s press secretary, said the mayor stands by his comments.
“This sad, sickening legal circus deserves no further attention or comment,” the mayor said. District Attorney Lynne Abraham released a statement saying she would not comment on the civil suit, but she remains focused on the criminal charges brought forth in the grand-jury report.
News articles and Internet blogs call Mr. Mildenberg a “money-grubbing lawyer,” a “hearse chaser,” etc. Mr. Bochetto called the charges lies.
4Wrongful death lawsuit settled against Haythorn Ranch
21 August 2008
The lawsuit was filed in Lincoln County District Court by the estate of 5-year-old Dakota F. McKillip in November of 2004.
Dakota was killed after he fell underneath a horse being ridden by Harry Haythorn on Nov. 3, 2002.
The lawsuit was a wrongful death suit that was filed against the ranch and Harry Haythorn.
Attorneys representing the plaintiff and defendant declined to comment on the settlement but a source close to the case said the settlement amount was $50,000.
The incident in question occurred in the morning of Nov. 3, 2002, according to the suit.
Dakota was visiting his father, Franklin S. McKillip, who was a hand on the ranch and had a home there.
The ranch hands were moving cattle from the pasture to feed bunks on a cold November morning. Dakota was riding a small quarter horse owned by the ranch named Freckles.
Dakota got cold and wanted to return to his dad’s ranch house and warm up, according to the suit.
Harry Haythorn, also on horseback, noticed that no one was tending to Dakota so he volunteered to assist the boy back to the house.
Haythorn led Freckles, with Dakota riding him, to the front entrance of McKillip’s ranch house and positioned the horses to allow Dakota to dismount.
The horses were steady, according to the lawsuit, and Dakota got off of Freckles. But as Dakota walked away, he stumbled and fell underneath the hindquarters of the horse Haythorn was riding.
Dakota suffered massive injuries from the horse. He was taken to Great Plains Regional Medical Center by ambulance then taken to Denver Health Medical Center where he passed away four days later.
5How Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help
20 August 2008
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.
6Widow of Wrongful Death Case Only to Receive $1.6 million
19 August 2008
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.
7Family of disabled woman files wrongful death lawsuit
18 August 2008
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.
8Family sues city
17 August 2008
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.
9Children of slain woman sue their father
16 August 2008
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.
10Jury to convene in malpractice case
15 August 2008
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.