Wrongful Death Attorney
When a person dies during the course of their job, or while under supervised play, a wrongful death attorney should be immediately consulted. The survivors of the decedent, or their estate will be entitled to claim for damages and losses that are incurred as a result of this wrongful death. These damages would include any medical or hospital bills, ambulance services, lost income and potential income, physical property damage, and other items that the wrongful death attorney may make claims for on behalf of survivors or the estate.
If negligence is involved, the case may go to a jury trial, and juries can award punitive damages. There may be a criminal case in addition to the civil wrongful death case. Your wrongful death attorney can look at the evidence and advise you with regard to any court actions you should be taking because of this unfortunate and untimely wrongful death.
Clearlake wrongful death claim tossed
The Clearlake City Council has rejected a $30 million wrongful death claim filed by the family of a man who was shot and killed by a city police officer.
The council decision lifts a barrier to the filing of a civil lawsuit stemming from the death of David Vestal, 63, on Aug. 14 at a mobile home park on Old Highway 53.
Police said they went to the home in response to call about a disturbance when Vestal appeared in the doorway and leveled a shotgun at officers.
The family says Vestal was unarmed.
"It is our understanding that when David Vestal came out of the residence, he was shot without warning. He did not have a shotgun or any other firearm," said Lakeport attorney David Anderson, who is representing the family.
Clearlake Police Lt. Mike Hermann said an investigation by the Lake County District Attorney's Office, which is pending, should clear up the issue.
A shotgun was found at Vestal's side, he said.
"We don't think there's going to be any wrongdoing on the part of the officers," Hermann said.
His department has refused to identify the officers involved in the shooting, though they apparently have returned to duty.
The claim also alleges civil rights violations, severe emotional distress, assault and battery, false imprisonment and physical injuries.
Settlement reached in Amherst wrongful death suit
A settlement has been reached in the $15 million wrongful death lawsuit involving a man who died in the custody of the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office in 2005.
A report signed Monday morning by federal magistrate judge Michael Urbanski and filed in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg states the parties reached a settlement on mutually agreeable terms during a mediation session Friday.
The terms were not disclosed.
Melva Taylor Davis, the mother of the dead man, released a statement through her lawyers Monday afternoon noting that she is under a confidentiality agreement.
“My family is grateful to all who helped with the resolution,” Davis wrote. “We look forward to the power of God’s love and healing not only of our grief, but for the deputies, too. We all remain in need of prayer.”
Amherst County Sheriff Jimmy Ayers and Carlene Johnson, who represented the deputies involved in the arrest, did not return calls seeking comment Monday.
The two sides have 45 days to finalize the settlement and file required paperwork with the court asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed, according to Urbanski’s report.
Sanchez Taylor, 28, of Lynchburg died on June 16, 2005, after a run-in with Amherst County deputies.
After Taylor’s car was found abandoned and locked in a northbound lane of U.S. 29, deputies responded to a call of a break-in at nearby Bethel Welding.
Deputies Debbie Tinnell and Darren Givens found Taylor at the back of the welding shop and tried to arrest him, according to sworn statements filed with the court.
The statements claimed Taylor refused to follow orders to get on the ground and that they had to handcuff him while he was lying on a ladder behind the shop. They tried to move him, they said, but could not get him any farther than a set of ornamental welded racks a few feet away.
It was then that two more deputies, Brian Drewry and Kelly Dodson arrived and helped pick up Taylor, still fighting.
A few feet later, still unable to get him under control, the officers put him on the ground. As a fifth deputy, Betty Wise, came on the scene, deputies noticed he was having trouble breathing and that he was having a seizure.
He never recovered and died within a few hours at Lynchburg General Hospital.
Davis, Taylor’s mother, contended in her lawsuit that deputies held her son down on the ladder and racks, suffocating and killing him.
Court to weigh right of parents to sue employer
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.
Lawyers Defend Wrongful Death Suit Against City
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.
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.