Personal Injury News: Pick Of Last Month: Feb-2023

Las Vegas Police To Pay $3.5M To Settle Lawsuits

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Agency will pay more than $3.5 million to resolve two recent lawsuits brought against the department.

The LVMPD Fiscal Affairs Committee decided Monday to authorize settlement payments of $1.75 million and $1.81 million to the two claimants.

In December 2021, one of the plaintiffs filed a federal court case after his son was strangled to death by an inmate at the Clark County Detention Center in May of that year. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff's son had schizophrenia and bipolar illness and should not have been placed in the general population the jail.

In 2021, another plaintiff filed a federal court action alleging that LVMPD executed a search warrant on her house to hunt for a guy who did not live there.

According to the lawsuit, cops planted explosives on the door and exploded them without notice while the plaintiff was nearby. According to the agenda item for the committee meeting, an explosive device was detonated prematurely, causing the door to blast open and strike the plaintiff in the face. She said she sustained major injuries, including irreversible eye impairment.

According to the lawsuit's counsel, the case prompted LVMPD to evaluate and adjust its internal practises. Although the lawsuit is done, the plaintiff will have to deal with the consequences for the rest of her life. That is a hard fact that is frequently forgotten until these cases are resolved.

LVMPD's $1.81 million payment to the plaintiff is part of a total settlement of $11.5 million, with insurance covering the remainder.

$69M For Texas A&M Student Killed By DUI Driver

The family of a Texas A&M student who was killed by a drunk driver four years ago has been awarded 69 million dollars in damages.

A Brazo County jury determined the settlement against the defendant based on his negligence in the case. On September 15, 2019, the 19-year-old plaintiff was walking with friends near campus when she was hit by the then 20-year-old defendant, who was driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The student died a week later.

Last February, the defendant was sentenced to 15 years in prison. At the time of the accident, he ran off but was later caught. He pleaded guilty to both manslaughter, accident involving death charges, and evading arrest.

After the verdict, the plaintiff's family’s attorney said that with this verdict, the jury sent a clear message that their community will not tolerate intoxicated drivers needlessly and recklessly endangering the lives of others.

The family expressed relief that the culprit accepted guilt and will be sentenced. The family is heartbroken that their lovely daughter's life was cut short at such a young age. In her honour, the family has founded a non-profit organisation. The deceased was a veterinarian student.

Dead Infant's Family To Get $5M From Homestead Daycare

A police investigation into the death of a Homestead child who was found unresponsive at a daycare center seven months ago is still ongoing, and the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner has yet to assign a cause of death.

According to the family and court filings, the proprietors of Lincoln-Marti Daycare agreed to a $5 million settlement with the 9-month-family old's earlier this month. As part of the arrangement, the bereaved family agreed to withdraw a civil complaint filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court months ago, alleging the childcare center was negligent in its treatment of the situation.

The infant's mother said she hopes to build a coalition to advocate for childcare center reform in the state legislature, adding that any legislation would include on-site CPR training for employees and additional cameras at the facilities.

Representatives from the 510 Krome Ave. childcare center have remained mainly silent since the infant's death in July. There was no news announcement released about the settlement, and the attorney who represented Lincoln-Marti did not return phone calls. However, on Jan. 3, a joint agreement affirming the case's dismissal and a settlement was entered in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. It does not specify a monetary value.

Despite the settlement, the family's attorney was harsh in his comments. He slammed the company, claiming that administrators had broken a state law that requires one childcare worker for every four newborns in a facility. According to the attorney, there was one worker for at least seven children that day.

Before the settlement, the attorney obtained depositions from four Lincoln-Marti employees, and the director of the facility that day admitted under oath that there weren't enough personnel and that a camera inside the room with the newborn wasn't working.

The 9-month-old was discovered lifeless but with a faint pulse during sleep time at the Homestead daycare on July 19 during a caretaker's early afternoon visits. He was brought to the hospital, where doctors were unable to save his life. The toddler appeared fine a few hours earlier when the two were playing before he left for daycare, according to the boy's grandpa.

Lincoln-Marti staff provided little information, and three months after his death, the family attorney released three video feeds from inside the daycare and filed a wrongful death complaint in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

One of the manipulated video footage shows a daycare provider practically upside down holding the unconscious infant and rubbing him on the back for almost 30 seconds. The baby is dressed in a white diaper. Two further videos, each lasting less than 20 seconds, show a lady walking while cradling the deceased infant and performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him many times while she goes.

Even seven months after the child's death, his family is still looking for answers. Miami-Dade Police will not end their investigation until the medical examiner's findings are released. The medical examiner is still researching forensics, analyzing the child's blood, and looking for any form of brain damage, such as shaken-baby syndrome. So yet, however, there is no evidence that this is how the child died.

Family Of A Man Shot By Police Secures $1.3M

Eight years after a man was tragically shot and murdered by police, his  family has received a huge settlement from the city of St. Paul, Minnesota.

On January 18, city council members authorized a $1.3 million compensation for the family nearly eight years after he was slain by police. The cops who killed the 24-year-old will be removed from the lawsuit. The cash will be given to the deceased's aunt, who has been a major advocate in the campaign against police violence since her nephew's murder, according to St. Paul city council members.

In addition to monetary reparations, the city has agreed to set aside land in Como Park for Golden's family to construct a memorial bench and plaque honoring his life. They will also enlist one of his relatives to serve on the St. Paul Neighborhood Safety Community Council.

The incident occurred on January 14, 2015. The cops responded to a 911 call from a guy who was texting death threats from a parking lot near the 200 block of University Avenue E on the night of the shooting. According to officials, the caller presented himself as the plaintiff's ex-ex-boyfriend. boyfriend's The plaintiff, according to the anonymous caller, stalked him before he began sending the disturbing texts. He further claimed that the plaintiff possessed a firearm.

The plaintiff was in his parked SUV when police officers arrived in the parking lot at 2 a.m. They allegedly requested him to get out of the vehicle, but he refused. According to police, the plaintiff accelerated and rushed away, nearly colliding with one of the cops. The cops opened fire and hit him, forcing his SUV to collide with parked cars nearby. At the site, medics attempted to revive the 24-year-old, but he died hours later.

Officials stated that the plaintiff had a loaded revolver in his hands after checking his car. His family started a civil rights investigation into the matter months later. Nonetheless, they were dealt an unexpected setback when a Washington County grand jury chose to clear the cops of misconduct.

Communities United Against Police Brutality, located in the Twin Cities, published its findings, which assisted the plaintiff's family in reaching a settlement. The report reinvestigation workgroup that contributed to the family's settlement. Members of the reinvestigation workgroup sifted through the St. Paul police department's 594-page investigative report, according to the workgroup. To help in the investigation, the group even engaged a ballistics specialist.

$20M Compensation For Woman Hit By CTA Bus In 2019

A lady who was hit and dragged by a CTA bus in Streeterville in 2019 has been awarded $20 million compensation for her injuries.

According to the complaint, on Aug. 2, 2019, the 59-year-old lady was heading approaching the junction of Fairbanks Court and Ontario Street when a bus turned left from Ontario onto Fairbanks.

According to attorneys, the bus driver failed to spot the woman walking just beyond the marked crosswalk. According to her counsel, she was hit by the bus and fell to the ground, banging her head on the concrete.

According to attorneys, the woman was subsequently dragged beneath the bus for 27 feet before it came to a halt on her right leg. According to her attorneys, she remained completely aware while buried under the bus with her leg pinned to the pavement for roughly 30 minutes until rescuers released her.

She has a significant crush and degloving damage to her lower right leg, as well as ankle fractures, and has had many treatments on her right leg. According to her attorneys, she still suffers from chronic agony and PTSD.

In September 2019, the woman and her husband filed a lawsuit against the CTA, saying that both the agency and the driver were irresponsible. According to lawyers, the CTA disputed culpability and said the woman was in the driver's blind area. According to attorneys, the CTA authorized a $20 million settlement negotiated by both sides in a December 2022 mediation.

Doctor To Pay $1.8M In Suits Claiming Needless Surgeries

After being accused of doing unneeded procedures, a Conyers doctor agreed to pay almost $2 million in settlements.

After a lawsuit was filed, the doctor, who also operates a practise group, agreed to pay $1,850,000, alleging she did these procedures to earn Medicare insurance benefits.

From 2011 to 2016, the doctor was suspected of performing cataract extraction procedures and YAG laser capsulotomies on patients who did not have cataracts. During these treatments, some patients were wounded.

The lawsuit also alleged that the doctor "falsely diagnosed people with glaucoma" in order to charge Medicare, the government-funded insurance organisation that covers those patients.

These tests were either not conducted correctly, were performed on a defective equipment, or were not properly interpreted in the medical record, as required by Medicare.

The action was brought by a former employee of the doctor under the terms of the False Claims Act. The statute authorized the employee to sue the doctor on behalf of the United States for fraudulent claims.

The US Department of Health and Human Services put a payment suspension on the doctor's practice group in 2019 during the case, which was unsuccessfully contested in court.

Following the settlement, the doctor and her practice signed an Integrity Agreement and a Conditional Exclusion Release. Every year, the doctor will have to go through training and engage an outside organization to examine the claims made by her clinic.