A young Connecticut man who was paralyzed from the chest down in 2002 while pole vaulting at Southern Connecticut State University has won $6.4 million in damages from the Connecticut affiliate of USA Track and Field. Brandon White, 25, won the civil lawsuit from a six-member New Haven Superior Court…
It has been a year since Lauren Chang collapsed during a cheerleading competition and died, leaving behind her smiling portrait as a grim testament to the dangers of her sport. That tragedy, as well as another death and a serious injury suffered by cheerleaders in recent years, has placed Massachusetts…
A judge has awarded $45 million in damages to a San Mateo woman who was paralyzed when a wrecking and demolition company’s truck ran a red light and hit her car. Tricia Roth, now 41, a former software developer for Microsoft Corp., suffered a broken neck and spinal injuries in…
A former Seattle High School wrestler who was paralyzed at a practice two years ago was awarded $15 million in a settlement with Seattle Public Schools. Mac Clay, then a senior, was at wrestling practice in the school cafeteria when he was driven backward into two wrestlers going in the…
On Aug. 20, 2008 a jury awarded nearly $2 million to a man who sustained a lumbar compression burst fracture in a collision with a Federal Express delivery truck. James Hughes was a passenger in a car going through an intersection when he was struck by the FedEx vehicle. Hughes’…
High school cheerleading is a contact sport and therefore its participants cannot be sued for accidentally causing injuries, according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The court ruled that a former high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who failed to stop her fall while she was practicing a stunt. The…
On Dec. 4, 2008, a jury awarded $49,098 to a mother and two children injured in a rear-end collision in Dallas. In 2004, Silvia Dominguez and her children Teresita and Erick Hernandez were passengers in a vehicle struck from behind by a van driven by Raul Romero and owned by…
CA lawmakers are planning to introduce legislation that would offer greater legal protections to Good Samaritans in light of a recent California Supreme Court decision. Legislators have introduced three bills to address Van Horn v. Watson, 08 C.D.O.S. 15199, which held that a state statute only shields rescuers from liability…
On Sept. 24, a jury rejected a family’s claim that its elderly patriarch died as a result of injuries sustained when he fell at a Family Dollar Store. The family of Warren Tiner, 84, alleged he was shopping at the Tyler store when he tripped over a box left out…
On Oct. 1, a jury found that neither party was to blame for a collision that resulted in neck and back injuries for one driver. In 2004, Christy Chaney’s car was struck by a vehicle driven by Alan Sunberg as both drivers were traveling in opposite directions on Hwy. 190…