Lufthansa is the owner and operator of Germanwings, which operated Flight 9525 — the plane that crashed on March 24, 2015, killing all those on board. The investigation that followed the crash found that the copilot had locked out the pilot from entering the cockpit and directed the plane to crash into…
Articles Posted in Wrongful Death
Jury Enters Verdict of $5.24 Million in Mesothelioma Death
John Blommer worked as an apprentice carman repairing railroad cars for Great Northern Railway, which was the predecessor to BNSF Railway Co. He started working at the railroad in 1953 and worked for several months before joining the U.S. Army. He returned to the railroad after his military service and…
Tire Plant Worker Exposed to Asbestos Receives $18.6 Million Jury Verdict Award
Carl Rogers had been working at a tire plant owned by Kelly-Springfield Tire Co., which is a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. subsidiary. He started working at the plant in 1969 and left employment after just one year. He returned to work there in 1975, and he continued working through…
Fatal Fire Caused by Negligent Truck Maintenance Leads to Jury Verdict of $3.52 Million
Amarjit Khunkhun was a 43-year-old truck driver when he was found burned to death in the cab of his truck owned by his employer, GMG Trucking of Fresno, Calif. Khunkhun was survived by his wife and three children. The state fire investigators found that the fire started inside the cab…
$11 Million Jury Verdict in Toyota Design Defect Case
A federal jury has entered an $11 million verdict for victims of the design defect of the 1996 Toyota Camry. The jurors indicated that Toyota was 60% at fault for the 2006 crash that left two people dead and two seriously injured. They also found that another defendant, Koua Fong…
OSHA Changes Its Reporting Duties of Employers in Work-Related Injuries
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has revised its reporting requirements when an employee dies on the job or suffers a work-related hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye. If an employee is severely injured, employers will now be required to immediately notify OSHA of the work-related fatality…
Illinois Appellate Court Affirms Verdict- $1,589,000 that Defendant Contested Was Inflated
Clarence Roach was a car man working for Union Pacific Railroad at the West Side rail yard in Chicago where commuters’ rail cars are inspected and repaired. Roach was earning about $60,000 per year. On Feb. 1, 2008, Roach was hit by a train performing a “shove,” where a rail…
U.S. District Court Finds That Worker’s Employer Liable for Spouse’s Contracting Mesothelioma from Washing Her Husband’s Work Clothes
In a case that has been labeled one of first impression, the wife of a victim of mesothelioma has prevailed after the defendant, Tennessee Valley Authority, moved to dismiss the case. The case was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Barbara Bobo brought this…
U.S. Court of Appeals Dismisses an Appeal on the Question of Federal Diversity Jurisdiction
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago has dismissed an appeal from a U.S. District Court judge. In an extremely sad case, Robert Lindner’s parents, Burton and Zorine Lindner, were driving under a bridge near north suburban Glenview, Ill., when a Union Pacific freight train derailed…
Illinois Appellate Court Affirms Ruling to Vacate $4.25 Million Wrongful-Death Verdict
A wrongful-death verdict that was vacated by a trial judge was affirmed on appeal by the Illinois Appellate Court. The jury’s verdict of $4.25 million was reached in a wrongful-death trial awarded to the family of a woman killed in a highway crash. But the trial judge vacated the verdict…