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Torts Blog

Homeowner Receives $1M from Allstate for Defamation

Thursday, April 17th, 2008 by John Campbell

By John Campbell and Brian J. Connolly
A recent jury verdict drives home the potential liability for insurers who wrongfully deny claims to policy holders. In Johnson v. Allstate Indem. Co., a man whose home had recently been damaged in a fire was denied an insurance claim that he filed with his homeowner’s insurance carrier, Allstate […]

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Are Wrongful Death Claims Subject to Arbitration Clauses Signed by The Decedent Under Missouri Law?

Thursday, April 17th, 2008 by John Campbell

Summary
Recently, in Lawrence v. Beverly Manor, No. WD 67920, 2008 WL 731561 (Mo. Ct. App. Mar. 18, 2008), the  Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District relied on a recent Missouri Supreme Court decision in holding that wrongful death claims are derivative, potentially subjecting them to arbitration if a clause was signed by the […]

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Halliburton Arbitration Clause Update – Texas Court Shuts the Doors to Justice

Friday, March 14th, 2008 by John Campbell

Holding that, “[s]adly, sexual harassment, up to and including sexual assault, is a reality in today’s workplace,” a federal judge enforced a Halliburton arbitration clause that required employees to bring all claims in arbitration.  (To read more click here) A few months ago I wrote a post about a woman who was sexually assaulted in […]

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Carbon Monoxide – A Silent Killer

Thursday, January 24th, 2008 by John Campbell

Please read this post to protect you and your family from the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
At Simon Passanante, through our clients and their cases, we’ve seen firsthand the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning.  One thing that stands out to us is that most people don’t know much about how carbon monoxide is formed, how […]

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Misclassification and the FLSA – Who’s Exempt?

Friday, December 21st, 2007 by John Campbell

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an employer has the ability to qualify an employee as “exempt” from the requirement that overtime be paid.  However, there is obvious potential for abuse if an employer could qualify anyone as exempt, thereby avoiding the extra cost of overtime. As a result, the FLSA provides guidance as […]

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T-Mobile and Southwest Credit Systems LP – Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Violations

Saturday, November 24th, 2007 by John Campbell

Companies are working very hard to collect every penny they believe they are owed.  Unfortunately, this is leading to a growing number of debt collection abuses.  Here is one example.
T-Mobile turned over a number of delinquent accounts to Southwest Credit Systems LP.  Southwest then sent letters to T-Mobile customers stating that “late payments, missed payments, […]

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Unpaid Overtime and Misclassified Employees – The Fair Labor Standards Act

Friday, November 16th, 2007 by John Campbell

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) touches on a number of different labor practices, but two issues have gotten the bulk of the attention in the last several years. (Click here to see the full act, provided by Cornell University Law School .)  Both involve an employer’s tendency to underpay its employees, and both are […]

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Railroads seek to close the courthouse door to those injured by trains

Sunday, October 28th, 2007 by Dawn Mefford

The corporations that operate America’s railroads are seeking to secure themselves a “get out of court free” card.  The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has recently authorized a pending “safety” regulation that would bar lawsuits from victims of train wrecks caused by a railroad’s negligence.  The regulation would declare all lawsuits filed by victims to be […]

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Class Action Targets Aurora Organic Dairy – Alleges Consumer Fraud

Thursday, October 18th, 2007 by John Campbell

Simon Passanante has taken the lead in a lawsuit against Aurora Organic Dairy.  On October 5, 2007, Simon Passanante, on behalf of two clients, filed a class action lawsuit seeking certification of a nationwide class of consumers who purchased milk that was produced by Aurora.  It is the first such lawsuit in the country.  The […]

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Alien Tort Claims Act: Could U.S. Court’s Provide the Best Access to Justice for Human Rights Violations in Other Countries?

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 by John Campbell

The Alien Tort Statute, a law dating back to 1789, has increasingly been used as a creative tool for addressing some of the most severe violations of human rights and international law. The law allows U.S. courts to hear tort cases of noncitizens who are victims of human rights violations committed by individuals, and even […]

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Independent Contractors in FedEx Uniforms?

Monday, October 1st, 2007 by John Campbell

When you see a FedEx worker walking down the street, or coming in the office, or driving in the truck, did you ever think they might not be FedEx workers at all?  FedEx, in a long court battle, argued just that, saying that FedEx drivers were independent contractors. Thankfully, a decision issued August 13, 2007, […]

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Railroad’s effort to erode FELA thwarted

Thursday, September 27th, 2007 by Paul Passanante

A railroad company’s attempt to use an injured worker’s disability payments to reduce a jury award was defeated last week in the Indiana Court of Appeals.
Simon Passanante lawyers Paul J. Passanante and Dawn M. Mefford represented the injured worker and thwarted the industry’s effort to erode FELA protections.
CSX Transportation and the Association of American Railroads […]

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Accident-prone worker who hit motorist ends up costing employer

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 by Dawn Mefford

A man’s fifth on-the-job car crash in three years not only injured a motorist, it also ended up costing his employer $600,000.
On Feb. 22, 2005, Mary Lou Russell was traveling west on Homer Adams Parkway, also known as Illinois Route 3, in Alton, Ill. Russell, 53, approached the intersection of Homer Adams Parkway and Seminary […]

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U-HAUL: “TRAILER SWAY,” RENTAL TRAILER AND TOW DOLLY ACCIDENTS

Thursday, September 20th, 2007 by John Campbell

 When driving down any interstate or highway, one is likely to notice the familiar sight of a U-Haul rental trailer. They serve the needs of many families and persons moving from one place to another. Unfortunately, since the 1980s, U-Haul rental trailers have been involved in “trailer sway” accidents which occur when the trailer sways […]

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According to CNN, Lead Laced Bibs are Still for Sale at Toys ‘R’ Us

Monday, August 20th, 2007 by John Campbell

According to a recent CNN story, vinyl baby bibs which contain lead are continuing to be sold at Toy ‘R’ Us and Lisa Kline stores despite testing by two labs which revealed elevated levels of lead.  (To read the entire story, click here)  Both the New York Times and the Center for Environmental Health tested the bibs […]

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Goodyear Load Range E Tires – Tread Separation

Sunday, August 12th, 2007 by John Campbell

In Clark County, Nevada, a jury awarded three families who lost loved ones due to tread separation and a resulting accident a $30 million judgment.  The verdict was against Goodyear tire and focused on problems with their Load Range E tires, size LT245/75R16.  These tires are designed for light trucks and may be used on […]

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Missouri Supreme Court Holds that Employee’s Injury Claim Not Subject to Workers’ Comp

Friday, August 10th, 2007 by Dawn Mefford

On August 7, 2007, in Harris v. Westin Management Co, case number SC88352, the Missouri Supreme Court held that an employee’s injury claims are not subject to jurisdiction of the division of workers’ compensation merely because the employee was driving to work at the time of injury.
Harris, while being driven to work, was hit and […]

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Accutane Found to Cause Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 by John Campbell

In a recent New Jersey trial involving Accutane (a drug used primarily to treat acne), the jury returned a verdict of $2.62 million against Roche Holding AG, the makers of Accutane.  In the lawsuit, Andrew McCarrell, 36 years old, alleged that after taking Accutane, he suffered inflammatory bowel disease.  He alleged that Accutane caused severe […]

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Oregon trucker wins $2.45 million verdict after trucking company fails to send aid and prevents other truckers from helping.

Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 by Dawn Mefford

An Oregon truck driver, Glenn Johnson, could no longer push the clutch on his truck due to a painful foot callus and therefore pulled over his truck.  As a responsible driver, the first call he made was to his dispatcher.  The dispatcher, concerned for the nonperishable canned goods Johnson was hauling, got another driver to […]

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Dangerous Helmets

Saturday, August 4th, 2007 by John Campbell

Whether it is a bike, a moped, a scooter, or a motorcycle, people wear helmets  to protect themselves from head injuries.  Unfortunately, not all helmets live up to consumers’ expectations.
There are a number of helmet defects that are cannot be discovered until an accident has already occurred.  These defects result in severe injuries and sometimes […]

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You Get What You Pay For?

Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 by John Campbell

My dad always said, “You get what you pay for.”  Unfortunately, consumers are learning that this isn’t always true.  If you are like me, all too often, you have bought a product, only to learn that it doesn’t work as advertised.  Put simply, you didn’t get what you paid for.  The “defective product” problem can […]

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St. Louis is liable for its cops

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 by Dawn Mefford

In Hodges v. City of St. Louis, 217 S.W.3d 278 (Mo.,. Feb. 2007), the Missouri Supreme Court addressed issues of the liability of the City of St. Louis for the actions of its police officers, as well as damage caps that limit the awards available to plaintiffs injured by the agents of public entities. 
The civil […]

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Class action for medical monitoring revived

Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 by Dawn Mefford

In March, the Supreme Court revived a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of children living near the Doe Run lead smelter in Herculaneum, Missouri.  The circuit court was overruled after it refused to certify the plaintiff’s class because the court found that issues pertaining to individual class members predominated over the common issues that […]

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Family of worker killed at construction site settles suit

Friday, June 15th, 2007 by Paul Passanante

Business owners who use “on-the-clock” workers for personal projects do so at their own peril. That was one of the lessons gleaned from a $1.5 million settlement in a wrongful death case handled by St. Louis attorney Paul J. Passanante.  (Simpson v. Bender Family Limited Partnership Number One, et al.)
Martin Simpson, 42, was a construction […]

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Deckhand struck by steel cable settles suit

Friday, June 15th, 2007 by Stephen J. Telken

A deckhand was seriously hurt when a haulage cable, ordinarily used by the dock to move barges as they were loaded, which was suspended above a barge and the adjacent coal dock, fell and struck him, has settled his lawsuit against his employer and the dock owner for $1.515 million, in addition to medical and […]

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Settlement in sex abuse case involving juvenile corrections officer

Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 by Amy Gunn

A lawsuit alleging that a corrections officer sexually abused a teen in juvenile custody has been settled for $900,000.
On May 11, 2005, a 14-year-old boy was placed at the St. Clair County Juvenile Detention Center for 30 days after stealing an inexpensive necklace. While at the detention center, the teen was allegedly sexually assaulted on […]

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Dog owner settles with “trike” rider hurt in collision with black Lab

Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 by Dawn Mefford

A woman who fell from a three-wheel motorcycle after hitting a black Labrador retriever running loose on the road settled her personal injury lawsuit against the dog owners for $265,000.
On Jan. 8, 2003, Karen Worley was riding a three-wheel motorcycle – also known as a motorcycle “trike”- in Camden County at the Lake of the […]

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Pharmacy error leads to drug overdose

Monday, June 11th, 2007 by Paul Passanante

A man who suffered liver, spleen and lung damage after ingesting nine times more medication than what his doctor ordered has settled his lawsuit against the pharmacy that gave him the incorrect dosage instructions for $565,000. (Ernst v. “Local St. Louis Pharmacy”)
On August 31, 2004, Dr. Sanjay Bhat prescribed the drug Mercaptopurine to Joseph Ernst, […]

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Illinois enacts new wrongful death law

Friday, June 1st, 2007 by Dawn Mefford

On Thursday, May 31, Governor Blagojevich signed HB 1798 (Wrongful Death) into law. This new law amends the Wrongful Death Act. It provides that the jury may award damages for grief, sorrow, and mental suffering to a loved one. This law applies to causes of action accruing on or after May 31, 2007.
A complete copy […]

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Woman hit by train at hazardous crossing settles suit - brain injury causes permanent disability

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 by Erich Vieth

Confidential Settlement of Christina Bova v. Union Pacific Railroad Company, et al.
Submitted by John G. Simon and Amy Collignon Gunn of Simon٠Passanante, P.C.
The passenger in a car that was struck by a train at a railroad crossing with a history of malfunctions and accidents settled her suit after the court ruled she would be allowed […]

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Truck Accident Practice Area

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 by Erich Vieth

Trying a lawsuit against a large trucking company isn’t easy.  It takes a thorough understanding of the trucking industry.  It takes special legal know-how and it takes dedication. If you’ve been seriously injured in an accident caused by a truck driver, Simon Passanante can help.
For almost 20 years, John Simon has dedicated his practice to […]

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