A federal jury on Friday awarded more than $17 million to a former inmate who alleged that three former Chicago police detectives — including one who has been at the center of nearly 20 cases tossed out of court — for a murder he didn't commit.

The verdict marks at least the second multimillion-dollar jury verdict in favor of a former inmate who alleged that Reynaldo Guevara helped frame him.

Read the source article at news-journal.com

Legislators in the country's No. 2 hog-growing state on Tuesday stepped up efforts to shield industrial hog operations from neighbors who have complained for decades about the smell, noise and flies.

The move comes after a federal jury in April hit Smithfield Foods with a nearly $51 million verdict against an operation that forced neighbors to tolerate nuisance conditions. That was cut to about $3 million because the state limits damages for corporate misdeeds.

Read the source article at StamfordAdvocate

Hedge funds and private equity firms are jumping into another aspect of litigation finance with loans that finance mass tort cases against drug companies and medical device manufacturers. One hedge fund getting involved is EJF Capital, which hopes to raise an additional $300 million for an investment vehicle for mass tort cases, the New York Times reports.

Read the source article at abajournal.com

Summer has arrived, but it is not a time for total relaxation. According to the National Safety Council (NSC), July and August typically see more accidental deaths than any other two-month period—a trend that includes drowning, pediatric vehicular heatstroke, pedestrian deaths, natural disasters and gun-related fatalities.

Read the source article at Legal News & Business Law News

TiVo, the digital recording company, put a champion steer in a local county fair, for marketing purposes. Two weeks later, a local jury awarded the company $74 million. TiVo's lawyer said the marketing steer had nothing to do with the jury's decision. But don't be fooled; TiVo knew exactly what is was doing.

Read the source article at blogs.findlaw.com

Jury Awards $15M After Indiana Cancer Patient’s Misread CT Scan By Dave Stafford for Indiana Lawyer A federal jury Friday awarded $15 million in damages on behalf of a woman who claimed a Carmel imaging center failed to identify a tumor that went untreated and undetected for nearly 18 months, severely reducing her chances of surviving cancer. The jury returned its verdict Friday after a four-day trial, awarding $14 million to Courtney Webster and $1 million to her husband, Brian Webster.

Read the source article at city-countyobserver.com

The families of two pilots who died in a 2016 helicopter crash in western Arizona have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the California-based manufacturer of the aircraft. 

The suit filed last Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges that defective rotor blades on the Robinson R66 helicopter contributed to the fatal crash.

Read the source article at Insurance Journal

As a series of early Bard IVC filter lawsuits continue to go before juries in the federal MDL (multidistrict litigation docket), as part of a “bellwether” trial program, plaintiffs are pushing for older cases to be remanded back to the U.S. District Courts where they originated, indicating that they are ready for trial. There are currently more than 3,500 product liability lawsuits over IVC filter complications that are pending against C.R. Bard

Read the source article at AboutLawsuits.com

The actor Chuck Norris and his wife, Gena, are among a growing number of plaintiffs who have filed MRI contrast dye lawsuits seeking compensation for “Gadolinium Deposition Disease,” a disorder allegedly caused by the retention of toxic gadolinium following an MRI.

Gadolinium is heavy metal that does not occur naturally in the human body. However, because of its magnetic properties, gadolinium is used in several contrast agents to help improve the visibility of MRI scans.

Read the source article at Drugs & Devices, Lawsuits, Recalls

World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc. (W.A.T.C.H.) has issued a list of the 10 Top “Summer Safety Traps” as representative of the many different types of hazards parents and caregivers can avoid to safeguard children throughout the summer season. 

Read the source article at Claims Journal

Blamed for sparking some of the most destructive blazes in California history, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and its parent company, PG&E Corp., reported Thursday that they will take a $2.5 billion charge to cover expected losses from October’s deadly Wine Country wildfires. And they warned investors that the financial pain may just be beginning. The damage charge, which will be recorded in the current quarter, is larger than PG&E Corp.’s 2017 profit of $1.66 billion.

Read the source article at San Francisco Chronicle

In the United States alone, 2.35 million people are injured in car crashes each year. Crashes are a $230.6 billion dollar cost to the U.S. economy, averaging about $820 dollars per person. Out of those incidents, only a handful of individuals are provided with legal coverage that is sustainable. Unfortunately, many are unaware of their personal rights when it comes to car accidents.

Read the source article at The World Reporter.

Officials in Oakland, Calif. have agreed to pay $12 million to a motorcyclist who lost a leg and was badly hurt when struck by a police vehicle that allegedly ran a red light. 

Van Fleet’s left leg was amputated below the knee and the 35-year-old suffered other serious injuries when he was struck in March 2017.

Read the source article at Insurance Journal

Beach Community Bank has been ordered to pay $6.1 million to a trust created by the family of a former member of its board of directors. 

Beasley said the bank and the Shauney Irrevocable Trust were for some time manipulating money through what he called “the big loan” to try to return the bank to fiscal health. 

Read the source article at Crestview News Bulletin

Baltimore’s spending panel is scheduled to approve Wednesday a $2 million settlement with a city man mistaken for the “Charles Village Rapist” and held in solitary confinement for more than a year beginning in 2008.

The settlement with Marlow Humbert comes after the Supreme Court declined this month to hear the Baltimore Police Department’s appeal in the case.

Read the source article at The Baltimore Sun.