$3.5 Million Settlement to Family of Construction Worker Killed by Falling Crane Bucket
By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on November 22nd, 2013
When a metal piece from a heavy, overhead crane bucket fell to the ground at a construction site in Middleburg, Pa., on May 2, 2008, it struck a construction worker who was working nearby, causing grave injuries. The worker, 49-year-old Ray Doan, Jr., was struck in the back of the neck by a piece that came loose from the bucket, while he worked on the site for Advanced Concrete Systems Inc. (ACS) of Middleburg, Pa.,...
Family of Chicago Pedestrian Killed by Tour Bus Receives $6.75 Million Settlement
By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on November 15th, 2013
After more than two years, the family of a 26-year-old Polish woman who was killed on a Chicago street when she was struck by a private tour bus in May 2011 has received a $6.75 million settlement from the bus company that employed the driver. The driver of the bus had cocaine in his bloodstream while he was operating the vehicle on May 3, 2011, just before it struck and killed Justyna Palka, who was...
$12.7 Million Settlement in Bethlehem, Pa., DUI Crash That Killed 3 People in 2010
By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on November 8th, 2013
The families of three people who were killed by a drunk driver in Bethlehem, Pa., in 2010 have reached settlements totaling $12.7 million from a series of businesses and bars that served the driver of a pickup truck who caused the crash. The settlements were made to the families of the victims who were killed in the crash, which included Chad Horne, 22, of Freehold, N.J.; Robin Villegas, 52, of Staten Island, N.Y.; and Terri...
Two Oklahoma Families Reach $1.5 Million Settlements with Toyota in Fatal Unintended Acceleration Crash in a Camry
By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on November 1st, 2013
An Oklahoma jury has awarded a $3 million verdict to two families after a 70-year-old woman died when the Toyota Camry in which she was a passenger accelerated suddenly and crashed into an embankment in 2007. The case is the first which Toyota has lost on a plaintiff's claim of unintended acceleration in one of its Camry midsize automobiles, which have been accused several times in recent years for accelerating on their own without any...
New Jersey Motorcyclist Critically Injured By Buses in 2011 Receives $2.5 Million Settlement
By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on October 25th, 2013
As Keith Nystrom rode his motorcycle through the Lincoln Tunnel into New York City from New Jersey on Feb. 24, 2011, he was critically injured in a chain reaction crash involving three New Jersey Transit buses. The crash was horrific, with one bus crashing into the rear of a second bus, which then rear-ended Nystrom and wedged him under a third bus that was just ahead of him, according to an Oct. 17 story on...
$9.5 Million Settlement to Victims of Texas Vehicle Crash Caused by Impaired Truck Driver
By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on October 18th, 2013
Two Texas families will share in a $9.5 million settlement reached in the case of a commercial truck driver who was driving while intoxicated when his tractor-trailer rear-ended several vehicles in an intersection in Victoria, Texas, in March 2012. Several people were seriously injured in the crash, which occurred when a tractor-trailer being driven by Johnny Raymond Rodriguez failed to stop as it approached the intersection of U.S. 59 and Upper Mission Valley Road on...
$2.4 Million Settlement in Death of Woman After Missed Cancer Diagnosis
By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on October 11th, 2013
When Sandra L. Berry of Juniata County, Pa., went to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey complaining of persistent pain and discomfort back in October 2008, she and her husband wanted to find the answers to her medical problems. Instead, it wasn't until July 2010 that her vulvar cancer was detected, and by then it had spread into other areas of her body. Now, almost two years after she died at 49...
$1.6 Million Settlement in Wrongful Death Case of Motorist Killed by a Drunk Driver
By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on October 4th, 2013
As she drove her vehicle through an intersection in Springfield, Ill., on July 21, 2012, 22-year-old Quana S. Poole's van was struck by a work truck being operated by a drunken driver. The work truck driver ran a red light and smashed into Poole's vehicle. She died the next day from her injuries. More than a year after the fatal crash, her family has reached a $1.6 million settlement in connection with her death, according...
Lehigh Valley Family Awarded $4.1 Million Verdict After Daughter’s Severe Birth Injury
By Dean I. Weitzman, Esq. on September 27th, 2013
As an Easton woman prepared to give birth to her daughter in August 2009, she discovered through a sonogram test that the fetus in her womb already weighed some 10 pounds. The woman shared her concerns about the large size of the infant with her doctor, but received reassurances from him that all would be well during childbirth. But four days later, when the woman, Erin McCarthy, went into labor on Aug. 23, 2009, problems...