The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), an office within the U.S. Department of Transportation, has delayed a final rule regarding rear visibility requirements in cars. This is the second delay of the rule since the agency began working on it. The purpose of the rule would be to prevent…
BP, Transocean, and several other companies have settled lawsuits with some of the individuals injured in the April 2010 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that killed eleven people and caused one of the worst oil spills in history. The companies have also settled some of the claims pending between…
The Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) settled seven lawsuits brought by the families of people killed in a 2009 crash on the Red Line. The crash remains the deadliest accident in WMATA’s history. The exact terms of the settlement are confidential. Along with three companies that provide equipment for the…
Nineteen students and alumni from the University of California at Davis have filed a lawsuit in federal court against various university administrators and police officials, including Chancellor Linda Katehi and Police Lieutenant John Pike. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is assisting them with the suit, which includes claims of…
A seven year-old student died at her Richmond, Virginia elementary school in January after she ate a peanut that a classmate gave to her. The girl, Amarria Denise Johnson, had a severe peanut allergy. She had an immediate allergic reaction and was taken to the school clinic. She then went…
A trucking accident on September 20, 1994 on the Capital Beltway in Prince George’s County, Maryland killed one person and left construction worker Brian Buber paralyzed. The subsequent fight over payment of damages shows how difficult it can be to enforce judgments against corporations and other business entities. On that…
Four American civilians employed by security contractor Blackwater were killed in Fallujah, Iraq in March 2004 after gunmen opened fire on their vehicles. When the vehicles stopped, a crowd of people converged, throwing rocks and setting the vehicles on fire. The four men were shot and killed and, in a…
As medical devices grow increasingly sophisticated, disputes have begun to arise between doctors and medical device manufacturers over who bears the responsibility when a patient is injured by a device. In some instances, manufacturers try to hold doctors liable for using a device improperly, and in others doctors try to…
A Maryland appellate court has overturned a verdict awarding $64,000 to a woman who suffered an injury on a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (“Metro”) platform. The court found that Metro is entitled to sovereign immunity as a joint agency of the governments of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of…
Families of the victims killed in a tragic helicopter crash near Las Vegas, Nevada have filed two lawsuits against the company that operated the sightseeing craft. The crash occurred the afternoon of December 7, 2011 in the Lake Mead Recreational Area near the Hoover Dam, about twelve miles east of…