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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

State Supreme Court News

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State Supreme Court

Court to drivers: Don't hit someone who will overdose on pain pills or you could be liable

By John O'Brien |
JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) - Those who cause traffic accidents could be held liable when others involved overdose on pain medication prescribed for their injuries.

State Supreme Court

Nevada Supreme Court tosses Steve Wynn's defamation suit against AP

By Daniel Fisher |
LAS VEGAS (Legal Newsline) - The Associated Press was exercising its First Amendment rights to report on a decades-old rape allegation against casino mogul Steve Wynn even though the reporter told a colleague one of the complaints “is crazy,” the Nevada Supreme Court ruled, affirming the power of news organizations to end lawsuits under the state anti-SLAPP statute.

State Supreme Court

$4 million for kids, nothing for mom's suffering after they pulled the plug

By Daniel Fisher |
SALT LAKE CITY (Legal Newsline) - The Utah Supreme Court upheld a $4 million jury verdict for children who claim doctors misled them into removing their mother from a ventilator, but threw out a $450,000 judgment to compensate them for their mother’s suffering in the eight hours after they pulled the plug.

State Supreme Court

Plaintiffs lose bet that casino is liable for fatal charter bus crash

By Daniel Fisher |
JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) - A Mississippi casino that offered customers “promo cash” and free meal tickets isn’t liable for the fatal crash of a charter bus they took to get there, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled, rejecting plaintiff arguments a casino employee encouraged the bus to continue on despite bad weather.

State Supreme Court

Law might protect officer who turned siren on right before fatal crash

By Daniel Fisher |
DENVER (Legal Newsline) - A Colorado law providing immunity to police officers against most tort lawsuits may protect an officer who switched on his flashing lights and siren five seconds before T-boning a van in a highway intersection, killing the two men inside.

State Supreme Court

Parents can't sue over death of infant, but his estate can

By Daniel Fisher |
DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - Parents who sued over the death of their infant child failed to file the proper administrative claims first, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled, but the estate of the child can continue with a $15 million lawsuit claiming a misplaced feeding tube caused the baby’s death.

State Supreme Court

Teacher who faked fall gets demoted but keeps job

By Daniel Fisher |
TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) - A teacher who was caught on video faking the circumstances of her fall down the stairs can be demoted but doesn’t have to lose her job, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled, restoring an arbitrator’s decision that an appeals court had vacated.

State Supreme Court

Medical malpractice, not 'wrongful birth' to blame for $35 million verdict

By Daniel Fisher |
HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - It was medical malpractice, not “wrongful birth” that provided the grounds for a $35 million judgment against the State of Connecticut over a permanently disabled child born after his mother may have been infected with virus-tainted sperm.

State Supreme Court

Black workers can sue Harley-Davidson over claims of nooses, racist graffiti at plant

By Daniel Fisher |
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Legal Newsline) - Claims that African-American workers were subjected to nooses, Confederate flags and racist graffiti at a Harley-Davidson factory are enough to allow a hostile workplace suit to proceed even if the plaintiffs never saw such things themselves, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled.

State Supreme Court

Gun-seller defeats lawsuit by two shot New Hampshire cops

By John O'Brien |
CONCORD, N.H. (Legal Newsline) - New Hampshire cops who were shot can't take to trial the company that sold the firearm, the state Supreme Court ruled Jan. 30.

State Supreme Court

Iowa jurors now need an expert to explain cow management

By Daniel Fisher |
DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - Iowa jurors no longer can be counted upon to understand the basics of livestock management, the state’s highest court ruled, affirming the dismissal of a lawsuit by a truck driver who was injured after his vehicle plowed into a loose cow.

State Supreme Court

Adult injured at kids' playground cant sue, Nevada court says

By Daniel Fisher |
LAS VEGAS (Legal Newsline) - A law protecting property owners against lawsuits stemming from “recreational activities” shields a Nevada city from a lawsuit filed by a woman who tripped over the edge of a protective mat under a children’s slide and broke her leg in multiple places.

State Supreme Court

Inmate who refused medicine can sue doctors for malpractice

By Daniel Fisher |
INDIANAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) - A prison inmate who stopped taking prescription medicine after complaining about side effects can sue his doctors for malpractice and deliberate indifference for refusing to provide an alternate medication, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled, reversing a trial court’s dismissal of the prisoner’s lawsuit.

State Supreme Court

'No punt' football coach wins $200K in lawsuit over email criticizing his paperwork

By Daniel Fisher |
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - A high school football coach who was demoted after adopting a disastrous “no punt” strategy can keep $200,000 a jury awarded him in a lawsuit over an email criticizing his paperwork skills, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled.

State Supreme Court

Lawsuit struck against doctor who delayed antivenom for snakebite victim

By Daniel Fisher |
AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline) - Parents who wanted $1 million in compensation for the suffering of their daughter after she was bitten by a rattlesnake have no case against the emergency-room doctor who refused to immediately administer antivenom, the Texas Supreme Court ruled.

State Supreme Court

FirstEnergy bribery suspect facing seizure of $8 million

By Daniel Fisher |
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - A man accused of accepting a multimillion-dollar bribe from FirstEnergy in a scheme that also sent the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives to jail may face the seizure of $8 million after the Ohio Supreme Court reversed an appellate ruling striking down a court order attaching his assets.

State Supreme Court

Rape ruling: Washington State Univ. had no duty to protect student off-campus

By Daniel Fisher |
OLYMPIA, Wash. (Legal Newsline) - Washington State University had no legal duty to protect a freshman from being raped by a fellow student at an off-campus party, the Washington Supreme Court ruled, rejecting the plaintiff’s argument the school’s “special relationship” with students should extend past the campus borders.

State Supreme Court

Time limit on Ohio med-mal cases applies to wrongful death claims, split decision says

By Daniel Fisher |
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - A four-year time limit on filing lawsuits over “medical claims” includes wrongful-death claims based on medical malpractice, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in a decision opposed by trial lawyers and three of the court’s justices.