Yerano Martinez was seriously injured in a car accident after he drove through a stop sign at an intersection. Martinez alleged that an overgrown bush, located on property owned by Jeffrey Smith, obscured the stop sign. The bush extended from Smith’s property into the county’s right-of-way, which is a strip of land adjacent to the roadway. Martinez argued that Smith…
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court ruling in favor of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in a case that debated whether the organization had a duty to warn individual student athletes about the risks of football-related head trauma, which can lead to death. The opinion, written by court of appeals Judge Leanna Weissman on Tuesday, stated…
The Indiana Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments next month in a case debating interpretations of the state’s driver responsibilities statute. Judges Robert Altice, Dana Kenworthy and Mary DeBoer will hear the arguments at KIPP Indy Legacy High School in Decatur County on April 9. The case stems from a 2023 motorcycle accident in which Bradley Hobbs and his…
Lawyers can sue Colgate-Palmolive over fluoride-containing mouthrinse marketed as for children but can’t push similar claims over toothpaste, a Chicago federal judge has ruled. Judge Andrea Wood reached that decision last week in three cases against Colgate and Tom’s of Maine that allege fluoride poses safety risks to children under the age of 6. Fluoride is part of the Make…
A federal judge won’t let Sam’s Club take a lawsuit out of St. Clair County Circuit Court from a delivery driver who fell in the loading dock area of the chain’s O’Fallon store, as the judge didn’t buy Sam’s Club’s contention the driver’s lawyers had “fraudulently” added the store managers as defendants in an apparent tactic to keep the case…
After tripping and falling on a large mat in a hospital lobby, Caryl Rosen filed a lawsuit claiming the mat’s condition caused her injuries. The hospital preserved video from one camera that showed the fall and shared it with her attorney. However, two other cameras in the area were not saved, and Rosen argued that earlier footage or different angles…
More than 100 Indiana school districts are suing social media developers Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Google for designing products that allegedly lead to addictive and harmful behavior by adolescents. The lawsuits are a part of a multidistrict litigation effort that includes more than 2,000 school districts nationwide and accuses the companies of developing social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and…
A state appeals panel has agreed a new trial is not in order for the estate of a woman whose family said asbestos in Johnson & Johnson’s talc products caused her fatal ovarian cancer. Colleen Cadigan, as executor of the estate of Betty Driscoll, filed a 16-count lawsuit in St. Clair County Circuit Court in 2018 against Johnson & Johnson,…
Hospitals and other medical providers cannot be held liable for complications that developed while treating a patient for COVID-19 during the pandemic emergency, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. In an unanimous opinion written by Justice Christopher Goff, the court held that a trial judge properly dismissed claims brought by the estate of Elmer Waggoner and determined that providers who…
An Illinois appellate court on Thursday revived a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate of a municipal water worker who drowned after being sent alone into an underground vault, ruling the claims are not barred by workers compensation exclusivity at the pleading stage. In Heiden v. Village of Westmont, the Illinois Appellate Court for the Third District reversed a…
