Fayetteville Personal Injury Lawyer - Wrongful Death

College Sued For Alcohol Related Death Of Student

Brent Adams — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:12:00 GMT

In Utah, there has been a recent death that has been related to drinking on a college campus.

In this event the family of the young college student is actually suing the school for wrongful death.

The parents have alleged that the school should be responsible for the actions and activities that occur for all of the students that are living on the campus. The family believes that there should be some way to police all of the activities involving school organizations including fraternities. This should extend to all of the activities that are out there whether they are on or off campus.

In this case, the two parties who are said to be at fault are the state and the school. The family of the boy who died, Michael Starks is the result of the two parties not doing all that was possible to keep the boy out of trouble and alive.

If you feel as though you are related to someone who has been the victim of wrongful death. Then you may want to look at all of the different options and consider taking the things to the personal injury lawyer. Consider all of the options that the attorney will present to you and to see how they will best build the case for you.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Brent Adams

POLICE MAY BE LIABLE FOR PUNITIVE DAMAGES FOR NEGLIGENCE

Brent Adams — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:00:02 GMT

The North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled that the mother of a 17-year-old daughter murdered by the mother’s husband could pursue a punitive damages claim against police officers for failure to make an arrest and failure to warn the mother that her husband was still on the loose.

In November of 2002 the mother obtained an order which prohibited her husband, Richard Ellerbee from threatening her or her children and from coming within 250 feet of them.

The mother claims that Jonesville police officers knew that Ellerbee violated the court order and failed to arrest him despite promising to do so.

Just prior to the daughter’s death, Ellerbee’s violations included breaking into the mother’s home and threatening her life, digging graves in front of her home, stalking her, and threatening her children.

On November 18, 2002 the two officers were present when Ellerbee drove by her house. The officers promised to arrest Ellerbee and drove off after him with their blue lights activated. They did not arrest Ellerbee nor did they warn the mother that her husband was still on the loose.

The following day, a man believed to be Ellerbee broke into the mother’s home while she was out. This man fatally stabbed and suffocated her daughter Candice Cockerham.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that this evidence is sufficient to allow a jury to decide that the defendants acted recklessly, manifesting a reckless indifference to the rights of Ms. Cockerham-Ellerbee (the mother) and her daughter.”

The law generally does not allow individuals to bring negligence actions against municipalities or police officers for failure to provide protection from a third party’s crimes.

However, a special duty exception allows negligent suits against municipalities and police officers when the law enforcement officer’s conduct is willful and wanton.

Under N.C.G.S. § 1D-15, a plaintiff can win punitive damages by showing willful and wanton conduct and by proving the municipality or law enforcement officers to be liable for compensatory damages.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Brent Adams

Manufacturer of Defective Child Seat Ordered to Pay $10.4 Million

Brent Adams — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 10:07:46 GMT

In July of 2000, 4-month-old Tyler Malcomb, was killed when he struck his head on his car seat hard plastic shell after the seat was ejected in a roll over crash.

The manufacturer of the defected car seat, Evenflo Company, before this tragedy, had considered lining the shell of the "On My Way" car seat with foam. Unfortunately, the company decided not to install this padding. Tyler might have survived if this padding had been used in his car seat.

Tyler's seat was thrown out of the vehicle because a hook was broken loose from the seat.

Evenflo Company, the manufacturer of the car seats had known about five similar instances involving the defective car seat prior to Tyler's wreck. Nevertheless, Evenflo did nothing to prevent further occurrences.

Consequently, the jury punished Evenflo Company requiring it to pay $3.7 Million in punitive damages to his parents, Chad and Jessica Malcomb. In addition, the jury required Evenflo Company to pay Tyler's parents $6.7 Million in compensatory damages for the death of their son.

Evenflo has lost at least three cases involving their defective car seats.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Wrongful Death.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Brent Adams

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Against Teen for Crash

Christina Cole — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:19:53 GMT

A teenager that has been sentenced to no less than twelve years in prison for a drunken-driving wreck that killed two people last year is now facing even more legal problems in his future.

He now faces two wrongful death lawsuits stemming from the parents of the couple he killed.

In December, the 19-year-old pled no contest to two counts of second-degree murder in the death of Eddel, 22, and Richard, 22. The couple was planning to be married. Authorities contend the teen caused the wreck by getting on the highway in the wrong direction.

The lawsuit filed in Mecklenburg Superior Court by the couple's family also accuses three convenience stores of selling alcohol to underage teens. The night of the fatal wreck, the teen and his friends were drinking at a party.

The suit seeks over $10,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christina Cole