Court approves $2 million settlement in death of MU football player O’Neal

March 13, 2009

Athletic director Mike Alden said today he hopes a $2 million settlement to the family of deceased Missouri linebacker Aaron O’Neal will provide closure “for what continues to be a very tragic event.”

 

Lorenzo Williams said he wasn’t sure there could ever be closure over the death of his friend and former MU teammate, who collapsed at Faurot Field in July 2005 at a voluntary workout and was pronounced dead at University Hospital.

 

“For me, it doesn’t work like that. It’s never going to be a situation where I’m going to forget about him,” Williams said in a telephone interview.

“I got married on Jan. 24, and we were talking about him there.”

 

Read Article: Kansas City Star

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Family of football player Ereck Plancher files wrongful-death lawsuit against UCF

The family of UCF football player Ereck Plancher is seeking more than a legal victory, their attorney says. Plancher, a 19-year-old freshman wide receiver from Naples, died March 18, 2008, after an offseason conditioning workout on the UCF campus supervised by Coach George O’Leary and his staff.

An autopsy found that the extreme stress of the workout triggered Plancher’s sickle-cell trait, a blood disorder that caused his body to shut down.

UCF officials said they tested Plancher for the trait in 2007 and were aware he had the genetic condition. Enock and Giselle Plancher, Ereck’s parents, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the UCF Athletics Association on Thursday, alleging coaches and athletic trainers were negligent in their treatment of Plancher.

 

Read Article: Orlando Sentinel

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

KingCo pays $1.5M to settle Metro death lawsuit

The family of an Auburn man killed by a Metro bus has settled a wrongful death lawsuit against King County for $1.5 million.

 

The 21-year-old pickup driver, Michael Dahlquist, was killed in April in a collision on Highway 164.

 

Police say the bus driver may have been speeding when she swerved to avoid a vehicle that slowed in front of her. She was fired after the accident.

 

The lawyer for the Dahlquist family, Stephen Bulzomi, says the driver had a record of accidents and the county transit agency was negligent in allowing her to continue to drive.

 

Read Article: Seattle Post Intelligencer

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Healthways to settle whistleblower lawsuit

Healthways Inc. said that it took a $40 million charge in its current first quarter related to the proposed settlement of a whistleblower lawsuit against the company.

 

The lawsuit, filed 15 years ago by a former employee, is related to the Nashville-based disease management company’s former Diabetes Treatment Center of America business. It will filed on behalf of the federal government and must be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice although the government did not intervene in the lawsuit.

 

The lawsuit alleged that Diabetes Treatment illegally paid doctors for referrals.
Under the proposed settlement, Healthways will pay the government $28 million. Another $12 million will cover costs and fees such as expenses of plaintiff’s attorneys.

Healthways said that it is settling the suit to avoid significant legal expenses and distraction. “This settlement is not an admission of any wrongdoing,” executives said.

 

Read Article: Tennessean

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Jury awards more than $150 million in Balto. Co. Exxon spill case

A jury awarded more than $150 million yesterday to the neighbors of a northern Baltimore County service station, finding Exxon Mobil Corp. liable for the damage caused when thousands of gallons of gasoline seeped into the groundwater from a leaking pipe.

The Baltimore County jury’s verdict - delivered after five months of testimony and nearly two weeks of deliberations - directs the oil giant to compensate about 90 Jacksonville families for the lost value of their homes. It also requires Exxon to pay for cancer screenings, and it acknowledges the upheaval caused by the huge spill by awarding millions of dollars for emotional distress.

But the six-member panel stopped well short of the multibillion-dollar verdict sought by the plaintiff’s lawyers. The four women and two men ruled that Exxon was not guilty of fraud and removed the possibility of assessing punitive damages.

 

Read Article: Baltimore Sun

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

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