The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of repairs when the bridge collapsed during the evening rush hour Wednesday. Cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River, some falling on top of one another. At least four people are confirmed dead, and approximately 79 were injured as a result of the collapse. Eight people are still missing. ...
A $750,000 settlement reached in June between a Pennsylvania nursing home and Francis X. Ounan has been approved by a federal judge. Ounan, the executor of his mother's estate, filed suit against nursing home chain Sunrise Senior Living Services, Inc. on January 15, seeking damages for claims of negligence and wrongful death. Nursing home administrator Lynn Plasha and nurse Cynthia Harbaugh were...
In a case of nursing care negligence, a 22-year-old Sissonville man who suffered from severe disabilities died after choking on a hot dog for approximately 45 minutes. At the time of the incident, the man was at West Sattes Day Program, a day shelter facility for disabled adults located in Nitro, West Virginia.According to the report of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human...
On March 23, a Huron County, Ohio, jury ruled that the county and its child welfare agency were responsible for the 2004 wrongful death of a child placed into foster care and killed by the foster father with whom she was placed. The child was stabbed five times by her foster father and allowed to bleed to death in a barn on his property.According to witnesses in the trial, the agency was aware...
Over a year has passed since the Sago mine explosion killed twelve miners. International Coal Group, the owner of the Sago mine, as well as state investigators have concluded that the explosion was caused by a lightning strike, which ignited methane gas in the mine.The United Mine Workers, however, has put forth a different theory. The union argues that it was not a lightning strike that...
A December mining accident in Monongalia County that resulted in the death of a miner has been blamed on a failure by the operator to make sure that the mine was safe. John Elliott of Newburg, West Virginia was killed on December 17 when the roof collapsed in the Dana Mining Company mine he was working in.The Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training blames the accident on a failure by...
The Supreme Court has overturned a $79.5 million punitive damages verdict against Philip Morris for the death of a smoker. The verdict came from an Oregon jury who had awarded the verdict to the widow of a man who was a longtime smoker of Marlboro cigarettes.In Philip Morris USA v. Williams, the Court narrowly decided in a 5-4 decision to overturn the award, basing its ruling on a finding that...
An explosion at the Flat Top Little General Store on Route 19 in Ghent, West Virginia, near Winter Place ski resort killed four people. The explosion occurred at about 10:45 a.m., on January 30, just as a fire truck was pulling into the station in response to a report of a gas leak. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation with theories that it was a propane tank or a liquid...
