The family of a woman who died four years ago after her car plunged into the Passaic River in Newark -- near the place where three women had drowned in a similar accident several months before -- will receive a $3.1 million settlement from the city.  But a dispute still remains on whether the money will be paid in a lump sum or installments to the estate of Ceneida Zapata, said Adam Slater, an attorney with Roseland-based Mazie, Slater, Katz & Freeman who is representing Zapata's family.

Zapata, a 52-year-old Newark resident, died in March 2005 when she lost control of her 1989 Dodge Dynasty on Raymond Boulevard, then struck and killed pedestrian David Torre, 54, of East Orange, before dropping into the river. There were no barriers along the river where the accident occurred, although recommendations for them had been made after the three women drowned five months earlier.

Read more at
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/family_of_newark_crash_victim.html

U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Martin has approved a proposed plan for distributing $176 million in settlement offers that have been made to more than 300 people who lost loved ones or suffered injuries in The Station nightclub fire in 2003.

In a brief order, Martin also approved the appointment of Jeffrey Dahl, of Faribault, Minn., to be a neutral verification expert in the case. Dahl has developed claim forms that will have to be completed by the fire victims before they receive any money from the settlements.

Martin also granted a motion to establish a special trust fund that needs to be created as a repository for the settlement proceeds and to appoint Massachusetts lawyer Paul A. Finn as administrator for the trust fund.

Read more on this at
http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/03/court-approves.html

Despite all the abuses attributed to bankers and Wall Street power brokers in the news as of late - bad judgment and big bonuses - relatively little illegal activity has been revealed.

Pharmaceutical-industry bigwigs largely have been spared public scrutiny, despite decisions that have been unethical at best and in many cases downright illegal. What's worse, despite stiff fines, many drug companies are repeat offenders.

Recently, drug giant Pfizer agreed to pay a record-breaking settlement of $2.3 billion. The federal government has been investigating whether Pfizer marketed its painkiller Bextra for purposes the Food and Drug Administration had not approved.

Read more at
http://www.cleveland.com/health/plaindealer/
index.ssf?/base/news/123546788399830.xml&coll=2

Slip and Fall Injury Settlement Updated

Injured person Horn appeals the trial court's final judgment as to partial summary
judgment1 as to the causation element of her premises liability claim for damages
against Tandem Health Care of Florida, Inc. (Tandem). In her amended complaint,
Horn, who was employed by one of Tandem's contract vendors, alleged that she slipped
and fell on the wet floors of Tandem's health care facility on March 25, 1997. She
immediately complained of problems with her right knee and sought medical attention.
Dr. Lance Sisco performed surgery to repair a torn meniscus in Horn's right knee on
May 15, 1997. Although Horn also complained of pain in her left knee, similar repair
surgery on that knee did not occur until April 19, 2001. Because of continuing pain in
both of her knees, Horn underwent total knee replacement surgeries in 2005 and 2006.
Prior to trial, Tandem moved for partial summary judgment, arguing that
no genuine issue of material fact existed as to the cause of Horn's injury and her
resulting bilateral knee replacement procedures. In its motion Tandem maintained that
the need for Horn's total knee replacement surgeries was caused by degenerative
osteoarthritis that predated her fall at Tandem. In support of its position, Tandem

The trial court entered its final judgment as to partial summary judgment after
granting Tandem's motion for partial summary judgment. Because the trial court
concluded that Horn had failed to prove the alleged accident was the cause of her
alleged permanent injury, the trial court's final judgment was dispositive of her
complaint.

quoted two of Horn’s medical witnesses, who stated that the knee replacement
procedures were necessitated by the osteoarthritic condition found in both of Horn’s
knees in 2005.

The trial court granted Tandem's motion for partial summary judgment
and, in its final judgment, concluded that "the record evidence does not show a triable
issues [sic] as it relates to the legal causation issues within a reasonable degree of
medical certainty between the knee replacement of 11/29/2005 (right knee) and
03/07/2006 (left knee) and the trauma incident of 03/25/1997 upon which this premises
liability case is predicated."

Based on the deposition testimony of Drs. Barden and Cherry, we
conclude that the trial court erred in granting Tandem's motion for partial summary
judgment on the issue of causation. "It is settled law that where injuries aggravate an
existing ailment or develop a latent one[,] the person whose negligence caused the
injury is required to respond in damages for the results of the disease as well as the
original injury." C. F. Hamblen, Inc. v. Owens, 172 So. 694, 696 (Fla. 1937).
Furthermore, Florida Standard Civil Jury Instruction 5.1(a) advises that the defendant's
negligence is the legal cause of the injury or damage if "it directly and in natural and
continuous sequence produces or contributes substantially to producing" the injury or
damage.

see more of this at  

Florida Second District Court of Appeals

http://www.2dca.org/opinions/Opinions_Yearly_Links/2008/nov_08.shtml

Landmark Ruling from 3rd Circuit Awarding Additional Funds for Lump Sum Awards Encourages Use of Non-Qualified Structures Pursuant to IFS PLR

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that a supervisor who was terminated in a reduction-in-force after experiencing memory loss issues following chemotherapy was awarded an additional $6,893 to offset the negative tax consequences of her taxable award of $206,893 in Eshelman v. Agere Systems Inc., 3d Cir., No. 05-4895, 1/30/09. 

The Court of Appeals held that a district court may award a prevailing employee an additional sum of money to compensate for the increased tax burden a taxable award may create. The Court stated that "An additional award to cover the tax consequences of a lump-sum award is necessary and appropriate, in certain circumstances, to make the plaintiff whole."

According to IFS, awards and settlements that are taxable not only waste much of the award to taxes, but can lift a plaintiff into a higher tax bracket for that year. Many types of awards and settlements are taxable, not just those that are employment related. Claims or awards for punitive damages, discrimination, non-physical injuries, emotional distress, defamation and interest are generally taxable.

This case is a landmark decision for the growing use of Non-Qualified Structured Settlements. In 2008, IFS obtained Private Letter Ruling 200836019, establishing the use of Non-Qualified Structured Settlements on taxable settlements as a valuable settlement tool for both plaintiffs and defendants.

read more at http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2166788/