Scott Skirpan, a 50-year-old ex-Marine from Easton, lost both his legs three years ago in a gruesome industrial workplace injury accident in Pennsylvania at a Northampton County landfill. According to this article in The Philadelphia Daily News, the firm that owns the landfill, and Caterpillar Inc. (which made the bulldozer that crushed his legs), agreed to pay Skirpan $16.25 million to settle his negligence lawsuit in mid-trial. It is one of the largest settlements in Pennsylvania history for a single-victim personal-injury case.

On May 1, 2006, five days into his job as a truck spotter at the Chrin Sanitary Landfill, a massive track loader backed around a pile of garbage and ran him over.
Skirpan’s attorney argued that Chrin Brothers, which owns the landfill, had failed to train their client, and that the Caterpillar didn’t have adequate rear vision. Skirpan was airlifted to St. Luke’s Hospital Trauma Center, arriving in cardiac arrest. He had eleven operations. Ultimately, surgeons had to remove his right leg and part of his right hip, and most of his left leg.

Read more at
http://www.pennsylvaniapersonalinjuryblog.com/2009/07/worker_wins_16m_settlement.html

Scott SkirpanA Palmer Township man who was run over by a bulldozer at the Chrin Brothers Sanitary Landfill and lost his legs has won a $16.2 million court settlement, ending a three-year court battle. Scott Skirpan, who suffered the injury when working for the Chrin Brothers Sanitary Landfill in June 2006 in Williams Township, says other workers stood by and watched, according to The Associated Press. Skirpan had to call 911 himself on a cell phone.

"Next thing I know, all of a sudden, he comes backing up at me. And before I could say anything, it was like 'Boom!'" Skirpan, a former Marine, told Fox 29 in Philadelphia.

Read more at
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2009/06/palmer_township_man_wins_162_m.html

Pfizer Inc. resolved all but three of 35,000 claims over its withdrawn diabetes drug Rezulin for a total of about $750 million, 21 percent less than what it set aside for the cases, people familiar with the litigation said.

Pfizer, which is acquiring rival Wyeth for almost $64 billion, paid about $500 million to settle Rezulin cases consolidated in federal court in New York, according to court filings. The company also paid as much as $250 million to resolve state-court suits, two people familiar with the cases said. In 2004, it set aside $955 million to end Rezulin cases.

1.9 Million Diabetics

Rezulin, a drug taken by about 1.9 million diabetics to help regulate insulin levels, was pulled from the U.S. market in 2000 after it was linked to at least 63 deaths from liver failure. Pfizer officials said in 2004 the company faced about 35,000 personal-injury claims over the drug. Pfizer acquired the drug when it bought Warner-Lambert Co. in May 2000 for about $116 billion.

About 15,000 of those claims were consolidated before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in New York. The company has resolved all but three through dismissals or settlements, according to transcript of a Jan. 16 hearing in New York.

Read more at
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a7VBROxSloUY&refer=us

If you've received a legal windfall or insurance judgment, it might sound like you're fixed for life. The reality is that your financial life has changed drastically, and you need to plan for it.

A structured settlement is a way of receiving partial payments for a major amount of money you've won or received in a lottery, a court or insurance case.

You hear a lot of commercials on the air for getting cash from structured settlements, but it's important to understand what they are and how they should be handled if you're ever the recipient.

A good place to start is with a tax expert like a CPA, a financial planning expert like a CFP, or an attorney. When there is big money at stake, it might make sense to consult all three.

Read more at
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20090310/BUSINESS/903100310/1003

Structured settlements can be used to get cash for handicap additions to your home or business. These can be expensive. Ramps can be built and bathrooms remodified. There are many needed items that may be built in to your home that can make daily life much easier. Cash from future settlement payments may be approved to do these modifications. You may be able to sell your future payments to get these changes done. click the get cash now link at top of this site to find out more.

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/