Maryland’s highest court upheld the state’s limit on jury awards for pain and suffering in personal injury lawsuits Friday.
The 6-1 decision by the Court of Appeals was made in a case that slashed a jury award from $4 million to about $1 million to the Davidsonville parents of a 5-year-old boy who drowned in 2006 in a Crofton swimming pool.
The limits that were first enacted 25 years ago amid arguments that high awards threaten the affordability of insurance for businesses and discourage physicians from entering high-risk specialties. Opponents of the limits will be disappointed that accountability of those who wreck others’ lives has now been severely compromised. [read more]
Toyota Motor Corp. has quietly settled a high-profile lawsuit over a fatal crash near San Diego last year that drew national attention to sudden acceleration in its vehicles and led to massive recalls and an unprecedented apology from its president.
The automaker revealed the settlement in a letter to a California Superior Court judge, but declined to provide any details of the terms, which it is seeking to keep confidential.
By getting the case off its growing plate of legal woes, Toyota can focus on an aggressive strategy to fend off lawsuits with less dramatic evidence, many of which point to potential electronic problems in vehicles. [read more]
Sharon Grigsby, editor at the Dallas Morning News, was upset when she saw the headline: “FATAL DWI nets four years.”
As the story is described, a 26 year old Plano woman got so drunk that she drove on the wrong side of the Dallas North Tollway, and crashed head-on with an SUV. The driver of the SUV, a teenager, was killed, and his best friend injured.
But the woman had a great Dallas DUI attorney who got her “off” with a 4 year sentence. She’ll be eligible for parole in two years. But Grigsby says that even the average sentence in such crimes – 15.7 years – is way too short.
One can argue it both ways. Yes, the victim is dead and isn’t coming back. To his loved ones, it’s every bit as painful as if he were murdered. But 15 years for drunk driving? It’s a matter of opinion…
