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$40.1 million was awarded by a Snohomish County Superior Court jury to a man whose heart was ruined by a malfunctioning machine during an operation at an Everett hospital.

Lawyers stated that the jury award is the largest in county history and thought to be one of the state’s largest personal injury verdicts.

54 year old Paramjit Singh’s lawyers had asked for up to $38 million in damages to as compensation for Singh, who had to undergo a heart transplant and is suffering other problems as a result of the injury. He also has to take anti-rejection drugs.

The company that manufactured the defective device, Edwards Lifesciences Corp. of Irvine, Calif., said it is willing to pay reasonable damages, but not as much as Singh’s lawyers were seeking.
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According to Komotv.com, many Seattleites were outraged when a municipal court judge ordered fines, no driving, and community service for a driver found guilty of hitting and killing a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

Ephraim Schwartz will have his conviction erased from his record in two years, if he avoids driving and completes the community service. He is also avoiding any jail time for the Seattle pedestrian accidents.

“Where is the incentive for people to drive safely and responsibly?” asked Rebecca Deehr, executive director of Feet First, a pedestrian advocacy group.

“Besides the fines and ticketing that may result from not driving safely and responsibly, there is no incentive,” she said.

Deehr also said that the consequences for drivers in situations like this should match “the gravity of their action.” Without consequences, she said, “we can’t expect that drivers will take the extra step to put down the latte, stop looking at their cell phone, or to take the other necessary precautions to avoid hitting a pedestrian.”
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A man who was just released from a Massachusetts prison killed Beverly and Brian Mauck. Daniel Tavares had been let out after serving time for killing his mother. Now Beverly’s mother says she owes it to her murdered daughter and son-in-law to change the state law.

Beverly’s mother, Karen Slater, says she feels helpless trying to hold that prison accountable for releasing Tavares. She wants to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the prison but can’t do so under the state law. According to the Mauck family, Tavares should have been held in prison longer. He apparently had a history of attacking prison guards and making threats against then-Gov. Mitt Romney.

“Even though there’s criminal action, conviction and sentencing occurred, the ability to seek civil action is not allowed,” said Rep. Timm Ormsby, R-Spokane.
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The death of an elderly Marysville man who was hit by a car while crossing the street on Saturday morning is being investigated by police.

According to Marysville police Lt. Jeff Goldman, the Washington auto accident occurred around 5:20 a.m. in the 9600 block of State Avenue, in Marysville.

Rescue crews said the man was dead when they arrived, Marysville Fire District spokeswoman Stephanie Price said. She also said that the man apparently was not in a crosswalk.
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A rollover crash on I-5 Tuesday left five young people injured. They were apparently fleeing a hit-and-run accident, said Washington State Patrol trooper Kirk Rudeen.

According to troopers, the 17-year-old driver hit an occupied pickup truck in Lynn¬wood and was speeding away northbound in the carpool lane on I-5 e when his SUV rolled near I-40.

Rudeen also said that two of the passengers, 17-year-old Everett girl and a 19-year-old Lynnwood woman were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with serious injuries, though their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.
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A collision on U.S. Highway 2 about seven miles west of Stevens Pass left a 10-year-old Marysville boy seriously injured. The Washington Auto accident occurred on Saturday morning.

After the accident, the boy was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center. Washington State Patrol trooper Kirk Rudeen said that the boy’s injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

According to the State Patrol, the Seattle Car accident happened when the boy and his mother, traveling westbound in a Ford sport-utility vehicle, were hit head-on by an eastbound GMC pickup. It is believed that the pickup slipped on ice and crossed the centerline.
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A Community Transit bus hit and seriously injured a man in Lynnwood, officials said. The Seattle Auto Accident occurred late Wednesday.

The as yet unidentified man was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Lynnwood police spokeswoman Shannon Sessions said. The man is believed by police to be a transient. Sessions said that as of Thursday, the man was in critical but stable condition.

The collision happened around 11:15 p.m. on Highway 99 just south of 164th Street SW.

Community Transit spokesman Tom Pearce said that although several passengers were aboard the bus, no one was injured.
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The family of Charles McDonald, a truck driver who died when a propane hose leaked and caught fire while he pumped propane from his truck into Atlas Foundry Limited Partnerships tanks, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in superior court Tuesday. They allege that Atlas Foundry employees didn’t use proper clamps when they helped McDonald reattach a disconnected hose before he began pumping the propane.

McDonald’s body was mostly burned by the first of two explosions. He took cover near a metal shed before the 8,000-gallon truck blew apart, propelling an axle hundreds of feet in the air in a massive burst. Additionally, pieces of metal rained down on people nearby. Covered in black soot, employees ran from the fire.

Four people besides McDonald were injured. McDonald was found by medics behind the shed two hours later and airlifted him to Harborview Medical Center. The 64-year-old died Oct. 16.

“The negligence of the Atlas Foundry employees led to the initial release of propane gas that rapidly enveloped Charles McDonald,” said John Christensen, the family’s lawyer. He faulted the employees for using clamps not meant for high-pressure propane.
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A teenaged patient at Children’s Hospital in Seattle says she was sexually assaulted by another patient. According to the lawsuit, the alleged sexual assault happened while both the victim and her attacker were patients in the psych ward.

In August, 2006, a teenage girl was admitted as a patient to the psychiatric unit at Children’s Hospital, suffering from depression.

According to the complaint, after her arrival “she was left in a conference room by herself” when “a large male patient, age 17, came into the conference room” and “sexually assaulted” her.

The complaint also says that during the girl’s stay, she “was terrified of the male patient” who continually harassed her. In addition, the complaint states that the male patient was discharged from Children’s Hospital, then readmitted, and was placed in a room right next to the girl.
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Marissa Schneider was terribly injured in the Seattle car crash that wasn’t her fault. Her family sued both the driver and Chrysler, the makers of her car, with allegations that her injuries were, in part, to a design flaw in her Dodge Spirit.

But now the lawyers for the Chrysler Company have issued a subpoena for a court order to get inside her MySpace page and see her personal blogs, and her family wants to know why.

“Cyber-investigations” such as these are becoming more common in lawsuits.

The driver of the car in the Seattle Auto Accident, a 21 year old Arlington woman, is now in a nursing home because she can’t talk or take care of herself. She was on her way to work when her car was hit by an on-coming vehicle that crossed the center line.

After denying the claim, Chrysler turned its attention on the victim, and issued a subpoena to get full access to Marissa’s MySpace account, which includes private blogs which have been largely unchanged since her accident.

“It’s what Marissa wrote and I don’t see anything that has to do with it. It’s just her private little messages to her friends,” said her mother.
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