Wrongful Death

Baltimore County Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claiming SWAT Team Fatally Shot Mother Without Provocation in 2005 Goes to Trial

March 25, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Four years after a SWAT team fatally shot Cheryl Lynn Noel during a drug raid of her Dundalk home, the ensuing wrongful death lawsuit filed in Baltimore County has finally gone to trial. Attorneys for both sides gave opening statements last week.

During the wrongful death trial, a jury will determine whether law enforcement officers were justified in shooting Noel or if the deadly incident was an example of police abuse of power and her family should be compensated for her loss.

According to the Maryland wrongful death lawsuit filed by her husband Charles, he and Noel, a 44-year-old mother, were in bed on January 1, 2005, when at around 4:30 am members of the Baltimore County SWAT team barged into their residence using a battering ram and a flash-bang grenade because they suspected it was a narcotics den housing cocaine and marijuana. The officers, who were heavily armed, claimed to have found traces of drugs in garbage cans outside the residence.

Three Maryland Car Accident Lawsuits Sue Driver for Catastrophic 2008 Tractor-Trailer-Van Accident that Injured Six and Killed One

March 9, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Three of the victims of a Maryland motor vehicle accident involving a passenger van and a tractor-trailer are suing the van driver for wrongful death and personal injury. Robin Poffenberger was transporting a group of seniors to a softball tournament in Olney, when he drove a 2003 Chevrolet Custom van into the path of a tractor-trailer.

One van passenger, 72-year-old Clifford J. Rice, died from his injuries. He was sitting in the front passenger side of the vehicle when the May 21, 2008 crash happened at the intersection of Interstate 70 and Md. 66. Six other people suffered serious injuries. The impact of the collision left the truck’s cab embedded in the side of the van.

Now, three Maryland car accident lawsuits have been filed against Poffenberger. Rice’s widow is seeking $4 million for medical costs, loss of her husband’s income, funeral expenses, his pain and suffering, wrongful death, her mental anguish and emotional trauma, loss of companionship, society, protection, attention, comfort, care, counsel, love, and advice.

Maryland Wrongful Death Lawsuit Seeks $30 Million from Landlord and Tobacco Company After Cigarette Sparks Catastrophic Fire

February 27, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Washington County Circuit Court, a woman whose mother died in a 2006 fire is suing a tobacco company and the landlord of the property where the fatal accident occurred. Dawn Bunch’s Maryland wrongful death lawsuit is seeking $30 million against Barbara Bristow, who owns the property where she and her mother, Linda Ford, lived and Lorillard Tobacco Company.

Bunch is accusing the tobacco company of acting negligently when it manufactured, sold, and brought cigarettes into the marketplace—the product that caused her mother’s fatal injuries. She also accuses Lorillard of making a tobacco product that was an unreasonable fire risk. Bunch points out that the company could have made self-extinguishing cigarettes. As for defendant Bristow, the plaintiff alleges she breached the duty of care she owed her tenants when she failed to provide them with fire protection or warning devices in their mobile home rental.

Ford, 58, died after a fire broke out in her mattress and caused her hair to catch fire. She reportedly went looking for water to douse the flames but a maintenance worker had shut down the water at their mobile home.

As Maryland Motor Vehicle Collision Splits Car in Half, One Montgomery County Student Dies and The Other Teen is Critically Injured

February 2, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a deadly Maryland motor vehicle crash that left the vehicle split in two, one Montgomery County high school student is dead and the other has serious injuries. The accident occurred on Sunday afternoon in Rockville.

The driver of the vehicle, 17-year-old Silver Springs resident Johvanny Garmendez, reportedly lost control of the vehicle, which raced down a hill and struck a tree. Garmendez survived the Maryland auto crash with critical injuries. His passenger, 17-year-old Rockville resident Thiago Andrade, was thrown from the 2003 Toyota Camry and pronounced dead at the accident site.

The Camry they were riding in split into two sections after striking a tree. Both parts rolled down the hill separately before landing in an apartment complex parking lot. Another car in the lot was damaged.

Police are trying to determine the cause of the auto crash. According to witnesses, the vehicle was driving at about 45 mph above the speed limit.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2007 Young Drivers (Ages 15 – 20) Traffic Safety Facts

• 6,982 young drivers were involved in auto accidents where there was at least one fatality.
• 3,174 young drivers died in auto accidents.
• 252,000 others were injured.
• 1,631,000 young drivers were involved in auto crashes in which the police became involved.

• 4% of young drivers involved in auto accidents resulting in injuries had been drinking.

Driver distraction, drunk driving, and driver inexperience are just some reasons why young drivers are involved in auto accidents.

According to the Choose Safety for Life Web Site:
• Nearly 20,000 Maryland auto accidents in 2006 involved young drivers.

• That same year, there were 102 auto accidents involving young Maryland drivers that resulted in fatalities.

1 Student Killed, 1 Hurt In Crash That Halved Car, Washington Post, February 2, 2009
Young Drivers, Traffic Safety Fact Sheet, NHTSA
Young Drivers, Choose Safety for Life
Related Web Resources:
Latest on New Driver Issues, NHTSA
Maryland Teen Drivers, DMV.org

Maryland Wrongful Death Lawsuit Orders Man Convicted of Motorcyclist’s Manslaughter Death to Pay Her Family $2 Million Restitution

February 1, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland, a Washington County Circuit Court judge has ordered the man convicted of Debra Reed Fields-Jordan’s manslaughter by vehicle death to pay her family $2,084,076.31 in restitution. Fields-Jordan died in a May 2008 motor vehicle accident when a pickup truck ran a stop sign and struck her motorcycle on Md. 77.

The driver of the pickup truck fled the motorcycle accident scene. Police, however, apprehended Harry W. Shrader a few days later because the truck was registered in his name. In November 2008, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter and is now being held at the Maryland Correctional Training Center. Shrader was intoxicated at the time of the deadly traffic crash.

In August 2008, Fields-Jordan’s husband, Stephen J Jordan, sued Schrader for his wife’s wrongful death. Jordan sought $2 million in punitive damages and $4 million in compensatory damages. He accused Schrader of causing emotional trauma, mental anguish, loss of companionship, society, marital care, comfort, protection, advice, attention, training, guidance, counsel, education, and his wife’s love. Last month, Jordan filed documents accusing Schrader of trying to defraud his family from any wrongful death compensation they could be owed when the inmate transferred more than 44 acres of land to his girlfriend.

Bill Proposes Maryland Reckless Driving Law

January 30, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A bill that is calling for a Maryland reckless driving law would make it easier to prosecute reckless drivers if passed. The proposal calls for drivers who were responsible for causing a motor vehicle fatality because they exhibited negligence leading to “substantial risk” of safety to be charged with a misdemeanor crime. The penalty would be up to three years in jail.

Maryland Delegate Luiz R.S. Simmons (D-Montgomery) has been pushing for this law for five years. He claims that the state’s standard for proving vehicular homicide is too high.

Currently, some 30 US states have laws that allow reckless driving charges even if the driver did not exhibit “gross negligence.” The bill has died every year so far because the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Del. Joseph F. Vallario, has not called for a vote on the matter.

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Over Elderly Nursing Home Resident’s Salmonella-Related Death from Allegedly Eating Peanut Butter

January 29, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The family of Shirley Mae Almer is suing Peanut Corporation of America and King Nut Companies for her wrongful death. The 72-year-old nursing home resident allegedly died after she ate the peanut butter that was served to her at the facility where she was staying. A tub of peanut butter found at the nursing home contained Salmonella typhimurium, the same strain of salmonella that has made a number of other people in the US sick.

The Centers for Disease Control says there have been at least 501 reports of Salmonella typhimurium-related food poisoning. 108 people required hospitalization. 8 of the cases resulted in deaths. Over 280 cases involved minors.

Almer died on December 21, 2008. Her family’s wrongful death lawsuit accuses the defendants of failure to safely manufacture, package, and transport the peanut butter, failure to properly train and supervise employees, failure to maintain hygienic conditions at the peanut butter plant, failure to test the peanut butter before sending the products off, and failure to prevent cross-contamination.

Federal Government Settles VA Wrongful Death Lawsuit with Family of Iraq War Veteran who Committed Suicide

January 24, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The federal government has settled a VA wrongful death lawsuit with the family of an Iraq war veteran who killed himself soon after he was denied mental health care. The family will receive $350,000.

Jeffrey Lucey was a corporal in the US Marines who was based in Iraq in 2003. When he came back to the United States, family members says he was having nightmares, behaving erratically, suffering from insomnia and serious depression, and drank a lot. The 23-year-old was involuntarily committed to a VA medical center’s psychiatric unit but was discharged from the hospital after four days following a diagnosis of mood swings and alcoholism.

Two days later, Lucey’s family readmitted him to the hospital after he crashed a car in an attempt to kill himself. He was turned away by a VA hospital nurse who failed to have a psychiatrist examine him.

Baltimore County Woman Dies After She is Struck by Flying Truck’s Tire on Capital Beltway

January 22, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A 21-year-old Baltimore County woman is dead after a tire that broke off from a truck being towed landed on her car on Wednesday. The deadly motor vehicle accident took place on Interstate 495 in Prince George’s County.

According to Maryland State Police, tow truck driver Roger Smith was towing a delivery truck when one of the tires with a metal wheel broke off the vehicle, rolled across lanes, struck two guardrails, rolled across a grassy median, and hit a tractor-trailer. The impact of this collision caused the tire to fly back across the median and land on Channing Quinichett’s Honda Civic, crushing the windshield and roof of her vehicle. The 21-year-old Maryland resident was pronounced dead at the crash scene.

If you have been injured in a Maryland traffic accident because a party’s negligence caused flying or falling debris to strike you and/or your motor vehicle, you may have grounds to file a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.

For example, last September, the family of 39-year-old Milena Del Valle, who died after part of the Big Dig tunnel ceiling in Massachusetts fell on her car, received a $28 million wrongful death settlement. In another personal injury lawsuit, the wife of Pawel “Paul” Swierczynski sued five companies after her husband was struck by a 250-pound grate that crashed through his windshield. Swierczynski sustained numerous injuries, including a traumatic brain injuries.

Just this month, a 6-year-old boy died and a man sustained injuries after they were struck by flying metal chunks at a monster truck rally. The catastrophic accident occurred when a truck’s driveline malfunctioned, causing the fragments to fly toward the crowd. Witnesses have expressed anger that the show was not stopped even after both victims started bleeding.

While freak accidents do happen, there may have been steps that a liable party could have taken to prevent the personal injury accident or wrongful death.

Tire kills Baltimore Co. woman on Capital Beltway, Baltimore Sun, Associated Press, January 22, 2009
Boy, 6, killed by flying debris at Tacoma monster truck rally, Komonews.com, January 17, 2009
Boy, 6, killed by flying debris at Tacoma monster truck rally, Komonews.com, January 17, 2009
Settlement Reached In Big Dig Death Suit, CBS News, September 30, 2008
Related Web Resource:
Wrongful Death Overview, Justia

National Safety Council calls for nationwide ban on cell phone use while driving

January 13, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The National Safety Council wants all US states to ban motorists from using cell phones while driving. NSC CEO and President Janet Froetscher noted that talking on the phone while driving increases a driver’s chances of becoming involved in an auto crash by four times more than if he or she were driving without using one.

Currently, six US states have laws banning the use of hand held cell phones while driving:

• District of Columbia
• Washington
• California
• Utah
• New Jersey
• Connecticut

Seven US States have a ban on text messaging while driving:

• District of Columbia
• Connecticut
• Alaska
• New Jersey
• Washington State
• Minnesota
• Louisiana

While some localities within US states that do not have statewide bans have imposed their own cell phone restrictions, including bans on hand-held phones and text messaging and bans affecting teen drivers and school bus drivers, the states of Kentucky, Florida, Nevada, Louisiana, Oregon, Mississippi, Utah, and Louisiana prohibit their localities from imposing any such bans.

The NSC is quick to point out that just because someone is using a hands-free phone does not mean that he or she is now operating the vehicle safely. According to a Harvard Center of Risk Analysis 2003 study, cell-phone use while driving is a contributing factor in 6% of auto accidents each year. Some 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries result from such collisions.

According to a Nationwide Insurance public opinion poll, 81% of US drivers use a cell phone when driving. Froetscher notes that cellular phone use while driving is more dangerous than talking to a passenger who is in the same vehicle. While talking to a real person makes the driver aware that lives are at stake if he or she doesn’t drive safely, talking on the cell phone places the motorist’s attention not on the road and in the present moment but elsewhere.

In addition to pushing for a change in current driving laws, the NSC is advocating more education about the dangers that come from driving with a cell phone, as well as better training.

National Safety Council Calls for Nationwide Ban on Cell Phone Use While Driving, NSC.org, January 12, 2009
Safety council urges ban on cell phone use while driving, CNN.com, January 12, 2009

Related Web Resources:

Maryland Cell Phone Law, DMV.org
Washington D.C. Hands-Free Law, Driving Laws.org
Cell Phone Driving Laws, Governors Highway Safety Association