Recently in Injury & Tort Law Category

Lawyers make the worst surgical patients, because we tend to review lists of complications and ask our doctors about the likelihood of each one. (So my odds of not waking up after anesthesia are 1 in 100,000? How many patients have you treated? Have you already met your statistical loser?)

Doctors and medical device manufacturers have a duty to warn patients about likely side effects and glitches, but what kinds of harms does that duty include? The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals weighed in on the issue this week.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a Michigan prisoner’s discrimination lawsuit on Thursday, finding that the prisoner had sufficiently alleged a plausible claim for sexual orientation discrimination against prison officials.

Plaintiff Ricky Davis, who represented himself in the lawsuit, claimed that he was removed from his public-works employment because of his sexual orientation, in violation of his rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that the bulk purchase of motor vehicle records without a specific need for every record does not violate the Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA).

Plaintiffs in the case claimed that a number of defendants, (including Ascom, the named defendant), violated the DPPA and the plaintiffs' right to privacy by obtaining, using, reselling, and disclosing personal information contained in Kentucky motor vehicle records without a permissible purpose.

Samuel Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. "Joe the Plumber," has parlayed a campaign stop criticism of then-Senator Barack Obama's tax plan into Internet notoriety, cable commenter gigs, and a congressional bid. He could teach a master class in how to capitalize on 15 minutes of fame. But he can't bring a First Amendment retaliation lawsuit in federal court.

Tuesday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Joe the Plumber did not satisfy the circuit's three-prong criteria for a retaliation lawsuit.

In 2006, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, in conjunction with WZTV-Fox 17, smeared a Nashville’s woman’s name as a result of a law enforcement clerical error.

Last week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said, (and we paraphrase): Eh … These things happen, but you don’t have subject matter jurisdiction for a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) claim against the government, and the television station is protected by Tennessee’s fair report privilege.

Let’s go back to the beginning to see how this debacle occurred.

Telemarketers are annoying, so we're on the "Do Not Call" registry, and we don't answer our phone unless we recognize the caller's number. But how do you combat unsolicited advertising faxes?

If you're Compressor Engineering Corporation, you sue the sender in federal court ... and that's okay with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

We have long believed that the Target clearance aisle was a dangerous place, but that belief was based on monetary concerns, not safety hazards. Regardless, we love Target.

An unpublished Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion issued last week, however, reminds us that danger lurks even in happy places. With that in mind, the Sixth Circuit reinstated a Target clearance shopper’s negligence claim against the retail giant, finding that the district court had erred in granting Target’s motion for summary judgment.

Before you make your own Halloween costume out of unconventional materials, ask yourself: WWMD? What would Martha do?

Of course we're referring to domestic goddess Martha Stewart, who we suspect would only incorporate non-flammable materials into her homemade Halloween costumes. And with good reason: some jurisdictions, like the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, are hesitant to award damages in failure to warn/Halloween costume lawsuits.

Susan and Frank Ferlito learned this lesson the hard way after Frank's homemade sheep costume turned into a homemade fireball.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a Morgan Keegan class action lawsuit last week, finding that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (SLUSA) precluded the action.

The plaintiffs in the case held shares in three mutual funds issued by Morgan Keegan Select Fund, Inc., an open-end investment company. Morgan Keegan structured these shares as "redeemable securities," entitling the holders to redemption at any time for their "proportionate share of the issuer's current net assets."

Like most investments, plaintiffs' shares lost value between 2007 and 2008 due to bad bets on sub-prime mortgage-backed securities; unlike most investors, they attributed their losses to fraud.

If at first you don't intercept a speeding motorcyclist, run him over with a police cruiser?

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that a police officer who "intentionally" rammed a speeding motorcyclist was not entitled to qualified immunity in civil litigation resulting from the incident because he had clearly violated the motorcyclist's constitutional rights.

Thomas Germany was killed in 2008 while riding a motorcycle across an empty field after a low-speed police chase, when Deputy Sheriff Danny Davis rammed the motorcycle that he was riding. Germany was thrown from the motorcycle and dragged underneath the cruiser, crushing him to death.