Category: Legal Blog

Rarely does a week pass without someone forwarding me an email complaining of “frivolous” lawsuits. You’ve probably seen them, too. They usually reference the so-called “Stella Awards,” in dubious honor of 79-year old Stella Liebeck. Stella was severely burned when scalding hot coffee spilled in her lap and she sued McDonald’s for $2.7 million. Most people hear only this…
Each year, the National Transportation Safety Board issues its 10 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements aimed at reducing transportation accidents and saving lives. It’s nice to see that four of the 10 items would impact the safety of commercial trucks. Because of their size and the sheer number of commercial trucks on our roads, 18-wheelers pose a…
Deaths among those working the nation’s oil and gas fields have risen at an alarming rate, the Associated Press has found. At least 598 workers died on the job between 2002 and 2007, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. During that period, the number of deaths per year rose by around 70 percent, from 72 victims in…
Exxon, the most profitable company in the history of the world (earning $40.61 billion last year), recently enjoyed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling which slashed roughly $2 billion of punitive damages awarded against it in 1994 over the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The plaintiffs – over 32,000 Alaskans – have now asked the court to award $488 million…