Findlaw News Personal Injury

Case Summaries

Injury & Tort Law

[10/02] Castaneda v. Henneford
In a claim of Constitutional violations committed by officers and employees of the Public Health Service on a prisoner whose repeatedly untreated penile cancer resulted in his death, denial of a motion to dismiss is affirmed where 42 U.S.C. section 233(a) of the Federal Tort Claims Act does not provide a substitute for Bivens claims and thus does not entitle federal agents to absolute immunity from claims alleging Constitutional torts.

[10/01] Levasseur v. U.S. Postal Serv.
In a case involving the so-called "postal matter exception" to the Federal Tort Claims Act, decision that postal-matter exception applies to intentional torts is affirmed where: 1) the word "negligent" only modifies the word "transmission" indicating that intentional acts of "loss" and "miscarriage" are also covered; and 2)the Supreme Court held that the postal-matter exception preserves immunity for "injuries arising, directly or consequentially, because mail either fails to arrive at all or arrives late, in damaged condition, or at the wrong address".

[09/29] Wachovia Ins. Servs., Inc. v. Toomey
Upon certified questions from the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in a case arising from the termination of two employment contracts, the court answers that: 1) a settlement agreement between two parties that explicitly contains both an assignment of causes of action against a third party insurer and an immediate release of the insured on the same causes of action is valid; 2) the claim for breach of fiduciary duty arising from the relationship between the insurance broker and the insured involving allegations of failure to provide insurance coverage was also assignable as it is analogous to a cause of action for bad faith; and 3) the claim for negligent failure to procure insurance coverage should not have been dismissed as a matter of law, was assignable, and should have been submitted to the jury.

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Workers' Comp

[09/30] Amerada Hess Corp. v. Dir., Office of Workers' Comp. Programs, US Dep't of Labor
In a dispute over disability benefits for an employee, an ALJ's award of medical expenses for employee's heart condition, finding that claimant-employee was totally and permanently disabled, and award of attorney's fees are vacated in part and denied in part where: 1) the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act did not support a presumption that any medical condition that an injured claimant suffers after a work-related injury is caused by the work-related injury; 2) remand was therefore necessary to determine whether claimant's heart condition "naturally or unavoidably" resulted from the medication he received for his on-the-job back injury, and whether claimant was in fact totally and permanently disabled; and 3) employer waived the issue of attorney's fees by failing to appeal it to the Benefits Review Board.

[09/25] Sanders v. City of Orlando
In a workers' compensation case, reversal of vacatur of a prior settlement agreement by a Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) is quashed where a 2001 statutory change did not strip JCCs of jurisdiction to set aside workers' compensation agreements.

[09/25] Sanders v. City of Orlando
In a workers' compensation case, reversal of vacatur of a prior settlement agreement by a Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) is quashed where a 2001 statutory change did not strip JCCs of jurisdiction to set aside workers' compensation agreements.

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