Wrongful Death

April 7, 2015

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Cited in Deaths of Father, His Seven Children

Rodney Todd and his seven kids died yesterday from what police say appears to be an incident of carbon monoxide poisoning. Todd, 36, purchased a generator after the power was shut off to their residence for lack of payment. The names and ages of the children: Tybria, 6, Zycheim, 7, Tyania, 9, Tybree, 10, Tykira, 12, Cameron, 13, and Tynijuiza, 15.

Police discovered the bodies of Todd and his kids after a co-worker reported not having seen him for a number of days. The generator is the suspected source of the carbon monoxide leak. A family member said that Todd bought the generator to keep the family warm.

The Delmarva Power Company was subpoenaed to confirm exactly when the power was cut. Unless an affidavit has been submitted to the Public Service Commission, Maryland law does not allow utility companies to shut off electric service because of lack for payment from November 1 through March 31. According to the company, it cut the power at the family’s home on March 25 not because of unpaid bills but because a stolen electric meter was being used at the residence.

March 31, 2015

GM Settles Family’s Second Faulty Ignition Switch Lawsuit Over Daughter’s Wrongful Death

by Altman & Altman

The parents of Brooke Melton have settled their second auto products liability case with General Motors. Brooke, 29, died on her birthday in 2010 when her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt skid on a wet road and was struck by another car.

Experts hired by the Meltons’ legal team said that the ignition of the Cobalt had slipped from “run” into “accessory” mode just before the collision, causing the engine, power steering, airbags, and power brakes to become disabled. They also identified that the ignition switch used in the Cobalt was not the same as the one found in cars of the same model that were built in the years following. The products defects case was settled for $5 million.

However, after GM disclosed that a number of its vehicles were linked to an ignition switch defect last year—the company eventually recalling some 2.6 million vehicles—the Meltons sued the automaker again, claiming that the company committed fraud by settling the first case while continuing to knowingly sell faulty ignition switches. The manufacturer’s own engineers have said that excessive weight or jarring on an ignition key may cause the switch to move from “run” to “accessory” mode, shutting off the power.

March 9, 2015

Family Sues Walgreens, Abbot Laboratories for Wrongful Death Involving Erroneous Diabetic Test Strips

by Altman & Altman

The family of Abbie Harper is suing Walgreens and Abbott Laboratories for wrongful death. The 23-year-old law school student had been using the FreeStyle-brand test strips made by Abbott to monitor her diabetes.

The products liability case contends that the strips, along with a blood glucose meter and Omnibod insulin pump, which were made by defendant Insulet, gave Abbott the wrong glucose readouts, causing her to take less insulin than she needed. Abbott died in November 2013.

Four days after her passing, Abbott recalled the test strips, noting in certain instances that the product had provided the wrong low blood glucose findings. The plaintiffs believe that aside from the product defect, there were also issues of compatibility involving certain devices. Their legal team believes that a manufacturing error caused the test strips to become defective.

February 13, 2015

Best Western Sued Over Couple’s Carbon Monoxide Deaths

by Altman & Altman

The family of Daryl and Shirley Jenkins are suing the Best Western International for wrongful death. The elderly couple, who were in their early 70’s, died from carbon monoxide poisoning while staying in a hotel room that was on top of the equipment room for the indoor heated pool at the Best Western Plus Blue Ridge Plaza.

The plaintiffs contend that deficiencies in the exhaust ventilation system and the pool heater caused carbon monoxide to enter the Jenkins’ room. The rooms did not contain carbon monoxide detectors.

In November, a state regulator suspended the license of the contractor that switched the pool heater from propane to natural gas. This move purportedly went against the instructions of the manufacturer.

February 11, 2015

Products Liability Lawsuit Sues Babies R Us, Manufacturer, for Sisters’ Furniture Defect Deaths

by Altman & Altman

The family of sisters Ryeley Beatty, 3, and Brooklyn, 2, are suing Babies R Us and Baby Cache Inc. for wrongful death. The two toddlers died from asphyxiation after a 124-pound dresser fell on them in their home.

According to the furniture defect case, the store sold the dresser, which was a floor model, at a discounted price. The plaintiffs contend that the product did not come with the proper warning labels or instructions and lacked an anchoring device that should have kept it from tipping over.

Per the wrongful death lawsuit, the dresser did not comply with American Society for Testing and Materials standards, including the requirement that they stay upright when opened and 50 pounds is applied to the front of it, such as when a small child tries to climb a dresser. This furniture item should also ideally with a label warning that the dresser is at risk of tipping over or an anchoring strap, which this one lacked.

January 27, 2015

Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuit Blaming MIT for Student’s Suicide Moves Closer to a Civil Trial

by Altman & Altman

A Middlesex Superior Court judge has denied the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s request to dismiss the Cambridge, MA wrongful death case filed by the family of Han Duy Nguyen. The doctoral student, who suffered from mental health issues, killed himself in 2009. The plaintiffs, in their Cambridge, MA wrongful death case, are suing MIT for his suicide.

According to their complaint, Nguyen’s Sloan School of Management professors knew that he had mental health issues and would get very stressed out during exams, which is why they gave him more time to finish his tests. However, the plaintiffs allege, in 2009, minutes after a professor scolded Nguyen about a potentially offensive email that he sent to another faculty member he jumped from a campus building. His family says that the conversation drove him “over the edge.”Meantime, MIT and its professors have denied that they were responsible for Nguyen’s death or that they contributed to his mental health problems.

MIT has come under fire for its student suicide rate. The university even has a robust counseling program to help students cope.

January 22, 2015

Westford, MA Ski Accident Leads to Fatality

by Altman & Altman

A 44-year-old woman has died after she fell from a ski lift at a resort last month. Olga Filkin was riding up to a drop point on a ski slope when she fell at least twenty-two feet to the ground. She was transported to the ski resort’s first aid room where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy report shows that Filkin’s death was accidental.

U.S. ski lift operators are upheld to a high standard of care when it comes to the operation, maintenance, and use of lifts. While the majority of ski lift accidents take place while a skier is loading or unloading from a lift, falls from lifts also happen. Skier error, operator error, ski lift malfunctions, and inadequate maintenance are a few of the common causes of chair lift accidents. High winds may also cause ski lift incidents.

In Massachusetts, please contact our Boston ski lift/resort accident lawyers at Altman & Altman, LLP if you or someone you love was injured in a lift accident or in another kind of accident at a ski resort. Other common causes of injuries at ski resorts and ski lodges include:

January 16, 2015

$100M Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed By Family of Teen Found in Gym Mat

by Altman & Altman

The parents of Kendrick Johnson are suing over three dozen people and the Georgia city of Valdosta for the 17-year-old’s wrongful death. Johnson died after getting stuck upside down inside a rolled gym mat. Now, his family is seeking at least $100 million.

The teenager’s body was discovered inside the rolled up wrestling mat at his high school in 2013. While a state autopsy report concluded that Johnson died from accidental, positional asphyxia, an independent one, obtained by CNN in September of that year, said that the actual cause of death was non-accidental, blunt force trauma to different parts of the boy’s body. The Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, however, said that no foul play was involved.

Johnson’s family believes that their son was murdered-as opposed to the finding that he got caught by accident in the gym mat while reaching for a shoe. Their wrongful death lawyers claim that the teenager was “induced” by a female student to go into the school’s old gym. They believe that two former schoolmates, their dad, and another former schoolmate are responsible for Johnson’s death in a violent assault.

January 6, 2015

Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against the City of Framingham, Police Officer May Proceed, Says Judge

by Altman & Altman

US District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV says that the Massachusetts wrongful death case filed against Framingham Police Officer Paul K. Duncan may proceed. Duncan shot Eurie Stamps Sr. by accident in 2011 while the older man was unarmed and face down on a kitchen floor. According to Stamp’s estate, Duncan used excessive force when he shot the retiree.

The tragic accident took place during a drug raid at Duncan’s home. Duncan and the SWAT team he was with were executing a search warrant at the time based on allegations that Stamps’ stepson and others were selling crack cocaine out of the residence.

The police officer’s weapon discharged after he tripped inside a dark hallway, killing Stamps, who had no criminal record and was not a suspect in any crime. Also, the older man reportedly had done nothing to suggest that he wasn’t going to cooperate with police officers nor did he appear to pose a threat to anyone there.

December 31, 2014

Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuits Sue Applebee’s, Whole Foods, Respectively

by Altman & Altman

The parents of 8-year-old Joshua Kaye are suing Whole Foods Market for his Massachusetts wrongful death. They claim that their son died after eating E. coli-contaminated ground beef purchased from a Whole Foods store in Weymouth.

In their civil case, Andrew and Melissa Kaye noted that federal agents had been at Whole Foods in June to investigate an E. coli cluster but that the store did not issue a recall of its ground beef items until August 15. The Kayes said that testing linked Joshua’s death to the contamination.

In a separate Massachusetts food injury case, the family of John Kocak is suing Applebee’s for the fatal choking incident that claimed the 48-year-old’s life in 2011. Kocak was eating at the restaurant in Greenfield when he collapsed in the bathroom. His father found him unconscious and asked the assistant manager to contact 911. Kocak sustained a brain injury from oxygen deprivation and died days later.