From VerdictSearch California

Medical Malpractice -Los Angeles County
Elderly patient injured getting out of hospital bed

A Los Angeles county jury on June 6 rejected the claims of a woman who broke her wrist while in an Arcadia hospital. Jayne Bellin, 89, fell while a patient in a Methodist Hospital of Southern California. She claimed that the nurse failed to leave one of the lower bedrails down, necessitating that she climb over it to get out of bed. Bellin's counsel also claimed that the nurses failed to timely notify her doctor of her injury. The hospital contended that the standard of care for at-risk patients required that all side rails to be upright and that it timely notified the plaintiff's doctor, citing the testimony of a nurse who said that she called the doctor's exchange and left him a message.
Bellin v. Methodist Hospital of Southern California

Dangerous Condition of Public Property - Santa Clara County
Stable guy gets nothing from city for kick in the face

A man who worked as a caretaker for San Jose's police horse stable recovered nothing on his claims that the city and a police sergeant should be found liable for injuries sustained when a horse kicked him in the face. Joseph Newkirk contracted with San Jose to perform caretaker tasks at the stables--including feeding horses when city personnel were unavailable. After realizing that he had just fed some nutritional supplements to the wrong horse, he attempted to reenter the stall from the rear and the startled horse kicked him. He sued the city of San Jose and Sgt. Joseph Lax, contending that he previously fed the horses through a chute, and only entered a stall because Lax told him to do so. He also claimed that he was never trained in how to enter the stall and was never warned of the horse's dangerous propensities. The defendants contended that Newkirk was an independent contractor who represented himself as skilled in dealing with horses, that he assumed the risk of handling the horse and that there was no record of any dangerous propensities. On May 2, a Santa Clara County jury returned a verdict in favor of both defendants.
Newkirk v. City of San Jose

Environmental Law -Santa Cruz County
Toxins from pesticide plant resulted in birth injuries

A woman who claimed she and her son were contaminated by chemicals that leached from the property where a pesticide plant formerly stood was awarded over $1.05 million by a Santa Cruz County jury. Eva Zuniga, 74, claimed that, while pregnant with her son David, she was exposed to lead and arsenic from the California Spray and Chemical Co. plant. They sued The Richard Hammond Company Inc., Watson, which owned the land, and Cal Spray's successor in interest, Chevron U.S.A. Inc., claiming that the exposure caused her son to be born mentally retarded and that she now suffers peripheral neuropathy. The claim against Hammond was dismissed for costs. Chevron claimed the chemicals did not cause their alleged injuries and that it already compensated Zuniga for her land. On May 19, the jury awarded Mr. Zuniga $1,009,312 and his mother $42,000.
Zuniga v. Chevron Chemical Co.

last updated 07/01/2005