A lawsuit has been filed by the family of two Houston children

A lawsuit has been filed by the family of two Houston children who were severely burned by a dangling power wire. The lawsuit claims the children's parents notified the power company weeks before the incident about the potentially dangerous wires, but nothing was done to fix them. One of the children caught on fire and required multiple skin grafts; both were hospitalized with their injuries.

In Maryland, this type of claim unfortunately might not succeed under the current law on contributory negligence. With a contributory negligence standard, if a jury finds that the children were even partly at fault (such as the parents told them not to go near the wires, but they did anyway), the children would not be able to recover anything.

We're hoping the law in Maryland changes soon to allow comparative negligence, which would allow recovery, but reduce it for the percentage that the injured party was at fault. Click here to read more
 
Author: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/117138285563110395791/

Family files lawsuit against bus companies involved in fatal crash

A lawsuit has been filed in a bus accident in California that happened on Super Bowl Sunday. At around 6:30 p.m., the driver lost control of the bus. It struck a Saturn sedan, crossed the center line and rolled over, ejecting passengers, and collided with an oncoming pickup before coming to rest in the center of the road. The plaintiffs brought an action for their injuries against both the bus company that provided the transportation and also the travel agent that booked them. Presumably more claims will follow for wrongful death - 7 passengers died in the accident, including three generations from one family. The complaint is based on negligence, and the plaintiffs assert that the bus company, "owed its passengers "a duty of care to act as a responsible tour operator by providing safe vacation getaways".
It also states that the travel agent owed its passengers "a duty to taking reasonable precautions to ensure that its customers would be provided safe transportation by, [and] with respect to the transportation companies that it was going to contract, inquiring of the business' safety record, accident record, and record of moving motor vehicle violations, compliance with laws and regulations regarding vehicle maintenance and safety, and the existence of citations and fines by governmental agencies." Apparently, the bus operator had multiple violations, tickets and maintenance infractions.
If this action were brought in Maryland, similar negligence claims would be made. Wrongful death charges could also be brought by the deceased persons' family members, and a survival action could be brought in Maryland by the deceased person's estate to compensate for the pain, suffering, lost wages and other harm to the deceased.
For more information visit http://www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_22644647/yucaipa-bus-crash-lawsuit-be-filed