Description: The case involved a 21-year-old woman who was a passenger on a Singapore Airlines flight that crashed on take off. She was pushed out of the back of the airplane seconds before it was completely consumed in flames.
Description: The case involved an 18-year-old young man who was a passenger in a friend's car when it struck one of two horses that suddenly appeared on a dark country road. The weight of the horse collapsed the passenger side of the car, causing a significant head injury which resulted in blindness. Subsequent investigation indicated that the horse had escaped from a pasture, which was delineated by two strands of Baygard HV Electric Fence Tape. The tape was not fit to be used as a permanent fence to restrain horses.
Description: The case involved a 24-year-old who was killed as a passenger in a single car crash. The driver of the vehicle was found to be legally intoxicated.
Description: The case involved a 27-year-old single male who on Thanksgiving Day was operating his truck with his best friend as a passenger. When passing through an intersection in South Minneapolis, they were struck by a City of Minneapolis squad car, which had come through a stop sign and lacked any emergency lights. Both the 27 -year-old male and his best friend were killed. This represents the largest jury award in Minnesota for death of a single young adult.
Description: The case involved a 54-year-old man who was involved in a two-vehicle collision on an icy Minnesota highway. The defendant's vehicle had spun out of control and was blocking the road when the plaintiff t-boned his vehicle.
Description: The case involved a 23-year-old single woman who was struck by a pick-up truck towing a loaded trailer, which drove through a red light at a highway intersection in Zimmerman, Minnesota.
Description: The case involved a 42-year-old homeowner who had hired the defendant to do some landscaping work in conjunction with construction of his new home. At some point during the work the defendant invited the plaintiff to operate the bobcat (Skid Loader). While carrying a load of earth in the bucket, the bobcat suddenly tipped forward. The plaintiff was thrown from the seat. His leg was trapped between the bucket and the frame of the bobcat. He attempted to extricate himself by operating the bucket control lever. He pushed the lever in the wrong direction causing a severe crush injury to his right leg.
Description: A construction project contractor piled a shipment of roof trusses in a vacant lot. The trusses were piled one on top of the other in rows. An 11 year old girl and her little brother were playing among the trusses when a pile of trusses fell on her crushing her to death. Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben sued the general contractor, the subcontractor, and a government agency which was involved in the building project. Liability and damages were disputed. Jim Schwebel and Jim Ballentine achieved a settlement of $900,000 for the girl's parents and siblings.
Description: The case involved an 11-year-old girl who was traveling in a van that was stopped, waiting to turn left on Highway 12 when it was struck from the rear by a car traveling at highway speed. The impact catapulted the van over the center line where an eastbound vehicle then struck it almost instantaneously. All three occupants of the van were ejected. The 11-year-old girl was run over by one of the vehicles and died instantly.
Description: The case involved a 9-month-old baby who was being attended to at an in-home day care center in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The day care operator had several young children in her home. The day care operator was cooking in the kitchen and decided to use a pressure cooker in order to make pea soup from split peas. When the defendant day care operator removed the lid from the pressure cooker, boiling hot pea soup escaped. The 9-month only suffered burns on her chin, neck, shoulder and arms, which were both 2nd and 3rd degree. Subsequent investigation indicated that the pressure cooker manufacturer sold the device with written instructions warning never to cook split peas.
Description: The case involved a middle age woman who was driving eastbound on Highway 12 near Orono, Minnesota. The defendant lost control of their semi-tractor trailer and proceeded into the eastbound lanes. The front end of the plaintiff's car collided with the right side wheels on the defendant's tractor, as it was sideways in her lane. Negligence against the defendant trucking company was based on excessive speed, failure to keep the tractor trailer under control and the tractor brakes that were seriously out of adjustment.
Memory impairment and mental confusion. She and her husband had to move into an assisted living facility
Description: The case involved a very healthy and self-sufficient 79-year-old woman on her way to a beauty salon appointment at 50th & France in Edina. She parked her car in a public parking lot owned by the City of Minneapolis. She stepped out of her car and slipped on the icy pavement. She had an egg shaped bump on the back of her head. She was diagnosed with an intracranial hemorrhage.
She had disability in her right ankle and foot consisting of both pain and stiffness
Description: The case involved a 37-year-old woman who was a passenger in a taxicab in San Diego, California which was involved in a two vehicle collision.
Description: The case involved a 36-year-old woman who was killed in a head-on collision, which occurred during blinding "white-out" conditions in southwestern Minnesota. She collided with the defendant tractor/trailer in a spot where the drifting snow had reduced the travel portion of the roadway to a single lane. The defendant truck driver was violating Federal Motor Carrier Regulation 392.14 and should not have been on the roadway during a "No Travel Advisory."
Description: The case involved a 79-year-old man who was a pedestrian walking across a street within the city limits of Honolulu. Without warning, he was struck by a car operated by an 18-year-old young man.
Description: The case involved a 45-year-old self-employed in the business of sales and installation of floor covering. He stopped in his vehicle at a stop sign in Golden Valley, Minnesota. Ahead of him was defendant's truck. Without warning the defendant's truck suddenly went into reverse and backed into him. His right knee slammed into the dashboard. Eventually he required two knee surgeries.
Description: The case involved a 19-year-old man who was in the National Guard. He was killed while a passenger in a car involved in a two-vehicle collision at a rural intersection in Lakeville Minnesota.
Description: The case involved a 49-year-old man who was driving his motorcycle in a two-lane road just south of Duluth, MN. He was driving down a long hill, approaching the defendant's vehicle. Suddenly the defendant made a left turn in front of the decedent. The defendant was operating a Ford truck, which he owned, towing a "low-boy" type trailer with a caterpillar D3 bulldozer on it. The motorcycle struck the blade of the bulldozer and was killed.
Description: The case involved a female college freshman that was traveling as a passenger in her friend's car en route to school. The driver lost control of her car on icy road conditions and slid over the centerline on a gradual curve on the highway. An oncoming truck broad-sided her car.
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