A Sacramento jury returned a verdict of $16 million in a lawsuit involving a young doctor who was hit by a car and permanently disabled while using a crosswalk the city knew to be dangerous.
Eureka and Arcata residents know that the fate of the young woman who was hit in Sacramento could have easily been visited upon any number of pedestrians attempting to cross our city streets each day.
The United States Supreme Court expanded liability against employers, by holding that employers can be liable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for firing a third party as retaliation against an employee complaining of discrimination.
Humboldt County employees now have broader protection against retaliatory firings thanks to a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court. On January 24, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an 8-0 decision in the case of Thompson v. North American Stainless. This decision held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) extends to third parties in certain circumstances. In summary, an employee was terminated because another employee filed a sexual discrimination suit with the EEOC. The employee who was terminated was engaged to the employee who filed the sexual discrimination suit. The Court held that the purpose of Title VII is to provide broad protection against discrimination to employees. The Court went on to state that this protection extended to third parties who were retaliated against in an effort to injure the party complaining of discrimination. Writing for the majority, Justice Scalia stated that Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision extends to anyone within the “zone of interest” that the statute seeks to protect.
Settlement in Skilled Healthcare suit has been approved by court and praised by nursing home reform advocates.
On December 1, 2010, the Times Standard interviewed The Janssen Law Firm’s Lead Trial Lawyer Timothy Needham about the Humboldt County Superior Court’s Final Approval of the Settlement in the Skilled Healthcare Lawsuit. The $677 million dollar jury verdict was the largest award ever given by a Humboldt County Jury.
On August 27, 2010, the Honorable Judge W. Bruce Watson denied Skilled Healthcare’s Motion for Mistrial Based on Alleged Juror Misconduct. After reviewing the declarations submitted by the defendants and the counter declarations submitted by plaintiffs the Court ruled that there was no juror misconduct and that “Defendants did not meet their burden of establishing misconduct, although the three affidavits presented constitute a prime facie showing of misconduct, they are rebutted in all important aspects by the counter declarations.” Contrary to claims by defendants, the counter declarations revealed that the juror in question did not make any false statements, did not fail to disclose any information, and did not know one of the plaintiffs or have prior knowledge of an event regarding one of the defendants.
The Court’s Order preserves the largest jury verdict in the United States this year and the largest recorded jury verdict in Humboldt County.
Read the court’s entire ruling here.
On July 6th, 2010 a Humboldt County jury returned a verdict in excess of $670 million dollars against Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc., Skilled Healthcare LLC and 22 subsidiaries located throughout California for violating the state minimum staffing requirements. The plaintiff class was represented by members W. Timothy Needham, Michael Crowley, Amelia Burroughs and Patrick Griego of the Janssen Law Firm from Eureka, by Michael Thamer from Callahan, and Chris Healey of the Luce Forward firm from San Diego. This is the highest verdict ever achieved against a nursing home chain and one of the highest in the United States this decade. In its verdict the jury found that defendants understaffing was done with malice. The jury will return on July 15th to decide the amount of punitive damages the defendants should pay as a result of their misconduct. The specific Skilled Healthcare facilities sued were Alexandria Care Center, LLC, Alta Care Center, LLC, Anaheim Terrace Care Center, LLC, Bay Crest Care Center, LLC, Brier Oak on Sunset, LLC, Carehouse Healthcare Center, LLC, Devonshire Care Center, LLC, Elmcrest Care Center, LLC, Eureka Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Granada Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Hancock Park Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Montebello Care Center, LLC, Royalwood Care Center, LLC, Pacific Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Seaview Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Sharon Care Center, LLC, St. Luke Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Sycamore Park Care Center, LLC, The Earlwood, LLC, Valley Healthcare Center, LLC, Villa Maria Healthcare Center, LLC, Willow Creek Healthcare Center, LLC.
It is graduation time and thus the season for many Humboldt County high school, Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods parties. Many parents believe that if minors drink in their presence they will be safer because they will be less likely to drink without adult supervision. The Janssen Law Firm wants Humboldt County residents to know that the California Legislature is likely to pass a law which makes social hosts who provide minors with alcohol civilly liable when the alcohol injures or kills the minor or another person. This is a major change to California law. An article from Daily Journal which explains why the California Legislature is likely to pass this bill, including a story about a Redding teenager who died of alcohol poisoning during a sleep over at a friend’s house when the friend’s parents were present, can be found below.
The Fresno Bee, in an article written by Barbara Anderson published on April 19, 2010, reported on the Humboldt County nursing home staffing class action lawsuit in which the Janssen Law Firm is one of the three law firms representing the plaintiffs.
Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc., a group of for-profit nursing homes have put elderly residents at risk and skirted state law by skimping on staff to make more money, lawyers contend in a class-action lawsuit.
In a trial unfolding in Humboldt County Superior Court, lawyers for nursing home residents say staffing problems have plagued homes operated by Skilled Healthcare Group Inc., the 10th-largest nursing home chain in the country. They hope to collect a multimillion-dollar judgment and improve care.
As Humboldt County lawyers, we are seeing many requests for early releases from the Humboldt County Correctional Facility and prison based on new legislation to address overcrowding. Crime victim advocacy groups have recently joined California lawmakers in filing a lawsuit against new potential legislation that would allow the state to release around 6,500 inmates this year before their prison sentences ended. The new legislation would conflict with a voter-approved initiative that prohibits early releases to solve overcrowding problems, the lawsuit alleges. Inmates that could qualify for release may have been convicted of domestic violence, child and elder abuse, and 19 different sexual assault crimes.
Michael Gardner and Dana Littlefield, San Diego Union Tribune 03/29/2010.
Read Article: San Diego Union Tribune
A Northern California carpenter’s union has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city for allegedly violating their right to freedom of speech by citing a group of protesting carpenters and confiscating their protest banner under a city sign ordinance. According to the lawsuit, protesters had set up on a public curb in November in front of a Citation Homes Central sales office to protest unfair wages. Lawyers representing the union said that since the sign was political speech and not advertising, the citation is invalid and their rights to free speech were violated. “If we don’t stick up for our standards, it brings down everyone’s wages,” said Shaun Kinney, the veteran union carpenter named as a plaintiff in the suit. “You need to make as much as you can when you do work, to cover the times when you’re not working.” Tracey Kaplan, San Jose Mercury News 01/24/2010.
If you have questions regarding rights of Humboldt County employees regarding prevailing wages or free speech issues please contact the Janssen Law Firm to meet with a Humboldt County Employment Lawyer.
One main responsibility of a personal injury lawyer is negotiating and reducing medical liens on behalf of an injured client. If you have received medical treatment due to an injury where another person or business is at fault, a medical provider, insurance company, public source, or hospital may assert a lien for amounts they have paid or are owed for your medical treatment.