The family of a California longshoreman will receive $24 million from DaimlerChrysler under a settlement approved this week by a bankruptcy judge. In 2007, a jury found that the automaker was negligent in the design of a Dodge Dakota pickup that crushed Richard Mraz. Attorneys for DaimlerChysler said they had received more than 1,000 complaints about a transmission defect that made it appear that 1988-2003 Dodge Dakotas were in park when they were actually between gears.

Families of Vioxx users who died of heart attacks or strokes will receive between $5,000 and $1.5 million under a Merck-sponsored payout announced this week. The fund will cover more than 3,100 Vioxx claims that did not meet criteria for payments related to the drug’s use, according to the law firm appointed to administer the settlement. The average payment amount is expected to be about $374,000, the law firm said.

A former college student who was left permanently brain damaged in a 2007 auto accident should received $49 million in damages, a California jury has ruled. Following a five-week trial, jurors found that two truck drivers were negligent for reckless driving and that the California Department of Transportation was negligent for failing to correct safety issues on the road. The plaintiff will require constant care for the rest of his life because of injuries sustained in the crash, an attorney said.

A Florida appeals court has reinstated a $10.3 million jury verdict awarded to the family of a man who died following a 2003 medical procedure at Palms West Medical Center. In ruling for the plaintiffs, the 4th District Court of Appeal held that the trial judge had erred in retroactively applying a state cap on damages. The appeals court stopped short of ruling that damage caps were unconstitutional, a point argued by plaintiff attorneys.

Financial and family problems can play a major role in causing medical error among medical residents, a new study has found. In the study, researchers from the Mayo Clinic found that multiple stressors, not only fatigue, can significantly contribute to medical mistakes. The study is scheduled to be published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A new study published in the journal Circulation reveals an up to 36 percent reduction in heart attacks after smoking bans were enacted. Researchers studied the rate of heart attacks in US, Canadian and European cities immediately after smoking bans became effective and noted a 17 percent reduction the first year of the ban, followed by the 36 percent reduction after three years. They used the data to call for increased bans on public smoking to reduce the affects of secondhand smoke which lead to heart attacks, and noted that the bans should result in reduced health care costs as well.

Federal health officials have banned tobacco makers from selling cigarettes with fruit, candy or clove flavors, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to the Food and Drug Administration, flavored cigarettes serve a gateway to tobacco addiction for youth smokers. The agency estimates that youth smokers are three times more likely to smoke flavored cigarettes than older smokers

The recent rash of fallen athletic light poles has sparked an inquiry by the Texas attorney general’s office. At least 15 poles sold by Texas-based Whitco Co. have fallen in the last four years, with the majority of those failures reported in Texas. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is also conducting an investigation, and issued a warning about the company’s poles in August.

Motorcyclists frequently say: “Loud Pipes Save Lives” and now car makers are responding to concerns voiced in Japan and the U.S that electric-powered vehicles are dangerous to pedestrians because they are quieter than gasoline-powered automobiles. Data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggest that drivers of hybrid vehicles face an increased risk of being involved in an accident during low-speed actions when the quieter electric motor is in operation. Car makers are experimenting with different types of audible sounds they can add to their hybrid cars.

A Wisconsin utility company was negligent in the death of a man electrocuted by downed power lines in 2007, a lawsuit filed by family members alleges. According to the lawsuit, Madison Gas and Electric was negligent in the design, installation, operation and maintenance of a power line that killed 22-year-old Demetrius Dobbs. Dobbs was trying to help others who had been electrocuted by the downed line at the time of the accident.