Cintas Corp and the widow of a former employee must enter into settlement talks in a wrongful death suit, a federal judge has ordered. The lawsuit alleges that plant managers for the uniform supplier likely endorsed dangerous practice that led to the 2007 death of Eleazar Torres-Gomez. A trial in the matter is scheduled to begin in April.

A jury has awarded nearly $6 million to a New Jersey man who was severely injured when a tree limb fell on his family’s car. According to the lawsuit, the state was negligent for failing to maintain the tree which stood along a state highway. The plaintiff was permanently injured in the accident and can no longer work, according to reports.

A California city was negligent in the death of an 11-year-old participating in a junior lifeguard program, according to a claim filed by the girl’s family. Alyssa Squirrell died after being hit by a boat operated by Huntington Beach lifeguard Lt. Greg Crow during a routine training exercise. The claim seeks damages on behalf of the family for wrongful death.

A jury awarded more than $300 million in damages Thursday to an ex-smoker who is now confined to a wheelchair because of emphysema. In the verdict, the Florida jury ordered Philip Morris to pay Cindy Naugle, 61, $56.6 million in damages for medical expenses and $244 million in punitive damages. The case is one of about 8,000 so-called Engle progeny cases and is the largest verdict against tobacco companies thus far.

Attorneys have filed a lawsuit on behalf of Massachusetts residents who suffered property damage in a 2006 chemical explosion. According to the lawsuit, Kentucky-based Ashland Inc. delivered highly volatile and unlicensed chemicals that set off the pre-dawn blast at a Danvers factory nearly three years ago. Ashland has denied liability in the incident.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office has asked the state supreme court to dismiss a lawsuit over a surgical sponge discovered in a patient more than 10 years after surgery. In a brief submitted Tuesday, the state solicitor general urged the high court to uphold a 10-year statute of limitations on filing medical malpractice cases. The plaintiff underwent a hysterectomy in 1995. A sponge from that procedure was discovered in her abdomen just over a decade later.

A judge said Wednesday that she will support sending as many as 6,000 lawsuits over the antipsychotic drug Seroquel back to their courts of origin for possible trials, according to Bloomberg News. Plaintiffs in the cases allege that Seroquel causes diabetes. AstraZeneca has maintained the returning all the cases to their home courts would create a needless burden for local judges.

A Virginia jury on Wednesday awarded $8 million in damages to woman who suffered severe injuries when she was struck by a transit bus two years ago. After deliberating for about an hour, jurors found that the GRTC Transit System was liable for the full amount sought by the plaintiff, Meikiu Lo, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Lo now suffers from chronic pain resulting from spinal and shoulder damage and multiple hip and pelvis fractures sustained in the accident.

A new study has concluded that uninsured patients who visit emergency rooms with traumatic injuries were more likely to die than their insured counterparts. According to the study, conducted by researchers at Harvard University, uninsured patients were 80 percent more likely to die from injuries sustained in car crashes, falls or in gun-related incidents than patients covered by health insurance. The study appears in the November issue of the journal Archives of Surgery.

A jury has awarded $2.4 million to a woman who developed permanent complications after undergoing bowel surgery. In the verdict, jurors found that Dr. Zahid M. Cohan ordered an improper surgery after Suzette R. Carlin visited the Olean General Hospital emergency room in 1998. Carlin was forced to undergo three subsequent surgical procedures and is now dependent on painkillers, her attorney said.