A Georgia family has filed a lawsuit against the Tennessee Aquarium seeking $2.4 million after their son allegedly contracted a bacterial infection from petting stingrays in November. The infection is known as “fish-handler’s disease,” the lawsuit states, and the boy spent 11 days at a hospital in Nashville and endured “excruciating pain throughout his right hand.” Aquarium officials said the water was tested five different times that same month and no signs of bacteria were found in the tank.

An Ohio man has filed a lawsuit against a local Mexican restaurant over the death of his wife, whom he claims died of salmonella poisoning brought on by a meal at the restaurant. In May 2010, a salmonella outbreak occurred in Athens, Ohio, where the restaurant is located, and health officials traced the bacteria back to the business. The lawsuit is the third suit to be filed against the Ohio restaurant.

A Jacksonville (Florida) woman has filed a lawsuit against Napa Home and Garden Inc. after a Napa FireLite pot bug repellent device exploded on her patio, causing her severe burns. The lawsuit accuses the company of marketing and selling a product that “can blow up like napalm even when precautions are taken.” Her lawyer said he is aware of about half-a-dozen people nationally that have suffered similar injuries. The suit is seeking unspecified damages.

A lawsuit has been filed against Memorial Hospital Jacksonville over the death of a 74-year-old woman in December of last year from sepsis. The suit claims her infection “spawned from drug-resistant staph, commonly called MRSA, [the plaintiff] picked up at the hospital.” The suit is seeking monetary damages to cover medical, funeral and legal expenses.

A Massachusetts family has filed a lawsuit against the companies that installed and maintained an escalator at Auburn Mall over the death of the family’s four-year-old boy. In March, the boy was pulled into a gap between the escalator and a plexiglass barrier, and he fell a story down to the ground below. The suit alleges the companies involved failed to install a small barrier to close the gap in 2009, despite it being called for in the plans and permits issued by the city. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages.

An Iowa family has filed a lawsuit against Mercy Medical Center and two local doctors for failing to notice the signs of abuse in their adopted son. The boy was brought into the hospital in July 2009 by his biological parents with “a bleeding brain and at least 15 old and new rib fractures” caused by abuse. Just three weeks earlier, the boy was in the same hospital with a broken arm, and the suit alleges doctors declined to look for any additional injuries or probe into the true cause of the injury. The brain bleed left the child severely brain damaged.

The family of an eight-year-old boy who drowned in 2009 has filed a lawsuit against the state of Utah and Salt Lake City, claiming the parties were negligent in failing to prevent the boy’s death. The boy was walking across a Jordan River canal pipe when he fell into the water and drowned. The suit claims city and state had done nothing to keep people off the pipes and out of the area, even though they knew it to be potentially dangerous. The suit is seeking unspecified damages.

A California man has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of San Francisco after his mother was found dead and floating in a suitcase in the San Francisco Bay last year. The lawsuit claims San Francisco police could have prevented the woman’s death had they “not ignored [her] numerous pleas for help regarding her allegedly abusive relationship.” Police have arrested the woman’s boyfriend, who awaits trial. The suit claims the woman was a frequent visitor to the emergency room with domestic violence injuries, but public officials did nothing to investigate the crimes. The suit is seeking unspecified damages.

A New York man has filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority after his arm got caught in the door of a subway train in Brooklyn last August. The man claims he was forced to rip his arm out from the door – breaking it – before he was smashed into the platform wall. The plaintiff suffered multiple fractures in his left arm as well as bumps and bruises. The suit is seeking unspecified damages.

A lawsuit has been filed over the death of a San Francisco man who was hit by a Muni bus in April of last year. According to the lawsuit, the man was crossing the street when the bus struck him, pinning him against another bus. The driver was unwrapping a candy bar when she saw the man and accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brakes. The suit, filed by the man’s husband, is seeking unspecified damages.