A Mississippi judge has awarded $375,000 to a former Richland, Miss., police officer who suffered injuries when his personal vehicle was hit by a car involved in a police chase in 2004. Basil Thornton suffered a fractured vertebra, a broken foot, ankle trauma and other injuries in the accident. The judge ruled that the chase, which continued long after traffic controllers advised officers to stand down, and the accident resulted from the “reckless conduct of the Jackson Police Department officers.”

A group of defendants must pay more than $30 million to the family of 50-year-old advertising executive who died of mesothelioma-related illness, a New Jersey appeals court has ruled in upholding the trial judgment. At trial, attorneys argued that Mark Buttitta was exposed to asbestos while working at a GM warehouse during college and as a child from fibers carried home on his father�s clothing. The award is believed to be the largest asbestos-exposure mesothelioma verdict in state history

The cap on noneconomic damages in Georgia was unanimously struck down by the Georgia Supreme Court, who stated in their opinion that caps are �??violative of the right to trial by jury.�?� The issue was brought before the court in a case involving a woman whose face was permanently disfigured after a face-lift operation. The jury awarded $1.15 million in noneconomic damages; however, the 2005 tort reform law limited the award to $350,000. As a result of the decision, the initial award will stand.

A Sacramento jury awarded an Oregon girl $24.3 million who was run over by an 18-wheeler six years ago driven by her father. The judge in the case ruled that the fact that her father was driving the truck was irrelevant, because he had been hired by the trucking company, Freeway Transport Inc., who the jury found liable. Diana Yuleidy Loza-Jimenez got accidentally caught under the back wheels of the truck, suffering severe injuries to her entire lower body. She will need an untold amount of surgeries that will affect her the rest of her life, an attorney said.

A Colorado judge awarded $18.5 million to a man who suffered severe injuries after being hit by a drunk driver while he was working in his driveway. According to the lawsuit, Paul Savage was changing his wife’s car’s oil when Kevin Ruszkowski drove his car off the road and onto Savage’s property, striking him. Savage suffered injuries to his spine and is now a functioning paraplegic, the Denver Post reports. Ruszkowski was driving with a suspended license.

A federal appeals court in Ohio this week gave the green light to a man’s lawsuit against a Cincinnati community pool. In the lawsuit, Robert Kennedy alleges he was thrown out of the pool without refund because pool staffers claimed he was “creeping out” other patrons. The judge ruled that because he had not broken any rules, Kennedy had a “constitutionally-protected liberty interest to use municipal property” and that refusing him that right was unconstitutional.

It is up to a federal judge to decide the fate of a patent lawsuit against Myriad Genetics Inc., which has patented genes that are linked to an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancers. According to the lawsuit, Myriad Genetic refuses to allow anyone else to broadly research the genes, which forces anyone who fears they may be at risk of breast or ovarian cancer to deal with Myriad alone. The test to identify if the genes have specific mutations that could increase the risk for cancer costs as much as $3,000. The lawsuit also contends that the development of treatments are being restricted

Plaintiffs involved in pending mass tort litigation over hormone replacement therapy may admit evidence from key expert witnesses, a judge presiding over the litigation has ruled. In the ruling, Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Sandra Mazer rejected arguments by the defense that the experts� methodologies were flawed. Plaintiffs allege that they developed breast cancer after taking hormone replacement drugs.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a tennis instructor has the right to pursue damages against a Coronado, Calif. police officer for tasering him without notice in 2005. Court documents show that Officer Brian McPherson shocked Carl Bryan during a traffic stop after he became upset. The court held that �the use of Tasers and similar devices must be justified by a strong government interest that �compels� the employment of such force.� The court ruled that while the desire to end a tense and emotional situation was understandable, Bryan did not level a verbal or physical threat against

Newly gathered e-mails could provide a different view on who could have prevented the deaths of six civilian truck drivers during a 2004 attack of a KBR convoy in Iraq. A Houston judge initially ruled that the U.S. Army had control over the deployment of the convoy, but new-found e-mails may point the other way. According to the Houston Chronicle, e-mails have been uncovered that suggest many KBR supervisors did not believe they were constrained by military orders � a constraint that is central to KBR’s defense in the federal case. U.S. District Judge Gray Miller is expected to rule soon on whether the case will proceed to trial in 2010 or be dismissed again.