A Missouri jury has awarded $48 million to five families who lost children in a 2006 skydiving plane crash. The lawsuit said the plane’s manufacturer used improper metals to construct the engine of the plane. Shortly after takeoff, the engine blew up, causing the plane to crash. Six people were killed in the accident.

A West Virginia jury has awarded $2.69 million to the families of four people killed in a fatal drunken driving accident in 2008. The man responsible for the accident, who was sentenced to six to 26 years in prison, stole a truck from a local car dealership and drove it head on into another vehicle. The car dealership will be responsible for paying 20 percent of the damages, the jury ruled.

A Huntsville, Ala., family was awarded $37.5 million in a wrongful death lawsuit involving a member of their family, a slain Huntsville police officer. The officer was fatally shot in 2005 by a local restaurant employee while responding to a domestic violence call at the restaurant. The suit alleged the defendant was drunk at the time of the shooting.

A San Jose, Calif., couple has filed a lawsuit against the city after a rotting maple tree fell onto their truck, killing their 2-year-old son and injuring them. According to the lawsuit, the tree was stricken with root rot that was not visible from above ground and, since the tree was on public property and owned by the city, the city was responsible for maintaining it and making sure it was safe for residents. The suit is seeking damages to cover the funeral, the couple’s medical and legal bills, loss of earnings and damage to the truck.

A lawsuit has been filed over the death of a young woman who was a counselor at a Revere, Mass., group home earlier this year. The lawsuit claims the woman was killed by one of the residents at the home who has a history of violence and medical illness. The suit names the directors of the agency as plaintiffs, as well as two doctors and the suspect in the murder.

A lawsuit has been filed against the Go Bananas amusement part in Norridge, Ill., after a 3-year-old boy fell from one of the rides and died earlier this month. The boy was riding on the Python Pit roller coaster when he somehow came out of the restraints and fell below the cars, the police report states. The lawsuit says the park was negligent and that the ride did not stop quickly enough to save the boy’s life.

The former CEO of Anheuser-Busch, August Busch IV, has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed over the accidental overdose of his girlfriend at his St. Louis home in December. The autopsy showed she died of an oxycodone overdose. The lawsuit was filed by the woman’s ex-husband on behalf of her eight-year-old son. There will be no charges filed against Busch, the St. Louis County prosecutor announced.

A lawsuit has been filed over the death of a college student in Texas who was run over by a monster truck outside a local strip club in March. The girl was leaving the club when she was hit by another patron in a custom 2003 Ford F-250 truck. The lawsuit claims Eric Crutchfield, the driver of the truck, was intoxicated to more than double the legal limit and that his vehicle was not “street legal.” The lawsuit also accuses the club of serving him alcohol when he was “visibly intoxicated.”