News & Articles

A Georgia federal judge recently removed some claims against Atlas Roofing Corporation in a proposed class action. Breach of warranty and other claims were retained.

The proposed Atlas Roofing class action alleged that the company manufactured defective Atlas roofing shingles. U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. dismissed allegations involving strict liability and negligence finding that those bringing the lawsuit did not sufficiently assert an economic loss from their purchase of Atlas Roofing’s Chalet Shingles. This is mandated under South Carolina law when bringing a product liability tort and attempting to prove strict liability or negligence, Law360 reported.

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For the 8^th time in seven years, the Supreme Court has denied reviewing tobacco verdicts in Florida. Scotusblog.com, the blog of the Supreme Court, writes that this time around tobacco manufacturers asked the court to review 10 petitions in an effort to overturn individual damages verdicts that total more than $64 million. Companies filed all of the petitions on March 28^th and raised questions about violations of constitutional due process. The request was denied by the Court without comment or noted dissents.

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Five people were injured when an SUV crashed into a home in Pine Hills, Florida.

According to police, three people were taken to a nearby hospital while two others were treated at the scene. The crash happened around 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

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Atlas Roofing Corp. marketed its Chalet Shingles as being durable, reliable and compliant with industry standards. Many customers, however, say they experienced the exact opposite. A class action lawsuit filed by Parker Waichman LLP and its co –counsel alleges that the shingles are vulnerable to premature blistering, cracking and reduced life expectancy. In some cases, customers say that chunks of material fall off from the shingles. The suit alleges that the shingles were designed defectively, allowing moisture to be absorbed; this creates gas bubbles that result in blistering and cracking when expanded by the sun.

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Three people have died in a car accident including a state trooper and a tow truck operator, the Florida Highway Patrol said. 

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One woman was killed yesterday when a dump truck plowed into an oncoming vehicle after crashing through a median guard rail on Interstate 4 in Volusia County, Florida. State troopers say the woman was in the car that was struck by the dump truck.

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One man was killed and two others were injured in a violent crash on the MacArthur Causeway in Miami Beach Thursday morning.

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A car crashed through the wall of a church in Fort Myers, Florida, during Easter Sunday services, injuring about two dozen people, police said.                                                                      

Nearly 200 people were attending the service at the Second Haitian Baptist Church when, at about 8 p.m., a Lexus sedan plowed into the building, CNN reports. The driver of the car told police her brakes failed as she entered the church parking lot.

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A federal jury awarded a Wellington, Florida, family nearly $16 million last week, blaming a medical testing company for the cervical cancer death of a mother of two.

The jury placed 75 percent of the blame on LabCorp, the testing company, and awarded the family of Darian Wisekal $15.8 million, WPBF TV reports (wpbf.com). Wisekal died of cervical cancer in 2011 at age 37, three years after getting the first of two negative pap smears from LabCorp. Her husband, John Wisekal, claimed that LabCorp should have detected abnormal cells in a 2008 pap smear and he sued the corporation for negligence. A repeat pap smear, two years later, was also negative, but Wisekal’s doctor didn’t think the results were accurate and further testing revealed a large mass. Doctors performed surgery to remove the mass, but the cancer spread.

Beyond providing for his daughters, John Wisekal said he hoped the award might change the way medical laboratories do business, rapidly processing medical slides and test results, reports CBS 12 News (West Palm Beach, Florida). "When LabCorp came in and took over, they raised (the work quota) by a third, and said you have to read at least 85 slides a day," said the Wisekal's lead attorney, referring to trial testimony. The attorney said the lab technician "didn't even have time to take her full hour lunch break."
Wisekal’s pap smear slides from 2008 and 2010 both showed “high-grade abnormalities undisputed by LabCorp,” the attorney said, according to wpbf.com.

Attorneys for LabCorp had argued for much lower damages: $200,000 to John Wisekal for the loss of his wife, and $250,000 each to his 11- and 13-year-old daughters, according to the 

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A Florida woman was set on fire when a cell phone battery exploded at a Hialeah gym, CBS Miami reports. Jackie Marinas says she was working out at Planet Fitness when she became the victim of a “freak accident”. “I was going to get some water, I heard the boom,” Marinas told CBS Miami. “I thought it was a firecracker. It sounded kind of loud but then I felt the heat in my arm. Somebody yelled your hair is on fire.”

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