Wrongful Death

• Business Owners Now Owe Nondelegable Duties to Keep Premises Reasonably Safe

  Geoff Trachtenberg | December 26, 2007 1:18 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  "Attention Safeway shoppers, business owners now owe nondelegable duties to their invitees to keep their premises reasonably safe."Steven H. Simon sued Safeway after he was injured during a store altercation with a security guard who "physically and sexually" assaulted him. The guard was employed by a third-party company who had contracted with Safeway. He mistakenly concluded that Mr. Simon...

• The Difference Between Wrongful Death and Survival Actions

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 22, 2007 9:44 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Arizona law provides for two causes of action when someone dies: a wrongful death claim and a survival action. The purpose of providing both actions is to give the parties damaged a complete remedy and opportunity to recover the loss sustained.The wrongful death action is intended to benefit certain survivors -- called statutory beneficiaries -- such as the decedent's parents, children, and...

• Arizona Courts Have General Personal Jurisdiction over Foreign Insurers

  Geoff Trachtenberg | August 27, 2007 2:14 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  New decision from Division One, Bohreer v. Erie Ins. Exch.. Bohreer holds that an Arizona court has general personal jurisdiction over a foreign insurer which has appointed the Director of Insurance as an agent for service of process and has not withdrawn such qualification or appointment, but has ceased doing business in the state prior to the acts underlying the complaint. The Court held...

• Families Sue Bar in Wrong-Way Crash Case

  Andrew Defusco | February 17, 2006 9:11 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  In early February, the families of three teenagers sued a bar in a Texas court, claiming that the bar should be held responsible for causing the motor vehicle accident and the teens' deaths. The accident was caused by a drunk driver who drove the wrong way and crashed into the teens' vehicle. In Arizona, bars can be held responsible for causing injuries and deaths when they overserve alcohol...

• Mother is Charged With Homicide After Son Dies in Car

  Jenny Albano | October 31, 2007 4:24 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  A mother of a 17 year-old month boy went in to work at Hooters Tuesday morning and when she returned to her car when her shift was over she realized she had forgotten her son was still in the vehicle. Unfortunately the toddler died because of the temperatures in the car.Ashly Duchene was booked with a felony count of negligent homicide. She normally dropped her son off at daycare before work,...

• Enron and Corporate America

  Staff Writer | February 08, 2006 1:01 PM | 1 CommentPhoenix, AZ

  The trial of Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling began this last week in a Houston, Texas courtroom. This corporate scandal and the beginning of the trial of its former executives has reinforced my opinion about why jurors rathern than government or corporate America should have the final say about what corporations should and should not do, and when corporations should be held...

• Paternity Statutes Do Not Apply to Wrongful Death Actions Involving Unborn Children

  Geoff Trachtenberg | June 07, 2007 5:43 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  These are complicated times. It seems that, in addition to proving wrongful death, when the decedent is an unborn child, you had better be able to prove paternity as well.In the case, Aranda v. Cardenas, both the mother and her unborn child were apparently subject to fatal medical malpractice. The Defendants, however, disputed whether the unborn child's father was indeed the child's father,...

• Circumstances of Death Are Admissible in Wrongful Death Actions To The Extent They Impact on Shock, Grief and Emotional Distress of Statutory Survivors

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 26, 2007 3:43 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Division One just put out an opinion in Girouard v.Skyline Steel involving interpretation of the wrongful death statute. The case involved admitted liability, but disputed damages where the decedent burned to death in car accident. The Court clarified that, while pre-death suffering is not compensable in a wrongful death action, the horrific circumstances of the death, the necessity of closed...

• Settlement Reached in Lawsuit Over Teen's Death

  Christina Cole | March 15, 2007 7:55 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  A wrongful death lawsuit involving a 16-year-old girl who was killed by a motorist on her way to school, has settled for $225,000 with the city paying up.The suit was filed by the Mother of a junior at Alhambra High School that was killed on November 20, 2004 while she was attempting to catch a Valley Metro bus to get to class.The lawsuit accused the city of negligence in its operation of...

• The Full Scope of Arizona's Wrongful Death Statute is Still Uncertain

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 21, 2007 11:13 AM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Arizona's wrongful death statute still has some ambiguity. For example, ARS 12-612 permits a wrongful death claim to be brought "on behalf of the surviving husband or wife, children or parents, or if none of these survive, on behalf of the decedent's estate." What does this last part mean?What damages can the estate recover in a statutory wrongful death action (as opposed to a statutory...