Georgia
Senate moves to limit ability to sue insurers in truck wrecks
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia senators are moving to limit the ability of people to sue insurance companies directly in lawsuits over trucking accidents.
The Senate voted 46-2 on Tuesday to pass Senate Bill 426, sending it the House for more debate.
The measure says someone could only sue the deep pockets of an insurance company directly when the trucking company involved in the lawsuit has gone bankrupt or when the plaintiff can’t find the truck driver or the trucking company to serve with a copy of the lawsuit.
Supporters say the change would result in lower insurance rates for truckers, arguing current rates inhibit trucking companies’ ability to do business.
Sen. Blake Tillery, a Vidalia Republican sponsoring the measure, characterized it as a compromise between business groups and lawyers, saying it would “advance the ball and stabilize rates.” Tillery said there are elements that he might personally not favor as a lawyer who represents plaintiffs.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and some Republican senators vowed to press on with measures to limit lawsuits even after Gov. Brian Kemp said he would pause his effort until the 2025 legislative session, waiting to gather more information.
Kemp has said he wants to make it harder for people to file lawsuits and win big legal judgments. He has said Georgia’s high insurance rates are among the harms of such lawsuits.
Georgia lawmakers capped noneconomic damages including pain and suffering in a 2005 tort reform law, but the state Supreme Court overturned such caps as unconstitutional in 2010.
Besides truckers, owners of commercial properties and apartments have also been seeking limits, saying they are getting unfairly sued when third parties do wrong on their property.
Massachusetts
Judge dismisses lawsuits from families in Harvard body parts theft case
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A lawyer for families that sued Harvard Medical School for negligence over the theft of body parts of their loved ones from its morgue pledged to appeal Tuesday after a judge in Boston dismissed the lawsuits.
Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Salinger said the lawsuits from donors’ families failed to show Harvard was responsible for the conduct of its morgue manager, accused of the alleged thefts.
Kathryn Barnett, a lawyer representing families, said they aren’t done fighting in the courts. Forty-seven relatives of people who donated their bodies brought 12 separate lawsuits which were consolidated, she said.
“We are profoundly disappointed with this decision, but it is not the final word on our efforts to prevent Harvard from shirking its responsibility,” she said. “We will appeal.”
A spokesperson for Harvard said the school would not comment on the judge’s decision.
Barnett faulted Salinger’s ruling, saying he too readily accepted Harvard’s argument that they acted in good faith and shouldn’t be held responsible.
“If you’re an institution and want to accept bodies for science, you could just hire someone, give him the keys to the morgue, send him to a dark corner of the campus and never check up on him,” she said. “That can’t be the law.”
Barnett said the families support the donation of bodies for science but believe institutions that accept bodies need to do more to ensure they are being handled properly.
In his decision, Salinger pointed to what he called Harvard’s qualified immunity under the state’s version of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.
“The factual allegations in the complaints do not plausibly suggest that these Harvard Defendants failed to act in good faith in receiving and handling the donated bodies,” Salinger wrote.
Jennie DunKley of Easton, Massachusetts is one of the family members suing Harvard. Her husband, a retired New York City police sergeant, died in 2018 of cancer at age 67 and donated his body.
DunKley said Harvard’s refusal to take full responsibility has done more to desecrate the donation process than those who allegedly stole body parts.
The former morgue manager, Cedric Lodge of Goffstown, New Hampshire, is accused of stealing dissected portions of cadavers that were donated to the medical school in the scheme that stretched from 2018 to early 2023. The body parts were taken without the school’s knowledge or permission, authorities have said.
Lodge, his wife and others are facing federal criminal charges. Both Lodge and his wife have pleaded not guilty.
Harvard said Lodge was fired May 6.
According to prosecutors, the defendants were part of a nationwide network of people who bought and sold remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary.
Lodge sometimes took the body parts — which included heads, brains, skin and bones — back to his Goffstown, New Hampshire, home, and some remains were sent to buyers through the mail, according to the criminal case. Lodge also allegedly allowed buyers to come to the morgue to pick which remains they wanted to buy, authorities said.
Bodies donated to Harvard Medical School are intended for use for education, teaching or research purposes. Once they are no longer needed, the cadavers are usually cremated and the ashes are returned to the donor’s family or buried in a cemetery.
Missouri
60-year prison sentence for carjacker who killed high school football coach
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis man was sentenced Wednesday to 60 years in prison for a series of carjackings, including one in which a high school football coach was killed.
U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White handed down the sentence for 31-year-old Kurt Wallace, who pleaded guilty in September to four counts of carjacking, one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of carjacking resulting in death, and other crimes.
Federal prosecutors said Wallace shot three victims during three carjackings in 2017 that were set up through a dating app. One victim was shot in the shoulder on Sept. 16. Another was shot in the leg on Oct. 15. Both survived.
Jaz Granderson was fatally shot on Oct. 16, 2017, while his Jeep Grand Cherokee was being stolen. Granderson was an assistant football coach at De Smet Jesuit High School in suburban St. Louis. He played at Northern Iowa from 2009 to 2011.
Wallace was named in a federal indictment in November 2017. He was jailed awaiting trial when he escaped in July 2019, prosecutors said. He was captured after carjacking a vehicle and crashing during a police chase.
Six others accused in connection with the carjackings were previously convicted and are serving sentences ranging from five years to life in prison.
Senate moves to limit ability to sue insurers in truck wrecks
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia senators are moving to limit the ability of people to sue insurance companies directly in lawsuits over trucking accidents.
The Senate voted 46-2 on Tuesday to pass Senate Bill 426, sending it the House for more debate.
The measure says someone could only sue the deep pockets of an insurance company directly when the trucking company involved in the lawsuit has gone bankrupt or when the plaintiff can’t find the truck driver or the trucking company to serve with a copy of the lawsuit.
Supporters say the change would result in lower insurance rates for truckers, arguing current rates inhibit trucking companies’ ability to do business.
Sen. Blake Tillery, a Vidalia Republican sponsoring the measure, characterized it as a compromise between business groups and lawyers, saying it would “advance the ball and stabilize rates.” Tillery said there are elements that he might personally not favor as a lawyer who represents plaintiffs.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and some Republican senators vowed to press on with measures to limit lawsuits even after Gov. Brian Kemp said he would pause his effort until the 2025 legislative session, waiting to gather more information.
Kemp has said he wants to make it harder for people to file lawsuits and win big legal judgments. He has said Georgia’s high insurance rates are among the harms of such lawsuits.
Georgia lawmakers capped noneconomic damages including pain and suffering in a 2005 tort reform law, but the state Supreme Court overturned such caps as unconstitutional in 2010.
Besides truckers, owners of commercial properties and apartments have also been seeking limits, saying they are getting unfairly sued when third parties do wrong on their property.
Massachusetts
Judge dismisses lawsuits from families in Harvard body parts theft case
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A lawyer for families that sued Harvard Medical School for negligence over the theft of body parts of their loved ones from its morgue pledged to appeal Tuesday after a judge in Boston dismissed the lawsuits.
Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Salinger said the lawsuits from donors’ families failed to show Harvard was responsible for the conduct of its morgue manager, accused of the alleged thefts.
Kathryn Barnett, a lawyer representing families, said they aren’t done fighting in the courts. Forty-seven relatives of people who donated their bodies brought 12 separate lawsuits which were consolidated, she said.
“We are profoundly disappointed with this decision, but it is not the final word on our efforts to prevent Harvard from shirking its responsibility,” she said. “We will appeal.”
A spokesperson for Harvard said the school would not comment on the judge’s decision.
Barnett faulted Salinger’s ruling, saying he too readily accepted Harvard’s argument that they acted in good faith and shouldn’t be held responsible.
“If you’re an institution and want to accept bodies for science, you could just hire someone, give him the keys to the morgue, send him to a dark corner of the campus and never check up on him,” she said. “That can’t be the law.”
Barnett said the families support the donation of bodies for science but believe institutions that accept bodies need to do more to ensure they are being handled properly.
In his decision, Salinger pointed to what he called Harvard’s qualified immunity under the state’s version of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.
“The factual allegations in the complaints do not plausibly suggest that these Harvard Defendants failed to act in good faith in receiving and handling the donated bodies,” Salinger wrote.
Jennie DunKley of Easton, Massachusetts is one of the family members suing Harvard. Her husband, a retired New York City police sergeant, died in 2018 of cancer at age 67 and donated his body.
DunKley said Harvard’s refusal to take full responsibility has done more to desecrate the donation process than those who allegedly stole body parts.
The former morgue manager, Cedric Lodge of Goffstown, New Hampshire, is accused of stealing dissected portions of cadavers that were donated to the medical school in the scheme that stretched from 2018 to early 2023. The body parts were taken without the school’s knowledge or permission, authorities have said.
Lodge, his wife and others are facing federal criminal charges. Both Lodge and his wife have pleaded not guilty.
Harvard said Lodge was fired May 6.
According to prosecutors, the defendants were part of a nationwide network of people who bought and sold remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary.
Lodge sometimes took the body parts — which included heads, brains, skin and bones — back to his Goffstown, New Hampshire, home, and some remains were sent to buyers through the mail, according to the criminal case. Lodge also allegedly allowed buyers to come to the morgue to pick which remains they wanted to buy, authorities said.
Bodies donated to Harvard Medical School are intended for use for education, teaching or research purposes. Once they are no longer needed, the cadavers are usually cremated and the ashes are returned to the donor’s family or buried in a cemetery.
Missouri
60-year prison sentence for carjacker who killed high school football coach
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis man was sentenced Wednesday to 60 years in prison for a series of carjackings, including one in which a high school football coach was killed.
U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White handed down the sentence for 31-year-old Kurt Wallace, who pleaded guilty in September to four counts of carjacking, one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of carjacking resulting in death, and other crimes.
Federal prosecutors said Wallace shot three victims during three carjackings in 2017 that were set up through a dating app. One victim was shot in the shoulder on Sept. 16. Another was shot in the leg on Oct. 15. Both survived.
Jaz Granderson was fatally shot on Oct. 16, 2017, while his Jeep Grand Cherokee was being stolen. Granderson was an assistant football coach at De Smet Jesuit High School in suburban St. Louis. He played at Northern Iowa from 2009 to 2011.
Wallace was named in a federal indictment in November 2017. He was jailed awaiting trial when he escaped in July 2019, prosecutors said. He was captured after carjacking a vehicle and crashing during a police chase.
Six others accused in connection with the carjackings were previously convicted and are serving sentences ranging from five years to life in prison.
