Personal Injury Newsletter

Federal Volunteer Protection Act -- Additional Liability Issues

The federal Volunteer Protection Act (VPA) grants civil immunity to a volunteer who harms a person while performing services for a nonprofit organization or governmental entity. However, the VPA does not grant immunity to the nonprofit organization or governmental entity. Therefore, the VPA does not prohibit the person who has been harmed by the volunteer from filing a lawsuit against the organization or entity. More...

False Imprisonment

Have you ever been detained for questioning at a department store because an item in your shopping bag set off an alarm at the exit? If so, you may have considered suing the store for false imprisonment. In most cases, however, you would lose.More...

Defense of Property

Generally, a person has a legal right to use reasonable force to prevent the commission of a tort (such as trespass or conversion) against his or her property. Therefore, if a person uses force to prevent the commission of a tort against his or her property and he or she is sued for assault, battery, or another intentional tort, he or she may claim defense of property as a defense to the action. A person is required to make a request to desist before using force to defend his or her property unless such a request would be futile or dangerous. More...

Liability for a Person's Suicide

Traditionally, courts refused to hold a person or entity liable for a person's suicide. Suicide was considered an illegal, deliberate and intentional act that broke the chain of causation between any negligent or intentional conduct and the suicide.More...

The Medical Care Recovery Act

The federal government operates one of the largest health care systems in the world when it provides medical treatment and benefits to its members of the armed forces. For this reason, the Medical Care Recovery Act (MCRA) was enacted in order to allow the government to recover its expenses from a third party when the third party is responsible for injuries that have been sustained by an active duty service member, a retired service member, or a dependent of an active duty or a retired service member.More...