Jury returns $3.2 million verdict against Alaska Airlines in wrongful death lawsuit

Wrongful Death

A jury returned a verdict Monday against Alaska Airlines for $3,189,672 in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against it after a woman’s fall down a Portland International Airport escalator in June 2017 in Oregon.

The family of Bernice Kekona, a Spokane, Washington woman who died four months after her fall, filed a wrongful death suit against Alaska Airlines in December 2017, alleging neglect at the airport contributed to her injuries.

The airline filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit but a U.S. District Judge ruled against the motion in March 2018.

Boston Archdiocese list of priests accused of abuse does not include already settled cases

Catholic Sexual Abuse

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has paid millions of dollars in recent years to resolve accusations of sexual abuse against priests working in local parishes. Yet, the names of many of those priests are missing from the archdiocese’s public roster of clergy accused of sexually abusing children, an accounting that began a decade ago under pressure from victims.

Their exclusion has angered survivors of abuse, particularly in light of Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley’s longstanding pledge to be transparent about clergy sexual abuse after decades of secrecy.

“It just seems like they’re trying to cover up,” said David, who in November received a settlement in “the high five figures” from the archdiocese, according to his attorney, Mitchell Garabedian. It was awarded after David underwent painful

Twice as Many Workers Died of COVID at Tyson Foods Than Any Other Meatpacker

Pandemic | COVID-Related

A class-action lawsuit filed against Tyson Foods on Tuesday said that twice as many Tyson employees died after contracting COVID-19 than any other meat processing company.

Filed in the Eastern District of New York, the lawsuit alleges that Tyson Foods provided shareholders with false claims about their safety protocols to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A letter requesting an investigation into Tyson’s annual financial report was sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission in December by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. After Stringer alleged that Tyson Foods misrepresented its COVID-19 precautions, stock in Tyson Foods dropped 8.5 percent over a span of five trading days.

According to Stringer’s letter, which is referenced in the lawsuit, Tyson reported the greatest number of COVID-19 cases of “any company in the meatpacking industry.”

“Tyson reported twice as many deaths as any other meatpacking company,” the lawsuit continued.

Information from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis (SSCC) said that over 12,000 Tyson Foods workers contracted COVID-19 with 38 dying from the virus. The world’s largest meatpacker, JBS USA, reported 18 COVID-19 related fatalities out of 3,000 positive cases.