Posts Tagged ‘ Hurricane Katrina ’

Tenet Healthcare Katrina Class Action at Tentative Settlement

March 28th, 2011. By LucyC

Six years later and counting—the mess from Hurricane Katrina drags on. This month, one of America’s largest health care corporations was due to go to court over allegations that it is responsible for deaths and injuries at a hospital in the Big Easy during the hurricane. 

However, in the middle of jury selection last week, Tenet Health/Memorial Medical Center reached a tentative settlement—the details of which will not be disclosed until it has received final court approval. 

The class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of people who were essentially marooned at the Memorial Medical Center during the storm of the century. It alleges that the hospital had insufficient electrical back-up in place to deal with the events, as well as failed plans for patient care and evacuation, which resulted in death and in injuries. The hospital sheltered about 1,800 people during the hurricane. 

Memorial hospital was owned by Tenet Healthcare Corporation, but has since been sold, along with the company’s other Louisiana hospitals, interestingly. At the time, Tenet reportedly did not have an emergency command system set up to deal with the catastrophe —but instead instigated a plan during the hurricane. While officials at Tenet lobbied to get federal rescuers to help out—and who ultimately did not—the company, realizing it was on its own, spent something like $1 million Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana, medical malpractice, Memorial Medical Center, Tenet Health
Posted in Class Action, Drugs/Medical, Personal Injury | No Comments »

Environmental Bad Guys Sued over Katrina Property Damage

October 20th, 2009. By LucyC

Climate change litigation. Ever heard of it? If not, brace yourself, it’s coming to a courtroom near you in the not too distant future. 

A decision handed down October 16th 2009 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has reversed an earlier decision by a lower federal court which will allow a class action over property damage to proceed on environmental grounds. Yes, you read that correctly. 

So here’s the short version. Fourteen people who suffered property damage during Hurricane Katrina decided to launch a class action against the companies, namely Murphy Oil USA, they feel contributed to the severity of Katrina. The thinking goes that these companies’ emissions contributed to the greenhouse effect—which in turn paved the way for Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Greenhouse, Hurricane Katrina
Posted in Emerging Issues | No Comments »