Wrongful Death Suits

The mother of a U.S. Postal Service worker shot dead by city police last month has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and police alleging that additional 911 calls suggest officers responded to the wrong address for a domestic disturbance. The $50-million lawsuit is the second filed by Kevin Wicks' relatives. On Friday, the mother of his daughter announced she had filed a $25-million wrongful death claim -- precursor to a lawsuit -- in state court July 29 against the city of Inglewood and Inglewood police in connection with the July 21 shooting.

Lawyers for relatives of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. are preparing for mediation talks in their wrongful death lawsuit against the city and several police officers. The rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was killed in a drive-by shooting in the Mid-Wilshire district in 1997. No arrests were made in the case, and family members filed suit in 2002 alleging that former Los Angeles Police Department officers and others in the rap industry had plotted to kill him.

The county Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to pay a $250,000 settlement to the parents of a 14-year-old boy who died after the staff at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center failed to treat his appendicitis. According to settlement documents, Andrew Garcia came to the hospital on Nov. 16, 2005, suffering from vomiting, abdominal pain and a fever. He was diagnosed with gastritis and sent home, according to the documents.

The children of Edith Isabel Rodriguez, the woman who died earlier this year after writhing in pain on the waiting room floor of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, filed a $45-million lawsuit against Los Angeles County on Monday, alleging negligence, medical malpractice and wrongful death. The lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, accuses the county, the hospital, county police and the hospital's nurses of "catastrophic failure" in caring for Rodriguez.

The father of a Mission Viejo man who was beaten to death at Theo Lacy Jail has filed a lawsuit saying Orange County sheriff's deputies misidentified his son as a child molester to other inmates, telling them "he needed to be taken care of" and promising them special privileges if they followed through. The wrongful-death lawsuit, filed last week in U.S.

When the parking brake malfunctioned repeatedly, Demetrio T. Nagtalon drove the truck back to the U-Haul rental center in San Francisco to exchange it for another. After pulling into the check-in area, Nagtalon watched as a U-Haul employee slid under the dashboard with a pliers to tug on the brake cable. The worker left the engine running and the truck on an incline, neglecting to block the wheels. Suddenly, the truck began rolling downhill. Nagtalon rushed toward it, trying to help.

The family of a 23-year-old AIDS patient who died in custody at an immigration detention center in San Pedro will file a wrongful death claim against the U.S. government on grounds that Victor Arrelano was improperly denied vital medical treatment. The allegation of mistreatment comes three weeks to the day after Arrelano, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, died at a San Pedro hospital. "What happened here is simply an outrage," Roman Silberfeld, the family's attorney, said Friday.

O.J. Simpson must pay the family of murder victim Ronald Lyle Goldman any money he earns from a video game featuring his likeness to satisfy a $38-million wrongful death judgment, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday. The game, "All-Pro Football 2K8," features Simpson's likeness playing as one of 240 former football greats. The judge ordered any funds be turned over to Goldman's father, Fred.

The parents of a knife-carrying woman killed in a confrontation with Huntington Beach police filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Thursday accusing the two officers who shot her of excessive and unreasonable force. The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana also alleges that investigators illegally searched Ashley MacDonald's home after she was killed. The suit seeks at least $40 million in compensatory and punitive damages for each of the teen's parents, Kenneth MacDonald and Lisa Marie Guy.

The mothers of two home burglary suspects slain by Torrance police while hiding in a backyard shed filed a claim for damages Monday, putting the city on notice that it faces a wrongful-death civil lawsuit. Brian T. Dunn, a lawyer for the parents of the two men, said the legal action was taken because "we haven't heard anything, and we haven't seen anything, to suggest to us that these young men posed a threat to any person that justified the taking of their lives."