Four more people, one crew member and three passengers, were identified today nearly a week after a luxury cruise liner capsized off the coast of Italy.

The death toll has reached 11 and 21 people are still missing, including two Americans. Divers returned to the ship today after efforts were postponed on Wednesday due to rough seas, which have caused the ship the shift deeper into the ocean.

Last Friday, the ship hit the rocky ocean floor after the captain recklessly maneuvered the ship off course and too close to shore. He is currently under house arrest and facing charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning his ship before all passengers were evacuated.

An insurance company that helped to settle a wrongful death lawsuit against a former Utah State University fraternity is dropping the case against four USU students.

The complaint was filed by the parents of a USU freshmen that died after drinking vodka at an initiation for the Sigma Nu fraternity. The plaintiffs claimed in the suit that four fellow members of the fraternity were responsible to pay a portion of the settlement for the claims against them.

The student drank two-thirds of a bottle of vodka and died two hours later. The insurance company that insured the fraternity house and its members stated that the four men were responsible for part of the payment to the family. Defense attorneys for the fraternity brothers then claimed that the insurance company breached its good faith agreement when it went after its policy holder.

The insurance holder then paid the full amount the parents of the victim and the four men did not contribute. The case was later dropped against them and the issue resolved.

Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the victim in the incident.

Two health care facilities have been fined in a wrongful death lawsuit after a 51-year-old woman  died because of pressure ulcers that became infected.

The incident occurred in 2006 when the woman, who had cerebral palsy, was taken into the Hutcheson Home Health to be treated for infected pressure sores.

She was getting weekly medical treatments and another health care facility was hired to give her around the clock care. The family of the woman filed the suit after her death and claimed that the care centers only took care of one of the woman’s ulcers instead of all of them, which caused her death.

Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the victim for their loss.

A nursing home lawsuit case ended with a wrongful death lawsuit after a 51-year-old woman died from complications of untreated bed sores.

The suit was filed against County Crossing Assisted Living and Hutcheson Home Healthcare. The victim was sent to Hutcheson Home in 2006 in order to receive care, which was later resourced to County Crossing.

The lawsuit claims that the woman was not given the care that she needed from either provider. The woman suffered from cerebral palsy and had many infected bed sores on her body. Her family claims that none of the sores were treated. The family was awarded $9.5 million in the case.

A family is suing Glynn County after a man was fatally shot by a police officer in the county. The family is claiming that the officer and  police chief violated the mentally ill man’s rights.

The man was legally drunk and taking medication for bipolar disorder that should not be mixed with alcohol and was angry with police at the time. The police officer shot the man to death at his home in September 2009.

Officers saw the man had weapons and he made multiple threats that he was going to kill the police officers.  The confrontation started over an illegal yard sign. The family of the man has filed the suit that claims that the police officers used “excessive force” which lead to the man’s wrongful death.

Our condolences are with the friends and family of the man during this difficult time.

The owner of a Georgia nursing home has recently had a wrongful death suit filed against him by a family whose family member died allegedly of nursing home abuse.

The complaint was brought by a daughter whose father died after suffering a number of falls and fractures at the nursing home in 2007. The suit states that the family was not notified when the falls occurred and that her father died of malnutrition and dehydration.

It is an obligation of a nursing home to do their best to lessen the risk of nursing home residents falling because residents at a nursing home are more prone to fall. The nursing home that is involved in the suit has since been shut down after inspectors found a host of problems.