Hawaii law relies upon a family member actually witnessing an accident as the primary factor in triggering separate "per person" limits for emotional distress claims by a bystander to a catastrophic accident. Without that proximity, a family member's emotional distress claim is considered a derivative claim and is apparently limited to the same insurance policy limits (BI, UM or UIM) that apply to the injured person's claim. In the recent case of Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Co. v. Dennison, (Haw Sup. Ct. No. 24975) (October 11, 2005) this bystander requirement was held to preclude a separate insurance policy limit for the ED claims of a father who came upon his son's accident scene within minutes and actually saw his son being wheeled away on a stretcher to a medivac helicopter.
SmileDirect and Align Technology are the targets of a consumer class action filed in U.S. District Court in California alleging that they entered into an anticompetitive agreement to raise prices in the direct-to-consumer dental aligner market. (For some people, these products are an alternative to braces.) Without admitting to any liability, the defendants are creating a $31.75 million settlement fund for consumers who purchased their products from October 22, 2017 to August 18, 2022. The deadline to file is October 27, 2025. Sounds good, but the fund is expected to pay only $40 to $60 per customer for the overcharges. These products cost thousands of dollars. See, Snow v. Align Technology, Inc., Case No. 21CV-03269-VC
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