Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

A man was fleeing from Texas police at speeds topping 100 mph, when he crossed into oncoming traffic, ran through stop signs before his pickup smashed into another driver’s car in an intersection.

The 1999 wreck left a 7-year-old boy comatosed for a week, in the hospital for a month and in physical therapy for five years.

The man was later charged with using his truck as a deadly weapon, jumped bail and disappeared. He left behind a $300,000 auto insurance policy, money the family hoped would pay for their son’s medical bills.

But Nationwide Insurance, declined to pay, saying man violated his insurance contract by leading police on a wild chase all but guaranteed to end in a horrific wreck. Two courts have agreed with Nationwide.

Now the Texas Supreme Court will decide who deserves the law’s protection: a family whose car was in the wrong place at the wrong time or an insurance company with a reckless and irresponsible client.

Continue reading " Texas Family Fights Insurance Company Over Car Wreck " »

About 500 mourners attended a funeral service for the seven people who died this week in northern Mexico when their vehicle plunged into a river off an unfinished bridge that apparently lacked warning signs or barriers.

The mourners gathered at a west Dallas church, around the seven caskets containing the remains of three adults and four children who died in the accident, which occurred early Thankgiving morning as they drove from Texas to visit relatives.

The family were two miles from their destination, the village of El Mezquite, according to the uncle of one of the victims.

Continue reading " Dallas Funeral for Mexican Bridge Crash " »

Two inspectors who were fired from the inspector general's office at the Texas Education Agency are suing the agency, claiming wrongful termination after they tried to investigate fraud and waste in the TEA, according to officials.

The men want to be reinstated and are seeking unspecified damages. The lawsuit contends that the alleged retaliation against and firings of the two men violated their rights under the state's whistleblower law and also violated their free speech rights under the Texas Constitution.

According to their lawsuit, they were systematically prevented from investigating fraud, waste and misuse, including allegations of:

— Falsification of student attendance records.

— Contractors who "may have been influenced to overcharge TEA and/or school districts."

— A "suspect contract" involving the commissioner of education and an education service center.

— Violations of law regarding job openings.

Continue reading " Texas Education Agency Whistleblower Fraud Case " »

Nearly 1 ½ years after a girl's feet were severed on a ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, the amusement park has reached a confidential out-of-court settlement with the teenager's family, who had sued the park for negligence.

The amount of the settlement wasn't disclosed, but it is noted that the girl's unpaid medical bills total nearly $500,000 and that Kentucky law allows recovery for future lost income, as well as pain and suffering.

Continue reading " Six Flags Settles Lawsuit " »

A man who was left quadriplegic when weightlifting equipment at his gym crashed onto his neck was awarded $11 million in a lawsuit stemming from his injury. A U.S. District court awarded the money to the man, who has been awarded a total of $18.6 million following seven years of litigation.

The 39-year-old former Marine was doing squats on a machine at Gold's Gym in Venice when the horizontal bar of weights bearing a couple hundred pounds of weight fell on his neck. The machine did not have adjustable safety stops installed.

Continue reading " Quadriplegic Awarded $11.3M in Lawsuit " »

A widow who sued the U.S. government over her husband's death at the Marion VA Medical Center has accepted a settlement of almost $1 million.

The Kentucky man died in the hospital after gallbladder surgery last year. His widow, sued alleging medical negligence and accusing the government of failing to adequately check the background of her husband's surgeon, before hiring him.

Continue reading " Marion VA Medical Center Liable in Wrongful Death " »

The Food and Drug Administration said that it had discovered the toxic chemical melamine in infant formula made by an American manufacturer.

Agency officials said they had discovered melamine at trace levels in a sample of infant formula. It was also discovered in several samples of dietary supplements that are made by some of the same manufacturers who make formula.

Melamine contamination became a major scandal in China after it was added to milk to disguise test results that measure protein levels. Since it was discovered in infant formula in September, it has sickened more than 50,000 infants and killed 4.

Continue reading " Melamine Found in U.S. Infant Formula " »

The city of Milwaukee's appeal to force a former lead paint manufacturer to pay for the cleanup of 11,000 contaminated properties was rejected.

The Court of Appeals ruled that NL Industries Inc. does not have to pay the city costs of cleaning up the inner-city homes. The city sought $52.6 million for the program, which involved replacing old windows.

The Milwaukee County jury ruled last year the widespread presence of lead paint in Milwaukee homes was a public nuisance, but NL Industries did not "intentionally and unreasonably engage in conduct" that caused it and was not negligent.

Continue reading " Milwaukee Loses Appeal in Lead Paint Lawsuit " »

The use of intra-articular pumps, to deliver medication to the shoulder following arthroscopic shoulder surgery has been linked to the development of a painful and debilitating condition which causes the loss of cartilage in the shoulder.

The medical condition, is known as Postarthroscopic Glenohumeral Chondrolysis, PAGCL, and has no consistently successful treatment and often results in permanent shoulder pain.

STATUS OF SHOULDER PAIN PUMP LITIGATION: Lawsuits are currently pending and potential cases are still being reviewed by Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm.

Motions have been filed to consolidate all Federal shoulder pain pump lawsuits and transfer the cases to one court for pre-trial proceedings.

Continue reading " PAGCL and Shoulder Pain Pump Lawsuits " »

Medicare paid a Pennsylanvia hospital $6.15 million in the 2003 to treat some of the Erie hospital's oldest, sickest patients. Now the hospital will pay $1.9M to settle a whistle-blower lawsuit that claimed the hospital submitted Medicare claims that exceeded its actual costs.

Seven hospitals have reached settlements in connection with the lawsuit, filed in 2005 by an independent hospital consultant from New Jersey. Saint Vincent is the only hospital in this region named in the suit.

Continue reading " Hospital to pay $1.9M in Whistleblower Suit " »

Diabetic supply maker Bayer Healthcare, a unit of Bayer AG, has agreed to pay $97.5 M to settle claims that it paid kickbacks to several diabetic suppliers and caused them to submit false Medicare claims, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Bayer agreed to enter into a corporate integrity agreement -- which allows companies to continue in the federal Medicare program while requiring steps to safeguard against fraudulent behavior -- as part of the settlement, the department said.

Continue reading " Bayer Healthcare Dinged For $97.5M in Kickback Settlement " »

Roche Holding AG must pay $12.9 million to plaintiffs who blamed the Accutane acne medicine for their inflammatory bowel disease, a New Jersey jury ruled, handing the company its fourth trial loss in the case.

Roche didn't give proper warnings to doctors for three Florida residents about the risks of Accutane, which was a substantial factor in their illness, a state court jury found yesterday in Atlantic City. The judge combined three lawsuits into one trial. With three earlier losses for individuals, Roche has now lost jury verdicts involving six plaintiffs.

Continue reading " Roche Loses $12.9 M Three-Case Accutane Verdict " »

The family of a construction worker who fell to his death received a $440,000 settlement. In 2005, a Texas man aged 23, was part of a crew working on a building in Mesquite. He and another worker entered a wooden box, which was then lifted by a SkyTrak device to the second story. They were working when the box tipped over and both men fell to the ground. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Continue reading " Construction Worker Death Case Settles For $440k " »

A panel of the Texas Medical Board has temporarily suspended the license of Eli T. Anderson, M.D., license #E6214, of Houston , after determining that Dr. Anderson's continuation in the practice of medicine presents a continuing threat to the public welfare.

The action was based on evidence the board received that Dr. Anderson tested positive for a cocaine metabolite in June, 2008, while undergoing drug testing required as a condition of his placement on five years deferred adjudication probation for possession of cocaine, a third degree felony, in Clay County, Texas, in June, 2005. In 2007, Dr. Anderson was again arrested in Lubbock for possession of drug paraphernalia. In addition, at the Board's temporary suspension hearing, Dr. Anderson admitted on the judicial record that he had used cocaine since 2002, and that he had used cocaine as recently as November, 2008.

Continue reading " Texas Medical Board Suspends License of a Houston Doctor " »

A Texas woman who broke her knee when she slipped on peanut shells in a Temple restaurant recovered $96,750 after a jury found her partially responsible for her injuries. The 2006 incident occurred at Texas Roadhouse, where patrons are given buckets of peanuts and encouraged to drop the shells on the floor. The woman, then 31, said she fractured her knee in three places after she slipped on a shell that may have still contained peanuts.

Continue reading " Restaurant Patron Who Slipped on Peanut Shells Gets $97k " »

A congressionally mandated scientific panel has concluded that Gulf War syndrome is real and still afflicts nearly a quarter of the 700,000 U.S. troops who served in the 1991 conflict, according to a recently released report.

The report concluded that two chemical exposures were direct causes of the disorder: the drug pyridostigmine bromide, given to troops to protect against nerve gas, and pesticides that were widely used -- and often overused -- to protect against sand flies and other pests.

"The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that Gulf War illness is real, that it is a result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time," according to the 450-page report presented to Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake.

Continue reading " Gulf War Syndrome New Report " »

One of Philadelphia's bellwether cases in litigation over whether the maker of the drug Paxil failed to warn about an increased risk of suicide from its drug has been dismissed following a Common Pleas Court judge's decision to grant summary judgment on statute of limitations grounds.

Collins v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. d/b/a GlaxoSmithKline survived summary judgment in March when defendant GlaxoSmithKline argued that the doctrine of federal pre-emption precluded the plaintiffs from pursuing their state products liability claim.

While Judge Tereshko, coordinating judge of the Complex Litigation Center, denied summary judgment on the grounds of federal pre-emption in March, Tereshko granted summary judgment on the grounds regarding Pennsylvania's statute of limitations.

The judge's order dismissed all of plaintiffs claims of wrongful death, survival, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, strict liability under the Maryland Products Liability Act, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, loss of consortium and punitive damages.

Continue reading " Paxil Test Case Fails Statute of Limitations " »

Two units of Johnson & Johnson must pay $16.6 million to the family of a Chicago-area woman who died after using a Duragesic pain-patch, a state jury found, dealing the company its fourth defeat in as many trials since 2006.

The woman aged 38, died in February 2004 because the patch she was wearing delivered a fatal dose of the narcotic fentanyl, the device's main ingredient.

The Duragesic-brand patch is made by Alza Corp., a Mountain View, California, company owned by New Brunswick, New Jersey- based Johnson & Johnson, the world's biggest maker of medical devices. The product was distributed by another Johnson & Johnson unit, Janssen Pharmaceutica. The jury deliberated for less than two days.

Continue reading " J&J Units Must Pay $16.6 Million for Fentanyl Death " »

Thirty-four veteran San Francisco police officers alleged in their lawsuit that the SFPD was passing them over for promotion to inspector because of their ages.

The officers, who have been on a waiting list since they passed an inspector's exam in 1998, were stymied by "unchecked age bias that pervades the culture of the department," according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Instead of promoting longtime officers to a position that offers more responsibilities and higher pay, the Police Department began to assign some of its sergeants last year to inspectors' jobs at its investigations bureau. The sergeants are younger and less qualified and have never taken an inspector's exam, the suit said.

Continue reading " 34 S.F. Police Officers Sue For Age Discrimination " »

The Yamaha Rhino, was a hit in the off-road-vehicle market, promising to go "almost anywhere" with an "amazingly high level of comfort and ease." Now, federal safety regulators are investigating the vehicle following reports of some 30 deaths involving it, including those of two young girls last month.

Yamaha faces more than 200 lawsuits in state and federal courts, many alleging the Rhino's design is unsafe. Yamaha has settled some but recently beefed up its defense and says it may start to fight rather than settle.

Yamaha stands behind the design of the Rhino, a two-seat vehicle that looks a little like a cross between a golf cart and all-terrain vehicle. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said its investigation of the utility terrain vehicle, or UTV, was prompted by the number of accident reports and the lawsuits.

Many injury claims, Yamaha said, result from improper operation, modifications such as removing the protective "roll cage," or failure to use a helmet and seat belt.

Read earlier post.

Continue reading " Consumer Product Safety Commission Investigates Rhino UTV " »

A 59-year-old man lumbers through a junkyard he helps manage; he bumps into a desk and the man is almost blind in his right eye and has trouble with depth perception and peripheral vision.

This unfortunate man blames a doctor for a botched retina reattachment operation in August 2007. But lawyers tell him it is economically unfeasible to litigate his complicated case, or that time limitations are an issue.

For that, he blames medical malpractice reforms of the 2004 Nevada Legislature.

"With this new malpractice law in place, I cannot even get a lawyer to go after who is responsible for what happened," the Las Vegas resident said. "There is hardly any protection for the consumer any more. Now everything is in favor of doctors."

Voters overwhelmingly approved Question 3 in 2004. Physicians called it the "Keep Our Doctors In Nevada" initiative.

Continue reading " Nevada Medical Malpractice Crisis " »

Four pharmacists at the University of Texas Medical Branch filed suit claiming that the medical institution is discriminating against them because of their nationalities.

The pharmacists claim that their superiors used their Nigerian origins as a reason to overlook them for raises, compensation and promotion, despite each individual's education and professional work histories.

The plaintiffs complained that their discrimination was on the basis of their national origin; also stating that the plaintiffs are American citizens.
The complaint said the Pharmacy Department gave the plaintiffs 1 percent raises while their colleagues received two percent raises.

Continue reading " Nigerian Pharmacists Sue UTMB Over Discrimination " »

A Florida jury decided that Johnson & Johnson must pay more than $13 million to the family of a woman who died from an overdose of painkillers delivered by a patch made by the companies.

Janssen Pharmaceutica Products and Alza, the subsidiaries, were responsible for the woman's death. The Johnson & Johnson units have lost all three cases to go to trial so far over the patches.

The New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson lost the first two cases as juries in Texas and Florida ordered the company to pay a total of $6.2 million to the families of former users who died of painkiller overdoses.

Read about earlier report:

Continue reading " J&J Units Must Pay $13 Million Over Pain-Patch Death " »

A group of Maryland residents whose drinking water was contaminated with coal ash reached a multimillion-dollar settlement of its class action lawsuit against Constellation Energy Group.

The deal, estimated at $45 million, gives about 600 residents living near a sand and gravel mine financial compensation and environmental remediation.

For 12 years Constellation worked with a contractor to dump billions of tons of waste ash from its Brandon Shores coal-fired power plant into an unlined former gravel mine pit. County tests found that 23 wells in the area tested positive for metals such as arsenic, cadmium and thallium, all components of waste ash from smokestacks, also called "fly ash."

A suit was filed in November 2007 in Baltimore Circuit Court to make Constellation pay unspecified damages for personal injuries and loss of property values.

Continue reading " Coal Fired Power Plant and Residents Settle Law Suit " »

Boston Public Health Commission is proposing some of the nation’s strictest smoking regulations; banning the sale of cigarettes at drugstores and on college campuses, and shutting down the city’s 10 cigar and hookah bars by 2013.

The commission said, the goal is to discourage young people from buying tobacco products, to keep a harmful product out of stores that promote health, and to protect employees who are exposed to secondhand smoke.

The Board of Health will vote on the regulations on Nov. 13. If approved they will take effect within 60 days.

“Should tobacco be treated as any other consumer good? No,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of the Board of Health. “We do not sell guns everywhere, we do not sell alcohol everywhere and we do not need to be selling tobacco everywhere. They are all dangerous products, and they all require regulation.”

Continue reading " Boston Plans Tougher Regulations on Tobacco " »

The Catholic Diocese and the Marianist religious order have agreed to pay $4 million to settle the claims of 23 men who said they were sexually abused when they attended a Catholic high school in Pueblo.

The agreement involved alleged abuse at Roncalli High School between 1966 and 1971.

Lawsuits were filed on behalf of the former students who allege a former Brother lured them at the school and asked them to participate in an experiment about trust. He then placed a cloth soaked in ether, a compound used for anesthesia, over their mouths, then sexually abused them as they lay helpless.

Continue reading " Colorado Diocese Settles $4M Sex Abuse Case " »

A federal appeals court denied former employees of EMC Corp. class-action status in their complaint against the company claiming sexual discrimination.

This means that the plaintiffs will have to pursue their complaints on an individual basis. The two plaintiffs had each worked in EMC's Chicago-area sales force from 1999 to 2003. They filed their suit in 2004 after they had lost their jobs.

The plaintiffs and 15 other former salesmen and women have described company-paid visits to strip clubs, demeaning sexual remarks or retaliation against women who complained about the atmosphere. Three women have said male managers sometimes unfairly removed women from accounts they developed and replaced them with men.

Read the complaint here:Download file

Continue reading " EMC Sex Bias Case Denied Class Action " »

An appeals court upheld a $3.2 million award to a woman who said she suffered permanent nerve damage after eating sushi.
The woman was awarded the judgment from a jury more than two years ago but a judge overturned the award. In the decision the 4th District Court of Appeal reversed.

Continue reading " Court Upholds Damages in Sushi Food Poisoning Case " »

Texas A&M University has agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle a lawsuit resulting from the 1999 bonfire collapse that killed 12 people and injured 27.

The families of four students who died and three who were hurt had sued the university, school officials and construction contractors hired to help build the 59-foot-high stack of logs.

The settlement agreement, filed in state District Court in Brazos County, resolves all remaining claims against current and former A&M employees. Claims against the contractors are pending, and the university is a third-party defendant in those matters.

Continue reading " A&M Settles Bonfire Law Suit " »

According to a new lawsuit filed by four former human-resources managers recent layoffs at Dell unfairly targeted women and workers over age 40, and the company discriminates against women in pay and promotions,

The four former HR executives at Dell are seeking US$500 million in a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The four women alleged that the company and its "old boy network" discriminated against women in pay, job placement, promotions and layoffs.

Dell in May 2007 announced plans to lay off about 8,800 workers, about 10 percent of its workforce. Those layoffs unfairly targeted women and older workers, and more than 80 percent of Dell's upper management is now male, the lawsuit claims.

Continue reading " Dell Sued For Wrongful Termination " »

The Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling will help the widow of an anthrax victim claim that the government was ultimately responsible for her husband's death.

The widow's husband was a photo editor who was exposed to anthrax when it was mailed to the Boca Raton office of American Media Inc., in 2001. He was the first of five people who died and 17 others got sick in a series of similar attacks.

The Court ruled that the defendants had a duty under Florida law to protect the public against the unauthorized release of lethal materials. The law suit also alleges the government and Battelle Memorial Institute, a private laboratory in Columbus, Ohio, were the source of the anthrax.

The ruling on the defendants' duty under Florida law was requested by a federal appeals court considering a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Continue reading " Florida Supreme Court OKs Anthrax Law Suit " »

The world's largest company Exxon Corp promised the residents of a Baltimore County neighborhood that the company would "pay money damages to the people who were harmed" by a 26,000-gallon gasoline leak that contaminated the groundwater beneath their homes two years ago.

This is a trial in which 309 plaintiffs claimed that the oil giant was careless in looking after its facilities and the responsible party There are real damages in this case. Some plaintiffs have suffered emotional distress and some plaintiffs have suffered loss in property values.

Continue reading " Exxon Sued For Groundwater Contamination " »

Diana Levine has a big fight coming up. In a drawing made by her daughter, based on Greek mythology there is an illustration of Diana the Huntress, her bow string drawn taut, an arrow ready to fly.

But the arm pulling at the bowstring was amputated below the elbow — just like Levine's — and the target was labeled the "Wyeth monster."

Levine blames Wyeth for a botched injection of the Wyeth-made drug Phenergan that led doctors to amputate her right arm in 2000.

Levine was awaiting a hearing Monday before the U.S. Supreme Court, where Wyeth is appealing a $6.7 million verdict in her favor.

The outcome of Levine's case could have huge ramifications for drug makers and consumers. The court is expected to decide whether people can sue under state law — or are pre-empted from doing so — for harm caused by a drug approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

Levine said the drug makers "are using my case ... to get through this doctrine that will say that if it is FDA-approved, then we are not accountable, because FDA said it's OK. ... Mr. Pharmaceutical Company is not responsible and is not liable and doesn't have to help the person who just lost her arm, or her life."

Read the earlier post

Continue reading " Amputee Awaits Supreme Court Decision " »

A default judgment was granted to the parents of a freshman pledge who fell to his death two years ago after authorities said he was subjected to hazing. A state district judge has ordered the national and University of Texas chapters of a fraternity to pay $16.2 million.

The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity must pay each of the parents $2.5 million for mental anguish and nearly $81,000 for funeral expenses, as well as additional damages, according to the default judgment.

The order was issued after the national and local SAE chapters failed to respond to a lawsuit filed in September. State law allows the chapters to seek a new trial, which could be granted if the representatives explain why they did not respond to the suit and can defend allegations against them.

Continue reading " Default Judgment: Fraternity Must Pay $16.2 million in Hazing Death " »