Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

A woman who said she developed ulcerative colitis from taking Accutane was awarded $10.5 million by a New Jersey jury. It was the third of 425 lawsuits alleging that Accutane caused inflammatory bowel disease in some users to go to trial. All three cases have resulted in multi-million dollar judgments against Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc., the maker of Accutane.

Approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 1982, Accutane has been the subject of controversy for years. In addition to inflammatory bowel disease, the drug has been associated with myriad other serious side effects.

It was known in the late eighties for causing severe birth defects. It has also been known to cause psychiatric problems, and has been linked to 266 cases of suicide in the United States.

In addition to inflammatory bowel disease, Accutane has also been associated with problems of the liver, kidneys, central nervous system, and pancreas, as well as the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and auto-immune systems.

Continue reading " Accutane Injury Results in $10.5 Million Judgment " »

The oil company Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday that it had reached a $5.8 million settlement over claims of air pollution at its Deer Park refinery near Houston.

The proposed settlement would require Shell to reduce emissions from air pollutants from its plant by 80 percent within three years, upgrade chemical units and reduce gas flaring.

The agreement is subject to review by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department. It must also be approved by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where the complaint was filed.

Continue reading " Shell Settles Texas Air Pollution Claims " »

It has been a year since Lauren Chang collapsed during a cheerleading competition and died, leaving behind her smiling portrait as a grim testament to the dangers of her sport.

That tragedy, as well as another death and a serious injury suffered by cheerleaders in recent years, has placed Massachusetts in a pivotal point in the crusade to make cheerleading safer.

Last fall, the mother of Ashley Burns, a Medford 14-year-old who died in a 2005 cheerleading accident, filed a lawsuit in her death. In addition to seeking damages, Ruth Burns is also asking a judge to force national groups that sanction cheerleading competitions and oversee the sport to adopt more stringent safety rules.

Continue reading " Raising Alarm at Cheerleading's Dangers " »

Bayer AG has begun the process of settling medical injury lawsuits regarding its Magnevist contrast agent; Magnevist contains gadolinium.

The company is one among several, including General Electric Company and Tyco International Limited, being sued over complaints that the gadolinium-containing contrast agent was responsible for causing a potentially fatal organ hardening disease, called Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF). Since May 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required that gadolinium-containing contrast agents carry a black box warning.

Continue reading " Bayer Settles Gadolinium Contrast Agent Injury Lawsuits " »

Wyeth, the drugmaker being acquired by Pfizer Inc., must face a lawsuit by a woman who claims her breast cancer was caused by the menopause medicine Prempro, a Texas appeals court ruled.

The state appeals court in Houston said that Susan Brockert’s “failure-to-warn” claims aren’t preempted by federal drug-labeling regulations, overturning a district judge’s finding from February 2007. The case was sent back to the lower court for further proceedings.

The appeals panel cited last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding a $7 million award to a musician who lost her arm after being injected with Wyeth’s Phenergan nausea treatment. The high court said patients can sue drugmakers for failing to provide adequate safety warnings, even when a treatment and its packaging are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Continue reading " Wyeth Must Face Woman’s Prempro Lawsuit, Appeals Court Rules " »

A Illinois Cook County jury has found in favor of the family of a BMW salesman in its wrongful death suit against a man who took a test drive and crashed the car, killing the salesman.

The jury awarded Roger Czapski's family $13.7 million, concluding that Christopher Maher was liable for Czapski's death Aug. 4, 2004 in South Barrington, Illinois.

Continue reading " $13.7M Awarded in Illinois Car Crash Lawsuit " »

The investigation into the cause of brain tumors near Cameron, Mo., lead to the filing of a lawsuit which accused a tannery of being at fault.

Sludge from Prime Tanning Corp., in St. Joseph contains high levels of hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen, the lawsuit filed in Clinton County alleged.

For years, farmers in at least four counties in northwest Missouri have gotten the sludge for free to use as an agriculture fertilizer for their crops, according to the lawsuit.

Continue reading " Lawsuit Blaming Tannery for Missouri Brain Cancer " »

Women who have their healthy ovaries removed when they have a hysterectomy face a higher risk of death -- including death from coronary heart disease and lung cancer -- than women who keep their ovaries, according to new research.

The finding from a study published in the May issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology challenges conventional wisdom that removing ovaries along with the uterus offers the best chance for long-time survival.

Continue reading " Routine Removal of Ovaries is Questioned by New Research " »

Two Seattle companies involved in erecting a construction crane that collapsed in Bellevue in 2006 have settled with the parents of a man who was killed when the crane crushed him as he sat in his apartment.

Continue reading " Companies Settle Lawsuit Over Seattle Crane Collapse " »

Dozens of plant workers who claim their health was damaged by exposure to a chemical used to give a buttery flavor to microwave popcorn have filed lawsuits in Cincinnati against makers of the flavoring.

At least 43 workers filed lawsuits claiming their lungs were irreversibly damaged by inhaling fumes from the chemical diacetyl, which provides the buttery taste. Some work at a local plant of Cincinnati-based Givaudan Flavors Corp. Many others are from a plant in Marion owned by Omaha, Neb.-based ConAgra Foods.

Givaudan supplies flavorings to food manufacturers, including popcorn makers. ConAgra and other leading makers of microwave popcorn removed the flavoring chemical from their products after it was linked to cases of bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare life-threatening disease often referred to as “popcorn lung.”

Continue reading " Popcorn Lung Lawsuits on the Increase. " »

A man with a disabling brain injury and no money told debt collector lawyers that the time limit for seeking payment had expired and that a suit had been dismissed before. But a North Dakota law firm sued him anyway, trying to collect a credit card debt on behalf of the creditor.

This time Timothy McCollough got mad. He hired a lawyer, got the suit dismissed and then sued the North Dakota law firm for violating debt collection laws.

Continue reading " Man Sues Debt Collector's Lawyers And Wins Lawsuit " »

People who live near a former nuclear fuel plant will get $52.5 million to settle their 14-year-old lawsuit against Babcock & Wilcox Co.

The settlement, which was approved by a federal judge in Pittsburgh, ends the final claim brought by 365 people who live in the Apollo area, about 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

The same group last year got $27.5 million to settle claims against Atlantic Richfield Co. that plant emissions and groundwater pollution caused an unusually high cancer rate, other illnesses and property damage.

The case concerns the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. plant, which was built in 1957 and sold to ARCO in 1967. B&W bought the plant in 1971 and has been cleaning up the site since shutting it down in the 1980s.

A Manhattan jury awarded $27.5 M to a woman who lost her left leg after a New York City Transit bus ran over her while it was turning a corner two blocks from her apartment in 2005.

The woman, Gloria Aguilar, 45, who had to have her leg amputated and has worn a prosthetic leg ever since, cried when the verdict was announced.

Continue reading " Woman Run Over by Bus Is Awarded $27.5 M " »

The state of Minnesota closed a chapter on the Interstate 35W bridge collapse by reaching final settlements with all 179 eligible victims of the disaster in downtown Minneapolis two years ago.

The settlements ranged from $4,500 to each of five survivors to more than $2.2 million for a woman who required extensive therapy for brain damage. Five other settlements were worth over $1 million.

Susan Holden, the attorney who led the court-appointed panel administering the state's $36.6 million compensation fund, said the settlements covered both survivors of the collapse and family members of those killed.

Continue reading " All Minn. Bridge Victims Accept Settlements " »

Kaiser Permanente has agreed to pay $1 million to settle claims on behalf of five patients alleging that the HMO mishandled its kidney transplant program, endangering lives and causing deaths.

The arbitration claims were filed in 2006, found that Kaiser's Northern California kidney transplant program jeopardized hundreds of patients by forcing them into a new program unprepared to handle an enormous caseload.

Continue reading " Kaiser Permanente to Settle Kidney Transplant Claims For $1 M " »

King County has agreed to pay $3.5 million to a Seattle man and his wife after the man suffered a permanent brain injury when he was thrown from his bicycle.

Lawyers for Jeffrey Totten and his wife Danielle Leavell said the county was at fault because it promoted Novelty Hill Road as a bike route but failed to maintain it in a safe condition.

Totten, an endurance athlete, was thrown from his bike when it struck a depression around a survey "monument" in the roadway Sept. 4, 2006. He was 31.

He has been in a hospital, a rehabilitation center and now a group home in Mount Vernon since the accident, which left him in a coma for seven months. The settlement will allow funds for round-the-clock care for the rest of his life, his attorneys said.

Continue reading " King County to Pay $3.5 M to Injured Bicyclist " »

Latino workers in California and Texas allegedly punished for speaking Spanish in their workplaces will be granted up to $450,000, free English classes and other relief under a consent decree approved this week in a class-action lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Los Angeles.

The lawsuit alleged that Skilled Healthcare Group Inc. and affiliated firms, based in Orange County with facilities in six Western and Southern states, enforced an English-only rule against Latinos but not other ethnic groups speaking Tagalog and other languages.

Continue reading " Healthcare Firm Accused of Punishing Spanish-Speakers Settles Suit " »

A bill that was the subject of a 5½-hour hearing would sharply curtail the powers of the Texas Medical Board if it becomes law.

Backers argued that it would bring much-needed transparency and provide greater fairness to doctors whom, some say, the board is persecuting. They especially raised concerns about practitioners of alternative medicine and those who treat conditions such as autism.

Continue reading " Texas Medical Board Subjected to Hearing " »

Reglan side effects have been associated with the development of tardive dyskinesia, a syndrome that causes involuntary movements in the body extremities, particularly the lower face. In February 2009, the FDA required that a “black box” warning about the tardive dyskinesia problems be added to Reglan and other gastrointestinal drugs containing metoclopramide.

REGLAN LAWSUIT STATUS: Lawyers are reviewing potential claims for individuals who may be entitled to compensation through a Reglan lawsuit as a result of developing tardive dyskinesia.

Continue reading " Reglan Lawsuits " »

The Minneapolis City Council voted overwhelmingly to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by five black police officers against the city, the police department and Chief Tim Dolan.

The council voted 12-1 to pay the officers a total of $740,000 to settle the suit. The city admitted no guilt and will take no further action.

Lt. Don Harris will receive $187,668 from the settlement; Lt. Medaria Arradondo and Sgt. Charlie Adams each will get $187,666; Lt. Lee Edwards will receive $137,000; and Sgt. Dennis Hamilton will get $40,000.

The suit was filed in December 2007, claiming Dolan and other high-ranking police officials passed over the officers for promotions they deserved, discriminated against them because they were black, created a hostile work environment and retaliated against them.

The five officers claimed the department had long discriminated against blacks in virtually every aspect of the organization — hiring, training, promotion, disciplinary practices and overtime opportunities. They said discrimination worsened after Dolan became chief.

After a 19-year-old Orange County, Calif., man killed two neighbors in 2005, the victim's survivors sued the murderer's psychiatrist, accusing him of causing the rampage by giving his client an unstable mix of antidepressants.

But California's 4th District Court of Appeal ordered summary judgment for the doctor, saying that the patient had a pre-existing mental disorder that "necessitated" treatment.

"As early as 2001, [William] Freund had exhibited violent tendencies toward his parents," Justice Raymond Ikola wrote. "And when he later became [the doctor's] patient, he already suffered from Asperger's syndrome and the consequent frustration about his extreme social problems.

Continue reading " Calif. Appeals Court: Psychiatrist Not Liable to Patient's Victims, " »

Los Angeles County supervisors have agreed to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the children of Edith Rodriguez, the woman who died after writhing in pain for 45 minutes on the waiting-room floor of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Medical Center, according to an attorney representing the family.

Rodriguez's death nearly two years ago attracted national attention, becoming a symbol of an indifferent emergency system. A triage nurse had dismissed her complaints in the early morning of May 9, 2007. A security videotape showed a janitor mopping around Rodriguez and other staff walking past.

Continue reading " King Harbor Medical Center Settles Wrongful Death Case " »

Pregnant women who took a popular epilepsy drug, also widely used to treat migraines, pain and psychiatric disorders, had children whose I.Q. scores were significantly lower than those whose mothers took a different antiseizure medication, a new study has found.

The drug, valproate, sold generically and under the brand name Depakote, remains the second-most-popular antiseizure medication used for epilepsy, but earlier studies found that use during pregnancy also increased the risk of developmental delays and major malformations.

The risks that other epilepsy drugs may pose are not clear, experts say. While some are likely to be safer than others, there have not been enough studies to guide patients and their doctors. About half of the women who take valproate are not epileptics.

Continue reading " I.Q. Harmed by Epilepsy Drug in Utero " »

The recall last week of 2 million pounds of pistachios because of concerns about salmonella contamination has been expanded, and federal officials say more recalls of foods containing pistachios are on the horizon.

Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, the California company that is the nation's second-largest processer of pistachios, originally had recalled all of its pistachios harvested since September.

The recall was expanded this week to cover Setton's entire 2008 crop, except for raw in-shell pistachios. Most pistachios sold in stores are roasted.

Continue reading " FDA: Recall of Pistachio Nuts Ongoing " »

A soldier formerly based in Casper WV sued three Casper doctors in federal court for medical malpractice that nearly killed him.

Poche and his wife, Cynthia, also wanted Wyoming residents to know they have the right to take action in similar cases, he said. "I survived; the next guy might not."

Poche's attorney, Steven Shapiro, said he partly framed the case with a public perspective. "We told the jury, 'Is this the kind of care you want in the state of Wyoming?'"

Continue reading " Jury Awards Soldier, Government $2M " »

A Michigan hospital can be sued for releasing a man who killed his estranged wife with an ax 10 days later, a federal appeals court ruled.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstates a lawsuit filed by the estate of Marie Moses Irons against Providence Hospital.

The panel cited a federal law that requires hospitals to stabilize patients if an emergency condition exists, though it couldn't find any precedent for allowing a non-patient who alleges harm to sue.

Continue reading " Mich. Hospital That Released Man Who Killed His Wife Can be Sued " »

A federal jury awarded $2.3 M to a Los Angeles police officer who said she was sexually harassed and gave birth to a stillborn child because of the stress.

Officer Melissa Borck, 45, said she suffered discrimination and abuse while she was at the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Traffic Division in 1996, and was retaliated against for reporting the harassment to Internal Affairs. The unanimous jury verdict comes a decade after Borck first filed the lawsuit in April, 1999. A mistrial was declared after her first trial in 2007 because of juror misconduct.

Continue reading " ury Awards $2.3 M in LAPD Harassment Case " »

The 3rd Circuit has ruled that children allegedly injured by vaccines are barred from pursuing any design defect claims because Congress expressly prohibited such suits in an effort to guarantee immunity to manufacturers.

By rejecting the analysis of a recent ruling from the Georgia Supreme Court, the 3rd Circuit's ruling in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth Inc. creates a direct split between the federal courts and a state's highest court on the question of how broadly courts should read the pre-emption clause in the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act.

Continue reading " 3rd Circuit: Kids Hurt by Vaccines Cannot Pursue Design Defect Claims " »

A federal judge denied an Army contractor KBR's motion requesting dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the mother of a soldier who was electrocuted in the shower while serving in Iraq.

The lawsuit, filed by Cheryl Harris of Cranberry, accuses Houston-based contractor KBR of failing to maintain the electrical infrastructure in Baghdad. Ms. Harris' son, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, an Army Ranger and Green Beret, was electrocuted as he showered on Jan. 2, 2008, while stationed there.

KBR attorneys had argued that decisions made by the Army insulated the private military contractor from prosecution.

U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer disagreed.

Continue reading " Lawsuit Against KBR Army Contractor Upheld " »

Pfizer Inc. resolved all but three of 35,000 claims over its withdrawn diabetes drug Rezulin for a total of about $750 million.

Pfizer, which is acquiring rival Wyeth for almost $64 billion, paid about $500 million to settle Rezulin cases consolidated in federal court in New York, according to court filings. The company also paid as much as $250 million to resolve state-court suits.

Continue reading " Pfizer Settles Rezulin Product Liabilty Cases " »