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The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled against a homeowner who was allowing an acquaintance with two dogs to move in.
One of the dogs bit a passerby and the court said the homeowner can be held legally responsible for the injuries, even though she was not the dog's owner. The decision upholds a ruling by the District 2 Court of Appeals.
Continue reading " WI Supreme Court Rules Against Dog Sitter " »
Federal judge Herndon, who is presiding over the consolidated MDL litigation over Yaz and Yasmin birth control product liability cases, indicated that both sides in the case are working to move the litigation at a fast pace, which is keeping with the Court’s desire for the cases to “move along efficiently and effectively.”
In September, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that all federal court Yaz litigation and Yasmin litigation, involving claims that the popular birth control pills increase the risk of blood clots and other injuries, be consolidated and coordinated for pretrial litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation.
Read all of the orders and progress of the MDL cases here.
Continue reading " Dallas Texas Yasmin Yaz MDL Litigation Gaining Momentum " »
A Times investigation shows the world's largest automaker has delayed recalls and attempted to blame human error in cases where owners claimed vehicle defects.
During a routine test on its Sienna minivan in April 2003, Toyota Motor Corp. engineers discovered that a plastic panel could come loose and cause the gas pedal to stick, potentially making the vehicle accelerate out of control.
The automaker redesigned the part and by that June every 2004 model year Sienna off the assembly line came with the new panel. Toyota did not notify tens of thousands of people who had already bought vans with the old panel.
Continue reading " Toyota did not Disclose Potential Safety Problems " »
The family of a Troy MI man has sued Rite Aid, alleging an error at a Troy pharmacy led to his premature and wrongful death, according to their attorney.
The suit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, alleges that Rite Aid pharmacists were negligent when they issued a lethal dose of a chemotherapy drug to John Sheridan, who developed malignant melanoma that had spread to his brain in 2007.
Continue reading " Rite Aid Sued for Medical Malpractice Prescription Drug Error " »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it's "unlikely" Merck & Co.'s cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zetia increase the risk of cancer or cancer-related death.
Still, the FDA said it can't "definitively" rule out that the drugs may be associated with increased cancer risk.
"Based on the currently available information, FDA believes it is unlikely that Vytorin or Zetia increase the risk of cancer or cancer-related death, but at this time an association cannot be definitively ruled out," the agency said in a posting on its Web site.
Continue reading " FDA Says 'Unlikely' That Vytorin, Zetia Increase Cancer Risk " »
Jurors said in 2007 that a Pfizer Inc. unit should pay more than $8 million in punitive damages to a woman who blamed the company’s menopause drugs for her breast cancer.
A Philadelphia jury in January 2007 awarded Mary Daniel compensatory damages of $1.5 million in her lawsuit against Pfizer’s Wyeth subsidiary over its Prempro menopause treatment. The panel recommended she get more than $8 million in punitive damages if an appeals court found she was entitled to such an award because of bad conduct by the company.
Read the full Bloomberg report here.
Continue reading " Pfizer Jury Said to Set Prempro Punitive Damages at $8 M " »
A former associate plans to file a $50 million lawsuit against Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, accusing the firm of denying her a promotion to partner because she is a lesbian and of doing nothing to stop higher-ups from harassing her, according to the complaint.
The former associate, Julie Kamps, plans to file the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan. Kamps, who previously filed a less detailed complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claims that a female partner at Fried Frank sexually harassed her. She also alleges that the firm instructs lawyers to write exaggerated negative performance reviews about associates the firm wants out.
Continue reading " Employee Alleges Harassment, Phony Reviews, in $50 Million Suit Against Firm " »
By the time Bryan Lee headed to work along Highway 51 in Texas on Sept. 15, 2005, the road-building industry and its government overseers were painfully aware of a deadly, though easily corrected, construction hazard: pavement-edge drop-offs.
Accidents involving dangerous drop-offs kill about 160 people and injure 11,000 each year. Numerous studies have shown that the steeper the drop-off, the greater the danger.
In Texas in 2002, seven people were killed when a car slipped off a sharp edge of roadway and onto the shoulder, causing the driver to overcorrect into the path of a minivan. Four years before, six people died in a succession of accidents in another Texas work zone, where contractors had failed to smooth out the edge of a newly paved lane.
Read full New York Times story here.
Continue reading " Texas Fails in Efforts to Improve Car Accidents at Work Zones " »
University Hospital doctors have settled a medical malpractice lawsuit filed by a Lake of the Ozarks couple for $2.5 million.
Susan Martin, now 49, was treated at University Hospital in early 2005 for dehydration, which was the result of a gastrointestinal-related condition, her attorney, Morry Cole, said.
The lawsuit claims doctors infused her with nutritional supplements through an IV in her subclavian artery, just below the collarbone, instead of the subclavian vein, where it was supposed to go. According to the lawsuit, that erroneous placement caused fatty blockages to travel to her brain for five consecutive days, “causing severe and debilitating strokes and neurological and cognitive devastation.”
Continue reading " Columbia MO University Hospital Settles Medical Malpractice Lawsuit " »
A Suffolk County jury found that two doctors at Children’s Hospital Boston - one of them the hospital’s former physician in chief - had caused the death of a 3-year-old Pennsylvania boy and voted to award his parents $15 million in damages.
The actual damage award will be less because of an agreement reached by the parties before the verdict.
Continue reading " Jury Finds That Doctors’ Errors Led to Boy’s Wrongful Death " »
A piece of gauze left behind in a patient after surgery required a follow-up procedure to remove it -- and led to a lawsuit against Staten Island University Hospital and two doctors.
Adding insult to injury, Rossville resident Margaret Palombo contends she only learned through medical records obtained earlier this year -- more than eight years after the initial operation was performed -- that the material had been left in her abdomen.
Continue reading " Medical Malpractice Law Suit says Surgeons Left Gauze Behind " »
BP must pay more than $100 million in damages for exposing contract workers to toxic substances at its Texas City oil refinery in April 2007, a federal jury in Galveston said in the latest setback for the troubled plant.
The mammoth verdict arose out of a case brought by a BP contractor who claimed the British oil giant's failure to maintain equipment and provide adequate safety controls led to a poisonous chemical release that sent more than 100 workers to area hospitals on the evening of April 19, 2007.
The company said it was “shocked and outraged” by the jury's decision and vowed to appeal.
Continue reading " Jury orders BP to pay $100 M for Exposing Workers to Toxic Substances " »
The family of a New York jazz musician who drowned trying to save a rabbi's wife in treacherous riptides off Miami Beach has won $5 million in damages in a decade-old case that had raised serious liability issues for seaside communities that don't provide lifeguards at public beaches.
U.S. District Judge Gold ordered Delaware-based Monticello Insurance Co. to pay damages to the wife of Zachary Breaux. The insurance carrier had refused to pay, even though the family's lawyer and the city of Miami Beach had negotiated a settlement.
Gold also ordered the insurance company to pay $750,000 in damages to the husband of a New York school secretary, Eugenie Poleyeff, whom Breaux tried to save during a midwinter vacation in 1997. The city also negotiated that settlement, but the insurer had refused to pay.
Continue reading " Miami Beach Wrongful Death Drowning Victim Gets $5M " »
Atherton has agreed to payt $230,000 to settle a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit a former police officer filed against the town and one of its employees.
In the April documents filed in San Mateo County Superior Court, former Atherton police Officer Pilar Ortiz-Buckley accused Public Works Supervisor Troy Henderson of making salacious remarks and grabbing her in the police break room.
City Attorney Wynne Furth said that the town decided to settle early in the process to avoid costly legal fees. The three involved parties signed a settlement agreement in mid-November.
Ortiz-Buckley, 48, suffered back injuries during the alleged June 2008 attack, which prevented her from wearing her police duty belt and made it impossible for her to do her job, according to the lawsuit.
Continue reading " Atherton Settles Sexual Harassment, Discrimination Lawsuit " »
American women in the 1990s were told they could help their bodies ward off major illness by taking menopausal hormone drugs. Some medical associations said so. Many gynecologists and physicians said so. Respected medical journals said so, too.
Along the way, television commercials positioned hormone drugs as treatments for more than hot flashes and night sweats — just two of the better-known symptoms of menopause, which is technically defined as commencing one year after a woman’s last menstrual cycle.
One commercial about estrogen loss by the drug maker Wyeth discussed research into connections between menopause and heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and blindness.
Continue reading " Prempro Litigation and Menopause " »
A Santa Rosa winery has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a Sebastopol man who was permanently disabled in an alcohol-related car crash in 2006.
Paradise Ridge Winery was sued by Joshua Apodaca, the passenger in a car driven by a 19-year-old classmate, Sean Bradley, who allegedly was served beer at a wedding reception hosted by the winery.
A crash early the next morning left Apodaca with a serious brain injury and his family sought damages from Paradise Ridge, Bradley and the owners of a Sebastopol 7-Eleven store where Bradley bought additional alcohol.
Continue reading " Santa Rosa Winery to pay $3 M to Teen Injured in DUI " »
GlaxoSmithKline Plc has paid almost $1 billion to resolve lawsuits over Paxil since it introduced the antidepressant in 1993, including about $390 million for suicides or attempted suicides said to be linked to the drug, according to court records and people familiar with the cases.
As part of the total, Glaxo, so far has paid $200 million to settle Paxil addiction and birth-defect cases and $400 million to end antitrust, fraud and design claims, according to the people and court records.
Continue reading " Glaxo Said to Have Paid $1 Billion in Paxil Suits " »
A Sioux Falls woman is accusing Johnson and Johnson and two mining companies of failing for decades to warn consumers about a link between ovarian cancer and talcum powder.
Deane Berg, 52, applied talc-based body powder to her perineum each day after showering from 1975 to 2007, she says in a federal lawsuit filed last week. She contracted ovarian cancer in 2006.
Berg maintains that talc caused her cancer and that the companies selling the mineral knew there was a risk but failed to warn the public.
Continue reading " Lawsuit Filed Against Talc Producers For Cancer Link, " »
Saints coach Sean Payton is the lead plaintiff in a 591-page class action lawsuit against Knauf Plasterboard Tainjin Co. Ltd., a Chinese company that manufactured drywall that is believed to be corroding homes and making people sick.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on behalf of people with this particular brand of drywall, attempts to give some scope to the problem of defective drywall as both plaintiffs and defendants figure out how many people are affected and much it will cost to repair damage.
The city has agreed to pay $300,000 to a man who was critically injured in July 2008 after being shocked with a Taser by Columbia police.
As part of a settlement agreement finalized last month, the city will pay $233,544.63 to Phillip Lee McDuffy and $66,455.37 to the Family Support Payment Center to cover McDuffy’s overdue child support payments, according to Sarah Perry, the city's risk manager.
Continue reading " Columbia City Reaches Settlement With Man Injured by Taser " »
Premises liability cases cover a wide range of situations in which people are injured or suffer a wrongful death on a commercial or residential property. Slip and fall injuries such as back, hip or spine injuries when a customer slips on a wet floor that lacks signage to warn customers of slippery conditions at a store, club, salon, restaurant, etc.
Trip and fall injuries such as bone fractures when a hotel guest trips on cleaning supplies left in a hallway or a rug that is frayed or bunched up in front of a door.
Dog bites from a dog that is not adequately restrained on its owner’s property.
Head and body injuries by falling merchandise at a warehouse or store.
Suffering a bodily injury from a malfunctioning elevator or a door with a broken closing device.
Being sexually assaulted because a hotel did not provide adequate security.
Dram Shop liability because a restaurant or Bar served its customer drinks until he was intoxicated and then the customer drove and injured a person.
Continue reading " Dallas Fort Worth Texas Slip and Fall Premises Liability Attorney " »
Janie Vinson was apparently so ill with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that the 79-year-old woman's family told the medical staff at Albany, Ga.'s Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital not to try to cure her, but to simply keep her comfortable until she died.
A Dougherty County jury awarded her daughter $3 million for medical malpractice claims resulting from Vinson's death in March 2002 after she was given what a plaintiff's expert said was too much morphine too quickly.
Vinson had been in the hospital for more than a week when she suffered respiratory arrest on March 18, 2002. Vinson had stopped breathing by the time a nurse arrived to her room. The nurse called a "code" and the emergency pulmonary team, led by Dr. Thomas Ungarino, responded, but by the time they arrived, Vinson was breathing again.
Continue reading " Daughter Awarded $3 M After Death of Mom Who Had Do-Not-Resuscitate Order " »
A Miami-Dade jury, sworn to exercise its civic duty, awarded security guard Jackalyn Strachan $150,000 in damages -- for exercising her same civic duty.
The six-person jury found that Miami security firm Hall Investigation Service wrongfully denied wages and fired Strachan for serving as a juror in a murder trial in April 2007.
Continue reading " Miami Woman who Sued Employer Over Jury Duty is Awarded $150,K " »
A Lee County jury awarded $44.9 million to a Cape Coral man who was paralyzed in a 2006 motor vehicle accident.
The verdict, one of the largest in the county’s history, was awarded to Gerald Aloia. Aloia was riding on his motorcycle on Oct. 22, 2006, when he was struck by a Chevrolet Corvette driven by Deborah Veilleux. Veilleux, 45 at the time, died in 2007.
Continue reading " Florida Man Paralyzed in Motor Veicle Accident Awarded $44.9 M " »
Bayer CropScience LP must pay about $2 million for losses sustained by two Missouri farmers when an experimental variety of rice the company was testing cross-bred with their crops, a federal jury ruled.
The verdict in St. Louis came in the first trial in what is intended to be a series of test cases against the unit of Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer AG. The jury of four men and five women began deliberating on Dec. 2, about a month after it began hearing claims brought by Kenneth Bell and Johnny Hunter.
Continue reading " Bayer Must Pay Farmers for Contaminated Rice Crop " »
A 33-year-old man who suffered brain and spinal injuries in July when a heavy limb fell from a tree in Central Park and struck him has sued the city and the Central Park Conservancy for negligence.
The man, Mr. Goldensohn, a computer scientist who works for Google, remains hospitalized from his injuries and has undergone several operations, said his lawyer, Nicholas Papain.
Continue reading " Man Hurt by Falling Tree Limb in NY Central Park " »
After 13 hours of intensifying pain, two trips to the emergency room and two CT scans, doctors finally found what was ailing Lottie Green.
In her left lung, the pulmonologist told her, was the largest blood clot they had ever seen and there were others in her right lung as well, she said.
Soon after the 41-year-old Bethesda, Md., resident was released from a hospital last month, Ms. Green joined hundreds of other women in lawsuits against Germany's Bayer AG, the maker of the popular oral contraceptive Yaz.
Continue reading " Fort Worth Texas Yaz Yasmin Birth Control Lawsuit Update " »
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration is weighing further regulation of three drugs used to create high-contrast images on MRI scans, based on a new analysis that suggests they carry a higher risk of causing a rare, but potentially fatal disease.
The issue, marks a setback for GE Healthcare (GE), which contends that its product is no riskier than competing imaging drugs. FDA reviewers said GE's drug, Omniscan, had a disproportionately high number of reports of the disease compared with its peers.
A consumer advocacy group is petitioning the government to ban the weight loss pill Meridia because a recent study suggests it increases risk of heart attack, stroke and death.
A letter Thursday from Public Citizen calls on the Food and Drug Administration to pull Abbott Laboratories' drug from the U.S. market, where it is used by roughly a quarter million people.
Preliminary results from a 10,000-patient study — known as the SCOUT study — showed a slightly higher risk of heart-related problems in patients taking Meridia, also called sibutramine, compared with a dummy pill. Patients in the study were older than 55, overweight with a history of heart disease or diabetes.
Continue reading " Public Citizen Asks FDA to Ban Weight Loss Pill " »
A funeral is set for a retired Indiana National Guard commander who testified in October that exposure to a lethal carcinogen in Iraq caused his cancer.
Lt. Col. James C. Gentry, 52, Williams, Ind., died of lung cancer. His death is a marker in a pending federal lawsuit; his life inspired a federal bill working its way through Congress.
Continue reading " Guard Commander Said KBR Carcinogen Caused his Cancer " »
Once upon a time, asbestos was practically everywhere. Because the material causes devastating forms of cancer and lung disease, huge product-liability litigation sprung up. That led to huge settlements, which led to the establishment of huge trusts, created to assure payment to millions of current and future claimants.
Some $20 billion now resides in these 40 or so trusts, set up by Johns Manville Corp., Owens Corning and other former makers and sellers of asbestos. But who’s overseeing the trusts? Is the money getting spent properly? In short, are the trusts working as designed?
Continue reading " Asbestos Mesothelioma Payout System is Being Questioned " »
The worsening impact of head injuries on football was underscored when it was revealed that La Salle University had agreed to pay $7.5 million to a severely brain-damaged player, an amount five times the school's annual athletic budget.
Preston Plevretes, a sophomore linebacker, was severely injured in a Nov. 5, 2005, game against Duquesne, six weeks after suffering a concussion during an Explorers practice. His lawyers argued that because La Salle prematurely cleared him to return, without having him undergo proper testing or be seen by a doctor, the player became a victim of second-impact syndrome.
Continue reading " La Salle to Pay $7.5 M to Brain-Injured Football Player " »
The Supreme Court has left in place an $82.6 million award to a woman who was paralyzed after her Ford Explorer rolled over.
The justices rejected Ford Motor Co.'s challenge to the portion of the award, $55 million, that was intended as punitive damages. Ford argued that it should not be punished because its design of the vehicle met federal safety standards.
A California state appeals court earlier rejected Ford's contention and upheld the award to Benetta Buell-Wilson.
Continue reading " Supreme Court Allows $82.6M Award in SUV Rollover " »
A jury has awarded $89 million in damages to the family of a man killed in a 2008 crash with a drunken driver, and to the man's fiancée and daughter.
"The eye-popping numbers were the jury's attempt to send a message the only way they could," said attorney Mark Bronson, who won the case after a one-day trial in Franklin County Circuit Court.
He said he doubts his clients will ever see a fraction of the money. But he said the jury's disgust with drunken driving was unmistakable.
Continue reading " Jury Awards $89 M Against Drunken Driver for Wrongful Death Car Crash " »
A radiation oncologist who formerly worked for the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute won a $3 million verdict in federal court on charges that her employer retaliated against her for raising concerns about discrimination.
The jury recommended that Dr. Kristina Gerszten be awarded $1.5 million in back pay from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, which works with the UPMC Cancer Centers, as well as $827,292 in front pay. But according to Dr. Gerszten's attorney, those amounts are only advisory.
It will be up to U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab to determine what amount the defendant will have to pay.
Continue reading " Doctor Wins Employment Discrimination Lawsuit Against Cancer Institute " »
The state Supreme Court reinstated an $8 million default judgment against Hyundai Motor Co. in a lawsuit over the backward collapse of a front seat in a 1997 crash that left a man paralyzed.
In a 7-2 ruling, the high court reversed the Court of Appeals, which had overturned a trial court's finding for Jesse Magana of Vancouver.
The justices said the South Korean automaker deliberately withheld documentation from Magana's lawyers for too long concerning other crashes in which front seats collapsed backward.
"Trial courts need not tolerate deliberate and willful discovery abuse," wrote the majority. "This result appropriately compensates the other party, punishes Hyundai, and hopefully educates and deters others so inclined."
Continue reading " WA Supreme Court Reinstates $8M Award Against Hyundai " »
