The 911 call came at 6:35 p.m. on Aug. 28 from a car that was speeding out of control on Highway 125 near San Diego.
The caller, a male voice, was panic-stricken: “We’re in a Lexus ... we’re going north on 125 and our accelerator is stuck ... we’re in trouble ... there’s no brakes ... we’re approaching the intersection ... hold on ... hold on and pray ... pray ...”
The call ended with the sound of a crash.
The family of Kristen Spears alleges an overdose of the drug manufactured by Irvine-based Allergan Inc. killed her at age 7.
Spears started getting Botox injections at the age of 6 -- not to smooth furrows in her brow, but to calm spasms in her legs.
The girl was born with severe cerebral palsy, and Botox, best known as a face-lift-in-a-syringe, can relax contorted muscles and sometimes help young patients walk without surgery.
Continue reading " Allergan Trial Will Focus on Botox's Safety in Cerebral Palsy Treatments " »
Donna Delgado just wasn't healing properly after dental surgery.
There was too much bleeding, too much pain. Her head hurt. She was dizzy. She had nosebleeds and sinus infections.
Lodged in Delgado's right maxillary sinus, the drill bit burr made the 35-year-old woman miserable for nearly a year as she held down a job and cared for her children, according to her lawsuit.
Continue reading " Dental Malpractice: Drill Bit Left in Maxillary Sinus " »
A Multnomah County jury ordered a medical-device company to pay $4.75 million to a Portland, Oregon, man and his wife in a product-liability lawsuit that may have national implications, according to a report in The Oregonian.
The jury found I-Flow Corp. liable for destroying the cartilage in Matthew Beale's right shoulder and leaving the 38-year-old father of four with constant pain and a disabled arm, the newspaper reported.
Continue reading " Kimberly-Clark Unit Must Pay $4.75 M in Product Lawsuit " »
European and American drug regulators had two starkly different reactions this week to data on an obesity drug. The raw data from the study indicated that people with certain health problems who took the prescription diet drug Meridia had more heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems than people getting a placebo.
Continue reading " Heart Patients Warned Against Using Meridia, an Anti-Obesity Drug " »
A Rhode Island meat company recalled 1.24 million pounds of pepper-coated salami, after officials conducting a months-long, multistate investigation of a salmonella outbreak compared shopping receipts of those who got sick.
The recall by Daniele International Inc. comes amid an outbreak that's sickened 184 people in 38 states since July.
Daniele has been identified as the source of the ongoing outbreak by William Keene, a senior epidemiologist at the public health division in Oregon, where eight people have gotten sick.
Continue reading " RI Meat Company Recalling 1.2M Pounds of Salami " »
Parents of a victim of an accused pedophile pediatrician in Lewes, Delaware have sued the doctor and Beebe Medical Center, where he worked.
The suit, filed in New Castle County, accuses Dr. Earl B. Bradley of sexually abusing a child twice in his office on Dec. 3 and Dec. 14, and charges that Beebe failed for years to report concerns about the pediatrician's conduct.
Continue reading " Pediatrician Accused of Sexual Abuse and Medical Malpractice " »
Florida smokers who lose personal-injury suits against tobacco companies could be on the hook for the opposition's attorney fees under a settlement strategy being pursued by cigarette makers.
Tobacco companies have been offering the state's 8,000 smoker plaintiffs minuscule amounts of money -- typically $500 to $2,500 -- to settle wrongful death and negligence cases potentially worth millions of dollars. The catch: Florida law says plaintiffs who obtain a significantly smaller judgment than a rejected settlement offer must pay the other side's attorney fees.
Continue reading " Big Tobacco Strategy Scares Off Potential Plaintiffs " »
Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals has significant product liability claims over its oral contraceptive Yaz and its alleged dangerous side effects.
Yaz, Yasmin, and the generic version Ocella have all come under attack for their overstated benefits and minimized risks. Experts predict that more than 25,000 cases could eventually be filed by women alleging dangerous side effects from using the prescription contraceptive.
Read the latest minutes from the Southern Illinois MDL court.
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Continue reading " Yaz MDL Lawsuit: Dallas Texas Yaz Attorney " »
Three personal injury lawsuits were filed against Pfizer Inc last week, claiming its smoking cessation drug Chantix caused attempted suicides and death.
The lawsuits, filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, claim that at the time the plaintiffs took Chantix, Pfizer did not tell doctors and patients about dangers it allegedly knew were related to the drug, including depression and thoughts of suicide.
Continue reading " Lawsuits Claim Chantix led to Attempted Suicide and Death " »
In Pennsylvania's first precedent-setting decision regarding hormone replacement therapy mass tort litigation, the Superior Court has revived a plaintiff's lawsuit by finding that the plaintiff was entitled to an exception to the two-year statute of limitations because she couldn't have reasonably known of an alleged link between her breast cancer and HRT drugs before the publication of a widely publicized study.
Continue reading " Pa. Court Revives Plaintiff Verdict in Hormone-Replacement Case " »
A law firm representing the estate of a boy who drowned in a Kalispell MT septic tank has filed suit against developers, engineers and a small-town water and sewer district, charging negligence in the accidental death of 3-year-old Loic Rogers.
The companies that manufactured the tank and its lid were named in previous suits, and attorneys said an earlier complaint was made against the homeowner.
Continue reading " Wrongful Death Lawsuits Filed Over Boy's Death in Septic Tank " »
Baxter International Inc., which recalled its blood thinner heparin amid reports of allergic reactions and deaths in 2008, faces at least 30 lawsuits in Chicago by injured people or their estates.
As many as 300 product-liability complaints may be filed in the Illinois state court, according to plaintiffs’ attorney Allen Schwartz. His law firm and two others are working to comply with a judge’s order last year to convert an aggregate lawsuit to individual claims against the Deerfield, Illinois-based company.
Continue reading " Baxter Faces New Lawsuits Over Tainted Heparin " »
- Baxter International Inc., which recalled its blood thinner heparin amid reports of allergic reactions and deaths in 2008, faces at least 30 lawsuits in Chicago by injured people or their estates.
As many as 300 product-liability complaints may be filed in the Illinois state court, according to plaintiffs’ attorney Allen Schwartz of Kralovec, Jambois & Schwartz.
Continue reading " Baxter Faces Dozens of New Suits Over Tainted Heparin " »
Once the power blinked out, Althea LaCoste's lungs were on their own.
She struggled to breathe without the help of a respirator, and even a team of nurses hand-bagging air into her ailing lungs couldn't save her, according to court documents. LaCoste, 73, died before she could be evacuated from Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina.
LaCoste's death 4½ years ago is at the center of a civil lawsuit being heard here that could have far-reaching implications for hospitals across the country. The lawsuit against Methodist Hospital is the first civil suit alleging negligence of a hospital staff in Katrina's aftermath.
Continue reading " Katrina Negligence Lawsuit Has Implications for all Hospitals " »
A student athlete and his parents are suing his doctors and hospitals nearly a year after a flesh-eating bacteria led to the amputation of his legs.
Steven Haxton, 19, and his parents have filed medical-negligence lawsuits against doctors for Ohio Health Corp., Riverside Methodist Hospital and Ohio State University Medical Center in the Ohio Court of Claims and Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
The maker of a popular treatment for severe acne will get a new trial, 10 months after the New Jersey Appellate Division struck down a $2.6 million verdict against it.
Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc., maker of Accutane, is alleged to have caused inflammatory bowel disease in some of the drug's users in a multi-district litigation proceeding in Atlantic County Superior Court. Andrew McCarrell was awarded $2.6 million in his lawsuit in 2007.
Continue reading " New Accutane Trial to Begin in New Jersey " »
A member of the science team for NASA's 2008 Phoenix Mars Lander mission has sued one of the mission's co-investigators, Samuel Kounaves, alleging sexual harassment.
Research assistant Suzanne Young was part of a Tufts University group that helped build the experiments to analyze and characterize the chemical composition of the Martian soil during the NASA mission, led by the University of Arizona and housed in Tucson.
Continue reading " Harassment Lawsuit Filed Against Scientist on Mars Lander Project " »
Byetta (exenatide) is a type 2 diabetes drug that is used to control blood sugar levels. It is part of a class of medications known as incretin mimetics, which imitate natural hormones that lower blood glucose levels. Last month, the FDA expanded the use of Byetta to a stand-alone diabetes treatment, but insisted that warnings about the risk of pancreatitis from Byetta be added to the label and will require additional studies.
Continue reading " Byetta Lawsuit Update Dallas Texas Attorney " »
What happens to women after they get a cholecystectomy for gallstones after taking Yaz?
Bile is an important part of digesting fats, and following Yaz gallbladder removal surgery, problems can occur such as bloating and diarrhea. Bile is still produced by the liver, but now bile is continuously released in into the intestine. Problems can occur when eating a meal that is high in fat content since there may not be enough bile in the intestine to adequately handle the normal absorption process.
Continue reading " Yaz Side Effect Gallbladder MDL and Lawsuits " »
A federal appeals court reinstated more than 100 lawsuits against drug companies filed by women or their surviving relatives who claimed that hormone replacement therapy caused breast cancer.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis overturned a 2008 district court ruling that had blocked almost all of the suits from being sent back to state court in Minnesota and dismissed most of the lawsuits that were being heard in Little Rock.
Continue reading " Fed Appeals Court Sends Ark Prempro Cases Back to Minn " »
The FDA has warned Amylin Pharmaceuticals that they have made false and misleading statements about the diabetes drug Byetta.
The FDA letter was sent to Amylin Pharmaceuticals, alerting the company that federal regulators were aware of statements made by representatives that provided misleading or false information about the benefits of their product.
Download the FDA Warning Letter here.
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Continue reading " FDA Calls Byetta Claims Misleading Dallas Byetta Attorney " »
Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson face a review of their top-selling anemia drugs by an advisory panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA will ask its advisers to evaluate whether lower doses would avoid increased risks of blood clots and heart attacks in patients with chronic kidney disease. The panel was announced in a New England Journal of Medicine commentary.
Continue reading " Amgen’s, J&J’s Anemia Drugs Face FDA Advisory Review on Dose " »
For John Norrie, the recall of his HP Pavilion Notebook computer came too late.
The laptop allegedly overheated, causing a fire that ripped through Norrie’s Plymouth MA home in November 2006 while he was sleeping. The house was destroyed and Norrie suffered serious injuries in the process of escaping.
Continue reading " MA Lawsuit Claims HP was Negligent in Laptop Fire " »
The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it would review of the safety of the widely used anemia drugs sold by Amgen and Johnson & Johnson after another clinical trial suggested that high doses of one of the drugs might cause strokes.
Continue reading " FDA Advisory Panel to Re-evaluate Amgen, J&J Anemia Drugs. " »
YAZ is the Bayer Health Care brand name for the combination of drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol.
Each monthly prescription contains 24 active pills and 4 inactive pills. YAZ was widely prescribed for regulating menstrual periods, minimizing premenstrual syndrome (PMS), treating premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), preventing pregnancy, decreasing irritability and moodiness,and curing mild to moderate acne.
Very little information was available to the public regarding serious side effects until recently and YAZ quickly became the most prescribed oral contraceptive in the United States.
Continue reading " Do You Have a Texas Yaz Birth Control Claim? " »
When we reviewed the litigation over AstraZeneca's antipsychotic Seroquel in June, there was debate over whether the litigation was a bust for the thousands of plaintiffs who'd filed suits claiming the drug caused their diabetes.
Delaware court judge, who had just tossed a Seroquel case on Daubert grounds, warned in his opinion that plaintiffs had yet to establish that link successfully. But plaintiffs lawyer Paul Pennock of Weitz & Luxenberg cautioned us to reserve judgment. "Far from going away, Seroquel is about to reveal AstraZeneca as one of the worst managers of a mass tort litigation in history," he said.
Continue reading " Seroquel Plaintiffs Lose Diabetes Claim in Delaware " »
In 2006, Yaz was approved by the FDA as treatment for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). It was the first birth control pill to gain such approval and women sufferers of severe PMS looked forward to relief from symptoms that affected their overall enjoyment of life.
About 5% of women suffer from premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), These women suffer from depression and anxiety. Yaz apparently relieves much of this and has been very popular since its introduction.
Then reports began to surface about the side effects...
Continue reading " Dallas Texas Yaz Gallbladder Disease " »
Several thousand lawsuits could be filed across the United States for serious and deadly injuries allegedly caused by the contraceptive Yaz and related drugs. These lawsuits are consolidated in Southern Illinois federal court, in East St Louis.
U.S. District Chief Judge David Herndon has the task of presiding over the lawsuits against Bayer Corp. The cases allege that the birth-control pills Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella cause women to suffer increased risks of heart attack, stroke, blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, gallbladder disease, among other life-threatening complications.
Read the full story here.
Get the Tweet here.
Continue reading " How Many Texas Yaz Injury Lawsuits Cases Are Out There?a " »
A recent lawsuit brought by a group of Indiana National Guardsman spotlights a controversial legal doctrine that prevents soldiers on active duty from seeking compensation for injuries sustained in war zones.
The guardsman allege that a mission to help clean up a water treatment plant in southern Iraq left them with what they say are potentially fatal illnesses.
Read full Wall St Journal Article here.
Continue reading " Soldiers Fight in the Courts Over Liability in War Zones " »
A congressional staffer who was hit and critically injured by a Metrobus near Dupont Circle in September is suing the transit agency for $30 million, claiming that Metro should have taken the driver off the road long before the crash.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Amanda Mahnke claims that Metro was negligent in allowing the driver, who had a history of accidents, to continue in her job.
Continue reading " Woman struck by Metrobus Suing Agency " »
A Philadelphia law firm filed 10 lawsuits on behalf of boys and young men who developed serious side effects - including the growth of breasts - while taking the antipsychotic medications Risperdal and Invega.
The suits were filed in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Lawyer Stephen Sheller said he expected to file an additional 20 to 30 similar cases in Philadelphia in the next two months. His firm also has 10 cases involving boys who took Risperdal and another medication pending in New Jersey.
Continue reading " Risperdal and Invega Lawsuits Filed Over Drug Side Effects " »
Palo Alto has agreed to pay nearly $1.5 million to the victim of a 2006 vehicle crash involving a city worker who was using his cell phone while driving.
Silvio Obregon had asked the city for more than $5 million after the rear-end crash on Oregon Expressway left him with debilitating spinal injuries, according to court documents. He alleged that city worker Rubin Salas ran into him at a red light because he was reaching for his cell phone rather than watching the road.
Continue reading " Palo Alto Settles Cell Phone Crash Lawsuit for $1.5 M " »
King County WA has agreed to pay $7 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman severely injured when a Metro Transit supervisor's van struck her while she was riding a Vespa scooter to work.
A portion of the settlement cost may be paid by Seattle under a separate indemnification agreement, but no information was immediately available about the terms of the agreement. Seattle was also named as a defendant after King County claimed the Capitol Hill intersection where the accident occurred was unsafe.
Continue reading " King County WA Pays $7 M to Woman hit by Metro van " »
A federal judge approved settlements earmarked for more than 300 victims of the RI 2003 Station nightclub fire and the mechanism through which payments will be made.
The action taken by U.S. District Court Judge Lagueux makes it likely now that the victims of the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history will get money from a $176-million settlement fund in a matter of months.
Continue reading " Judge Approves Settlement for RI Station Fire Victims " »
A British fitness instructor who alleged he was injured when he slipped and fell on a wet floor at a cruise ship spa, was awarded $9.5 million by a Miami-Dade Circuit Court jury.
Continue reading " Jury Awards $9.5M in Slip-and-Fall on Ship " »
A Pfizer Inc. unit must face a $1.5 million damage award over one of its menopause drugs, a Pennsylvania appeals court ruled.
A Philadelphia trial judge erred in throwing out the jury verdict against Pfizer’s Pharmacia & Upjohn unit, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled today. The appellate court reinstated the damage award to Merle Simon, who contends Upjohn’s hormone-replacement drug Provera helped cause her breast cancer.
Continue reading " Pfizer Must Face Menopause-Drug Punitive Award " »
In a case that could set the first broad judicial standards for the use of Tasers, a federal appeals court in California has ruled that the police can be held liable for using one of the devices against an unarmed person during a traffic stop.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco, said the electrically disabling device constituted excessive force when used against an unarmed man who did not pose a threat, and it refused to allow a police officer immunity for its use.
Continue reading " Federal Court Limits the Use of Tasers " »
Tina Griffin says she was never really sick a day in her life, at least not until 2002.
While on a weekend vacation with friends, the Manassas Park resident found a lump in her right breast during her shower. She had been taking Premarin and Prempro, two hormone therapy drugs that have been under scrutiny for potentially causing breast cancer.
Continue reading " VA Woman Sues Pfizer Drug Company Over Breast Cancer " »
Pierce County WA has agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit involving a mentally disturbed patient who escaped out of a window of a county-owned mental hospital in 2004 and hurt himself jumping onto a concrete fire-escape landing.
According to documents in the case, which was settled Dec. 23 in Pierce County Superior Court, Jeffery Fontinel had been involuntarily committed to the now-closed Puget Sound Hospital in Tacoma.
Fontinel, 27, was in a manic state, court documents say, and was being held in a “seclusion room” on the hospital’s fifth floor.
Continue reading " Patient's Fall at Mental Hospital Costs Pierce County $1.3 M " »
Four people died in December just after Christmas after their car flipped over into a six-foot-deep pond in Southlake.
Just before 11:20 a.m., the Toyota sedan drove through the intersection of Lonesome Dove Road and Burney Lane, crashed into a metal fence, hit a tree, and landed upside-down in a pond on the grounds of a mansion.
Continue reading " Four Dead After Toyota Car Crashes Into Southlake Pond " »
Already on the hook for the lion's share of a $17.7 million judgment and waiting for a decision from a jury that was out considering punitive damages, Ford Motor Co. decided to settle with a couple who sued following a Christmas 2005 wreck that left the woman paralyzed.
The agreement came after a Clayton County, Ga., jury ordered Ford on Dec. 18 to pay more than $16 million of the judgment to compensate for what the plaintiffs argued were design defects in the 2002 Explorer sport utility vehicle in which the woman was a passenger.
Continue reading " Ford Settles Explorer Suit as Jury Considers Damages " »
Fairleigh Dickinson University is not liable for the death of a junior who fell from a fourth-floor dorm window in 2005 after a night of heavy drinking, and won’t have to pay his parents a prior jury award of $260,000, a state appeals court has ruled.
An appellate decision reversed a Morris County jury verdict last year that found the college and student, Keith Orzech, 21, were equally responsible for his death in 2005. Instead, a three-judge panel ruled the university in Madison-Florham Park has immunity from liability under state law.
Continue reading " N.J. Appeals Court Reverses $260K Wrongful Death Judgment " »
