Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

Bloomberg News (7/28, Voreacos, Johnson) reports "Merck & Co. paid claims to the families of 3,468 users of its Vioxx painkiller who died of heart attacks or strokes," a court-appointed administrator told a judge Tuesday.

"A $4.85 billion settlement fund made payments to the families of 2,878 Vioxx users who died of heart attacks and 590 who died of strokes," according to Lynn Greer of BrownGreer LLP, a law firm in Richmond, Virginia, that analyzed 59,365 claims. Merck "pulled Vioxx from the market in 2004 after a study showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes."

Continue reading " Merck Pays Claims to Families of 3,468 Vioxx Users " »

A San Diego jury will decide this week if Pizza Hut is liable for a November 2008 accident involving one of their drivers.

The accident left a mother and daughter severely injured. According to the lawsuit, driver Nicole Fisk had a seizure while driving during work, causing her to black out and crash into the car containing Olena and Shari Novak.

The lawsuit claims that Pizza Hut should have known that Fisk was at risk for seizures and has the responsibility of putting safe drivers on the road.

Fisk was eventually dropped from the Novaks' lawsuit. Dana Littlefield, San Diego Union Tribune 07/25/2010

Read Article: San Diego Union Tribune

Continue reading " Jury To Decide Verdict in Pizza Hut Driver Wreck " »

Current, former workers and documents question care of medically fragile residents at the Austin State Supported Living Center the Cardinal residence.

Some current and former employees say that Cardinal is so poorly run that residents who are unable to speak for themselves are at serious risk for harm.

Five current and former staffers identified problems that were not mentioned in an independent monitoring report published in June that found critical staffing shortages, high staff turnover, "dehumanizing practices" and a serious staff morale problem at the Austin facility. Corrie MacLaggan, Austin American Statesman 07/26/2010

Read Article: Austin American Statesman

Continue reading " Austin Texas Living Center Staff Raises Safety Concerns " »

The Washington State Department of Transportation has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a man involved in a serious motorcycle crash in 2006.

John Lancaster claims in his lawsuit that the DOT was aware for years that the roadway where he crashed was dangerously designed, but had failed to do anything to fix it.

The area has a high level of traffic accidents, and a 2001 report by the DOT recommended the road be fixed. Four years later, Lancaster still cannot use his right arm and has limited mobility in his left hand. Jeremy Pawloski, The Olympian 07/20/2010

Read Article: The Olympian

Continue reading " WA DOT Settles Lawsuit Over Dangerous Road " »

A committee within the F.D.A. has advised the agency to denounce its marketing approval of the popular cancer drug Avastin for treating breast cancer because "new trials showed no apparent benefit from the drug."

The committee found that new trials of the drug, which is combined with the breast cancer drug paclitaxel to treat metastatic breast cancer, actually showed that survival rates decreased slightly for women due to complications from the drugs.

If the F.D.A. decides to follow the committee recommendation, it would not affect marketing of the drug for brain, lung, colon and kidney cancer. Thomas H. Maugh II, LA Times 07/21/2010
Read Article: LA Times

Continue reading " Avastin Does Not Benefit Breast Cancer Patients " »

A group of former Motorola workers and their children filed a lawsuit Friday against the Schaumburg-based company, claiming toxic substances used to make Motorola products caused serious birth defects in at least 30 children born to workers employed by the company since the 1960s.

The 71 plaintiffs filed the suit in Cook County Circuit Court. The suit claims Motorola knew the chemicals used to make semiconductors and computer chips in sterile "clean rooms" were toxic and had the potential to cause birth defects in children born to people exposed to the compounds.

Thirty children of former employees allegedly suffer from physical and developmental disabilities, including cerebral palsy, autism, spina bifida, sterility and brain malformations, the suit claims. LEEANN MATON, Chicago Sun-Times 07/26/2010

Read Article: Chicago Sun-Times

Continue reading " Ex-Workers' Lawsuit Blames Motorola for Birth Defects " »

The AP (7/13) reported, "A Latino civil rights organization sued an international gym chain, accusing 24 Hour Fitness of racial and gender discrimination against its workers in California.

The lawsuit filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and a law firm claimed that black, Latino, Asian and female staffers systematically hit glass ceilings when they applied for management jobs at some of the company's approximately 200 California clubs."

The suit claims "the fitness club violated state anti-discrimination laws and seeks class-action status, which would allow it to represent an estimated 10,000 California employees of the fitness chain."

Read the full story here.

Continue reading " 24 Hour Fitness Faces California Class Action Alleging Discrimination. " »

Under the headline "Bad Nurses Able To Keep Working In Other States," USA Today (7/15, Weber, Ornstein) carries an article and interactive map by the independent reporting organization ProPublica that explain how nurses can slip from one state to another for work even if they have felony drug convictions.

The report opens with the case of a nurse who "was fired from a hospital in Wausau, Wis., in 2007 after stealing the powerful painkiller Dilaudid," was convicted of felony drug charges, and later managed to "get a job as a traveling nurse at a hospital 1,200 miles away in New Bern, N.C." According to ProPublica, this case "illustrates significant gaps in regulatory efforts nationwide" to keep track of nurses' misconduct. The report examines applicable licensing issues and agreements that it says perpetuate the problem.

Read the USA Today Article here.

Continue reading " Regulations May Allow Convicted Nurses to Cross State Lines for Work. " »

Gaps in regulatory efforts nationwide allow nurses from avoiding the consequences of misconduct by hopping across state lines. Compacts created to help get good nurses to areas where they are needed most recognize a license obtained in a nurse’s home state in the other compact states.

But an investigation by ProPublica found that the pact also has allowed nurses with records of misconduct to put patients in jeopardy. In some cases, nurses have retained clean multistate licenses after at least one compact state had banned them. They have ignored their patients’ needs, stolen their pain medication, forgotten crucial tests or missed changes in their condition, records show. Tracy Weber Charles Ornstein by Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, ProPublica 07/15/2010
Read Article: ProPublica

Continue reading " Troubled Nurses Skip from State to State Under Compact " »

The AP (7/14) reported, "Novartis will pay up to $152.5 million to potentially thousands of women after a jury found it discriminated against them by paying them less than men, the pharmaceutical company and plaintiffs' lawyers announced Wednesday after a deal was struck. The agreement, which still must be approved by a federal judge in Manhattan, also calls for an additional $22.5 million to be paid for company programs to eliminate discrimination. The settlement covers claims by 5,600 women at the drug company who were part of the class-action lawsuit that resulted in a six-week trial earlier this year."

Bloomberg News (7/14, Van Voris) reported, "The suit was filed in 2004 by Amy Velez and four other women who claimed they faced discrimination over pay and promotion and for pregnancy."

The Wall Street Journal (7/15, Bray) reports that lead plaintiffs' attorney David Sanford said, "Novartis has agreed to a momentous settlement," adding, "the terms of this agreement allow for full compensation of both former and current female field force employees, ensuring that every woman who worked at Novartis over the past eight years has been compensated fairly."

Continue reading " Novartis Settles Employment Discrimination Suit for $152M. " »

A lawsuit has been filed against the Arizona Board of Regents by a former Arizona State student who claims that the university police department and disciplinary office failed to properly investigate her accusations that she was raped.

According to the police report, the woman reported the alleged incident the day after it occurred, and officers determined that she had not withdrawn consent during the sexual activity. The lawsuit, however, claims that the police department "refused to give the woman a forensic sexual assault examination," and performed an inadequate investigation. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. Derek Quizon, Arizona Republic 07/13/2010

Read Article: Arizona Republic

Continue reading " Lawsuit: Campus Police Didn't Investigate Rape Claim " »

The Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm is currently investigating claims on behalf of patients suffering from rhabdomyolysis, a serious Zocor side effect that has been linked to the 80mg dose of this cholesterol-lowering drug.

In March 2010, the Food & Drug Administration released a warning that highlighted the risk of rhabdomyolysis in patients taking Zocor 80mg.

Rhabdomyolysis is a medical condition that affects the muscles, in serious cases, this can lead to kidney damage, kidney failure requiring dialysis, and even death.

Read Mayo Clinic article on statin induced Rhabdomyolysis.

Continue reading " Rhabdomyolysis After Taking Zocor 80mg " »

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to resolve more than 800 cases alleging its Paxil antidepressant caused birth defects in some users’ children, according to people familiar with the settlements.

The settlements, which provide an average payout of more than $1.2 million to families of affected children, leave more than 100 birth-defect cases pending, the people said. Officials of Glaxo, the U.K.’s biggest drugmaker, said July 15 they set aside $2.4 billion to resolve litigation over Paxil and its Avandia diabetes drug.

Read full Bloomberg story here.

Continue reading " Glaxo Said to Have Paid $1 Billion Over Paxil Suits " »

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed against a pharmaceutical company by a Watertown woman who linked her prescribed use of Paxil to the death of her infant son, according to court files.

Jennifer Berg of Watertown sued SmithKline Beecham, doing business as GlaxoSmithKline, in October 2007. The complaint said Nathan Berg died in 2004 because of a heart disorder caused by her use of the antidepressant Paxil while she was pregnant. WAYNE ORTMAN, AP , The Washington Post 07/20/2010

Read Article: The Washington Post

Continue reading " Court Files Indicate Settlement in Paxil Lawsuit " »

In 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned doctors about a study showing that babies born to women who took Paxil during the first trimester of pregnancy had a higher rate of major birth defects. The study, which involved 3,500 pregnant women, showed that those on Paxil were twice as likely to have a child with defects than women on other antidepressants.

The FDA put out a statement warning that "[h]ealthcare professionals are advised to carefully weigh the potential risks and benefits of using [Paxil] in women during pregnancy and to discuss these findings as well as treatment alternatives with their patients."

At least 600 cases have been filed alleging that Paxil is responsible for congenital birth defects. GSK has also paid approximately $1 billion in settlements of Paxil-related cases not involving birth defects.

Read full story here.

Continue reading " Paxil Birth Defect Dallas Attorney Update " »

A lawsuit was filed against two northern railroad companies this week by the family of a Chicago woman who was hit by a train and killed.

Katie Ann Lunn died in the train accident earlier this year when an Amtrak train hit her SUV, which was stopped on the tracks in heavy traffic.

The lawsuit contends that the Illinois Central Railroad Co. and Wisconsin Central Ltd. failed "to ensure crossing-protection systems were functioning properly," among other things, which would have prevented the accident. The suit is seeking unspecified damages. Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune 07/14/2010
Read Article: Chicago Tribune

Continue reading " Fatal Train Wreck In Illinois Prompts Lawsuit " »

In treating diabetes, it might not matter much whether the Food and Drug Administration halts sales of the drug Avandia.

An FDA committee of outside experts met last week to provide advice on whether any regulatory action — from stronger warnings to removal — is needed. The FDA has the final say on the committee's recommendations and could decide within weeks.

Doctors already have given their verdict. Avandia prescriptions have plummeted since a study in The New England Journal of Medicine in May 2007 raised concerns about whether the drug increased heart attack risk.

Rule the full story here.

Continue reading " Doctors Say It's Already Over For Diabetes Drug Avandia " »

The trouble started in April 2009, when nurses, Anne Mitchell and Vickilyn Galle, sent an unsigned letter to the Texas Medical Board outlining concerns about Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr., including his alleged use of herbal remedies and attempt to use hospital supplies to perform at-home procedures.

Arafiles filed a harassment complaint with county officials, and the nurses were charged criminally with felony misuse of official information and fired from their jobs at Winkler County Memorial Hospital.

Now, the medical board has filed a complaint alleging Arafiles used "poor medical judgment" and "poor decision-making," overbilled patients, prescribed nontherapeutic treatments and intimidated witnesses. Betsy Blaney, Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News 07/19/2010

Read Article: The Dallas Morning News

Continue reading " Texas Doctor Who Fought Nurses' Grievances Faces TMB Complaint " »

A San Mateo County jury has ordered Caltrans and a northern California woman to pay $12.2 million to a 21-year-old girl who suffered permanent brain damage during a car accident in 2006.

Gada Hassan hit Emily Liou with her car while Liou was crossing the street at a cross walk at the top of a small rise in the road.

The lawyers for the plaintiff argued also that Caltrans was responsible because they had done nothing to ensure the safety of pedestrians and drivers at that intersection, which has seen three similarly fatal accidents since 1991. Joshua Melvin, San Jose Mercury News 07/14/2010

Read the article here.

Continue reading " Driver and Caltrans, Responsible For Car Accident " »

Patients undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery have received pain pumps to assist in their recovery. Now a new study suggests these pumps may deliver too much medicine, destroying cartilage and leading to a condition known as Postarthroscopic Glenohumeral Chondrolysis.

A study by The American Journal of Sports Medicine identified intra-articular pain pumps as the likely cause of Postarthroscopic Glenohumeral Chondrolysis (PAGCL).

PAGCL only occurs in patients who received a shoulder pain pump filled with bupivacaine and epinephrine during their surgery.

Numerous lawsuits are pending against the companies that manufacture, market or distribute the pain pumps, including Stryker, DJO Inc., I-Flow Inc., BREG Inc. and others.

Continue reading " Dallas Texas Update: Pain Pumps & Arthoscopic Shoulder Surgery Risks " »

The New York Times (7/16, B2, Jolly, Harris) reports that UK pharmaceutical maker GlaxoSmithKline announced on July 15 that "it would take a second-quarter charge of $2.36 billion related to legal cases involving its drugs Avandia [rosiglitazone] and Paxil [paroxetine]."

This announcement comes one "day after an American medical advisory panel recommended that Avandia, a controversial diabetes drug, should either be withdrawn from the market or be severely restricted in its sales because it increases the risks of heart attacks." According to GSK, "the charge announced Thursday, which will amount to about $2.1 billion after taxes, 'includes provisioning for settled cases and an estimate for those cases which we have received and are still outstanding.'"

Read the full story here.

Continue reading " GSK to Take Charge of $2.36B Related to Paxil, Avandia. " »

A Texas natural gas producer's decision to voluntarily disclose the chemicals it injects into the ground could prompt other drillers to do the same, and pave the way for regulators to require such disclosure.

But Range Resources Corp.'s move also reflects the desire of industry to get out ahead of the issue to prevent federal regulation of the key drilling practice called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. MIKE SORAGHAN, Greenwire, The New York Times 07/16/2010

Read Article: The New York Times

Continue reading " Natural Gas Company's Natural Gas Disclosure Decision Could Change Fracking " »

An FDA panel has made a recommendation to the agency that the controversial diabetes drug Avandia should either be taken off the market or its sales should be severely restricted.

Avandia and its maker, GlaxoSmithKline, have recently come under fire for trial results that reveal that patients taking Avandia are at an increased risk for heart attacks.

A majority of the committee decided that if Glaxo wants to keep Avandia on the market, it must complete another clinical trial to prove it is safe.

FDA officials said they will consider the recommendations of the committee and make an official decision as soon as possible. Gardiner Harris, The New York Times 07/14/2010
Read Article: The New York Times

Continue reading " FDA: Avandia To Be Restricted " »

Sugar Land-based Imperial Sugar has reached a settlement with federal regulators seeking to fine the company for safety violations after a 2008 explosion at its Georgia refinery killed 14 workers near Savannah, GA.

The Feb. 7, 2008, explosion killed 14 workers and injured 36. Investigators determined that dangerous levels of sugar dust accumulated inside the plant and ignited like gunpowder. RUSS BYNUM , AP, Houston Chronicle 07/07/2010

Read Article: Houston Chronicle

Continue reading " Imperial Sugar, OSHA Settle Explosion Case " »

TXI will permanently shut down its four oldest, highest-polluting cement kilns in Midlothian and will stop burning hazardous waste as fuel, the company said Tuesday.

The Dallas-based company’s announcement ends an environmental battle that has raged in North Texas for decades.

Midlothian became a center for the cement industry because of extensive limestone deposits. Yet it also became the site of one of the country’s biggest environmental fights.

Federal law allows some cement kilns to burn hazardous waste as fuel to create the high heat required to make cement. TXI is the only company that has burned hazardous waste in Midlothian in recent years.

Environmentalists across the country and in North Texas said burning massive volumes of chemical waste needlessly endangered the public.

Read the full story here at the Dallas Morning News.

Continue reading " TXI to Shut Down Highest-Polluting Cement Kilns in Midlothian Texas " »

The WA Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to require 90 days' notice before suing a doctor. The court's 6-3 decision said the waiting period violates the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of government.

The courts already have procedural rules for filing civil suits, and adding a 90-day notice "conflicts with the judiciary's power to set court procedures," Justice Charles Johnson wrote for the majority.

The ruling sides with two separate plaintiffs who had medical malpractice cases thrown out by lower courts over notice issues. Those cases were sent back for further action. Associated Press, Seattle Times 07/06/2010

Read Article: Seattle Times

Continue reading " Washington High Court Dumps Notice for Malpractice Lawsuits " »

The 2005 BP plant disaster in Texas City has taken on new relevance, because the investigations that were done in its aftermath reveal so much about the company that is responsible for what's happening now in the Gulf. Government probes, court filings and BP's own confidential investigations paint a picture of a company that ignored repeated warnings about the plant's deteriorating condition and instead remained focused on minimizing costs and maximizing profits.

According to a safety audit BP conducted just before the 2005 blast, many of the plant's more than 2,000 employees arrived at work each day with an "exceptional degree of fear of catastrophic incidents." What BP has -- or hasn't done -- to improve conditions at the Texas City plant since the explosion is also laid out in the documents. Ryan Knutson, ProPublica's Lisa Schwartz, Nicholas Kusnetz and Sheelagh McNeill contributed to this report., ProPublica 07/06/2010

Read Article: ProPublica

Continue reading " Blast at BP Texas Refinery Foreshadowed Gulf Disaster " »

Natural gas utilities might have to dig up neighborhoods across Texas to replace hundreds of thousands of steel service lines to prevent explosions.

The Texas Railroad Commissioner will propose that utilities replace the lines, which bring natural gas from pipelines under neighborhood streets to homes.

Texas has at least 525,000 steel lines, maybe a million. Regulators targeted the service lines after several deadly home explosions. The problem is that the old service lines are made of rigid steel, which can shift and corrode. ELIZABETH SOUDER , The Dallas Morning News 07/06/2010

Read Article: The Dallas Morning News

Continue reading " Texas May Require Utilities to Replace Steel Gas Lines " »

The New York Times (7/5) editorialized that the recent controversy over the diabetes drug Avandia -- with "two major studies" saying it "raises the risk of cardiovascular ailments" and the third yet-to-be-published study that "seemed to exonerate" the drug -- should probably lead patients to ask their doctors about alternatives.

The paper said that as expert advisers to the Food and Drug Administration work to deliver a more definitive judgment, it would throw its lot with the views of safety specialists, who focus solely on risks emerging after the drug is in use, rather than the opinions of those "who approved the drug as safe and effective in the first place."

Read the full story here at the New York Times.

Continue reading " NYTimes says patients should seek Avandia alternatives. " »

A man who accused a priest of sexually abusing him when he was 14 has settled his lawsuit with the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese.

At the man's request, terms of the settlement were confidential. The suit, filed last year in state district court, accused the Rev. Rudolf Rentería of abusing the boy in the rectory at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Arlington on Mother's Day weekend 1981.

According to the suit, Rentería offered to let the boy spend the night at the rectory. There, Rentería fondled him and attempted anal intercourse, the suit says. An additional report of sexual misconduct dating to 1985 surfaced in 2000, according to the lawsuit, which accused the priest of having an "impulsive sexual attraction to boys." DARREN BARBEE, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 07/02/2010

Read Article: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Continue reading " Fort Worth Man Settles Sex-Abuse Suit With Roman Catholic Diocese " »

Two Texas natural gas pipelines that exploded last month, killing three people, had not been properly marked, according to state records.

Incident reports filed with the commission by the pipeline operators and excavators involved in each event confirm that neither pipeline was properly marked before the digging.

State law requires that companies wanting to excavate call a national 811 number to state where they plan to dig and request information about pipelines and anything else underground that might be struck. AMAN BATHEJA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 07/02/2010

Read Article: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Continue reading " Pipelines in Texas Natural Gas Explosions Were Not Properly Marked " »

While most of the discussions about the environmental impact of natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale have centered on air quality, questions are now being raised about its potential impact on water quality as well.

Drilling critics have expressed concern that a drilling process called hydraulic fracturing in which millions of gallons of water and sand laced with chemicals are pumped into the ground to free up natural gas -- has the potential to contaminate groundwater supplies. ELIZABETH CAMPBELL and AMAN BATHEJA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 07/02/2010

Read Article: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Continue reading " Residents Blame Drilling Process for Fouled Well Water " »

The Los Angeles Times (7/1, Rick) reports that Avastin (bevacizumab) "can cause significant kidney damage in some patients," according to a new study.

Researchers, "reporting in this month's issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology...wrote that patients on Avastin were at increased risk of severe protein loss from the kidneys, which can lead to permanent damage." Altogether, "patients on Avastin were at a fourfold risk for protein loss and kidney damage, depending on dosage and the type of cancer."

Kidney problems are the second serious condition linked to the cancer drug. Last year it was found that some patients on Avastin were at elevated risk of intestinal perforations.

Continue reading " Avastin Causes Significant Kidney Damage in Some Patients. " »

A California man has filed a lawsuit against his former employer, Coastside Scavenger, claiming that he was wrongfully terminated by new owners because of his "whistleblower" reputation.

Jose Castellanos claims in his lawsuit that after his two sons were fired from Coastside in 2008 for complaining of mistreatment, his bosses began to criticize him and suggest he quit.

He was fired last summer, and says that his boss "went out of her way to malign his reputation to prospective employers." Julia Scott, San Jose Mercury News 07/06/2010
Read Article: San Jose Mercury News

Continue reading " Wrongful Termination Suit Filed Against Trash Hauler " »

Utility provider PG&E has agreed to pay $5 million to the mother of a 20-year-old woman who was killed in a car accident involving one of the company drivers.

Mary Bernstein and a friend were killed in the wreck in 2006 when John Mayfield, a diabetic, blacked out a the wheel after forgetting to test his blood sugar. Under the terms of the agreement, PG&E agreed to record the resolution as a judgment, rather than a confidential settlement.

Mary's mother Lisa has also said she will petition California legislators to pass regulations that require companies to more closely monitor their fleet drivers. Tracey Kaplan, San Jose Mercury News 07/06/2010
Read Article: San Jose Mercury News

Continue reading " PG&E Agrees to Settlement Over Fatal Car Accident " »

We were recently featured on Dallas CBS Channel 11 evening news.

Please click here to read the interview and watch the video link.

Our client suffered massive brain damage following the use of Yaz.

Continue reading " Dallas CBS 11: North Texas Yaz Yasmin Lawsuits " »

The Miami Herald (7/7, Tasker) says that the Department of Veterans Affairs, "which in March 2009 revealed that more than 2,400 Miami-area veterans were given colonoscopies with improperly cleaned equipment, announced Tuesday that 79 veterans mistakenly were not notified they are at risk of contracting a disease such as HIV from the procedure."

The agency, which "said the failure to contact the 79 veterans came from administrative errors relating to their charts," has "temporarily removed Mary Berrocal, director of the Miami VA Healthcare System," and replaced her with Thomas Capello, director of the Gainesville VA hospital, "until a 30-to-60-day investigation is complete."

Read full Miami Herald story here.

Continue reading " Medical Malpractice: Some Veterans Not Notified of HIV Risk From Colonoscopies " »

On the front page of its Business Day section, the New York Times (7/7, B1, Greenhouse) reports, "Wal-Mart Stores has spent a year and more than a million dollars in legal fees battling a $7,000 fine that federal safety officials assessed after shoppers trampled a Wal-Mart employee to death at a store on Long Island on the day after Thanksgiving in 2008."

The company's "all-out battle against the relatively minor penalty has mystified and even angered some federal officials," but Wal-Mart "says that regulators are trying to enforce a vague standard of protection when there was no previous OSHA or retail industry guidance on how to prevent what it views as an 'unforeseeable incident.'

Read the full story here at the New York Times.

Continue reading " Wal-Mart Fighting $7K OSHA Fine in Trampling Death. " »

The Legal Intelligencer (6/22, Duffy) reports, "In a groundbreaking case that could help to define the rights of recovering drug addicts, a federal judge in Scranton has ruled that the Pennsylvania Board of Nursing must answer a lawsuit that says the agency has a secret, unwritten policy that forbids any nurse from holding a license while receiving methadone treatment for a chronic opioid addiction.

Requiring nurses who are recovering from heroin addiction to prove that they are 'weaned' from methadone may be found to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, US District Judge James M. Munley held in Reynolds v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."

Read full story here.

Continue reading " Suit Alleging PA Board of Nursing Discriminates Against Heroin Addicts " »

A discrimination lawsuit has been filed against Comcast by a former employee who claims that, upon his transfer to the Naples, Fla., office in 2006, he was discriminated against because he is African-American.

Timothy Morrison, who worked for Comcast for 10 years, claims that his bosses in the Naples office created a "pattern of harassing and hostile treatment based on his race," including suggesting he should move back to Chicago to be near "his people."

Morrison also alleges that when he formally complained about the treatment, he was fired. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages. Leslie Williams Hale, Naples News 06/23/2010
Read Article: Naples News

Continue reading " Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against Comcast " »

A Maryland jury awarded $2.025 million to the family of an inmate who was hit by a truck and killed while he was picking up trash on work detail in 2007.

According to the lawsuit, Rodney Jennings was crushed by a speeding dump truck that was exiting the highway he was working on.

The lawsuit also alleges that jail officials mistakenly believed that a vehicle had been in place to block the exit ramp from traffic, keeping the inmates safe. Ruben Castaneda, The Washington Post 06/25/2010

Read Article: The Washington Post

Continue reading " Jury: State to Pay Damages for Death of Inmate " »

San Francisco Chronicle (6/23, Zito) reports, "The thousands of mine shafts that pockmark the Sierra Nevada and testify to California's Gold Rush riches have also left a legacy of toxic contamination in some of the state's popular recreation areas, according to a new study.

Soil tests on a handful of trails near mine mouths in the foothills have revealed extremely high levels of lead, arsenic and asbestos, said researchers at the Sierra Fund, a small environmental advocacy group." Elizabeth Martin, chief executive of the group, said, "This is the longest neglected environmental problem in California."

Read the full story here.

Continue reading " Sierra Nevada Trails Contaminated With Lead, Arsenic, Asbestos. " »

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (6/23, Levy) reports on a case before the Minnesota Court of Appeals in which Burlington Northern Santa Fe is appealing "a record $21.6 million" verdict awarded "to the families of four young people killed in a 2003 train-car accident in Anoka," MN.

BNSF attorney Sam Hanson said that Washington County Judge Ellen Maas' "failure 'to eliminate Minnesota state common law and replace it with federal regulations' when instructing the jury at the start of the trial 'entitled' BNSF to a new trial, based on federal preemption."

Read full story here.

Continue reading " BNSF Argues MN $21.6M Train Death Verdict Preempted By Federal Law. " »

A Dayton, Ohio, couple will receive $27,000 from the city in a settlement for their involvement in a car crash with a local police officer.

The lawsuit claimed that Officer Adam Sharp caused the accident with the couple when he was driving the wrong way on a one-way road without his lights flashing or siren on. The couple incurred $64,000 in medical bills related to their injuries, the Dayton Daily News reported.

Lucas Sullivan, Dayton Daily News 06/23/2010
Read Article: Dayton Daily News

Continue reading " Lawsuit Settled Over Wreck Caused By Police Officer " »

A former FedEx employee who was awarded damages in a sexual harassment lawsuit against the company will now be able to seek full punitive damages, a federal appeals court ruled.

Charlotte Boswell was awarded $300,000 for lost earnings, $250,000 for emotional distress and $2.45 million in punitive damages for the company's violation of her rights in 2007.

A U.S. district judge cut the punitive damages to $300,000, which is the maximum amount set by federal civil rights law for punitive damages. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Boswell a new punitive damages trial, saying "she should have been allowed to present her case for damages under California law, which has no dollar limit." Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle 06/20/2010

Read Article: San Francisco Chronicle

Continue reading " Former Employee Allowed To Seek Full Punitive Damages from FedEx " »