Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

An Oregon girl whose truck-driver father accidentally ran her over with his big rig has won $24.3 million in damages from the Portland company that a Sacramento judge found legally responsible for her injuries.

In a court-trial decision returned Dec. 14, Judge David W. Abbott said the firm that hired Simon Loza Mejia, Freeway Transport Inc., was liable for the girl's injuries.

"Defendant was listed on the shipper's bill of lading as the carrier," Abbott wrote. "Defendant insured the load. Defendant guaranteed delivery of the load."

Read full story here at the Sacramento Bee.

Continue reading "Sacramento Jury Awards Over $24 M to Girl Run Over by Truck" »

The city of Los Angeles paid $7 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a volunteer for the Los Angeles Triathlon, who was left a paraplegic by an accident during the event in 2007, according to his attorney.

Steve Albala, who was 60 at the time of the accident, was on his motorcycle helping to officiate the bicycle portion of the triathlon. A traffic officer motioned for a vehicle to enter an intersection into the volunteer's path, causing the accident, Albala's attorney contended in the lawsuit.

Read the full story here at the LA Times.

Continue reading "L.A. Settles Accident Lawsuit for $7 M" »

The family of a bicyclist killed last year in a collision with a truck in Baltimore has filed a $5 million wrongful-death lawsuit against the driver and his employer.

On Aug. 4, John R. "Jack" Yates, 67, was riding his bike behind a truck when he became caught in the vehicle's rear wheels and was run over as it turned right, police said at the time. Yates died at the scene.

The civil suit, filed in Baltimore Circuit Court on behalf of Yates' wife, son and daughter, alleges negligence by driver Michael Dale Chandler of Severn and his employer, Potts & Callahan Inc., a demolition, excavation and equipment rental company, and seeks compensatory damages.

Read full story here at the Baltimore Sun.

Continue reading "Family of Cyclist Killed in Accident Files $5 M Lawsuit" »

Some of the nation’s leading orthopedic surgeons have reduced or stopped use of a popular category of artificial hips amid concerns that the devices are causing severe tissue and bone damage in some patients, often requiring replacement surgery within a year or two.

In recent years, such devices, known as “metal on metal” implants, have been used in about one-third of the approximately 250,000 hip replacements performed annually in this country. They are used in conventional hip replacements and in a popular alternative procedure known as resurfacing.

The devices, whose ball-and-socket joints are made from metals like cobalt and chromium, became widely used in the belief that they would be more durable than previous types of implants.

Read full story here at the New York Times

Continue reading "Concerns Voiced Over ‘Metal on Metal’ Hip Implants" »

On October 7, 2006, Steven Butler, by his own admission, was drunk and disorderly. He refused an order from a police officer in his hometown to get off a city bus. The officer used his Taser ECD (officially, an "Electronic Control Device") three times.

According to doctors, Butler suffered immediate cardiac arrest. He was revived by emergency medical technicians who happened to be close by, but his attorneys say his brain was deprived of oxygen for as long as 18 minutes. He is now permanently disabled.

Read the full CNN story here.

Continue reading "Tasers Under Investigation After Claims of Death and Injury" »

Family members of a Fort Worth woman killed in a December wreck involving an allegedly intoxicated off-duty Fort Worth police officer filed suit today against the Fort Worth bar at which the officer had been drinking.

At a news conference in Dallas today, the family's attorney said the family of Sonia Baker decided to sue The Pour House not as a quest for money, but to hold such establishments accountable for over-serving patrons and “placing profits ahead of safety.”

The lawsuit is filed under the state’s Dram Shop Act, which allows those who sell alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person to be held liable for resulting damages.

Read the full story here at the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Continue reading "Family of Fort Worth Woman Killed in Crash Sues Bar That Served Officer" »

In an annual 2009 report released by Bayer, the number of contraceptive lawsuits over Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella has risen to about 1,100 filed cases, and that number will continue to increase as thousands of women are considering claims for serious injuries that have been caused by side effects of the birth control pills.

Included among the claims are five Yasmin and Yaz class action lawsuits; three filed in the United States and two filed in Canada, according to Bayer’s 2009 annual report released late last month.

Read the full Bayer 2009 Report here

Continue reading " Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella 1,100 Birth Control Lawsuits Filed" »

A Chicago man injured on a mini-trampoline when he was an eighth-grade student at a South Side elementary school 18 years ago has settled a lawsuit with the Chicago Board of Education and a private youth center for almost $14.7 million, his attorneys said Thursday.

Ryan Murray, who was 13 at the time, was injured in a tumbling class on Dec. 14, 1992, at what was then Bryn Mawr Elementary School, the attorneys said. Murray, now 30, became a quadriplegic after he hit his head as he did a flip off a mini-trampoline onto a mat in the school's gymnasium, the attorneys said.

Read full story here at the Chicago Tribune

Continue reading "$14.7 M Settlement in Trampoline Lawsuit Against Chicago Board of Education" »

A Fairfax County jury has awarded nearly $3 million to the family of a man who died after his esophagus tore while he was swallowing a piece of steak, finding an Alexandria radiologist liable for misdiagnosing the man's condition as a hiatal hernia.

Large civil jury verdicts are rare in Fairfax, and Virginia's cap on medical malpractice judgments required the jury's award of $2,933,500 to be cut by more than half, to about $1.25 million.

Read full story at the Washington Post.

Continue reading "Fairfax VA Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Case, Family Awarded $1.25 M" »

A Philadelphia jury yesterday ordered Pfizer Inc.'s Wyeth unit to pay $9.45 million to an Alabama woman who claimed that the company's hormone-replacement drug caused her breast cancer.

The Common Pleas Court jury awarded $3.25 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages to Audrey Singleton, a retired school-bus driver from Chatom, Ala. The verdict also included $200,000 to Singleton's husband for loss of consortium.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Ala. Woman Awarded $9.45 M in Wyeth-Hormone Lawsuit" »

A N.J., man who suffered a head injury in a shopping center accident accepted $10.3 million to settle his suit.

On July 9, 2008, Michael Hess was leaning on a metal railing on an elevated walkway outside a store at Echo Plaza in Springfield when the railing gave way. He fell four feet to the pavement below, hitting his head. The railing had broken the day before, but the shopping center used wire to hold it together and did not post warning signs, says the plaintiffs attorney, Raymond Gill.

Hess suffered three fractured vertebrae, dislocated his left shoulder, and suffered nerve problems in his feet from walking on crutches.

Continue reading "N.J. Shopping Center to Pay $10.3 M in Premises Liability Suit" »

Exxon Mobil Corp., showed “reckless and reprehensible” behavior by failing to protect workers from dangerous radioactive material in used oil-drilling pipes, a lawyer for 16 men told a Louisiana jury.

“Exxon recklessly put profits above workers' safety,” Frank Buck told jurors in Gretna, Louisiana, in his closing argument at the end of a five-week trial.

Buck told jurors they should award more than $17 million to a group of 16 pipe workers who sued Exxon, claiming they were exposed to high levels of radium in the residue, or “scale,” that built up inside the pipes and now fear they may develop cancer.

Read full story here at the Houston Chronicle.

Continue reading "Plaintiffs in Personal Injury Suit Say Exxon ‘Reckless' With Worker Safety" »

For what appears to be the first time, a former resident of Camp Lejeune, N.C., has been permitted to move ahead with a claim against the Marine Corps for years of water contamination that she says led to the development of her non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The U.S. Department of the Navy, which includes the Marines, this week lost its bid to dismiss the case of Laura J. Jones of Iowa, who lived at Camp Lejeune from 1980 to 1983 as the spouse of a Marine officer.

In 2005, more than two decades after she left North Carolina, Jones was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Continue reading "Judge: Lejeune Resident Can Move Ahead With Injury Claim" »

Monty and Linda Hardy had taken their 2008 Toyota Avalon to a Grapevine dealership "several times" with complaints about uncommanded acceleration but were told there was nothing wrong, their attorney says.

On the day after Christmas, Monty Hardy was driving the Toyota in Southlake when it sped through a T-intersection, barreled through a steel fence, struck a tree and landed upside down in an icy pond. He and all three passengers in the car were killed.

Read full story here at Dallas Morning News

Continue reading "Toyota Owners Took Concerns to Dealership Before Fatal Southlake Crash" »

GlaxoSmithKline Plc rejected allegations that it concealed safety information about its diabetes drug Avandia or acted inappropriately in marketing it, saying a U.S. Senate staff report was inaccurate and incomplete.

The company diligently studied the drug’s safety and effectiveness, and communicated its findings to governments, regulators, scientists and doctors, London-based Glaxo said in a statement.

Read the full Bloomberg story here.

Continue reading "Glaxo Backs Avandia’s Safety Says That US Report Biased " »

A jury has awarded a woman $23.4 million in a civil judgment against Ford Motor Co. for a 2007 freeway accident that left her a quadriplegic.

Cynthia Castillo lost control of her 1997 Ford Explorer when the tread separated from her left-rear tire as she drove on the freeway.

Her attorney, Brian Brandt, said the SUV veered off the freeway and rolled three times down an embankment, leaving her legs and most of her body paralyzed. Flaws in the vehicle's design caused it to lose control when the tire tread separates, Brandt said.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Woman Gets $23.4M for Personal Injury Ford Crash" »

The Food and Drug Administration, under fire from a new Senate report questioning the safety of GlaxoSmithKline PLC's diabetes drug Avandia, told doctors that patients taking the medicine should stay on it unless their doctors say otherwise.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.), the chairwoman of the House appropriations panel that controls the FDA's budget, said: "I strongly urge the FDA to remove Avandia from the market until a truly independent, science-based advisory panel can evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the drug."

Read full article here at the Wall Street Journal.

Continue reading "FDA Faces More Pressure to Pull Avandia Diabetes Drug" »

A pedestrian wearing a hooded jacket has been killed by a commuter train in Dallas.

The woman walked into a Trinity Railway Express train, which links Dallas and Fort Worth and carries about 10,000 passengers daily, during afternoon rush hour Monday.

Read full story here at the Fort Worth Star Telegram

Continue reading "Texas Woman Dies After Walking Into Train in Dallas" »

Three years ago, Dr.Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, conducted a landmark study that suggested that the best-selling diabetes drug Avandia raised the risk of heart attacks. The study led to a Congressional inquiry, stringent safety warnings, a sharp drop in the drug’s sales of GlaxoSmithKline, Avandia’s maker.

The battle between Dr. Nissen and GlaxoSmithKline was waged from afar in news releases and published papers. But on May 10, 2007, 11 days before Dr. Nissen’s study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine, he and four company executives met face to face in a private meeting whose details have not been disclosed until now.

Read the full article here at the New York Times.

Continue reading "Heart Attack and Heart Failure Side Effects of Avandia Diabetes Drug" »

The maker of Poligrip denture cream will stop making formulas containing zinc amid lawsuits claiming years of excessive use caused neurological damage and blood problems in consumers, allegedly crippling some.

GlaxoSmithKline will stop making and marketing Super Poligrip Original, Ultra Fresh and Extra Care products in the U.S. The company plans to reformulate the creams without zinc.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Continue reading "Glaxo to Remove Zinc From Denture Cream" »

Confidential studies by Food and Drug Administration officials recommend that GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia, a diabetes medicine, get pulled from the market because it is linked to heart attacks.

The studies, released as part of a report on Avandia by staff of Senate Finance Committee members Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Max Baucus (D., Mont.), also say any head-to-head trial where patients get Avandia and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s diabetes medicine Actos would be "unethical and exploitative." GlaxoSmithKline is currently sponsoring a study, called TIDE, where patients get either Avandia, Actos or other medicines.

Read the full Wall Street Journal Story here

Continue reading "GlaxoSmithKline Knew of Avandia's Cardiac Risks, Senate Report Says" »

Hundreds of people taking Avandia, a diabetes medicine, needlessly suffer heart attacks and heart failure each month, according to confidential government reports that recommend the drug be removed from the market.

The reports, obtained by The New York Times, say that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar pill named Actos, about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be averted every month because Avandia can hurt the heart. Avandia, intended to treat Type 2 diabetes, is known as rosiglitazone and was linked to 304 deaths during the third quarter of 2009.

Read full New York Times dtory here.

Continue reading "FDA Report Avandia Diabetes Drug Harms Heart" »

A range of health problems are linked to the pits on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Toxic substances have been found in the smoke.

The noxious smoke plumes that wafted over the military base in Balad, Iraq, alarmed Lt. Col. Michelle Franco. The stench from a huge burn pit clung to her clothing, skin and hair.

She wheezed and coughed constantly. When Franco returned to the U.S., she was diagnosed with reactive airway dysfunction syndrome. She is no longer able to serve as an Air Force nurse.

Read full story here at the Los Angeles Times

Continue reading " US Army Veterans Blame Burn Pits For Toxic Injury" »

The jury ordered pain pump manufacturer I-Flow Corp. to pay $4.5 million to a man whose implanted pump caused the cartilage in his shoulder joint to wear almost completely away, a condition known as chondrolysis.

In the first verdict of its kind, an Oregon jury has found for the plaintiff in a case against the manufacturer of a pain pump, awarding $4.5 million to a man for permanent damage to his shoulder joint. The verdict, which included damages paid to his wife for loss of consortium, comes in what many considered a test case for the defense. (Beale v. I-Flow Corp., No. 080101554 (Or., Multnomah Co. Dist. Jan. 22, 2010).)

Read full story here Trial

Continue reading "Oregon Jury Finds for Plaintiff in First Pain Pump Verdict " »

Toyota Motor Corp. and U.S. regulators are looking into possible steering problems in the company's popular Corolla compact, the latest quality issue to surface in the wake of two recalls that covered millions of vehicles and forced Toyota to halt U.S. sales of eight models.

The Corolla investigation could start as early as Thursday, said a U.S. Transportation Department official. The inquiry will cover about 500,000 model-year 2009 and 2010 Corollas, officials said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received 163 complaints about the steering in Corollas from those model years, according to the safety agency's Web site.

Read the full Wall Street Journal Article here.

Continue reading "U.S. to Probe Toyota Corolla Steering Reports " »

U.S. regulators on Tuesday opened an investigation into whether Toyota Motor Corp acted in a timely way to recall cars for acceleration problems, and the automaker moved to slow its U.S. production to avoid a costly ballooning of inventories.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had requested production data, consumer complaints and other documents expected to shed light on how and when Toyota learned of problems affecting about 6 million vehicles it has recalled in the United States.

Read full Reuters story here.

Continue reading "U.S. Opens Probe into Toyota Recalls; Output Cut" »

A year after Continental Connection Flight 3407 plunged into a house near Buffalo, killing all 49 people on board and a man in the house, lawyers are preparing to negotiate in dollars and cents the price of raw grief and loss.

Thirty-four lawsuits filed by the husbands, wives and children of passengers demand compensation for negligence, wrongful death and punitive damages from Houston-based Continental Airlines and Colgan Air, the Manassas, Va., regional carrier operating the Feb. 12, 2009, flight. Also named are Colgan parent Pinnacle Airlines of Memphis, Tenn.; Montreal-based Bombardier Aerospace, which made the plane; and FlightSafety International, which helped train the pilots.

Click here to read full story.

Continue reading "Families of Plane Crash Victims Must Put Value on Grief " »

Roche Holding AG, the Swiss drugmaker, must pay $25.16 million in damages to a former user of its Accutane drug who blamed the acne medicine for his inflammatory bowel disease, a New Jersey jury ruled.

Andrew McCarrell, 38, won the verdict at a retrial in Atlantic City, New Jersey. An appeals court ordered the new trial after overturning a $2.62 million award he won in May 2007. McCarrell, a computer technician from Birmingham, Alabama, testified he got sick after taking the drug for acne in 1995. He needed five surgeries, including one to remove his colon.

Read the full Reuter story here.

Continue reading "" »

Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles have been linked to 34 deaths by consumers filing complaints with the U.S. government over unexpected acceleration, according to the Transportation Department.

The total jumped by 13 fatalities since Jan. 27 as nine more filings were added to a database the department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration uses to track deaths, injuries and consumer complaints.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601209&sid=aPso41xXZS60Read the full Bloomberg story here.

Continue reading "Toyota Acceleration Complaints Cite 34 Deaths, U.S. Data Show" »

The wife of the driver of a 2008 Avalon that shot into a pond in Southlake and flipped, killing four people, said she believes quicker action by Toyota could have prevented the tragedy.

Linda Hardy's husband, Monty, was behind the wheel of his car that landed upside down in a small pond in Southlake.

Read full story here at WFAA

Continue reading "WFAA: Wife of Southlake Texas Driver Who Died Slams Toyota " »

Federal investigators found scores of problems at UC Irvine Medical Center during a fall inspection that again put the troubled hospital's Medicare funding at risk, according to report released Thursday.

In an 85-page report on their surprise October inspection, regulators said they observed poor oversight and mistakes by UCI doctors, nurses and pharmacists, leading to inadequate care that in some cases harmed patients.

Read full story here at the Los Angeles Times.

Continue reading "More Medical Malpractice Problems Discovered at UCI Medical Center" »

Los Angeles is awash in billboards and other outdoor signs advertising the weight loss treatment.

One feature of life in Southern California that's become hard to avoid is the relentless advertising for a weight-loss procedure known as lap-band surgery.

The billboards feature a willowy blond in a red tank top and the phone number 1-800-GET-THIN in huge red letters. "LOSE WEIGHT WITH THE LAP-BAND!" they say.

Read the full story here in the Los Angeles Times

Continue reading "Los Angeles Lap-Band Ads" »

The company vigorously denies that its vehicles' acceleration problems might stem from an electronic or software glitch. But it remains an open question, and any such finding would be devastating.

In the nearly five months since it launched a string of recalls to stop its cars from accelerating out of control, Toyota Motor Corp. has been adamant about one thing: It's not the electronics.

Company officials first put the blame on floor mats that could entrap the accelerator, later amending that to include gas pedals themselves that could stick.

Read the full story here at the Los Angeles Times

Continue reading "Toyota Car Recall: Now Electronics Questions" »

A teenager badly injured when he was shocked by a fallen power line near a state beach in late June has filed a lawsuit against the utility company that operates the wires.

Jacob Kirkendall, a 17-year-old Aptos High student with strong family ties in Los Gatos, names Pacific Gas & Electric Co., as well as the county of Santa Cruz and State Parks, as defendants in the suit.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Santa Cruz Family Sues Over Burns From Downed Powerlines" »

A Colorado man has fought mostly unsuccessfully to get his concerns heard since his wife's Prius car accident in 2006.

Before his wife's Prius suddenly accelerated uncontrollably to 90 miles per hour on a mountain highway, you'd have been hard-pressed to find a bigger fan of Toyota than Ted James.

A middle-school science teacher and ardent environmentalist, James got a Prius for his wife, Elizabeth, and a Corolla for himself.

Read the full story here at the Los Angeles Times.

Continue reading "Colorado Man's Crusade to Bring Attention to Defective Toyota Cars" »

State and local governments across the country may have to replace their water systems because of defective pipes, according to a whistle-blower lawsuit unsealed this week.

The whistle-blower, John Hendrix, accuses his former employer, one of the world’s largest pipe manufacturers, of falsifying test results about the quality of its products. Pipes that should last 50 years are in some cases rupturing in their very first year, according to Mr. Hendrix and some state documents. This can lead to explosions, leaks, fires and other dangers.

Read full New York Times story here.

Continue reading "Defective PVC Bursting Pipes Lead to a Legal Battle " »

Former regulators hired by Toyota Motor Corp. helped end at least four U.S. investigations of unintended acceleration by company vehicles in the last decade, warding off possible recalls, court and government records show.

Christopher Tinto, vice president of regulatory affairs in Toyota’s Washington office, and Christopher Santucci, who works for Tinto, helped persuade the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to end probes including those of 2002-2003 Toyota Camrys and Solaras, court documents show. Both men joined Toyota directly from NHTSA, Tinto in 1994 and Santucci in 2003.

Read full Bloomberg story here.

Continue reading "Ex NHTSA Regulators Hired by Toyota Helped Halt Investigations" »

Four Toyota Motor Corp. units were named as defendants in a racketeering lawsuit that claims the companies collaborated to sell cars they knew were unsafe.

The lawsuit, filed Feb. 8 in federal court in Covington, Kentucky, targets Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc., as well units that produce Toyota’s Camry and Avalon models and handle leasing and engineering.

Read the full Bloomberg story here.

Continue reading "Toyota Units Named in Suit Claiming Racketeering " »

Legal expenses and damages could add billions to Toyota's recall costs, with dozens of suits pending over injuries and deaths and at least 30 seeking class-action status over lost use of vehicles.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s massive recalls for acceleration and braking problems are creating a huge legal liability for the company -- and Toyota owners may share in the pain.

Toyota faces dozens of lawsuits over injuries and deaths attributed to safety problems, with many more suits expected. Lawyers and legal experts said the lawsuits could be particularly expensive for the automaker if plaintiffs prove that Toyota was aware of problems but failed to correct them.

Read full story here at the Los Angeles Times

Continue reading "Toyota Faces Massive Legal Liability From Defective Cars" »

Two defibrillator brands made by Boston Scientific Corp. have a design flaw that can result in the devices delivering potentially life-threatening shocks to the hearts of patients, authors of a medical journal article say.

The defect can cause the Cognis and Teligen brand defibrillators to deliver the shocks when they aren't needed in the many patients who get the devices implanted just under the skin, according to an article in the journal HeartRhythm. The potential malfunction, while appearing to be extremely rare, could in theory affect any of the more than 90,000 devices implanted, said the authors. They advised physicians to look for the problem should the devices malfunction.

Read the full story here at the Wall Street Journal

Continue reading "Boston Scientific Defibrillator Safety Questioned " »

A Jefferson County jury has found Christus St. Mary Hospital negligent in its treatment of a 41-year-old woman who died of a heart attack within hours of an emergency room visit.

In the verdict, filed Jan. 21, the jury found that the Port Arthur hospital along with Dr. Michael Peterson committed “willful or wanton negligence,” in their treatment of Stacy Meaux.

The jury awarded a combined $1.3 million in damages to Meaux; her mother, Mary Ann, Licatino; and her two children.

Limitations on the amount of money that can be awarded for mental anguish pain and medical malpractice will limit this to $250,000 per defendant.

Read the article here

Toyota said that its dealers are working overtime to fix sticking gas pedals on some 2.1 million recalled vehicles at a rate of 50,000 per day and have so far repaired 225,000 cars.

Toyota recalled 3.8 million vehicles last fall to repair what it called floor-mat "entrapment" of the gas pedal, and an additional 2.1 million cars last month to fix what it calls an unrelated sticky-gas-pedal problem.

Read the full story here at the Washington Post.

Continue reading "Toyota to Fix Gas Pedals as Lawsuits Increase" »

The parents and daughter of a man killed in a car crash have sued the bar that allegedly sold alcohol to the driver who was not only drunk, but also underage.

Michael Slay Chapman died on Nov. 27 when the vehicle in which he was riding was struck by a vehicle driven by Bo Pillsbury. Before the incident, the 19-year-old Pillsbury had been drinking at the Dixie Dance Hall in Beaumont's Crockett Street Entertainment District.

Chapman's parents, Wayne and Teresa Chapman, and his daughter, Zoe Jane Chapman, filed a lawsuit against Dixie Host Ltd. on Feb. 1 in Jefferson County District Court.

"Despite being obviously intoxicated and/or showing obvious signs of intoxication that a reasonable person, especially a provider of alcohol should recognize, employees of Defendant continued to serve Bo Pillsbury alcohol," the suit states.

"After drinking for an extended period of time at the Dixie Dance Hall, Bo Pillsbury was allowed to leave the premises and drive away. As he was driving in an intoxicated state, Bo Pillsbury lost control of his vehicle and struck a vehicle in which Michael Slay Chapman was a passenger."

Read the full story here.

Continue reading "Family of Crash Victim Sues Dixie Dance Hall for Serving Drinks to Driver " »

A Texas attorney is moving at full speed with a proposed class action against Toyota over accidents allegedly caused by stuck gas pedals, even as the automaker announced it has a remedy to put the brakes on the problem.

Representing Corpus Christi residents Sylvia and Albert Pena III and others similarly situated, attorney Hilliard filed suit against Toyota Motor Corp. and Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. The suit was filed Jan. 29 in the Corpus Christi Division of the Southern District of Texas.

"This is a civil action against defendants based upon information and belief that defendants, and each of them, designed, manufactured, distributed, and sold certain automobiles equipped with the Electronic Throttle Control System with Intelligence (ETCS-i) and/or Electronic Throttle Control System (ETC) that is defective in that it will allow sudden unintended acceleration of the vehicle engine," wrote Hilliard.

Read the full story here.

Continue reading "Breach of Warranty Claimed in Texas Class Action Against Toyota " »

Bayer Healthcare Corp. clearly stated its oral contraceptives Yasmin and Yaz contained possible side effects, the pills' maker said in response to lawsuits.

More than 50 women in Indianapolis have filed suit against the company, joining dozens of women nationwide who allege the birth control pills caused heart attacks, strokes, blood clots and other health problems, The Indianapolis Star reported Monday.

Read full story here.

As she walked toward the supervisor's office, Tyson Foods employee Gwendolyn Miles says she slipped on a wet floor and fell. Miles claims a leak in the roof caused the floor to become a hazardous condition.

Miles filed a personal injury lawsuit against Tyson Foods Inc. on Feb. 2 in the Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas, arguing the Tyson building was not a safe place to work and was in violation of the Texas Labor Code.

Read full story here at Southeast Texas Record

Continue reading "Tyson Employee Files Slip and Fall Lawsuit at Carthage Texas Facility" »

Toyota said that it would recall 437,000 of its 2010 Priuses and other hybrid models worldwide because of a glitch in the braking system. 155,000 are in the United States and another 53,000 in Europe.

Separately, Toyota also recalled 7,300 of its latest-model Camrys in the United States to fix a power steering pressure hose in the engine compartment that may be the incorrect length. This could cause a hole in the brake tube and deplete the braking fluid, interfering with braking.

Read the full New York Times story here.

Continue reading "Toyota Recalls 2010 Prius for Brake Problems " »

A power plant under construction in central Connecticut exploded with earthquake force that shook homes as workers purged natural gas lines in preparation for the plant to open this year. At least five people were killed and more than two dozen were injured as a section of the plant collapsed and burned.

Witnesses said the explosion at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown, 15 miles south of Hartford, occurred at 11:17 a.m. in a thundering convulsion of flames and smoke seen for miles around.

Read the full New York Times story here.

Continue reading "5 Dead in Connecticut Power Plant Blast " »

More than 50 women claim in lawsuits filed in Indianapolis that they suffered strokes, heart attacks or other serious health problems while taking the birth control pills Yasmin or Yaz, manufactured by Bayer Healthcare Corp.

Across the nation, dozens of lawsuits have been filed in the past few months by women claiming similar health problems after taking the pills.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Indiana Women sue Bayer over Yasmin pill" »

A year after peanut butter crackers nearly killed him, Claude Ivester still has not fully recovered, and the food safety net remains largely unchanged.

The 74-year-old feels weaker than he did before he contracted salmonella food poisoning.
Ivester, lives in Elbert County in northeast Georgia, across the state from the plant in Blakely where the tainted peanut butter originated.

Read the full story here.

Toyota has told dealers it's preparing a plan to repair the brakes on thousands of hybrid Prius cars in the U.S.

In a message sent last night to dealers, a Toyota group vice president, Bob Carter, said the company is working on a plan and will disclose more details early next week. More than 100 drivers of 2010 Prius cars have complained that their brakes seemed to fail momentarily when they were driving on bumpy roads. The U.S. government says the problem is suspected in four crashes and two minor injuries.

Read full story at the Los Angeles Times

Continue reading "Toyota Preparing to Announce Prius Fix " »

Faced with an unprecedented recall of millions of vehicles and rivals swooping in on its customers, the public relations machine at Toyota Motor Corp -- one of the most savvy brand-creators in Asia -- is floundering.

Toyota has consistently played down recurring complaints of unintended acceleration, breaking what PR experts said is the cardinal rule in crisis management: assume the worst.

Read full article here.

Continue reading "Toyota Grapples With Huge Car Recall" »

The trip was one that Guadalupe Alberto had made many times before, just a few miles through her neighborhood to the small grocery store her family had owned for years.

It was a Saturday afternoon, April 2008, and Mrs. Alberto, a 77-year-old former autoworker, was driving her 2005 Toyota Camry. Within blocks of her home, witnesses told police, the car accelerated out of control, jumped a curb and flew through the air before crashing into a tree. Mrs. Alberto was killed instantly.

Read the rest of the NY Times article here.

Continue reading "More Crashes Adds toToyota’s Problems" »

Toyota Motor Corp. said it knew previously about complaints related to the brakes of its Prius hybrid car and Thursday expanded a safety probe to all its hybrid models.

The Japanese auto maker said it found and corrected problems with its new 2010 Prius hybrid and said it did not try to "cover up" the glitch. But the disclosure and the expansion of its investigation to include such models as its Lexus HS250h and Sai luxury hybrid sedans comes amid intensifying government and public scrutiny of the world's No. 1 auto maker by vehicle sales.

Read the full story here at the Wall Street Journal.

Continue reading "Toyota Investigates Brakes on All Hybrids After Problems With Prius " »

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood advised owners of recalled vehicles to stop driving their cars, later characterizing the remark as a misstatement.

LaHood's explosive comment at a House of Representatives hearing fueled new confusion over how consumers should respond to a January recall of 2.4 million cars and trucks due to
faulty accelerator pedals.

Read breaking news here

Continue reading "US Transport Secretary Comment Shakes Toyota" »

News 8 has confirmed that a sticking accelerator is being investigated as one possible cause of a crash in Southlake in December that killed four people driving in a Toyota Avalon.

Recently, Toyota issued an extensive recall of close to 3 million vehicles for that very reason.

Read full story here.

Continue reading "Update Southlake Toyota Wrongful Death Car Crash" »

The family of a Houston woman whose car smashed into a cement wall, killing her on impact, filed what is likely the third acceleration-related wrongful death lawsuit against Toyota in the nation.

Trina Harris, a 34-year-old mother of two, died on impact when her 2009 Toyota Corolla slammed into an East Hardy Toll Road cement divider, leaving no skid marks.

Her husband, filed a lawsuit against Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., gas pedal maker CTS Corp. and Fred Haas Toyota World, which leased her the car.

Read the full story here.

In response to a nationwide recall of approximately 5.3 million Toyota vehicles for defective accelerator pedals, plaintiff's attorneys have filed three lawsuits in New Orleans asking Toyota to return profits it made from the sale of the vehicles.

The lawsuits state that the accelerator mechanism of the vehicles can become stuck in a depressed position and fail to return or return slowly to the idle position causing, "extreme, uncontrollable and inherently dangerous acceleration."

The Toyota models affected by the January recall include the 2009-2010 RAV4, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe, 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2008-2010 Sequoia and the 2007-2010 Camry.

Read the full story here.

Continue reading "Class Actions Against Toyota Over Gas Pedals Filed in New Orleans " »

– Toyota Motor Corp is facing a growing number lawsuits from consumers who complain their vehicles suddenly accelerate or may do so, and want the world's largest automaker to pay for it.

Last week, Toyota stopped selling eight models in the United States and Canada, including its popular Camry and Corolla, because of possible unintended acceleration.

Some 8 million vehicles are up for repair worldwide over problems including alleged faulty accelerator pedals made by the supplier CTS Corp, and the possibility that floor mats could jam the accelerator pedal.

Read the full story here Yahoo.com

Continue reading "Toyota's Huge Problem: Product Liability Lawsuits" »

Pfizer Inc. persuaded a Pennsylvania state court judge to slash by 93 percent a $75 million punitive-damages award to a woman who blamed the company’s menopause drugs for her breast cancer.

Judge Ackerman in Philadelphia reduced the award to Connie Barton to $5.6 million after finding it was excessive. Jurors also awarded Barton $3.7 million in compensatory damages in her lawsuit against Pfizer’s Wyeth unit over the hormone- replacement drug Prempro. Ackerman left that award undisturbed in his post-trial ruling, according to court docket entries.

Read the Bloomberg story here.

Continue reading "Pfizer Update: 93% Cut in Prempro Punitive-Damages" »

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.

Read the full story here.

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.

Read full story here.

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.

Read the full story here.

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.
Download file

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" »

The first lawsuit associated with the January 2008 fire at the Monte Carlo has been filed by a Florida resident who claims she suffered permanent injuries due to smoke inhalation associated with the early-morning roof-top blaze.

The Las Vegas-based attorney for Jean Bartoli, who was staying at the hotel when the fire broke out, said the Monte Carlo’s alarm systems worked, but his client was evacuated to an area of the hotel where guests were subjected to smoke from the fire.

Continue reading "Florida Resident Files Lawsuit Related to Las Vegas Fire " »

- 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.

Continue reading "Athlete Who Lost Legs Files Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Against Hospitals and Doctors" »

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" »

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.
Download file

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?" »

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" »

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" »

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.

Read the pdf opinion here.

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" »

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 " »

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.

Read the full story here.

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" »

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 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" »

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" »

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 " »

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 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" »

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.

Continue reading "FDA Review Says MRI Imaging Drugs That Contain Gadolinium Riskier for Kidney Patients " »

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" »

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 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" »

The head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission conceded that the agency “hasn’t been acting as quickly as it should” on crib safety problems.

More than 2.1 million drop-side cribs by Stork Craft Manufacturing of Canada are being recalled following reports of four infant suffocations. The CPSC said the recall involves 1.2 million cribs in the United States and almost 1 million in Canada, where Stork Craft is based. Sales of the cribs being recalled go back to 1993 and nearly 150,000 of the cribs carry the Fisher-Price logo.

Continue reading "Federal Safety Regulators Announce New Crib Recall" »

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Merck osteoporosis drug Fosamax causes jaw damage, more than two months after a jury deadlocked in a case involving a similar claim.

U.S. District Judge John Keenan found that Bessie Flemings, 74, a Mississippi resident, failed to present enough evidence to show that her use of Fosamax caused osteonecrosis of the jaw, or the death of jawbone tissue.

Keenan said Flemings' case was the second "bellwether" trial in nationwide litigation over Fosamax, which has spawned close to 900 lawsuits.

Continue reading "Federal Lawsuit Dismissed Over Merck's Fosamax " »

The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld the $6.1 million jury award to strip-search victim Louise Ogborn, saying McDonald’s legal department was “fully aware” of hoax calls to its restaurants, yet its management made “a conscious decision not to train or warn employees or managers about the calls.”

In a unanimous decision, the court also said that the $5 million awarded to Ogborn in punitive damages for McDonald’s “reprehensible” behavior was justified because the evidence showed the company repeatedly “placed a higher value on corporate reputation than on the safety of its own employees” over the 10 years it knew about the hoax calls.

A three-judge panel also upheld the judgment for former assistant manager Summers, who claimed she was duped into executing the search because of the company’s failure to warn her about the hoaxes. But the court cut her $1 million punitive damage award to $400,000, saying the jury’s verdict was excessive. Summers was also awarded $100,000 in compensatory damages.

Continue reading "Appeals Court Upholds $6 M Strip-Search Verdict Against McDonald's" »

A Phillipsburg man was awarded nearly $6 million for injuries suffered when a large tree limb dropped onto their car in 2006.

Kenneth Matlock is permanently disabled and can no longer work as a truck driver, his career for more than 20 years.

On July 4, 2006 Matlock, his wife and three children were travelling on Route 29 when the limb from an oak tree, fell onto their car. Matlock and his wife suffered broken necks and he lost the use of his right hand after the limb fell from a height of about 20 feet. Kenneth Matlock, now 43, lost control of the SUV, which continued north 220 feet until hitting a guard rail on the opposite side of the road.

Continue reading "Jury Awards Man $6 M When a Tree Falls on his Car" »

A Florida jury ordered cigarette maker Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million in damages to a 61-year-old ex-smoker named Cindy Naugle who is wheelchair-bound by emphysema.

The Broward Circuit Court jury assessed $56.6 million in past and future medical expenses against the company, part of Altria Group Inc, as well as $244 million in punitive damages.

The verdict is the largest of the so-called Engle progeny cases that have been tried so far, both sides said.

Philip Morris will seek further review of the verdict because of "numerous erroneous rulings by the trial judge," Philip Morris spokesman Murray Garnick said in a statement.

Continue reading "Philip Morris Ordered to Pay $300 M to Smoker" »

A Richmond jury awarded a librarian at the Library of Virginia $8 M in damages, the amount sought by her lawyers after the woman was struck by a GRTC Transit System bus and severely injured.

Meikiu Lo, now 34, suffered spinal and shoulder damage and multiple hip and pelvis fractures that resulted in chronic pain after a GRTC bus making a right turn struck her as she crossed the street beside the library.

She had waited on the sidewalk and was two-thirds of the way across the street when the bus, struck her, according to her attorney.

Continue reading "Jury Awards $8 M to Woman Injured by City Bus " »

Two Pfizer Inc. units’ hormone- replacement therapy drugs caused an Illinois woman’s breast cancer, making them liable for at least $6.3 million in damages, a Philadelphia jury ruled.

Jurors found that the combination of Wyeth’s Prempro and Pharmacia & Upjohn’s Provera menopause drugs was a substantial contributing factor in Donna Kendall’s breast cancer. Kendall, 66, had a double mastectomy in 2002 after taking the hormone-replacement drugs for 11 years.

The panel will hear evidence Nov. 23 on whether Wyeth and Upjohn should pay punitive damages over their handling of the drugs. Wyeth has lost six of nine jury verdicts, including the last four in a row, over the drugs since 2006. This is Upjohn’s third loss at the jury stage. A trial judge threw out one verdict and another is on appeal.

Continue reading "Pfizer Must Pay $6 M in Damages Over Prempro " »

The Iowa Supreme Court overturned lower court rulings and said a minister who crashed his car trying to avoid a trampoline that had blown into the road during a storm can sue its owners.

Thompson and his wife filed a lawsuit against the owners of the trampoline, Kaczinski and Lockwood, saying they were responsible for the 2006 crash near Earlham in Madison County because they had not secured the disassembled trampoline.

Court records show Kaczinski and Lockwood had taken the trampoline apart during the summer of 2006 and placed its parts in their yard about 38 feet from a gravel road nearby. A few weeks later, on Sept. 17, 2006, Thompson, who is a minister, was driving down the road from the church when he swerved to avoid the trampoline top, which has blown into the road during a storm the night before.

Continue reading "Iowa Supreme Court Orders Trial in Trampoline Case" »

Federal regulators are demanding changes to labels on devices that deliver pain killers directly to joints after surgery, in response to numerous reports of irreversible cartilage damage.

The Food and Drug Administration said from 2006 to 2008 it received 35 reports of severe cartilage damage in patients who were given pain pumps after joint surgery. Nearly all the reports involved patients who had shoulder surgery; more than half needed additional surgery, including joint replacement.

Companies making pain pumps include I-Flow Corp. and Stryker Corp. Makers of the anesthetics used in pain pumps, such as APP Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Hospira Inc., will also have to update their labels. The firms have 30 days to propose language that includes a warning about the potential for cartilage destruction, according to the FDA.

Continue reading "FDA Orders Change to Pain Pump Warning Labels." »

A federal judge has denied a request by Cintas Corp. for summary judgment in a 2007 wrongful death lawsuit in Tulsa, a ruling that paves the way for a jury to hear the case against the nation's largest uniform supplier next year.

U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan wrote in a 31-page opinion that there is ''conflicting evidence'' whether Cintas managers knew workers in company laundries were breaking safety rules to save time, but did nothing to stop them.

Eagan wrote that videotape evidence taken from the Tulsa plant ''shows employees routinely disregarding Cintas' safety procedures.''

Amalia Diaz Torres is suing Cincinnati-based Cintas, claiming the company's plant managers knew about -- and even encouraged -- the dangerous working practices that led to the death of her husband, Eleazar Torres-Gomez, in 2007.

Continue reading "Trial to Proceed in Cintas Wrongful Death Lawsuit" »

Six months after the California Supreme Court lowered standing requirements for consumer class actions, a state trial judge has certified a class of consumers who purchased contact lens solution linked to an infection that can cause blindness.

Orange County, Calif., Superior Court Judge David C. Velasquez ruled on Nov. 12 against Abbott Medical Optics Inc., formerly Advanced Medical Optics Inc.

Plaintiffs attorney Mark Robinson, credited the certification order to the California Supreme Court's May 18 decision in In re Tobacco II Cases. That ruling resolved a legal dispute over Proposition 64, a 2004 ballot initiative designed to curb consumer cases filed under California's unfair competition law by requiring that plaintiffs show actual injury. In that case, in which Robinson represented tobacco smokers, the California Supreme Court said that class actions alleging consumer fraud can go forward even if not all the class members have suffered injuries caused by deceptive advertising.

Continue reading "Calif. Contact-Lens Solution Class Action Lawsuit Is Certified" »

Two men who became seriously ill after working at a Hicksville magazine distributor located atop a former nuclear fuel plant have been awarded $12 million in a federal negligence lawsuit against Verizon Communications Inc.

Gerard DePascale, and Liam Neville, each were awarded $5 million, and DePascale's wife, Joanne, $2 million, after their lawyers successfully argued the men were sickened by toxins that remained at the site years after operations ceased in 1967.

Continue reading "Jury Awards $12M in Verizon Toxic Waste Lawsuit" »

An Albemarle County, Va jury awarded $5.25 million to the parents and sibling of a 16-year-old county girl who was killed in a car accident in 2008.

The jury found that Don B. Swisher Trucking Corp., McCann Delivery Service and Kenneth Barbour were negligent when Barbour hit Sydney Aichs’ 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier with a tractor-trailer while running a red light on May 9, 2008.

Continue reading "Jury Awards $5.25M in Va Teenager Wrongful Death" »

Maximiliano Calcaño is 2 and was born with no arms. Maximiliano's mother, Anajai Calcaño, lives in a small house with no indoor plumbing in a rural village in northern Dominican Republic, not far from where coal ash generated by Virginia-based AES Corp. wound up at the edge of the sea.

More than 50,000 tons of coal ash laden with heavy metals was left at a port abutting local homes for years while the company, politicians, prosecutors, environmental activists and bureaucrats argued -- and residents got sick.

Continue reading "Dominican Republic blames U.S.Power Company for Birth Defects" »

Ten months after millions of cubic yards of coal ash spilled from a Tennessee Valley Authority dam, Gary Topmiller and his wife, Pam, said they are trapped in their home across the Emory River from the site and "living in hell."

Topmiller was among several people who spoke to reporters about their problems since Dec. 22, when a breach in an earthen dike at TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant sent 5.4 million cubic yards of ash into the Emory River and onto private property.

Continue reading "Property Owner Near TVA Ash Spill Has Medical Problems" »

The husband and estate of a woman who developed blood clots and died shortly after undergoing outpatient knee surgery have been awarded more than $6 million.

In December of 2003, Ruby Quarles, 42, was referred by her primary care physician at Fort Benning's Martin Army Community Hospital to an orthopedic surgeon to investigate complaints of worsening pain in her left knee, according to trial documents.

The surgeon, Dr.McKenzie, gave Quarles an injection for the pain and ordered physical therapy; during a follow-up visit in January 2004, McKenzie ordered an MRI to determine whether Quarles might have a tear in the cartilage of her knee.

The MRI indicated a "cartilaginous loose body" behind Quarles' knee, according to the pre-trial order, and on Jan. 29 she underwent less than an hour of arthroscopic surgery at Doctors Hospital. McKenzie did not find any loose cartilage or other damage, and that afternoon Quarles' daughter, Frances, took her home.

Continue reading "Widower Awarded $6 M in Medical Malpractice Trial" »

The Chinese drywall product liability complaint is now nearly a year old. And while incidents of Chinese drywall being installed in homes have all but stopped, complaints of bloody noses, sinus infections and vomiting spells for pets and people, widespread corrosion and blackening of copper tubing and wiring and "rotten egg" smell continue to escalate. Last spring, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission conducted 44 investigations into consumer complaints about drywall.

Continue reading "Updated Findings from the Chinese Drywall Report" »

Cancer patients who took drugs to cut the risk of anemia were twice as likely to develop blood clots in the lungs or legs as other patients, a decade-long study of more than 55,000 cancer patients has found.

The study adds to mounting evidence that the risks of the commonly used drugs -- known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents or ESAs -- may outweigh the benefits.

ESAs stimulate bone marrow to increase the production of red blood cells. They were first approved in cancer patients in 1991 to reduce the number of blood transfusions needed during chemotherapy.

Continue reading "Study Confirms Increased Blood Clot Risks With Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Drugs" »

An Air Force veteran and a one-time contractor who served in Iraq are suing military contractors Halliburton Co. and KBR Inc., claiming that the companies exposed them to toxic fumes by burning everything from human remains to tires in massive open-air pits.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Louisville by former Air Force Sgt. Sean Alexander Stough and ex-contractor Charles Hicks.

"The burn pits are still going on," said attorney Susan Burke, who represents the men.

The suit names Houston-based companies KBR and Halliburton, as well as the Turkish company ERKA Ltd. The lawsuit is the latest on behalf of former military members and contract workers who claim they were exposed to toxins from burning waste in the warzone. At least 32 suits over burn pits have been filed in 32 states.

Continue reading "Halliburton Co. and KBR Inc. Military Contractors Sued over Iraq 'Burn Pits'" »

Balsamic and other red wine vinegars often contain lead, a potent neurotoxin, and could pose a risk to children who consume it regularly, according to a new analysis by Environmental Health News.

Eating just one tablespoon a day of some vinegars can raise a young child's lead level by more than 30 percent, modeling requested by the news service shows.

Lead can damage people's neurological systems, particularly children's developing brains. Even low levels can reduce a child's IQ or trigger learning and behavioral disorders, scientific studies show. In adults, it has been linked to cardiovascular, kidney and immune system effects.

The heavy metal is so toxic and persistent in the body that there is no known threshold below which adverse effects do not occur, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Continue reading "Lead in Red Wine vinegars Could Cause Toxic Injury " »

Traffic deaths on U.S. roads reached a record low in the first half of 2009, according to projections released Oct. 9. Estimates show that 16,626 people died in traffic crashes between January and June –- a 7 percent decline from 17,871 for the same period last year. Projected figures for the period also show a record low fatality rate of 1.15 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, down from 1.23 deaths during the same period in 2008.

Read the Texas Car Accident report here.

Automobile accidents, auto collisions, car accidents, car crashes, or car wrecks, motor vehicle fender benders are an unfortunate fact of life. Auto accidents can be caused by any number of reasons including: Driver negligence, Driver impairment, Driver recklessness, Defective automobiles or parts and Dangerous road conditions.

Continue reading "Dallas Texas Car and Trucking Accident Lawsuit Update" »

There is progress to report in the Yaz and Yasmin multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2100) currently underway in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Judge David Herndon, who is overseeing the Yaz and Yasmin MDL, has appointed members to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee.

The Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee was appointed by Judge Herndon in an Order dated November 10, 2009.

Dr Shezad Malik will be working closely with the members of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee.

Continue reading "Dallas Yaz Lawsuit Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee Appointed" »

KTLA TV in Los Angeles just ran an investigation and news article into Yaz and Yasmin side effects that folks may be interesting in watching.

Click here for the link.

Read the full article here.

Continue reading "KTLA: Yaz, Yasmin Birth Control Users Report Serious Problems " »

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center officials said that 260 patients had been exposed to high doses of radiation during CT brain scans during an 18-month period, up from the hospital's original estimate of 206 in September.

A review by the hospital also found that about 20% of the patients received exposure directly to the lenses of their eyes, which puts them at a higher risk for cataracts.

Of the newly identified cases, 47 patients had died by the time the hospital began contacting victims -- a reflection, officials said, of their serious illnesses, not the radiation exposure.

Continue reading "Cedars-Sinai Finds More Patients Exposed to Excess Radiation" »

Researchers say trials of Pfizer Inc.’s Neurontin epilepsy treatment for uses that were not yet approved may have been altered to emphasize favorable results.

Comparisons of internal company documents with published data from 12 clinical trials found inconsistencies between data that made it into the medical journals and findings from the original trials, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Discrepancies included reports of positive results from trials that were initially found to be negative, and primary study goals reported as secondary study goals.

Continue reading "Data From Studies of Pfizer Neurontin Drug May Have Been Altered" »

A slip and fall accident is a type of personal injury claim that occurs when an individual slips and falls on another person’s property. It is based on the breach of duty that the owner of the property was negligent in failing to correct the dangerous condition that caused the slip and fall.

The term Premises Liability is used when assigning responsibility for injuries caused by the defective design or maintenance of property, including private homes, public buildings, and anywhere a person would have a reasonable expectation of safety.

"Negligence" means failure to use ordinary care to provide a safe place and to reduce or eliminate an unreasonable risk of harm created by the condition or use of a place, equipment or procedures.

Continue reading "Dallas Texas Slip and Fall Attorney Update" »

A Pennsylvania landowner is suing an energy company for polluting his soil and water by a natural gas drilling technique.

George Zimmermann, the owner of 480 acres in Washington County, southwest Pennsylvania, says Atlas Energy Inc. ruined his land with toxic chemicals used in or released there by hydraulic fracturing.

Water tests at three locations by gas wells on Zimmermann's property -- one is 1,500 feet from his home -- found seven potentially carcinogenic chemicals above "screening levels" set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Continue reading "Pa Lawsuit Says Gas Drilling Polluted Ground Water" »

- Toyota Motor Corp. has failed to correct a problem with the throttle control system on some of its vehicles, causing them to suddenly accelerate, lawyers for consumers said in a lawsuit.

Los Angeles residents Seong Bae Choi and Chris Chan Park, who claim they experienced multiple instances of unintended acceleration, filed the suit as a class action on Nov. 5, seeking to represent all U.S. owners of certain Toyota and Lexus models.

Toyota last month said it would recall as many as 3.8 million vehicles including Lexus ES luxury cars, Camry sedans and Prius hybrids over a potential flaw in which floor mats shifting out of position could jam the accelerator pedal. The mats aren’t the problem, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer.

Continue reading "Toyota Lawsuits by Consumers Over Sudden Acceleration of Vehicles" »

The New Jersey judiciary is considering a request from Passaic County judge for mass tort status for suits alleging strokes and other serious health problems from the oral contraceptives Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella.

With 13 suits filed in his court, Assignment Judge Donald Volkert Jr. wrote to Acting Administrative Director of the Courts Glenn Grant on Oct. 22 that "the case management and potential trial of this particular litigation would place a fairly substantial strain on our already limited resources."

There are 26 suits against the contraceptives' manufacturers pending in other counties, and Volkert said plaintiffs lawyers have told him the number could reach 1,000.

In a notice to the bar, the Administrative Office of the Courts says it will accept public comments until Dec. 31 on the proposal to centralize the cases in Atlantic, Bergen or Middlesex counties, where mass torts are heard.

Continue reading "Dallas Texas Yaz Update: Mass Tort Status for Suits Over Yaz, Yasmin" »

Smokers who want to quit and think a good first step is to switch to light or low-tar cigarettes are making a big mistake. A study has found that those smokers instead have about a 50% lower chance of giving up smoking.

The research, published in the November issue of Tobacco Control, analyzed survey data from about 31,000 smokers who were asked whether they had switched to a milder or low-tar brand of cigarettes and the reasons for the switch. They were queried about whether they had tried to give up smoking and if they could currently call themselves nonsmokers. Those who switched brands were 58% more likely to have attempted to give up smoking than those who stayed with one brand but were 60% less likely to successfully quit.

Continue reading "Light Cigarettes may not help Smokers Quit" »

The US food and drug safety watchdog warned that an over-the-counter men's sex aid, labeled as all-natural, contains a chemical similar to the active ingredient in Viagra and could be dangerous.

Stiff Nights, a product marketed as a dietary supplement for sexual enhancement, contains an ingredient that can dangerously lower blood pressure and is illegal," the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement. Read the full statement here.

The FDA began probing Stiff Nights after receiving a customer complaint about the product. The agency did not reveal the nature of the complaint.

The investigation found that rather than being all-natural, Stiff Nights contains sulfoaildenafil, a chemical similar to the ingredient in Viagra.

Continue reading " FDA: All-Natural Sex Pill Contains Viagra Chemical" »

A Sacramento jury set an eye-popping standard on the cost of radio station contests that kill and the resulting loss of a mother's love and a wife's companionship.

The tab for Entercom Sacramento LLC came to $16,577,118 in the water-intoxication death of Jennifer Lea Strange in a contest put on by radio station KDND "The End" (107.9 FM).

Such was the award rendered by a Sacramento Superior Court jury of seven men and five women in the trial to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Strange's survivors. The 28-year-old woman died Jan. 12, 2007, after she participated in KDND's "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest.

Continue reading "Jury Awards $16.6 M for Mom's Wrongful death in Radio Contest" »

Pfizer Inc. must pay about $75 million in punitive damages to an Illinois woman who developed cancer after taking one of the drugmaker’s menopause treatments.

A Philadelphia jury ordered Pfizer’s Wyeth unit on Oct. 26 to pay the bad-conduct award, which is about 20 times larger than the $3.7 million in actual damages the panel awarded to Connie Barton over her use of Wyeth’s Prempro menopause drug, according to people with direct knowledge of the verdict.

A judge ordered Barton’s punitive-damage award sealed at Wyeth’s request until the trial of another Prempro lawsuit in the same courthouse is completed. Lawyers in that case say jurors won’t start deliberating on that suit’s claims for another three weeks.

Continue reading "Pfizer Jury to Award $75 M Prempro Verdict to Woman " »

Donna Scroggin had a hormone replacement product liability suit against Wyeth and Upjohn and at the spring 2008 trial her claim that the drug companies failed to warn of the increased risk of breast cancer resulting from their estrogen and progestin products, a federal district court jury awarded the breast cancer survivor $2.75 million in compensatory damages. In the second phase of trial, the jury hit Upjohn with about $8 million in punitive damages, and Wyeth with $19 million.

After post-trial motions, the judge upheld the jury's liability finding and $2.75 million compensatory damages verdict against Wyeth and Upjohn. But he struck the testimony of Scroggin's punitive damages expert and vacated the punitive damages awards against the drug companies.

Read the opinion here.

Continue reading "Wyeth to Face New Trial on Punitive Damages in Prempro Hormone Replacement Case" »

The widow of a Volusia County Fla firefighter who died when a tree fell on him during a brush-fire training exercise is suing the county Fire Services department for wrongful death.

County firefighter John Curry was with the department nine months and attending his first training with a wildfire team when he was killed.

Volusia County Fire Services knew that using untrained firefighters to cut down trees was dangerous, according to the complaint filed, and failed to protect Curry from his death.

Continue reading "Widow Files Wrongful Death Suit Over Fatal Training Exercise " »

The family of the 9-year-old boy who drowned in a city pool is seeking $15 million from the city, according to a wrongful death claim filed in City Hall.

Jameson Auciel, died on Aug. 20, three days after he was pulled unconscious from the McGrane Pool in Providence city’s West End.

Jameson had been floating face down in the 3- to 4-foot public pool. His cousin, Gamaelle Bazelais, 8, was also found floating face down and unconscious in the pool. Both were rushed to Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence.

Continue reading "Family of Child who Drowned Files a Wrongful Death Lawsuit" »

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced the largest fine in its history of $87 million in penalties against the oil giant BP for failing to correct safety problems identified after a 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers at its Texas City, Tex. refinery.

The fine is more than four times the size of any previous OSHA sanction. Federal officials said the penalty was the result of BP’s failure to comply in hundreds of instances with a 2005 agreement to fix safety hazards at the refinery, the nation’s third-largest.

OSHA issued 271 notifications to BP for failing to correct hazards at the Texas City refinery over the four-year period since the explosion. As a result, OSHA, which is part of the Labor Department, is issuing fines of $56.7 million. In addition, OSHA also identified 439 “willful and egregious” violations of industry-accepted safety controls at the refinery. Those violations will lead to $30.7 million in additional fines

Continue reading "BP Faces Fine for ’05 Refinery Wrongful Death Explosion" »

After 12 hours of deliberation, a jury sided with the parents of baseball pitcher Brandon Patch in a civil suit over the player's death during a 2003 game in Helena.

Aluminum bat maker Hillerich & Bradsby Co. failed to provide adequate warning as to the dangers of the bat used by a Helena Senators player during the game, according to at least eight of the 12 Lewis and Clark County jurors.

Hillerich & Bradsby Co. was ordered to pay $792,000 to Patch's estate, which is represented by his mother, Debbie Patch, who filed the suit.

Continue reading "Bat Maker Found Liable for Player's Wrongful Death" »

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. said safety warnings were strengthened for their diabetes drug Byetta relating to the risks of pancreatitis and the medicine’s use by patients with severe kidney disease.

Patients with “severe kidney problems” shouldn’t take Byetta and the treatment should be “used with caution” in people who have had a kidney transplant, San Diego-based Amylin and Indianapolis-based Lilly said in a statement. The companies also said U.S. regulators approved the use of the drug as a stand-alone medication for adults with Type 2 diabetes.

Six patients taking Byetta died in August 2008 from pancreatitis, an inflamed pancreas. A safety alert was issued by the Food and Drug Administration though Amylin said no evidence directly linked the drug to the deaths. The revised language reflects the concerns raised by the FDA a year ago, according to Amylin’s medical director.

Continue reading "Amylin, Lilly’s Byetta Gets Stronger Safety Warning " »

A drug designed to fight anemia appears to double the risk of stroke in patients with diabetes and kidney disease without substantially improving their quality of life, a new study finds.

Darbepoetin alfa, marketed as Aranesp and known as an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA), is often prescribed for diabetic patients with chronic kidney disease and mild anemia.

"The benefits we assumed we would have by treating anemia were less striking and the risks were more striking," said lead researcher Dr. Marc A. Pfeffer, a professor of medicine in the cardiovascular division of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

"This provides new data for doctors and patients to make their own risk-benefit assessment," he said. "There was a perception that treating anemia would make people feel so much better that we'll take risks, but the benefit in quality of life was not as great as we thought, and there was a clear doubling of your risk for a stroke."

Continue reading "Anemia Drug Raises Stroke Risk in Kidney Patients" »

The widow of a LA firefighter who was killed last year while on duty has sued the fire department and the city for allegedly causing his death by refusing to replace outdated equipment.

Ralph Arabie, a 30-year veteran of the David Crockett Steam Fire Company No. 1, was killed in September 2008 at the station when the hydraulic boom of a 1965 aerial device struck and pinned his head to the back of one of the station's trucks. He was pronounced dead at the scene of blunt force trauma to the head.

The lawsuit, filed alleges that Arabie was killed because the city and station failed to "properly maintain an already over aged fire truck," and "replace overly-aged hydraulic components."

Jan Arabie is suing for damages including the loss of her spouse, loss of support, mental anguish and emotional distress.

Continue reading "Firefighter's Widow Alleges Department Failed to Properly Maintain Equipment." »

The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said that it had reached a $520 million agreement to settle two federal investigations and two whistle-blower lawsuits over the sale and marketing of its blockbuster psychiatric drug Seroquel.

One of the investigations related to “selected physicians who participated in clinical trials involving Seroquel,” AstraZeneca disclosed in a government filing. The other case related to off-label promotion of the drug.

As a result of aggressive marketing, Seroquel has been increasingly used for children and elderly people for indications not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Doctors are permitted to prescribe any approved drug for off-label uses.

Seroquel was the top-selling antipsychotic drug in America. It had $17 billion in sales in the United States since 2004, according to IMS Health, a research firm.

Continue reading "AstraZeneca Pays $520 M to Settle Seroquel Whistle Blower Cases " »

A Wynn Las Vegas employee is suing the resort, claiming it is an unsafe workplace because of secondhand smoke.

The federal lawsuit, which seeks class action status, alleges the casino encouraged patrons to light up and disciplined workers if they complained.

The court filing by Wynn dealer Kanie Kastroll accuses Wynn Las Vegas of breaching its duty to provide a safe workplace for employees and seeks damages of more than $5 million.

Kastroll has suffered asthma and other health problems while working for Wynn, her lawyers allege. She has retained Chicago-based class action law firm Kamber Edelson.

The firm may be best known for its class action lawsuit against the makers of the Thomas the Tank toy. That suit, which was based on claims that the toy used lead paint, was settled for $30 million.

Wynn Las Vegas is the second major resort operator to be hit with a lawsuit recently because of secondhand smoke dangers.

Continue reading "Employee sues Wynn Las Vegas over secondhand smoke" »

More than 200 patients exposed to high levels of radiation at Cedars-Sinai hospital filed suit, and attorneys say more plaintiffs could be added as word of the lawsuit spreads.

The president of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center - where patients were recently exposed to eight times the recommended radiation after undergoing brain tests related to a stroke - issued a statement saying he regretted the circumstances that led to the mistake.

Continue reading "Class Action Patients Exposed to Radiation sue Cedars-Sinai" »

The 3rd District Court of Appeal reversed a $24.2 million verdict Wednesday, striking a Miami-Dade jury award to a Weston, Fla., surgeon who claimed asbestos exposure caused his terminal cancer.

In a unanimous unsigned opinion, the three-judge panel remanded the products liability lawsuit by Dr. Stephen Guilder against Honeywell International and ordered a new trial.

Guilder won one of the highest compensatory damage awards against a single defendant in a mesothelioma case in April 2008. He died before the appeal was decided.

He claimed he developed the rare peritoneal mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos by remodeling an attic, working in road construction and repairing cars in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Trial is set to begin in Michigan in a lawsuit that claims a company is liable for three deaths caused by a company employee who was driving drunk.

Thomas Wellinger, who had been sent from his office at UGS Corp. to seek medical attention, drove his vehicle at 70 mph into a car driven by Judith Weinstein, killing her and her two sons, ages 9 and 12. Her husband, Gary Weinstein of Farmington Hills, Mich., claims in a wrongful-death suit that USG Corp. had a duty not to let Wellinger leave the premises.

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