Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

As a Medical Device Product Liability attorney and board certified medical doctor, I am providing this important update regarding Cochlear Implants. Cochlear Ltd., the world's biggest maker of hearing implants, an Australian company, recalled its latest range of devices after a recent, unexplained increase in failures.

The voluntary recall of the Nucleus CI500 implants, which Cochlear says are the slimmest titanium hearing implants available, will affect many patients.

The company said it identified an increase in the number of Nucleus CI512 implants failing in recent weeks. Chief Executive Chris Roberts said the company has stopped manufacturing the Nucleus CI500 line, which made up 70% of the company's sales of implant units for fiscal 2011. Cochlear has about 65% of the global hearing-implant market.

People fitted with CI500 units but who have not experienced any problems are being advised to continue using the devices. The voluntary recall of the Nucleus CI500 range includes the CI512 model as well as the CI513, CI551 double array implant and ABI 541 auditory brainstem implant.

It does not affect its earlier Nucleus Freedom range or its Nucleus 5 external hearing devices. Production of the CI500 devices has stopped and patients needing bionic ear implants are being offered the Nucleus Freedom model, which has been on the market for seven years.

Roberts said Cochlear was halting manufacture until the cause of the faults was uncovered. According to Roberts, he was unable to say how long it would take before the devices were back on sale but said if any changes had to be made, the company would need to get regulatory approval from the countries where the units are sold.

Cochlear sold more than 17,000 of its Nucleus 5 range of devices in the 2010/11 financial year, representing 70 percent of its total bionic ear sales in 100 different countries. The Nucleus 5 range includes the thinnest hearing implants on the market at just 3.9 millimeters (0.15 of an inch) thick. Cochlear had promoted them as "a new design that is built to last a lifetime."

The National Institutes of Health in the U.S. puts the total cost including device, surgery and follow-up care of an implant at US$60,000. Mr. Roberts said there are about 25,000 registered users of the CI500 range and the company isn't recalling those products that have already been implanted. Cochlear said less than 1% of CI512 implants have failed since they were launched in 2009.

If failure occurs, the implant safely shuts down without injuring the recipient, the company said in a statement, adding that if the device does fail, the patient could be re-implanted with an earlier model from Cochlear's Nucleus Freedom implant range.

Cochlear's Nucleus CI500 is designed to correct hearing loss resulting from damage to the cochlea, a pea-sized structure deep within the ear with hair cells that communicate sound signals to the brain. The implanted device coverts sounds to electrical energy, which it transmits directly to hearing nerves.

Cochlear implants don't restore normal hearing but can give people who are deaf or severely hard of hearing a representation of sounds and help them understand speech, according to the National Institute on Deafness and other Communicative Disorders' website. About 219,000 children and adults world-wide had received such implants as of December, according to the institute.

Industry Problems with Cochlear Implants
Cochlear Americas, a Colorado-based cochlear implant manufacturer, agreed to pay $880,000 to resolve allegations that it paid illegal remuneration to health care providers to induce purchases of cochlear implant systems, according to the Justice Department. Cochlear Americas is a subsidiary of an Australian company, Cochlear Limited.

The settlement resolved a lawsuit brought by a whistleblower, Brenda March, in 2004. The lawsuit, filed in the District of Colorado, alleged that Cochlear Americas violated the Anti-kickback Act and the False Claims Act by paying various forms of illegal remuneration to physicians who prescribed the use of the Cochlear-manufactured devices for Medicare and Medicaid patients.

Advanced Bionics (California) has had several recalls and is awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration to resume sales in the U.S. after its latest recall due to a leakage that could lead to neural tissue damage. Advanced Bionics was fined the maximum fee of $1.1 million by the Food and Drug Administration for switching their supplier without notifying the FDA nor having the FDA approval. The cochlear implant was recalled “because of excessive moisture that could leak into the devices and cause device failure and possible surgery.” The CEO, Jeffery Greiner, was also fined $75,000.

Advanced Bionics also produced a cochlear implant with a positioner that had an increased number of people coming down with meningitis post surgery of which some people died from. Other Cochlear Implant manufacturers also have cases of meningitis post surgery.

As a Texas medical doctor and Medical Malpractice attorney, I am providing this case law update and commentary.

As part of Texas's tort reform laws, enacted by the Texas legislature in 2003, one of the requirements in order to file a medical malpractice claim, was the furnishing of a medical expert's report within 120 days of filing the lawsuit.The 5th District Court of Appeals says that the legislation serves the state's interest in preventing frivolous medical liability lawsuits and related health care system costs. This medical expert report requirement is also known as the Texas' certificate-of-merit law, and is similar to many other states' medical malpractice reform.

Recently Texas' certificate-of-merit law passed another constitutional challenge after the 5th District Court of Appeals validated the requirement for plaintiffs to file an expert report demonstrating the merits of a medical liability case.

The 5th District Court of Appeals rejected arguments that the legislation amounted to an unconstitutional special law that treated medical liability lawsuits differently from other cases. Further, the court said that the provision subjecting plaintiffs who file a deficient report to financial penalties does not violate the constitutional separation powers.

Trial court judges have discretion to determine the amount of monetary sanctions and to inquire whether plaintiffs made a good-faith effort to pursue a medical malpractice or wrongful death case.

The August 12 opinion states that the expert report requirement "rationally relates to the interest of the state to prevent medical practitioners from defending frivolous claims at a high cost to the health care system."

According to the Texas Medical Association's statistics, since the 2003 law was enacted as part of a liability reform package that included a $250,000 noneconomic damages cap, Texas has seen a 50% drop in medical negligence cases, a 30% reduction in physicians' liability insurance rates and more than 20,000 newly licensed doctors.

Critics of the law state that those changes may have happened anyway because of the increase in Texas' population, which boomed as a result of the oil and gas business and the resulting need for more physicians and that as a function of doctors per capita, Texas is actually less served by the total number of physicians. So the new law is a red herring and an excuse for the insurance companies to be treated as a special interest deemed worthy of protection. Is it any wonder that the shiniest, tallest and the most aesthetically pleasing buildings in Texas are owned by insurance companies? Follow the money trail my friends.

The Texas liability reform package is now being touted as a role model for other states to deny plaintiffs their day in court.

The added expert report requirement means an extra layer of protection for physicians and hospitals. Plaintiffs in medical malpractice claims have to show ahead of discovery that they have a meritorious claim, whereas in any other personal injury claim, for example a car wreck injury case, you can take depositions and exchange discovery to determined what happened. In 2006 the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that invalidated the state's certificate-of-merit statute as a special law.

The Legislature's imposition of mandatory sanctions, of the defendant's cost of defense and attorny fees, if the medical expert's report is considered defective, usurps judiciary's powers and places an unfair burden on plaintiffs who make a good-faith effort to pursue a case. The cost of defense and attorney fees can be in thousands of dollars that the plaintiffs will have to pay.

This ruling arises from a wrongful death claim Joshua Hightower's parents filed after their son died from complications of rabies contracted during a kidney transplant at Baylor University Medical Center in 2004. Other patients who received organs from the same donor also died of the disease.

The Hightowers filed two physician expert medical reports supporting their claim that the surgery was risky given the donor's history of drug use and incarceration, and that the hospital and transplant doctors misrepresented the risks involved.

A trial court found the reports deficient and dismissed the case. The appeals court agreed, saying neither report showed "a connection between the donor's alleged high-risk status and the rabies virus. ... Joshua was injured by rabies, a condition of the donor that no one was aware of at the time of the surgery."

The judges said that "expert reports need not demonstrate all of a plaintiff's proof, but they must explain the basis of the expert's statement to link the conclusions to the facts."

Having been involved in many medical malpractice cases, I know first hand of the difficulties in obtaining a medical expert's report that is not conclusory and that adequately addresses the standard of care, the conduct that involves the deviation of the standard of care, the damages that result and the causation ie how the deviations caused the damages.

In other words the doctors who write these reports have to understand complex legal theories and case law in order to write reports that pass muster with the court. Doctors are not lawyers and because of their training they do not understand the legal basis of the claim. They understand the medicine but these reports are not about the medicine but law. You therefore have no medical personnel unless they have a legal background or exposure, being able to write these legal treatises which is basically required to pass the court's muster.

Meanwhile in California...
State public health officials have fined 12 California hospitals for medical errors that hurt or killed patients, according to a report. Three of the hospitals — L.A. County/USC Medical Center, Torrance Memorial Medical Center and Brotman Medical Center — are in Los Angeles County.

The penalties were issued for errors such as leaving foreign objects in patients' bodies during surgery and administrating the wrong medication. They occurred in 2009 and 2010. The fines, which hospitals can appeal, range from $50,000 to $75,000 for each mistake.

"Most of these are preventable medical errors," said Ralph Montano, spokesman for the California Department of Public Health. "Either someone was harmed or killed or likely to be harmed."

So here you have it folks, the rich get richer and the usual poor plaintiffs get the short end of the stick.

As a Texas Medical doctor and Fort Worth Personal Attorney, I am providing this commentary regarding the state of traffic in our Great State of Texas, particularly in the Dallas Forth Worth Metroplex.

I was sitting here in my office on a Friday afternoon, before the long holiday weekend for Labor Day, when I browsed this interesting article that I would like to share.

I-35W in Fort Worth is the most stressful road in Texas, and fifth overall on the state's list of 100 most congested roadways. According to the Texas Department of Transportation's 2011 edition of the 100 most congested roadways, I35w Interstate 35W north of downtown Fort Worth is the most stressful road to travel on in Texas during peak congestion periods.

The stretch of I-35W between I-30 and 28th Street north of downtown is the fifth most congested roadway in the state, according to calculations made by the Texas Transportation Institute. And I-35W has the highest score in the state when ranked by the congestion level during rush hours -- tied for first place with U.S. 281 in the San Antonio area.

Also in Tarrant County, Northeast Loop 820 between U.S. 377 and the Northeast Interchange is the 17th most congested roadway. If you want to review the list, click here. The top three most congested roads in Texas are Woodall Rodgers Freeway, LBJ Freeway and Central Expressway in Dallas, followed by I-35 in Austin.

There is an obvious relationship between stressful driving and car accidents. Y'all be safe this holiday weekend, as for me I am going to drive into Dallas as soon as this blog is published.

Botox-maker Allergan Inc. was ordered by a federal court jury to pay $212 million to a Virginia man who alleged that use of the drug left him severely disabled.

The verdict awarded Douglas Ray, 67, $12M in compensatory damages and $200M in punitive damages. Ray was injected with the drug in 2007 to treat hand tremors. Ray suffered brain damage and now requires round-the-clock care. The suit, filed a VA federal court alleged that Allergan failed to adequately warn about the potential risks of Botox for off-label use.

Even if the decision by the jury is upheld, Allergan might have to pay only a small fraction of the penalty.Allergan said that Virginia state law caps punitive damages at $350,000. In September, Allergan agreed to pay the federal government $600 million to settle civil and criminal allegations that it illegally marketed and sold the drug through 2005 for unapproved uses, such as treating headaches.

Information and commentary provided by Dallas Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney Dr Shezad Malik. The Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm can be contacted in Dallas toll free at 888-210-9693 or in Fort Worth at 817-900-8439. If you or a loved one has been injured from DANGEROUS DRUG SIDE EFFECT, please fill out our contact card for a free consultation.

As a Dallas Slip and Fall Attorney, I would like provide a quick explanation and an update of Texas Slip and Fall law.

A slip and fall accident is a type of personal injury claim that occurs when a person 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.

If you were in a public place or a private residence in Texas and hurt yourself due to a slip and fall, you may file a slip and fall lawsuit. But if the accident was your fault, or there is some other intervening circumstance that does not satisfy the slip and fall lawsuit requirement, you can expect that it would get dismissed.

You have to prove negligence on the part of the company or private citizen at whose Texas property the slip and fall injury took place. A classic example would be a wet floor. We are all familiar with businesses that mop their floors and put out bright yellow or orange caution signs and/or cones to warn people that the area is wet and not to cross it. If these signs are clearly posted and you cross into the slippery area anyway, the business has a good chance of not being liable for the 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.

Property owners have a duty to keep their property safe. To hold the property owner responsible, one of the following three conditions must apply to the incident:

1. The owner of the property, or one of their employees, caused the worn or torn spot, the spill or the dangerous surface that resulted in the slip and fall.
2. The property owner knew about the dangerous condition but didn’t do anything about it.
3. The owner of the property should have known about the dangerous condition because a reasonable person tending to a piece of property would have detected the problem and taken steps to correct it.

To read more, click here.

Continue reading "Slip and Fall Premises Liability Update" »

As a Fort Worth Traumatic Brain Injury, Wrongful Death and Truck Accident attorney I am providing this jury verdict out of California. Count this as a win for the good guys, but unfortunately no amount of money can turn back the clock and fully compensate the victims of this tragic and needless accident.

A California jury has awarded $49 million in a lawsuit stemming from a highway accident in 2007 that left one man dead and a police officer paralyzed.

Officer Pedeferri had pulled over motorist Andres Parra on U.S. Highway 101 north of Ventura when a man driving a truck slammed into them, killing Parra, and rendering the police officer a quadriplegic.

Jurors awarded Parra's parents $10.2 million for the loss of their son.

The truck driver pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and transporting marijuana. He was sentenced in 2008 to 15 years in prison.

Continue reading "$49 M Awarded in Wrongful Death Drunk Driving Truck Accident" »

As a Fort Worth Medical Malpractice attorney I am providing this Texas medical malpractice update.

Texas lawmakers passed legislative changes in 2003, which made it more difficult for patients to be awarded damages in any health care medical malpractice setting.

The tort reform state lawmakers passed in 2003, the toughest in the country, capped medical liability for non economic damages at $250,000 per health care provider, with a maximum award of $750,000.

This is particularly true in emergency rooms medical malpractice claims, where plaintiffs must prove doctors acted with "willful and wanton" negligence. This standard means that they not only put the patient in extreme risk but knew they were doing it. Plaintiffs must prove that ER doctors acted with conscious indifference, or gross negligence, rather than simple negligence.

Tort reform advocates say the law is needed to protect ER doctors operating in volatile environments.

Medical malpractice attorneys argue the threshold is nearly impossible to cross, the “willful and wanton” rule means ER care in Texas is some of the most dangerous in the country, because no one can be held accountable for failure to diagnose, failure to treat or wrong care.

Unfortunately Texans are unaware that their Legislature has mandated a very low standard of care — almost no care, and heaven forbid they or a loved one gets injured by the negligence of an ER doctor, then they find out, the hard way, that they have no legal recourse.

Information and commentary provided by Dallas Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney Dr Shezad Malik. The Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm can be contacted in Dallas toll free at 888-210-9693 or in Fort Worth at 817-900-8439. If you or a loved one has been injured from a truck accident, car crash or bus accident, please fill out our contact card for a free consultation.

Click Here for Map

As a Fort Worth car accident attorney I am proud to relay this Texas jury verdict involving a bus accident.

An El Paso jury ordered a local Texas bus company to pay more than $132 million to the victims of a 2005 Colorado deadly crash.

The jury found that the van had bald tires and no safety belts. Two people died, and several others were severely injured in the crash. After a four-day trial, the judgment was reached against Los Paisanos bus lines and its owner, Uriel Chavira.

According to the plaintiff attorneys, and the lawsuit, the Los Paisanos bus company treated these victims like cattle, and the van, without seat belts, was driven over 188,000 miles in two years in an illegal interstate operation to move Mexican citizens across state lines.

33 people from El Paso and Juárez boarded a Los Paisanos bus in El Paso and headed for Denver.

According to witness testimony, the van was on a highway just outside Denver when the driver, Heriberto Flores-Garcia, began speeding and eating at the same time. He lost control of the van, which went over an embankment and rolled.

Read Article: El Paso Times

Information and commentary provided by Dallas Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney Dr Shezad Malik. The Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm can be contacted in Dallas toll free at 888-210-9693 or in Fort Worth at 817-900-8439. If you or a loved one has been injured from a truck accident, car crash or bus accident, please fill out our contact card for a free consultation.

Click here for Map and location.

As a Fort Worth Car Accident Attorney I am providing this update on drunk driving related car accidents and fatalities. These incredible statistics reveal why drunk driving is a major public policy issue.

According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving MADD, these are the statistics for 2010 for the State of Texas.

Rank: 45

3 time offenders: 124,662

5 time offenders: 18,271

DUI Fatalities: 1,235

% of total traffic deaths DUI related 40%

% of change in DUI fatalities from previous to current year: -6

State subsidy of drunk driving fatalities: $5.8 Billion

Summary:

The Legislature rejected lifesaving interlock legislation and sobriety checkpoint legislation in 2009; MADD is working toward the 2011 session.

Alcohol use in past month among persons aged 12 to 20: 26%

Binge alcohol use in past month among persons aged 12 to 20: 17%

Source: SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2007 and 2008.

We are following closely this local story involving a drunk Fort Worth police officer and the tragic car accident that he was involved in. Read full Fort Worth Star Telegram story here.

An accident investigator said a former Fort Worth police officer's alcohol intoxication is to blame for a fatal car crash.

Jesus Cisneros, a former undercover narcotics officer, is charged with intoxication manslaughter in the wrongful death of a 27-year-old mother.

Sonia Baker died in December when a Fort Worth issued SUV driven by Cisneros crashed into her. The SUV apparently was speeding at 76 mph in a busy residential area when it collided with Baker's car. Baker could not have been able to avoid the accident, according to the investigators.

According to State Prosecutors, the crash came after Cisneros attended a birthday party for a fellow officer at a Fort Worth bar. Video that was recorded at the party show him drinking heavily.

Click here for Map

As a Fort Worth Truck accident attorney, I would to share my thoughts about the causes of truck accidents and injuries.

There are many causes of Trucking Accidents, most common include Driver Fatigue, and Mechanical Failure involving the cars and trucks.

Deadly Trucking accidents can result from driver fatigue, inclement weather or road conditions, and vehicle failure.

Usually there is no contest between a fully loaded 100,000 lbs 18 wheeler truck and a 5,000 lbs automobile. And usually death or catastrophic injuries are the invariable outcome.

Across the United States, trucking accidents are caused by the dangerous and negligent actions of truck drivers. Speeding at unsafe speeds, not observing the traffic signals and rules, failure to yield and failing to follow rules of the road result in thousands of traffic accidents each year.

A CA man has been awarded $6.4 million in a lawsuit against the city of Roseville, Calif. and a Metro bus company for a brain injury he suffered while getting on one of the company buses in 2008.

The quadriplegic man was being lifted up into one of the buses when his wheelchair rolled back off the platform, causing his head to strike the pavement, according to the suit.

The man suffered severe brain injuries as a result. Read Article: The Washington Post

This man was already severely compromised as a result of his underlying medical condition involving quadriplegia. Now adding the insult to injury of traumatic brain damage, it looks like this man could not catch any breaks. All of the damage award will go to pay for his medical condition and increased medical needs.

Continue reading "$6.4 M Awarded to Brain Injury Caused by CA MetroBus" »

As a Fort Worth Personal Injury attorney, I represent a lot of clients who have suffered personal injuries following a slip and fall accident.

Earlier in the week I defended a slip and fall deposition involving my client. The client is a 55 year old engineer who slipped and fell while walking to the bathroom at a sushi restaurant.

He slipped on something greasy that was left on the slick tiled floor and went down so hard that he was knocked out and had to be transported to the hospital and placed on the ventilator until he could recover.

The defense is making the argument that he fell off his stool at the bar but they could not explain how he happened to be found by the bathroom. Obviously they are making the argument that he could be in 2 places at once! They are making the claim that the law of physics do not apply in their restaurant...they are not familiar it would appear with Einstein's theory of Relativity..

I will continue to update this story.

Continue reading "Fort Worth Slip and Fall Accident and Injuries" »

As a Southlake car accident and car wreck attorney I frequently provide updates to my readers.
If you are involved in a car accident, car wreck, hit and run, fender bender or any other terms you that may use for a car collision, you should be familiar with the Texas driving rules of the road.

As a Fort Worth Car Wreck attorney, I am involved with many of the similar types of car accident cases as I read about this weekend.

Dallas taxi broadsides SUV, leads to critical injuries of a stranded driver. Read full story here. A taxicab carrying seven passengers broadsided a Buick at a downtown Dallas intersection Saturday morning, sending the SUV crashing into a man as he filled his dead vehicle with gas.

Obviously the taxi cab driver did not keep a proper lookout and went through a busy intersection, causing the accident and causing significant brain trauma to a pedestrian.

In Texas, all drivers have to keep a “proper lookout”and observe the speed, traffic signals/signs and traffic conditions for that particular stretch of road. It is the law in Texas to wear a seat belt and so buckle up. That means that the driver has to pay continuous attention to the road as well as other drivers and failure to observe this could result in a Texas car accident because of negligence.

Every driver in Texas- whether you live in Southlake, or any other area- has a responsibility to be careful when driving. Remember a Texas driver license is a privilege and not an automatic right to use the road.

Information and commentary is provided by Dallas and Fort Worth Car Accident Attorney Shezad Malik. The Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm can be reached in Dallas at http://www.shezadmalik.com/http://www.shezadmalik.com/http://www.shezadmalik.com/http://www.shezadmalik.com/http://www.shezadmalik.com/888-210-9693 or in Fort Worth at 817-900-8439. If you have questions about a car accident, please fill out our contact for online for a free consultation.

The personal injury sage continues. As a Fort Worth Personal Injury attorney I am writing this blog to hopefully provide insight to my readers, about the law works with its byzantine rules and regulations.

The Law and its practical applications are murky at best and we as lawyers have developed our own rituals and our own special language. Because if we spoke in plain English, then it would not be special anymore.

In my last missive I detailed the week before an actual trial that we were getting ready to do on our slip and fall case. The case got continued. Now we are using this opportunity to continue in our siege of the defendants castle. We continue to press our charge and are unrelenting in our skirmishes.

The defendants strategy in every personal injury case, irrespective of the claim, is to first deny the claim, then to deflect the claim ie somebody elses fault and then finally to delay the case going to trial. They hope with this strategy with wear out the plaintiff and make the cost of litigation prohibitively expensive to continue.

This standard strategy is designed to sap the will of the opponent, to make the risk reward ratio tilt in their favor. This tactic may have traction in some quarters especially in the claim is weak or ill founded, but to us it is like waving a red flag to a bull. We are only spurred on, and I have a natural dislike for bullies, and that is what the defense are; bullies by any other name are still bullies, with their repeated denials and rejections of liability and fault.

In this particular instance, we have been at it for over 3 years. The defense is a stubborn lot, mangy and dogged in their delay tactics. We shall prevail, Justice will triumph in the end and the dark forces crushed.

Ultimately the defendants insurance is going to rein them in especially when they have spent more in defending this case than they could have settled it for. They are consumed by over reaching hubris and a lack of common sense. They will ultimately lose this account.

"Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war."

And so it begins, twenty four hours from now, with a drop of the hammer and a cry of "Order, Court now in session," the battle banners would have unfurled with the sounds of trumpets.

As a Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney, I would like to offer the following insights. As I mentioned in my last posting from the battlefront, we were due in court tomorrow to argue our slip and fall case which just got canceled and set for a new date.

The foul air would have been filled with the clanging of steel, the clashing of shields, the stench of panic and fear permeating the air to be supplemented with whiffs of gunpowder. My friends, this was no ordinary skirmish, but the accumulation of 3 years hard labor. But it was not to be...

My friends that is what a court room feels and sounds like, all shrouded in the fog of war and at the end of the day, one victor and the vanquished. Carnage and havoc for both.
Trials are no easy things and the plaintiffs all want their day in court. It is hard to then explain to them when you get a worse deal at trial that in settlement talks a year earlier.

In this particular battle, the decision to go to war was easy, we had no offers to settle or offers through mediation. Here, if we had failed to press our charge and we lost, what did we lose? We came with nothing and left with nothing. Then the next time the defense would know we spared no quarter, we yielded no ground, and we fought to the last man. Each man died a hero, with sword in hand, a bloody battle indeed.

In this battle dear readers, there are no prisoners.

Continue reading "Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney Who Will Fight For You 817-900-8439" »

Like the knights and warriors of old, I was preparing this week for all out pitched battle. Is there no captain of Gondor who can come to our aid? Sadly not, we were alone in our campaign for justice.There was going to be a winner and a loser; a victor and vanquished.

A steady drum beat of war filled the air as each night I was hunched over the computer, being warmed by the pallid sickly glow of the screen, while I plotted and schemed our strategy. I reviewed the battle plans with my trusty squire (read associate) and we played out all the competing scenarios. We had been planning our siege and attack for the past 3 months. The defense was well funded, well armed and had countless minions to throw into battle.

Our slip and fall personal injury law suit was filed 3 years ago, and after all the twists and turns had finally come to trial. My 68 year old client had tripped and fallen while crossing a construction site that the company had done when they tore up her drive way. Her house and yard was surrounded by a chain link fence, which was not taken down. The construction site was not barricaded in, taped down or any caution cones placed around the site.

The defense resisted hard, denied all liability and offered no settlement, nothing at mediation and were trying to make us go the long distance. My client had incurred $450,000 in medical bills and had to undergo lumbar sacral surgery and extensive rehab.

My client had a doctor's appointment go to that morning when she fell. She had no alternative entrance or exit from her place. She had to cross the construction site, which was a drop off of 4-6 inches surrounded by wooden forms getting ready for concrete pouring. She tripped and she went down like a lead balloon, or a tree in the forest, depending on your penchant for metaphors.

We had survived 3 knock out/death sentence motions for summary judgment and countless other motions.

This week, we were poring over the trial exhibits, photographs, reading all the depositions and reviewed all the evidence. Earlier in the week we met the plaintiff and key witnesses for the final time, going over the trial and trial strategy. We had gathered and reviewed the multiple medical records and medical billing business affidavits.

The defense launched a fiercesome attack on our encampments, starting on the dawn of Monday morning. A lengthy volley of 3 motions by defense trebuchets came crashing down to instill fear and panic among the camp. We scrambled during the week to our return volley of opposing motions. We had 7 pre-trial motions to argue about on this Monday morning prior to choosing and seating the jury.

Then Thursday afternoon, a call from the court coordinator, our case was going to be canceled and rescheduled for February 2011, because the judge had a conference to go to...

So now, the pitch battle and storming of the castle will have to wait, but we shall persist and continue in the siege. We now will address and set up the 7 motions and force the defense to skirmishes.

Continue reading "Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney 817-900-8439" »

Folks I am a man of simple tastes. When I woke up this morning I sat down with a steaming cup of java and opened up my lap top. I looked out over the back yard, the temperature was cool for Texas (70 F) and the sky was a deep blue...

Is it great to have a contemplative 3 days with the Labor Day Weekend? A great weekend for shopping and getting out and about and then as a result, more slip and falls.

As Dallas Fort Worth Slip and Fall attorney, I review and screen many slip and fall and trip and fall accident/personal injury claims. That reminds me, we have a case currently against a large and well known grocery store. My client is a 75 year old sprightly woman in otherwise good health. She went to the store to do her shopping but did not get very far. She tripped up on the entrance on the floor mats which were not taped down as per the store's policy and procedures.

Instead the mats were allowed to get buckled and frayed and my client tripped up, falling, breaking her hip and shoulder.

You know the rest of the story...the store will not do right by her, she had to retain an attorney and we are in litigation. She had a long hospital stay and extensive rehab and is now finally back on her feet.

We will keep you posted, dear readers of the progress in this case. The defendants have stated that they want to settle and mediate this case...

Continue reading "Dallas Fort Worth Slip and Fall Attorney 817-900-8439" »

Folks I am a man of simple tastes. When I woke up this morning I sat down with a steaming cup of java and opened up my lap top. I looked out over the back yard, the temperature was cool for Texas and the sky was a deep blue...

Is it great to have a contemplative 3 days with the Labor Day Weekend. A great weekend for shopping and then as a result more slip and falls.

That reminds me, we have a case currently against a large and well known grocery store. My client is a 75 year old sprightly woman in otherwise good health. She went to the store to do her shopping burt did not get very far, she tripped on the enterance over the floor mats which were not taped down as per the store's policy and procedures.

Instead they were allowed to get buckled and frayed and my client tiripped up, falling, breaking her hip and shoulder.

You know the rest of the story...the store will not do right by her, she has to retain an attorney and we are in litigation. She has had a long hospital stay and extensive rehab and is now finally back on her feet.

We will keep you posted dear readers of the progress in this case. The denfendants have stated that they want to settle and mediate this case...

Continue reading "Dallas Fort Worth Slip and Fall Attorney 817-900-8439" »

According to OSHA, 4,340 workers died on the job in 2009.

"With every one of these fatalities, the lives of a worker's family members were shattered and forever changed. We can't forget that fact."
-Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor

Poorly Managed Construction Sites Are Dangerous.

Construction site injuries include:

* Falls
* Struck by falling object
* Struck by laterally moving object or equipment
* Impalement or penetrating injury
* Truck or other motor vehicle accident
* Electrocution
* Explosions
* Burns

Continue reading "Dallas Fort Worth Construction Sites Can Lead to Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries" »

I am proud of our work this week. We just settled another car accident injury claim. My client was minding his own business, one night in Dallas. Somebody plowed into him and rear ended him. The folks who hit him were drunk and tried to run. They were caught by an off duty apartment security guard.

Come to find out they were high as a kite and ready to fly.

Luckily for my client he had minor soft tissue injuries, but he had pre-existing neck problems including cervical neck fusion. Obviously we were concerned that he may have had neck injuries. But after medical evaluation he was cleared of major injuries.

We settled for insurance policy limits.

When you need to help after an injury or accident, you need to find the Dallas Fort Worth Texas personal injury lawyers.

We evaluate and accept cases all over Texas including Houston, Dallas, San Antonio car accidents, auto wrongful death cases, mesothelioma, burn injuries, Accutane side effect bowel disease, Paxil birth defects, brain injuries, 18 wheeler, semi truck, tractor trailer accidents, diesel truck or big rig accidents.

If you have been injured in an accident as a result of the negligence of others,
please call 817-900-8439, 888-210-9693 or Contact Me Online.

A stun-gun manufacturer has agreed to a $2.85 million settlement with a California man who suffered brain damage after being tased four years ago.

Steven Butler was shocked by a Watsonvile, Calif., police officer in 2006 after refusing to exit a bus. The suit says Bulter went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing for 18 minutes after being tased.

He suffered severe brain damage, and now requires around-the-clock care, the suit claims. The settlement money will go toward Bulter's past and future medical costs. Jennifer Squires, San Jose Mercury News 08/12/2010
Read Article: San Jose Mercury News

Continue reading "CA Man Receives $2.85M After Being Tased" »

A New York man has been awarded $40 million in a lawsuit he filed against Verizon after he was struck and almost killed by one of the company's vans.

Matthew Falcone was hit by a van going about 50 mph four years ago and spent weeks in the hospital in a coma. He suffers from brain damage and is partially paralyzed.

Scott Shifrel , New York Daily News 05/28/2010
Read Article: New York Daily News

Continue reading "Verizon Ordered to Pay Damages to Brain Injured Man" »

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" »

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 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" »

An Idaho Springs man was awarded $18.5 million for catastrophic injuries he suffered when a driver drunk on alcohol and high on marijuana left a mountain road and slammed into him as he was changing the oil on his wife's car in their driveway.

Clear Creek District Court Judge Granger assessed the award against the driver, Kevin Ruszkowski, 24; the owner of the Jeep, Randall Guy; and Guy's son, Justin Guy, 20, who had allowed Ruszkowski to drive the vehicle.

Paul Savage, 46, who was injured, was head waiter at the Alpenglow Stube at Keystone at the time.

Ruszkowski had no license because his driving privileges had either been suspended or revoked for prior driving misconduct.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14419648#ixzz0gN2hsQw2

Continue reading "Idaho Springs Man Awarded $18.5 M in DUI Case " »

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" »

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" »

Already on the hook for the lion's share of a $17.7 million judgment and waiting for a decision from a jury that was out considering punitive damages, Ford Motor Co. decided to settle with a couple who sued following a Christmas 2005 wreck that left the woman paralyzed.

The agreement came after a Clayton County, Ga., jury ordered Ford on Dec. 18 to pay more than $16 million of the judgment to compensate for what the plaintiffs argued were design defects in the 2002 Explorer sport utility vehicle in which the woman was a passenger.

Continue reading "Ford Settles Explorer Suit as Jury Considers Damages" »

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" »

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 " »

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" »

A trial date has been set in the case against Wal-Mart in the death of a Chadron, Neb., woman.

David Lehman sued the corporation shortly after his wife, Julie, died after falling in the Chadron store. The case, filed in Dawes County District Court was removed to the U.S. District Court, which has scheduled a trial for Feb. 16.

Julie Lehman was in Wal-Mart July 21 with her son, Steffan, 17, when she slipped on a wet floor in the automotive cleaning products aisle on her way to the restroom. Julie received her initial diagnosis and treatment at the Chadron Community Hospital before being flown to Rapid City Regional to have a massive blood clot in her brain surgically removed. Julie never woke up after surgery and died July 27.

Continue reading "Trial Set in Wrongful Death of Wal-Mart Slip and Fall" »

A 4-year-old boy with cerebral palsy received a judge approved a $5.75 million settlement on his behalf.

Cannon Hoops got $1.75 million up front and another $4 million in annuities that are expected to pay for his medical and assistive care as well as future lost earnings over the rest of his life. The money was awarded by the University of California Board of Regents as a result of injuries the boy suffered when he was born in the UC Davis Medical Center.

Continue reading "UC Medical Malpractice Case Settled for $6 M" »

In what is believed to be the largest personal injury lawsuit verdict in the history of the Capital Region, a state Supreme Court jury in Saratoga County awarded $43.5 million to a woman who sued the Bellevue Maternity Hospital in Niskayuna for severe brain damage she suffered during her birth in 1984.

Tiffany Busone, 24, of Schoharie County, sued the hospital for malpractice, arguing she suffered cerebral palsy as a result of a lack of oxygen and a failure to properly resuscitate her during her birth on July 15, 1984.

While Busone has above-average intelligence and earned a degree from Arizona State University, she uses a wheelchair and lacks motor skills due to the brain damage, the sources said.

The lawsuit, initially filed by the woman's mother, J. Tracy Busone, dates to 1984 when the family lived in Saratoga County.

Continue reading "Cerebral Palsy Birth Injury Case Costs Hospital $43.5 M " »

An 80-year-old woman has been awarded a $7 million settlement from Target Corp. and a mechanical door company after she was knocked to the ground by a faulty automatic door at a Target store in Rosemont in 2007, the woman's lawyers said in a statement.

The incident on June 21, 2007, caused Claire Putman brain injuries and resulted in "cognitive deficits," according to the statement from the law firm. Putman, whom records list as a Des Plaines resident, had to move into a nursing home because of her injuries.

According to the statement, Putman was walking into the Target at 7000 Mannheim Rd. when the door malfunctioned and knocked her to the floor, causing her to hit her head. She was then struck by the door again as it continued to open and close.

Continue reading "Woman Settles for $7 M in Target Brain Injury Lawsuit" »

A Tarrant County jury has awarded more than $11 million to the family of a boy who was seriously injured after being struck by a car driven by another child in the parking lot at Texas Motor Speedway.

The parents of Ryan Davies, who was injured in 2006, sued the speedway after an accident left the boy with traumatic brain injuries that limit his mobility and mental capacity.

Continue reading "Jury Awards Family more than $11 M in Texas Motor Speedway Lawsuit" »

On Sept. 22, 2006, plaintiff Marcus Button, 16, a student, was a front-seat passenger in his friend's sedan that was heading east on State Road 54. At the intersection at Meadow Pointe Boulevard where there was no traffic signal, a Pasco County School bus made a left turn and struck the sedan. Marcus sustained a brain injury. Investigators found that the bus driver was at fault.

Individually and as Marcus' parents, Mark and Robin Button sued Pasco County School Board for the bus driver's negligence.

Plaintiff's counsel stated that the bus driver violated state law in not yielding the right of way. Investigators determined that the bus driver was at fault. Plaintiff's counsel also pointed to the bus driver's deposition testimony in which he stated that he never saw the plaintiff's vehicle.

Defense counsel presented an accident reconstructionist who stated that the driver of Button's vehicle had ample time to observe and avoid the bus.

Continue reading "Florida Teen Sustained Brain Injury in Crash With School Bus" »

Yamaha Motor Co., the world’s second-largest motorcycle maker, is not liable for damages to the family of a Texas teenager who died while driving the company’s Rhino all-terrain vehicle.

Jurors in state court in Orange, Texas, deliberated about two hours before ruling the vehicle wasn’t to blame for the death of 13-year-old Forest “Eddie” Ray in 2007. The Rhino, a cross between a golf cart and an ATV, has been linked to 59 deaths in the U.S. The case is the first of about 500 to go to trial.

Continue reading "Texas Jury Decides Yamaha Not Liable for Teen’s Rhino Death" »

It only took a few hours for Southeast Texas jurors in the first trial over Yamaha Rhino all-terrain vehicle rollovers to return a swift ruling of no negligence -- a verdict in the company's favor that could have far reaching effects.

With hundreds of Yamaha ATV suits pending in courts around the country, the victorious outcome obtained in Orange County may influence how Yamaha proceeds with similar litigation.

The product liability trial of Johnny Ray vs. Yamaha Motor Co. kicked off Aug. 18 and ended Aug. 27.

Jurors in the Orange County District Court of Judge Buddy Hahn were tasked to decide if Yamaha Motor Co. cut costs and negligently placed a defective off-road vehicle into the stream of commerce.

Continue reading "South Texas Jury Finds Yamaha not Negligent in First Rhino Rollover Trial" »

On May 15, 2007, plaintiff Jonny Osler, a 57-year-old language instructor, was riding a motor scooter on Collins Road in Sunny Isles when Nasir Jamal allegedly changed lanes in his Mercedes and hit him. Osler was wearing a helmet, but he was rendered unconscious by the impact. Having no recollection of the accident, Osler was ticketed at the scene. Osler sustained a subdural hematoma and fractured collar bone.

Osler sued Jamal for vehicular negligence, alleging that Jamal was talking on his cell phone at the time of the accident. Although subpoenaed records supported that theory, Jamal denied at trial that he was on the phone when the collision occurred. There were no witnesses to the accident.

Osler's accident reconstruction expert testified that Jamal's testimony was incredible. He opined that the way the scooter was laying on the ground after the accident according to the police report was inconsistent with Jamal's claim. Jamal paid cash to have his car repaired shortly after the accident. According to counsel for Osler, questions arose as to whether Jamal had repaired his vehicle and if so what had been repaired.

Continue reading "Motor scooter rider sustained head injury in collision" »

On April 5, 2005, plaintiff Liria Lopez, 49, a self-employed house cleaner, entered a Minyard Food Store on the corner of Abrams Road and Gaston Avenue in Dallas. It had rained that day and water had accumulated in the store's foyer area. As Lopez exited, she slipped on the water.

Lopez sued Minyard Food Stores Inc., alleging premises liability. She claimed that other customers had fallen in the same area under reasonably similar conditions about 18 months earlier. She also maintained that on the day of her accident there there were no warning signs or mats placed in the foyer, nor were there any warnings from store employees prior to her fall.

Lopez's walking surfaces/traction expert testified that the manner in which Minyard addressed the water issue in the foyer was below the standard of care. After looking at the records, he said Minyard did not adequately handle the continuing problem of a wet slick floor on rainy days.

Continue reading "Dallas Woman Sustained Brain, Knee Injuries in Slip-and-Fall Incident" »

Three years ago, James Becker was doing what many vigorous 15-year-old boys do - playing baseball, basketball and soccer.

Now he is severely disabled, must use a wheelchair and is under the constant care of his mother.

The accident that reduced James to such circumstances occurred at the Woodcroft Swim Club in Parkville on July 29, 2006, when, his family's lawyer says, he almost drowned. His brain was apparently deprived of adequate oxygen for about 10 minutes.

His parents, William J. Becker III and Mary Becker, have filed a $40 million lawsuit in Baltimore County Circuit Court against the swim club and the company that runs it, D.R.D. Pool Management Inc., accusing them of failing to both "timely recognize and respond" to the struggling boy and to properly perform resuscitation efforts.

Continue reading " Swim Club Lawsuit for Brain Damage Caused by Drowning " »

Two trucking companies and their drivers are being sued over a 2008 accident on I-15 in Las Vegas in which two honeymooners outside their stranded vehicle were struck and killed.

Attorneys for the parents of one of the victims, Lisa Lynn Prock-Hills, filed a negligence suit in Clark County District Court against truck driver Stanislaw Masalski of Clearwater, Fla., and his company, Stan Trucking Inc.

Also sued were driver Sam Montalvo Martinez and his employer at the time of the accident, J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. of Lowell, Ark.

The Nevada Highway Patrol said Kevin Edward Hills, 38, and Prock-Hills, 41, were killed on Interstate 15 just south of Silverado Ranch Boulevard on March 13, 2008.

Continue reading "Lawsuit Filed in I-15 Wrongful Death of Stranded Honeymooners" »

An Oakland musician who was made a quadriplegic in a rollover crash four years ago won an $18.3 million verdict against Ford Motor Co. in federal court.

Dax Pierson, 38, suffered severe spinal injuries when a Ford passenger van that the band was traveling in ran off an icy highway in Iowa and rolled over in a ditch on Feb. 24, 2005.

Pierson sued Ford for creating a defective seat-latching mechanism that caused his seat to come loose, resulting in his head hitting the roof of the rolled-over van.

The $18.3 million jury award came after three weeks of trial in the court of U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton. It includes $12.3 million for past and future medical expenses and lost earnings plus $6 million for pain and suffering.

Continue reading "Quadriplegic Musician Wins $18 M Verdict Against Ford Motor Co." »

A Chinese woman who fell out of a moving Disneyland tram and suffered injuries that left her needing 24-hour medical supervision for the rest of her life has reached a settlement in a lawsuit she filed against the Walt Disney Co.

Lawyers for Qi Zhao and Disney reached the agreement, bringing a two-week trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court to an abrupt end.

Details of the accord were not released.

Zhao, 48, filed her suit in 2007, alleging the tram driver was going too fast. She was riding the tram with two sisters and a niece. According to the complaint, one of the sisters fell from the King tram as it moved toward a parking lot.

Reacting to the fall, the other two sisters also fell out. One suffered minor injuries and Zhao hit her head on the pavement, suffering severe traumatic brain injuries and skull fractures and was in a coma for three weeks.

Continue reading "Disney and Tram-Injured Woman Reach Settlement" »

A Denver jury awarded $2 million to a woman who was injured at a Colorado Springs resort while participating in a mock sumo wrestling game with her coworkers.

Katherine Giles was attending her company's retreat at Cheyenne Mountain Resort in September 2005 when the accident happened.

Mock sumo wrestling is sometimes used by companies as a team building exercise. It involves participants wearing enormous padded or inflatable suits and helmets.

Continue reading "Denver Jury Awards Millions In Sumo Wrestling Lawsuit" »

The family of a 19-year-old man, whose death on a Seattle street in 2007 triggered a community outpouring for better bike-safety measures, has settled a lawsuit against the company that owned the dump truck that crushed him.

The parents of Bryce Lewis, Marc and Laura Paolicelli of Colorado, have agreed to an undisclosed sum of money from Nelson & Sons Construction of Woodinville.

Continue reading "Family of Seattle Cyclist Killed by Dump Truck Settles Lawsuit" »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A now-12-year-old Temecula boy who fell from a fast-food restaurant's play structure and struck his head, causing brain damage, was awarded a $20 million settlement from the franchise's parent company.

The money was awarded to Jacob Buckett and his sister, Isabelle, who was 5 at the time of Jacob's fall at the Temecula restaurant on Aug. 4, 2005.

The structure was inside the restaurant and there was no rubber beneath the bars, just tile, according to Jacob's attorney.
The defendants, the restaurant franchisee, parent company and playground manufacturer, were not named because of the settlement's confidentiality clause but according to the Web site momlogic.com, the restaurant was a Burger King.

Delta Marketing Inc., the installer of the playground, was also sued.

Continue reading "Boy Awarded $20 M in Brain Damage Case" »

A judge has awarded $45 million in damages to a San Mateo woman who was paralyzed when a wrecking and demolition company's truck ran a red light and hit her car.

Tricia Roth, now 41, a former software developer for Microsoft Corp., suffered a broken neck and spinal injuries in the September 2006 accident, according to her lawyer. Her doctors said she requires full-time attendant care and will never walk again.

The driver, Roman Pantoja, failed to see the light on East Hillsdale Boulevard in San Mateo near Highway 101 and admitted that he was at fault, according to a court hearing.

Superior Court Judge awarded damages against Pantoja and his employer, Division 1 All Service.

A jury awarded a 21-year-old Florida woman $65 million for her injuries in a 2007 crash. The verdict is considered to be one of the largest by a Polk County jury.

The verdict stemmed from a traffic crash in Zolfo Springs that left Kendra Lymon in a coma and hospitalized for months.

Lymon had been driving her Dodge Neon on Aug. 21, 2007, when a tractor-trailer owned by Bynum Transport, struck her car at State Road 35 and State Road 64, according to the lawsuit naming Bynum and the driver.

The truck's driver, Robert Bohn, a battalion chief for Polk County Fire Services, was working part-time for the trucking company.

Continue reading "Florida Jury Awards Woman $65 M in Crash" »

The family of a woman mauled by a chimpanzee filed a lawsuit seeking $50 million in damages against the primate's owner, saying she was negligent and reckless for lacking the ability to control "a wild animal with violent propensities."

The suit also alleges that Herold had given the chimp medication that further upset the animal. Herold has made conflicting public statements about whether she gave Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, to Travis on the day of the attack. The drug had not been prescribed for the animal, police said.

Herold knew the 200-pound chimp, Travis, was agitated when she asked Nash to come to her house on Feb. 16, the lawsuit said. The suit accuses Herold of negligence and recklessness for owning "a wild animal with violent propensities, even though she lacked sufficient skill, strength and/or experience to subdue the chimpanzee when necessary."

Continue reading "Family of Chimp Attack Victim Seeks $50M" »

An Arlington, Texas boy aged 2, who was critically injured in a drunken driving crash last week remained on life support as his parents coped with his devastating prognosis.

Eighty percent of Abdallah Khader’s brain was destroyed in the crash, according to his doctor, Jeff McGlothlin. If Abdallah survives, he will be severely disabled for the rest of his life.

Continue reading "Arlington Texas Family Struggles to Cope After Drunken Driving Crash" »

A South Carolina jury has awarded $4.4 million to the parents of a 4-year-old girl who died after suffering brain injury at birth at Piedmont Medical Center.

The jury found that the hospital was at fault in 2003 when it assigned a nurse trainee to monitor expectant mother Robin Wilson, who had arrived at the hospital three days before her scheduled induction, complaining of nausea and vomiting.

Continue reading "SC Jury Awards $4.4M Against Hospital" »

An Illinois woman's homeowners insurance will pay $2.5 M to settle a lawsuit brought by a man who was injured in a crash that occurred after an underage drinking party in her home.

The settlement between the woman, whose teenage daughters hosted the party, and George Baldwin, 22, was approved by the judge in Lake County Circuit Court.

In 2006, Baldwin, then a 19-year-old Lake Forest High School graduate, went to the woman's home with a friend, William Klairmont, then 18 and also from Lake Forest. They were visiting Pfeifer's daughters, and all drank beer in the girls' bedroom.

Klairmont was intoxicated when he drove home and lost control of his car. Baldwin, a passenger, was injured with resulting paralysis.

Continue reading "Man Paralyzed in Crash After Underage Drinking Party Settles Lawsuit " »

High school cheerleading is a contact sport and therefore its participants cannot be sued for accidentally causing injuries, according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The court ruled that a former high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who failed to stop her fall while she was practicing a stunt. The court also said the injured cheerleader cannot sue her school district.

The National Cheer Safety Foundation said the decision is the first of its kind in the nation.

At issue in the case was whether cheerleaders qualify for immunity under a Wisconsin law that prevents participants in contact sports from suing each other for unintentional injuries.

Continue reading "Wisconsin Ruling Limits Cheerleader Injury Suits" »

CA lawmakers are planning to introduce legislation that would offer greater legal protections to Good Samaritans in light of a recent California Supreme Court decision.

Legislators have introduced three bills to address Van Horn v. Watson, 08 C.D.O.S. 15199, which held that a state statute only shields rescuers from liability if they provide medical care in an emergency situation. The ruling puts at risk aid-givers who inadvertently hurt victims while removing them from a burning building or other potentially dangerous scenarios.

Continue reading "California to Rescue Good Samaritans " »

On Sept. 24, a jury rejected a family's claim that its elderly patriarch died as a result of injuries sustained when he fell at a Family Dollar Store.

The family of Warren Tiner, 84, alleged he was shopping at the Tyler store when he tripped over a box left out in an aisle.

Complaining of back pain, he checked into a hospital eight days after the September 2006 incident. His condition worsened, and he developed other health issues, including pneumonia, heart problems and eventually paralysis from spinal cord compression.

Tiner's family claimed his death in July 2008 was related to injuries from the fall. Family Dollar denied that a box was in the aisle and contended that even if it were, Tiner should have seen and avoided it.

The defense also argued that Tiner suffered from chronic health problems prior to the incident.

Tiner v. Family Dollar Stores of Texas L.P., No. 07-1759-C

Court: 241st District Court, Smith County

A New York jury has awarded nearly $11 million to a woman who suffered a stroke after waiting two hours for a hospital brain scan.
New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens was found by the jurors to be negligent in the medical treatment of a 71 year old woman after she fractured her skull in a fall in 2004.

The hospital denies liability for the woman's resulting medical condition and is appealing the Oct. 3 decision awarding her $10.7 million.

Continue reading "Lawsuit for Delayed Brain Scan" »

In Texas Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a major public health issue. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 144,000 Texas sustain a traumatic brain injury each year, one every 4 minutes. More than 381,000 Texans are living with TBI disability and more than 5,700 are permanently disabled by TBI each year. The prevalence of disability from TBI is greater than from AIDS, Alzheimer's, stroke, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy or spinal cord injury.

TBI is the leading cause of death and disability among children and young adults. TBI accounts for more years of lost productivity than any other injury.
Read brochure here.