Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

February 16, 2010

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

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.

February 16, 2010

Toyota Acceleration Complaints Cite 34 Deaths, U.S. Data Show

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

February 15, 2010

WFAA: Wife of Southlake Texas Driver Who Died Slams Toyota

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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

February 15, 2010

Los Angeles Lap-Band Ads

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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

February 14, 2010

Toyota Car Recall: Now Electronics Questions

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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

February 14, 2010

Santa Cruz Family Sues Over Burns From Downed Powerlines

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

February 13, 2010

Colorado Man’s Crusade to Bring Attention to Defective Toyota Cars

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

February 13, 2010

Defective PVC Bursting Pipes Lead to a Legal Battle

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

February 13, 2010

Ex NHTSA Regulators Hired by Toyota Helped Halt Investigations

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.