Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

February 17, 2010

U.S. Opens Probe into Toyota Recalls; Output Cut

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.

February 16, 2010

Roche Ordered to Pay $25 M to Accutane User

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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 story here at Bloomberg.

February 16, 2010

Families of Plane Crash Victims Must Put Value on Grief

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

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

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.