Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

December 1, 2009

WA Supreme Court Reinstates $8M Award Against Hyundai

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.”

November 30, 2009

Federal Safety Regulators Announce New Crib Recall

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 29, 2009

Federal Lawsuit Dismissed Over Merck’s Fosamax

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 28, 2009

Appeals Court Upholds $6 M Strip-Search Verdict Against McDonald’s

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 27, 2009

Jury Awards Man $6 M When a Tree Falls on his Car

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 26, 2009

Philip Morris Ordered to Pay $300 M to Smoker

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 25, 2009

Nearly $3 M Awarded in KBR Rape Claim

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A nearly $3 million arbitration award was won by a former KBR employee who said she was raped in Iraq.

Tracy K. Barker, wife of a U.S. Army sergeant and the mother of five, was awarded $2.93 million in private arbitration proceedings in Houston.

November 24, 2009

Jury Awards $8 M to Woman Injured by City Bus

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 24, 2009

Pfizer Must Pay $6 M in Damages Over Prempro

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 24, 2009

Iowa Supreme Court Orders Trial in Trampoline Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.