Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

November 10, 2009

Dallas Texas Yaz Update: Mass Tort Status for Suits Over Yaz, Yasmin

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.

November 9, 2009

Light Cigarettes may not help Smokers Quit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 8, 2009

FDA: All-Natural Sex Pill Contains Viagra Chemical

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 7, 2009

CPSC finds Chinese Drywall has High Levels of Sulfur and Strontium.

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Federal investigators reported that imported Chinese drywall that homeowners have linked to health problems and odors had higher levels of some chemicals than its domestic counterparts.

The investigators, however, were unable to link the chemicals, sulfur and strontium, to the health problems and smells in thousands of homes built during the recent housing boom, and said further testing was under way to determine any possible connection.

The preliminary findings are part of a larger study by federal agencies, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, into complaints from nearly 2,000 homeowners that their recently built homes emit odors and cause nosebleeds and respiratory problems. The owners also say their electrical appliances have failed and their wiring has corroded. It has been estimated that more than 60,000 homes could have the imported drywall. Large amounts of Chinese drywall were imported over the last few years when domestic supplies ran short. An estimated seven million sheets made in China were used as a substitute. Most of the complaints come from Florida, Virginia and Louisiana, where the widespread destruction after hurricanes lead to rapid rebuilding of damaged homes.

November 6, 2009

Jury Awards $16.6 M for Mom’s Wrongful death in Radio Contest

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 6, 2009

Pfizer Jury to Award $75 M Prempro Verdict to Woman

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 5, 2009

Wyeth to Face New Trial on Punitive Damages in Prempro Hormone Replacement Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 5, 2009

Widow Files Wrongful Death Suit Over Fatal Training Exercise

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 4, 2009

Family of Child who Drowned Files a Wrongful Death Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 3, 2009

BP Faces Fine for ’05 Refinery Wrongful Death Explosion

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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