Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

September 4, 2009

Number of Implicated Chinese Drywall Manufacturers Increases.

The number of Chinese drywall manufacturers responsible for corrosion and potential health problems plaguing U.S. homeowners may be about to increase substantially.

With the first set of home inspections about to begin in the massive combined Chinese drywall litigation playing out in New Orleans, lawyers involved in the case were told to document the different identifying markings on wallboard found in affected homes.

On Thursday, they revealed that 36 separate variations of tainted drywall have been found — a much higher number than previously disclosed.

While some manufacturers may have more than one way of marking their product and some markings were stamped by distributors, the three dozen variations opens the door to a host of new companies publicly joining the mix.

September 4, 2009

Update: Fosamax Lawsuit Goes to Jury

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Drug executives, product liability lawyers and Wall Street analysts are closely watching a jury trial in New York over medical problems associated with Fosamax, a drug from Merck that has been taken by millions of women to offset the bone loss associated with menopause.

It is the first of about 900 state and federal cases pending against Merck in which plaintiffs claim that taking Fosamax caused them to develop a rare problem called osteonecrosis of the jaw.

Dental surgery is one of the triggers for the condition that can break down jawbone tissue, causing the gums to fall away and expose bone that looks moth-eaten, oral surgeons said.

September 4, 2009

Family of Man Killed by Taser Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The family of a mentally ill man who died after he was shocked twice with a Taser fired by a Fort Worth police officer filed a federal lawsuit against the city and the police officer.

In the lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth by the parents of Michael Patrick Jacobs Jr., the family is suing for damages in excess of $75,000 from the city and Cpl. Stephanie A. Phillips, the officer who deployed the Taser. Jacobs, 24, died in police custody April 18.

Last week Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani ruled Jacobs’ death a homicide, saying that his death was caused after being shocked by the Taser for 54 seconds, “overstimulating his nervous system.” A Taser issues 50,000 volts with each shock that can temporarily immobilize a person.

September 3, 2009

Levaquin Side Effects Lawsuit and Tendon Rupture

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Levaquin (Levofloxacin) is a fluroquinolone antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, and is available only by prescription. On July 8, 2008, the FDA ordered the manufacturer to add a Black Box warning to Levaquin. A Black Box warning is the strongest warning available for prescription drugs. The FDA also required that a guidebook be provided to patients warning about the possible side effects.

People that have been prescribed Levaquin have filed lawsuits claiming that it causes ruptured tendons and that the defendants’ warnings about this side effect were inadequate.

Defendants Johnson & Johnson, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development are denying that Levaquin is defective or unreasonably dangerous. Defendants are also denying that they failed to provide adequate warnings.

September 3, 2009

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed After Man Died During Nudist Party

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The widow of a man who drowned during a nudist party at a Penn Hills pool in 2007 has settled a wrongful death suit brought against the pool owner for $246,000.

The family of Ronald E. Daugherty sued Olympic Swim and Health Club earlier this year in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, saying the facility violated state law by not providing a lifeguard for a party held by the West Penn Naturist nudist club.

Mr. Daugherty, a 72-year-old retiree, drowned on April 14, 2007.

His death went unnoticed in the media, although the medical examiner’s office and Penn Hills police investigated. The cause of death was ruled accidental.

September 3, 2009

Whistleblower Suit Claims Toyota Concealing Evidence in Hundreds of Accidents.

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Toyota could face reopened vehicle-rollover lawsuits after allegations by a former in-house lawyer that the automaker concealed and destroyed evidence and conspired to obstruct justice in civil cases.

Dimitrios Biller, a former Toyota corporate lawyer involved in the rollover cases, contends in his lawsuit that the Japanese automaker’s executives “made every effort” to quash investigations from 2004 through 2007. Biller alleges Toyota destroyed data that should have been made available to plaintiffs’ lawyers in 300 product-defect lawsuits.

An attorney who lost one rollover case against Toyota and settled another filed a lawsuit Friday against Toyota alleging unfair practices, fraud and racketeering. “If Mr. Biller’s allegations are true, it should fit into all three of those,” says the lawyer, who is seeking class-action status for the lawsuit.

September 3, 2009

Pfizer Whistleblower’s Ordeal Reaps Rewards

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Taking on corporate giants can feel like tilting at windmills, but John Kopchinski’s six-year legal battle against Pfizer Inc just made him a rich man.

The Gulf War veteran and former Pfizer sales representative will earn more than $51.5 million as a result of his whistleblower lawsuit against the world’s biggest drugmaker and the record penalty the company must pay the U.S. government for its massive marketing transgressions.

September 2, 2009

Pfizer to Pay $2.3 B Agrees to Criminal Plea

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Pfizer Inc agreed to plead guilty to a U.S. criminal charge relating to promotion of its now-withdrawn Bextra pain medicine and will pay a record $2.3 billion to settle allegations it improperly marketed 13 medicines.

The world’s biggest drugmaker was slapped with the huge fines by the U.S. government after being deemed a repeat offender in pitching drugs to patients and doctors for unapproved uses.

Pfizer pleaded guilty in 2004 to an earlier criminal charge of improper sales tactics and its practices have been under U.S. supervision since then.

September 2, 2009

Malpractice Lawsuits From Medical Spa Laser Hair Removal

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Plaintiffs attorneys say medi-spas, where the beauty-conscious go to lose their unwanted facial hair, acne scars and fine lines, are a new litigation hot spot as patients increasingly sue over spa treatments gone wrong.

Laser hair removal in particular is triggering lawsuits, lawyers note, warning that even more litigation is on the horizon as the number of medical spas has soared.

According to the International SPA Association, which represents 3,200 spas globally, medical spas are the fastest growing segment of the spa industry and have quadrupled in numbers in recent years, from 471 in 2004 to 1,804 today.

September 2, 2009

EEOC Delivers Lawsuit Over UPS Medical Leave Policy

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The world’s delivery giant, United Parcel Service, has been receiving some unwanted packages these days from the federal government: lawsuits.

Last weekl, in what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is calling a “major class lawsuit,” UPS was sued in federal court in Chicago for allegedly denying sufficient medical leave to disabled employees. The Thursday suit claims UPS sets arbitrary deadlines for returning to work after medical treatment — in one case firing an employee who would have exceeded its 12-month leave policy by mere weeks — in violation of federal law.

Just two months ago, UPS settled a religious discrimination lawsuit with the EEOC in Tennessee, in which the company was accused of requiring a 19-year driver to work past sundown on his Sabbath, which violated his beliefs as a member of the United Church of God. UPS denied that it engaged in discrimination, but agreed to pay $23,500 in damages to the employee.