Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

May 1, 2009

Families Sue Over Fatal MD Bay Bridge Crash

The families of three men killed in a 2007 crash on the Bay Bridge are suing a Maryland agency and several drivers over the accident. James Hewitt Ingle and Randall and Jonathan Orff died and five people were injured in May 2007 when a trailer being hauled behind a sport utility vehicle came loose and caused a multiple-vehicle crash.

The Ingle and Orff families are suing the Maryland Transportation Authority, the driver of the SUV, the owner of the trailer and two truck drivers and their employers for $19 million. Attorney Paul Bekman said his clients are suing the state because the authority knew accidents had happened before during two-way traffic on one span of the bridge. Officials have said the two-way traffic wasn’t a factor in the accident. The lawsuit was filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.

April 30, 2009

Accutane Injury Results in $10.5 Million Judgment

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A woman who said she developed ulcerative colitis from taking Accutane was awarded $10.5 million by a New Jersey jury. It was the third of 425 lawsuits alleging that Accutane caused inflammatory bowel disease in some users to go to trial. All three cases have resulted in multi-million dollar judgments against Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc., the maker of Accutane.

Approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 1982, Accutane has been the subject of controversy for years. In addition to inflammatory bowel disease, the drug has been associated with myriad other serious side effects.

It was known in the late eighties for causing severe birth defects. It has also been known to cause psychiatric problems, and has been linked to 266 cases of suicide in the United States.

In addition to inflammatory bowel disease, Accutane has also been associated with problems of the liver, kidneys, central nervous system, and pancreas, as well as the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and auto-immune systems.

April 30, 2009

Shell Settles Texas Air Pollution Claims

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The oil company Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday that it had reached a $5.8 million settlement over claims of air pollution at its Deer Park refinery near Houston.

The proposed settlement would require Shell to reduce emissions from air pollutants from its plant by 80 percent within three years, upgrade chemical units and reduce gas flaring.

The agreement is subject to review by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department. It must also be approved by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where the complaint was filed.

April 29, 2009

Raising Alarm at Cheerleading’s Dangers

by Dr. Shezad Malik

It has been a year since Lauren Chang collapsed during a cheerleading competition and died, leaving behind her smiling portrait as a grim testament to the dangers of her sport.

That tragedy, as well as another death and a serious injury suffered by cheerleaders in recent years, has placed Massachusetts in a pivotal point in the crusade to make cheerleading safer.

Last fall, the mother of Ashley Burns, a Medford 14-year-old who died in a 2005 cheerleading accident, filed a lawsuit in her death. In addition to seeking damages, Ruth Burns is also asking a judge to force national groups that sanction cheerleading competitions and oversee the sport to adopt more stringent safety rules.

April 28, 2009

Bayer Settles Gadolinium Contrast Agent Injury Lawsuits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Bayer AG has begun the process of settling medical injury lawsuits regarding its Magnevist contrast agent; Magnevist contains gadolinium.

The company is one among several, including General Electric Company and Tyco International Limited, being sued over complaints that the gadolinium-containing contrast agent was responsible for causing a potentially fatal organ hardening disease, called Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF). Since May 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required that gadolinium-containing contrast agents carry a black box warning.

April 28, 2009

Wyeth Must Face Woman’s Prempro Lawsuit, Appeals Court Rules

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Wyeth, the drugmaker being acquired by Pfizer Inc., must face a lawsuit by a woman who claims her breast cancer was caused by the menopause medicine Prempro, a Texas appeals court ruled.

The state appeals court in Houston said that Susan Brockert’s “failure-to-warn” claims aren’t preempted by federal drug-labeling regulations, overturning a district judge’s finding from February 2007. The case was sent back to the lower court for further proceedings.

The appeals panel cited last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding a $7 million award to a musician who lost her arm after being injected with Wyeth’s Phenergan nausea treatment. The high court said patients can sue drugmakers for failing to provide adequate safety warnings, even when a treatment and its packaging are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

April 27, 2009

$13.7M Awarded in Illinois Car Crash Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Illinois Cook County jury has found in favor of the family of a BMW salesman in its wrongful death suit against a man who took a test drive and crashed the car, killing the salesman.

The jury awarded Roger Czapski’s family $13.7 million, concluding that Christopher Maher was liable for Czapski’s death Aug. 4, 2004 in South Barrington, Illinois.

April 26, 2009

Lawsuit Blaming Tannery for Missouri Brain Cancer

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The investigation into the cause of brain tumors near Cameron, Mo., lead to the filing of a lawsuit which accused a tannery of being at fault.

Sludge from Prime Tanning Corp., in St. Joseph contains high levels of hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen, the lawsuit filed in Clinton County alleged.

For years, farmers in at least four counties in northwest Missouri have gotten the sludge for free to use as an agriculture fertilizer for their crops, according to the lawsuit.

April 25, 2009

Routine Removal of Ovaries is Questioned by New Research

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Women who have their healthy ovaries removed when they have a hysterectomy face a higher risk of death — including death from coronary heart disease and lung cancer — than women who keep their ovaries, according to new research.

The finding from a study published in the May issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology challenges conventional wisdom that removing ovaries along with the uterus offers the best chance for long-time survival.

April 24, 2009

Companies Settle Lawsuit Over Seattle Crane Collapse

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Two Seattle companies involved in erecting a construction crane that collapsed in Bellevue in 2006 have settled with the parents of a man who was killed when the crane crushed him as he sat in his apartment.