Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

February 21, 2009

Indiana Jury Awards $157M in Tree Stand Death

An Indiana woman has been awarded $157 million in a wrongful death lawsuit she filed against the manufacturers of a tree stand that malfunctioned, killing her husband three years ago.

The substantial default judgment, reached by jurors in about an hour, no one representing the defendants — L & L Enterprises in Hattiesburg, Miss., Ol’ Man Tree Stands in Jay, Fla., and TSR Inc. in Pace, Fla. — showed for the trial.

Carol Simonton filed the civil tort in February 2006, about four months after her husband, Timothy Simonton, was found hanged to death in Parke County, IN.

February 20, 2009

Wal-Mart to Pay $17.5 M Racial Bias Settlement

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., will pay $17.5 million to settle a lawsuit claiming the company discriminated against African-Americans in recruiting and hiring truck drivers.

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 by Daryal Nelson, who claimed he was rejected for a truck-driver position because of his race. Nelson filed the suit in federal court in Helena, Arkansas, on behalf of all black applicants who believe they were rejected or deterred from applying for the positions because of race. The lawsuit was given class-action, or group, status in May 2007.

Wal-Mart’s motions to dismiss the case or decertify the class were denied last month.

February 19, 2009

SC Jury Awards $4.4M Against Hospital

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A South Carolina jury has awarded $4.4 million to the parents of a 4-year-old girl who died after suffering brain injury at birth at Piedmont Medical Center.

The jury found that the hospital was at fault in 2003 when it assigned a nurse trainee to monitor expectant mother Robin Wilson, who had arrived at the hospital three days before her scheduled induction, complaining of nausea and vomiting.

February 18, 2009

Philip Morris to Pay $8 Million to Smoker’s Widow

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Philip Morris has to pay the widow of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer $8 million in damages in a case that could affect about 8,000 similar Florida lawsuits.

The six jurors deliberated over two days before returning the award for Elaine Hess, whose husband Stuart Hess died in 1997 at age 55 after decades as a chain smoker.

The award amounts to $3 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages against Richmond, Va.-based Philip Morris USA.

The Hess case was the first to go to trial since the Florida Supreme Court in 2006 voided a $145 billion class-action jury award, which was by far the highest punitive damage award in U.S. history.

February 17, 2009

California Surgeon Charged With Molesting Patients

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A California doctor accused of molesting female patients during medical procedures has been ordered to stop practicing medicine until further notice.

Dr. Peter Chi, has turned in his license, according to the Medical Board of California. He previously had been ordered by a San Joaquin County judge to stay away from the Beauty Renewed Laser Skin Center, where he served as the medical director.

Chi, a cosmetic surgeon, made his first court appearance and is out on $100,000 bail. He has been charged with seven counts of sexual battery by fraud, one count of sexual battery and three counts of rape by a foreign object.

A total of eight women, said that they were violated during cosmetic surgery procedures or postoperative exams at his clinic between September 2007 and December 2008. Most of the women, who were 25 to 39 years old at the time, were unconscious while the molestation occurred.

February 16, 2009

Dallas Doctor Ordered to Pay Man Who Lost Limbs $7.5M

by Dr. Shezad Malik

DALLAS — A Bedford infectious-disease specialist has been ordered to pay $7.5 million to a former maintenance man who lost his arms and legs to an MRSA infection.

Judge Jim Jordan ordered Dr. Meenakshi Prabhakar to pay David Fitzgerald after a Dallas County jury found in Fitzgerald’s favor in his medical malpractice lawsuit. Prabhakar treated Fitzgerald in 2003 when he developed an infection following surgery at RHD Medical Center in Farmers Branch. Photo courtesy of Dallas Morning News

February 15, 2009

PCA Peanut Company Files for Bankruptcy Protection

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Peanut Corporation of America, the company responsible for the nationwide salmonella outbreak, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and will begin liquidating its assets as legal claims pile up against it.

Companies that Lynchburg, Va.-based PCA supplied with peanut products have also filed suit against it, and PCA’s insurer, Hartford Casualty Insurance, has filed a lawsuit in an effort to limit its liability.

February 14, 2009

Man Paralyzed in Crash After Underage Drinking Party Settles Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An Illinois woman’s homeowners insurance will pay $2.5 M to settle a lawsuit brought by a man who was injured in a crash that occurred after an underage drinking party in her home.

The settlement between the woman, whose teenage daughters hosted the party, and George Baldwin, 22, was approved by the judge in Lake County Circuit Court.

In 2006, Baldwin, then a 19-year-old Lake Forest High School graduate, went to the woman’s home with a friend, William Klairmont, then 18 and also from Lake Forest. They were visiting Pfeifer’s daughters, and all drank beer in the girls’ bedroom.

Klairmont was intoxicated when he drove home and lost control of his car. Baldwin, a passenger, was injured with resulting paralysis.

February 13, 2009

Dallas Medical Malpractice Case Settles

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Stacy Rojas was declared brain dead one month before Zoe Rojas’ birth. The mother was kept on life support to save their daughter’s life. Two days after Zoe was born, Mr. Rojas said goodbye to his wife forever.

February 12, 2009

All Peanut Products From Texas Plant Are Recalled

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Texas health officials ordered a recall of every product ever shipped from a Plainview peanut processing plant since March 2005 after inspectors discovered contamination.

Inspectors found dead rodents, rodent excrement and bird feathers in a crawl space above a food production area at the Peanut Corp. of America’s Plainview plant, according to authorities from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The plant’s air handling system was not completely sealed and was pulling debris from the infested crawl space onto exposed food products in production areas.