Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog
A Texas woman who broke her knee when she slipped on peanut shells in a Temple restaurant recovered $96,750 after a jury found her partially responsible for her injuries. The 2006 incident occurred at Texas Roadhouse, where patrons are given buckets of peanuts and encouraged to drop the shells on the floor. The woman, then 31, said she fractured her knee in three places after she slipped on a shell that may have still contained peanuts.
Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm has offices based in Fort Worth and Dallas and represents people who have suffered catastrophic and serious personal injuries including wrongful death, caused by the negligence or recklessness of others. We specialize in Personal Injury trial litigation and focus our energy and efforts on those we represent.
Gulf War Syndrome New Report
A congressionally mandated scientific panel has concluded that Gulf War syndrome is real and still afflicts nearly a quarter of the 700,000 U.S. troops who served in the 1991 conflict, according to a recently released report.
The report concluded that two chemical exposures were direct causes of the disorder: the drug pyridostigmine bromide, given to troops to protect against nerve gas, and pesticides that were widely used — and often overused — to protect against sand flies and other pests.
“The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that Gulf War illness is real, that it is a result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time,” according to the 450-page report presented to Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake.
Paxil Test Case Fails Statute of Limitations
One of Philadelphia’s bellwether cases in litigation over whether the maker of the drug Paxil failed to warn about an increased risk of suicide from its drug has been dismissed following a Common Pleas Court judge’s decision to grant summary judgment on statute of limitations grounds.
Collins v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. d/b/a GlaxoSmithKline survived summary judgment in March when defendant GlaxoSmithKline argued that the doctrine of federal pre-emption precluded the plaintiffs from pursuing their state products liability claim.
While Judge Tereshko, coordinating judge of the Complex Litigation Center, denied summary judgment on the grounds of federal pre-emption in March, Tereshko granted summary judgment on the grounds regarding Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations.
The judge’s order dismissed all of plaintiffs claims of wrongful death, survival, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, strict liability under the Maryland Products Liability Act, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, loss of consortium and punitive damages.
J&J Units Must Pay $16.6 Million for Fentanyl Death
Two units of Johnson & Johnson must pay $16.6 million to the family of a Chicago-area woman who died after using a Duragesic pain-patch, a state jury found, dealing the company its fourth defeat in as many trials since 2006.
The woman aged 38, died in February 2004 because the patch she was wearing delivered a fatal dose of the narcotic fentanyl, the device’s main ingredient.
The Duragesic-brand patch is made by Alza Corp., a Mountain View, California, company owned by New Brunswick, New Jersey- based Johnson & Johnson, the world’s biggest maker of medical devices. The product was distributed by another Johnson & Johnson unit, Janssen Pharmaceutica. The jury deliberated for less than two days.
34 S.F. Police Officers Sue For Age Discrimination
Thirty-four veteran San Francisco police officers alleged in their lawsuit that the SFPD was passing them over for promotion to inspector because of their ages.
The officers, who have been on a waiting list since they passed an inspector’s exam in 1998, were stymied by “unchecked age bias that pervades the culture of the department,” according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
Instead of promoting longtime officers to a position that offers more responsibilities and higher pay, the Police Department began to assign some of its sergeants last year to inspectors’ jobs at its investigations bureau. The sergeants are younger and less qualified and have never taken an inspector’s exam, the suit said.
Consumer Product Safety Commission Investigates Rhino UTV
The Yamaha Rhino, was a hit in the off-road-vehicle market, promising to go “almost anywhere” with an “amazingly high level of comfort and ease.” Now, federal safety regulators are investigating the vehicle following reports of some 30 deaths involving it, including those of two young girls last month.
Yamaha faces more than 200 lawsuits in state and federal courts, many alleging the Rhino’s design is unsafe. Yamaha has settled some but recently beefed up its defense and says it may start to fight rather than settle.
Yamaha stands behind the design of the Rhino, a two-seat vehicle that looks a little like a cross between a golf cart and all-terrain vehicle. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said its investigation of the utility terrain vehicle, or UTV, was prompted by the number of accident reports and the lawsuits.
Many injury claims, Yamaha said, result from improper operation, modifications such as removing the protective “roll cage,” or failure to use a helmet and seat belt.
Read earlier post.
Nevada Medical Malpractice Crisis
A 59-year-old man lumbers through a junkyard he helps manage; he bumps into a desk and the man is almost blind in his right eye and has trouble with depth perception and peripheral vision.
This unfortunate man blames a doctor for a botched retina reattachment operation in August 2007. But lawyers tell him it is economically unfeasible to litigate his complicated case, or that time limitations are an issue.
For that, he blames medical malpractice reforms of the 2004 Nevada Legislature.
“With this new malpractice law in place, I cannot even get a lawyer to go after who is responsible for what happened,” the Las Vegas resident said. “There is hardly any protection for the consumer any more. Now everything is in favor of doctors.”
Voters overwhelmingly approved Question 3 in 2004. Physicians called it the “Keep Our Doctors In Nevada” initiative.
Nigerian Pharmacists Sue UTMB Over Discrimination
Four pharmacists at the University of Texas Medical Branch filed suit claiming that the medical institution is discriminating against them because of their nationalities.
The pharmacists claim that their superiors used their Nigerian origins as a reason to overlook them for raises, compensation and promotion, despite each individual’s education and professional work histories.
The plaintiffs complained that their discrimination was on the basis of their national origin; also stating that the plaintiffs are American citizens.
The complaint said the Pharmacy Department gave the plaintiffs 1 percent raises while their colleagues received two percent raises.
J&J Units Must Pay $13 Million Over Pain-Patch Death
A Florida jury decided that Johnson & Johnson must pay more than $13 million to the family of a woman who died from an overdose of painkillers delivered by a patch made by the companies.
Janssen Pharmaceutica Products and Alza, the subsidiaries, were responsible for the woman’s death. The Johnson & Johnson units have lost all three cases to go to trial so far over the patches.
The New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson lost the first two cases as juries in Texas and Florida ordered the company to pay a total of $6.2 million to the families of former users who died of painkiller overdoses.
Coal Fired Power Plant and Residents Settle Law Suit
A group of Maryland residents whose drinking water was contaminated with coal ash reached a multimillion-dollar settlement of its class action lawsuit against Constellation Energy Group.
The deal, estimated at $45 million, gives about 600 residents living near a sand and gravel mine financial compensation and environmental remediation.
For 12 years Constellation worked with a contractor to dump billions of tons of waste ash from its Brandon Shores coal-fired power plant into an unlined former gravel mine pit. County tests found that 23 wells in the area tested positive for metals such as arsenic, cadmium and thallium, all components of waste ash from smokestacks, also called “fly ash.”
A suit was filed in November 2007 in Baltimore Circuit Court to make Constellation pay unspecified damages for personal injuries and loss of property values.
