Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

November 13, 2008

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.

November 12, 2008

Nigerian Pharmacists Sue UTMB Over Discrimination

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 11, 2008

J&J Units Must Pay $13 Million Over Pain-Patch Death

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

Read about earlier report:

November 10, 2008

Coal Fired Power Plant and Residents Settle Law Suit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

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.

November 9, 2008

Boston Plans Tougher Regulations on Tobacco

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Boston Public Health Commission is proposing some of the nation’s strictest smoking regulations; banning the sale of cigarettes at drugstores and on college campuses, and shutting down the city’s 10 cigar and hookah bars by 2013.

The commission said, the goal is to discourage young people from buying tobacco products, to keep a harmful product out of stores that promote health, and to protect employees who are exposed to secondhand smoke.

The Board of Health will vote on the regulations on Nov. 13. If approved they will take effect within 60 days.

“Should tobacco be treated as any other consumer good? No,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of the Board of Health. “We do not sell guns everywhere, we do not sell alcohol everywhere and we do not need to be selling tobacco everywhere. They are all dangerous products, and they all require regulation.”

November 8, 2008

Colorado Diocese Settles $4M Sex Abuse Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Catholic Diocese and the Marianist religious order have agreed to pay $4 million to settle the claims of 23 men who said they were sexually abused when they attended a Catholic high school in Pueblo.

The agreement involved alleged abuse at Roncalli High School between 1966 and 1971.

Lawsuits were filed on behalf of the former students who allege a former Brother lured them at the school and asked them to participate in an experiment about trust. He then placed a cloth soaked in ether, a compound used for anesthesia, over their mouths, then sexually abused them as they lay helpless.

November 7, 2008

EMC Sex Bias Case Denied Class Action

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A federal appeals court denied former employees of EMC Corp. class-action status in their complaint against the company claiming sexual discrimination.

This means that the plaintiffs will have to pursue their complaints on an individual basis. The two plaintiffs had each worked in EMC’s Chicago-area sales force from 1999 to 2003. They filed their suit in 2004 after they had lost their jobs.

The plaintiffs and 15 other former salesmen and women have described company-paid visits to strip clubs, demeaning sexual remarks or retaliation against women who complained about the atmosphere. Three women have said male managers sometimes unfairly removed women from accounts they developed and replaced them with men.

Read the complaint here:Download file

November 6, 2008

Court Upholds Damages in Sushi Food Poisoning Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An appeals court upheld a $3.2 million award to a woman who said she suffered permanent nerve damage after eating sushi.

The woman was awarded the judgment from a jury more than two years ago but a judge overturned the award. In the decision the 4th District Court of Appeal reversed.

November 5, 2008

A&M Settles Bonfire Law Suit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Texas A&M University has agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle a lawsuit resulting from the 1999 bonfire collapse that killed 12 people and injured 27.

The families of four students who died and three who were hurt had sued the university, school officials and construction contractors hired to help build the 59-foot-high stack of logs.

The settlement agreement, filed in state District Court in Brazos County, resolves all remaining claims against current and former A&M employees. Claims against the contractors are pending, and the university is a third-party defendant in those matters.

November 4, 2008

Dell Sued For Wrongful Termination

by Dr. Shezad Malik

According to a new lawsuit filed by four former human-resources managers recent layoffs at Dell unfairly targeted women and workers over age 40, and the company discriminates against women in pay and promotions,
The four former HR executives at Dell are seeking US$500 million in a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The four women alleged that the company and its “old boy network” discriminated against women in pay, job placement, promotions and layoffs.

Dell in May 2007 announced plans to lay off about 8,800 workers, about 10 percent of its workforce. Those layoffs unfairly targeted women and older workers, and more than 80 percent of Dell’s upper management is now male, the lawsuit claims.