Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

June 26, 2010

NYC Victim of Dog Attack Settles Lawsuit with City

The city of New York has agreed to a $750,000 settlement with a Queens woman who was mauled by a pack of wild dogs in 2001, leaving her with severe scarring and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Marlene Fils-Aime was trying to rescue a man who was being attacked by the dogs on a Queens boardwalk when the dogs attacked her, the lawsuit claims.

Her lawsuit stated that the city was responsible because they left garbage in empty lots around the boardwalk, which attracted the packs of stray dogs.

The man who was being attacked, Lev Liberman, settled with the city for $3 million in 2007. Thomas Zambito , New York Daily News 06/23/2010
Read Article: New York Daily News

June 26, 2010

Jury Finds for FL Couple in Chinese Drywall Suit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Florida couple who fled their dream home because of foul-smelling, ruinous Chinese drywall was awarded $2.4 million in damages in the nation’s first jury trial over the defective wallboard that could have legal ramifications for thousands of similar cases.

The defendant, drywall distributor Banner Supply, is named in thousands of other lawsuits. Associated Press, The Washington Post 06/21/2010
Read Article: The Washington Post

June 26, 2010

Homebuilder Settles EEOC Racial Discrimination Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An Atlanta homebuilder has agreed to a $378,500 settlement in a lawsuit that accused the company of racial discrimination.

The lawsuit claimed that John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods Inc. intentionally steered African-American sales agents to lower-priced subdivisions, which prevented them from earning similar commissions as their white counterparts in higher-cost subdivisions.

Over the next six years, Wieland will hire at least 10 African-Americans and women for management positions as part of the settlement. Péralte C. Paul , Atlanta Journal-Constitution 06/23/2010
Read Article: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

June 25, 2010

Merck Loses $8 M Verdict in Trial Over Fosamax

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Merck & Co. lost the second trial to reach a verdict over claims its osteoporosis drug Fosamax causes so-called jaw death. The jury set damages at $8 million.

A jury in New York ruled against Merck today in the case of Shirley Boles, 72, of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Boles claimed she developed osteonecrosis of the jaw, or ONJ, from taking Fosamax. The first Fosamax case resulted in a Merck victory in May.

Recently a link has been found between bisphosphonates and a serious bone disease called osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ aka. Dead Jaw). This important discovery clearly shows that Fosamax side effects may include osteonecrosis of the jaw, aka, dead jaw or jaw death as well as osteomyelitis of the jaw. Fosamax has also been linked to low energy femur fractures (thigh bone fractures).

The case is Boles v. Merck & Co., 06-cv-09455, and the lawsuits are combined in In Re Fosamax Products Liability Litigation, MDL 1789, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Read full Bloomberg story here.

June 25, 2010

Award Issued in Cruise Ship Slip and Fall Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A former cruise ship trumpet player was awarded $1.7 million from a Miami jury after he slipped and fell while on stage on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.

Steven Pavone claimed that the fall injured his shoulder and ended his trumpet-playing career. The accident was caused by a bit of oil that leaked out from the on-stage fog machine, according to the lawsuit. Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald 06/23/2010
Read Article: Miami Herald

June 25, 2010

Settlement Reached in PA Guardrail Crash

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Camden County, Penn., has agreed to a $15 million settlement with a man who lost his leg and part of his arm when his car crashed into a guardrail and the railing snapped off, cutting through the vehicle.

In 2004, Nicholas Anderson was driving on Raritan Road when he was forced off the road by an oncoming car.

The lawsuit claims that the guardrail was improperly designed and should have absorbed the impact of Anderson’s vehicle instead of snapping off.

Properly designed guardrails were later installed throughout the county. Barbara Boyer , Philadelphia Inquirer 06/18/2010
Read Article: Philadelphia Inquirer

June 25, 2010

Whistleblower Suit Settled By Defense Contractor Northrop Grumman

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman has agreed to settle a whistleblower lawsuit brought against them by a former quality assurance manager in 2006.

The lawsuit claimed that the company failed to test electronic parts supplied to the government that would placed in military aircraft and spacecraft and be required to withstand extreme temperatures.

The federal government will receive a $12.5 million settlement and the former manager, Allen Davis, will receive $2.4 million as part of the settlement. W.J. Hennigan, LA Times 06/24/2010
Read Article: LA Times

June 24, 2010

Texas Company Being Investigated By TCEQ Over Gas Pipeline

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is investigating a company that installed a gas pipeline through the site of an old landfill in northeast Fort Worth without proper permission.

Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners is installing a 30-inch pipeline that runs from just north of Arlington to a network of interstate pipelines near Justin. The line, designed to transport natural gas produced from drill sites in the Barnett Shale, is expected to start operating in the third quarter of this year.

The site was listed as a former unauthorized landfill on a database maintained by the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Companies are supposed to check the database before installing a pipeline in the region, according to officials. AMAN BATHEJA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 06/24/2010
Read Article: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

June 24, 2010

Officials Begin Testing Kettleman City California Hazardous Waste Landfill.

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The AP (6/18) reports officials investigating a string of birth defects in rural Kettleman City, CA, “started taking samples of the air, water and soil” while “grieving parents” testified before state legislators about “infant deaths and birth defects in an impoverished farm town next to the biggest hazardous waste landfill in the West.”

Residents blame “toxic waste dump for the grouping of cleft palates and heart problems,” but Waste Management officials “have said there is no evidence linking the…landfill to the deformities.”

The company received approval to expand the 1,600-acre facility despite opposition from the residents. The expansion is pending results of state and federal environmental investigations.

Read full New York Times story here.

June 23, 2010

GlaxoSmithKline Settles Nearly 200 Paxil Lawsuits.

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Legal Intelligencer (6/23, Elliott-Engel) reports, “Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to settle almost 200 cases in which plaintiffs allege the use of the antidepressant Paxil caused birth defects.”

GSK “decided to settle Kilker v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. d/b/a GlaxoSmithKline along with another 190 cases, according to an order signed by Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Sandra Mazer Moss last week.” Jamie Sheller, “local plaintiffs liaison counsel for the Paxil pregnancy mass tort program,” estimated “that up to another 100 cases, including cases that have not yet been filed, have settled.”

Read the full story here.