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Last Entry: November 09, 2009 at 12:14:14

Defense Neuropsychologists Want to Replace Jurors

Posted on November 09, 2009
Defense neuropsychologists are hell-bent on being able to testify whether they believe an injured person is telling the truth. They cannot be serious, you say. Determining the veracity or credibility of a witness is the exclusive province of the finder of fact...

Fredericksburg Tractor Trailer Crash Yields Jail Time for Truck Driver

Posted on October 27, 2009
On February 2, 2009, a tractor trailer truck loaded with 83,000 pounds of sand ran a red light on U.S. 17 and killed a Stafford, Va. woman. The truck driver told police he thought the light was green and that he never saw the victim's vehicle. However, police tested the truck and determined that it had no front left brakes and the right front brakes were not working...

Department of Labor States Drug Reps are Entitled to Overtime

Posted on October 16, 2009
The issue of whether Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives ("Drug Reps" as they are sometimes called) are entitled to overtime has been bouncing around and dividing the Federal Courts for several years. However, just yesterday the United States Department of Labor ("DOL") came out and affirmatively stated that Drug Reps are entitled to overtime compensation...

Are Enemies of 7th Amendment Outraged About This Frivolous Defense?

Posted on October 15, 2009
Let's see if the insurance industry-sponsored lobbyists who call themselves tort reformers hold any press conferences or buy any advertisements to criticize the frivolous defense being put forth in the case where the pet chimpanzee ripped the face off of a woman...

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Congress One Step Closer to Killing Feres Doctrine

Posted on October 09, 2009
The Feres Doctrine is a legal precedent from a 1950 United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that service members injured in the course of their duties are prohibited from suing the government or any government employee. This Doctrine is the reason why military operating rooms are more dangerous than private operating rooms...

NFL Players Ass'n Announces Formation of Concussion and TBI Committee

Posted on October 05, 2009
Below is the Press Release from the NFLPA Communications Director: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Carl Francis Carl.Francis@nflplayers.com 202-756-9169 NFLPA ANNOUNCES FORMATION OF CONCUSSION AND TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY COMMITTEE For the past few months, the NFL Players Association, led by Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, President Kevin Mawae, Medical Director Dr...

Long Term Risks from Concussions are Real

Posted on October 02, 2009
As scrutiny of brain injuries in football players escalated the past three years, with prominent professionals reporting cognitive problems, academic studies supporting an association, and autopsies of former NFL players revealing brain damage resembling advanced Alzheimer's disease, the National Football League and its medical committee on concussions have steadfastly denied the existence of reliable data on the issue...

If You Thought Texting While Driving Was Dangerous...

Posted on September 28, 2009
What could possibly be more dangerous than a teenager texting while driving? how about the driver of an 18 wheeler tractor trailer truck using a computer keyboard on his lap while driving. Hundreds of thousands of long-haul truckers use computers in their cabs to get directions and stay in close contact with dispatchers...

Experience Counts When Representing Victims of Brain Damage

Posted on September 24, 2009
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.4 million people suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI). This number is a conservative estimate as brain injuries often go undetected. TBI's are caused by a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain...

Class Action Alleges Airline "Targeted" Military Pilots With Discrimination

Posted on September 03, 2009
A recently filed lawsuit alleges that Continental Airlines discriminated against pilots actively engaged in service with the armed forces. According to an August 31 news report about the suit, it is alleged that Continental illegally failed to credit time toward seniority and provide benefits to pilots who were called away due to military obligations...

Delivery Drivers Win $22.75 Million Overtime Settlement

Posted on August 28, 2009
According to an August 20th press release, a massive national Uniform provider, Cintas, came to terms recently on an almost $23 million settlement with a class of hundreds delivery drivers to whom it failed to pay overtime compensation. The Fair Labor Standards Act ('FLSA') is the Federal law mandating overtime compensation to persons who work more than forty hours a week...

Race Discrimination Case Wins Class Status at the Fourth Circuit

Posted on August 13, 2009
The generally conservative Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a ruling effectively granting class action status to a racial discrimination lawsuit originating out of South Carolina. The case involves alleged racial discrimination at a Nucor Steel plant...

Kill the Feres Doctrine Now

Posted on August 10, 2009
On July 9, a 20 year-old Airman underwent routine surgery on his gallbladder. During surgery, however, a relatively inexperienced doctor nicked his aorta, resulting in the loss of both of the Airman's legs. This tragedy has helped to shine new light on the Feres doctrine, which prevents active-duty members of the military from filing suit for medical malpractice...

TVA Duplicity Re: Coal Ash Spill

Posted on July 29, 2009
During a recent hearing before Congress, the head of the Tennessee Valley Authority acknowledged a 'larger cultural problem' at the agency as an inspector general's report says it allowed its lawyers to stifle a $3 million study into the cause of a massive coal ash spill to limit its legal liability...

Electronic Cigarettes Come Under Scrutiny

Posted on July 24, 2009
The debate about the deleterious effects of cigarette smoking seems to be largely settled. The public at large is now deluged with anti-smoking messages and cigarette packs are required to prominently display very ominous warning labels. Finally, in the last 15 years tobacco companies have been hit time and time again with large civil judgments in courts across the country...

Continuous Infusion Pain Pumps Causing Cartilage Death

Posted on July 21, 2009
Studies show a strong association between the intra-articular (inside the joint space) use of high volume pain pumps following arthroscopic shoulder surgery and an otherwise unexplainable loss of hyaline cartilage in the shoulder joint. According to a study authored by Hansen, et al...

New Guidelines Help ER Docs Access Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Posted on July 10, 2009
The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have revised the clinical guidelines related to mild traumatic brain injuries in adult patients, which is expected to lead to better patient outcomes for the more than one million patients treated in emergency department every year for mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), or concussion...

Toxic Denture Creams

Posted on July 09, 2009
Many years ago, I handled a product liability case against a major pharmaceutical corporation in which our client's physicians opined that she developed a fatal pre-leukemic condition as a result of her exposure to benzene in her denture adhesive. Through discovery, we learned that the manufacturer and its predecessor corporations knew of the existence of benzene in its product as far back as the 1970's...

Make Your Doctor Give You Your Test Results

Posted on June 24, 2009
Are you like most people who assume that no news is good news after you've undergone a series of tests ordered by your doctor? If so, you should be alarmed by a recent study, and you should never assume that your doctor will automatically tell you if you have an abnormal test result...

Medtronic Reveals Massive Payments to Doctor Accused of Falsifying Medical Research

Posted on June 18, 2009
A former military surgeon accused by the Army of falsifying a medical journal study involving one of Medtronic's products received approximately $800,000.00 from Medtronic between 2001 and 2009, according to information released on Wednesday by the company...

Tort Reform Means Less Safety(2)

Posted on June 18, 2009
The naive among us who believe that limiting our Seventh Amendment right to trial by jury would benefit most citizens probably also supported Newt Gingrich's plan in the 1990's to privatize the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Then Speaker Gingrich advocated disbanding the FDA and giving the pharmaceutical, medical device, and food industry oversight of their own industries...

Tort Reform Means Less Safety

Posted on June 12, 2009
The naive among us who believe that limiting our Seventh Amendment right to trial by jury would benefit most citizens probably also supported Newt Gingrich's plan in the 1990's to privatize the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Then Speaker Gingrich advocated disbanding the FDA and giving the pharmaceutical, medical device, and food industry oversight of their own industries...

Repeal the Feres Doctrine

Posted on May 19, 2009
Cindy Wilson was a 37 year old technical sergeant stationed at Langley Air Force Base. On February 20, 2007, she was to give birth to her first child. Sergeant Wilson was excited that her parents were making the trip from Georgia to experience the birth of their grandson...

Traumatic Brain Injury Effects Kids for Years

Posted on May 13, 2009
According to two studies just published by the American Psycological Association, children who suffer traumatic brain injuries can experience lasting or late-appearing neuropsychological problems. These finding highlight the importance of carefu monitoring of brain damaged children over time...

Frightening News About Buffalo Plane Crash

Posted on May 12, 2009
According to people with knowledge of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation, the captain of a Colgan Air commuter plane that crashed Feb. 12 near Buffalo, N.Y. flunked numerous flight tests during his career and was never adequately taught how to respond to the emergency that led to the airplane crash...

Hold Your Child Out of Sports Following a Concussion

Posted on May 05, 2009
I know many well-meaning parents who are guilty of allowing their child to be rushed back into contact sports following a concussion. Whether the concussion is suffered in a car accident or a sports-related incident, the same issue typically arises- the child wants to go back to sports immediately after getting checked out at the hospital...

"All-Hands Meeting" Called At FDA To Discuss Lax Medical Device Oversight

Posted on April 28, 2009
Nine scientists signed letters to President Obama charging that Food and Drug Administration officials had acted illegally and that patients were routinely put at risk by unsafe medical devices approved by the FDA for sale despite significant and often unanimous objections from scientific reviewers at FDA...

Census Report Confirms Race-Based Pay Disparities

Posted on April 28, 2009
Companies continue to use discriminatory pay systems. Census figures released yesterday confirm that blacks and Hispanics continue to be paid less than whites for higher-paying jobs – and that the differentials are larger than they have been in a decade...

Overtime Claims to be Emphasized by Obama Administration

Posted on April 25, 2009
In two recent articles, the Wall Street Journal reports that businesses are fearing a crackdown by the Obama administration on workplace practices. The Department of Labor will hire 150 new investigators to enforce wage and child labor laws and an additional 100 investigators in its Wage and Hour Division (WHD) to address unpaid overtime and minimum wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)...

Sexual Assault of Child to be Tried in State Court

Posted on April 24, 2009
In an April 22, 2009 opinion, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson refused to allow companies who were alleged to have negligently hired or retained a previously-convicted sex offender who assaulted a child to remove the case from state court to federal court...

Gender Wage Claim Allowed for Failure to Grant Tenure

Posted on April 23, 2009
A U.S. District Court ruled that a Jackson State University professor's gender discrimination claim that she was denied tenure is timely under the recently enacted Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This law extends the time to preserve a claim with an EEOC filing time to 180 days (300 days in states such as Virginia which have state deferral agencies) after the last paycheck including the discriminatory pay...

Federal Court Determines Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives Are Not "Outside Salesmen"

Posted on April 02, 2009
On March 30th, a Connecticut Federal court found that the FLSA's 'Outside Salesman' exemption did not apply to Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives. In issuing its ruling the court resisted the temptation to concede to legal fictions created by other courts in order to justify withholding overtime compensation...

Breaking News: Defense Medical Examinations May Be Bogus!

Posted on April 01, 2009
The New York Times reported on a problem in personal injury and workers' compensation cases that is well-known to plaintiff's lawyers. Doctors who perform "independent medical examinations" (more accurately called, "defense medical examinations") routinely falsify their findings to minimize or dismiss real injuries in order to benefit the insurance companies who have hired the doctors to perform the examination...

Supreme Court Issues Ruling on Arbitration That Is Beneficial to Employees and Consumers

Posted on March 11, 2009
The Supreme Court of the United States recently issued a ruling that will likely prove helpful to employees and consumers when their employers or lenders seek to prohibit their access to court. Employers and consumer lenders, including credit card companies, have increasingly sought to preclude employees and consumers from bringing claims in court by including arbitration agreements in their contracts...

Another New Study Shows Long-Term Dangers of Concussions

Posted on March 10, 2009
Not all concussions are the same. Mild traumatic brain injuries (a/k/a concussions) are common in children and young adolescents, especially those who play contact sports. Researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital found that although not all concussions are the same, they are often treated in the same way – a potential problem when it comes to long-term health outcomes...

Concussions Linked to Suppressed Brain Functioning Years Later

Posted on March 09, 2009
A study in the current edition of the Journal of Neurology supports the conclusion that concussions-medically classified as mild traumatic brain injuries-may cause weakened brain functioning later in life. The study was conducted by researchers in the department of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illionois...

Bus Driver Settles for $5 Million During Trial

Posted on February 24, 2009
A bus driver who lost a leg in a tractor trailer truck crash in Norther Virginia settled his case for $5 million while a Richmond Circuit Court jury was deliberating the case last Tuesday. The driver was driving students from West Virginia to Disney World when a tractor-trailer pulled from the right lane of U...

Vicki Iseman's $27 Million Defamation Case Settles for Zero Dollars and No Retraction

Posted on February 23, 2009
Vicki Iseman, the lobbyist whom the New York Times reported was suspected by John McCain's staff in 1999 of having a romantic affair with Senatory McCain, sued the New York Times for defamation. The Complaint was filed December 30, 2008 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, and can be viewd by clicking "defamation" in the previous sentence...

Alarming News Regarding Repetitive Head Trauma

Posted on January 27, 2009
Clinical researchers reported today that postmortem examination of the brain of a recently deceased 18 year old high school football player showed early signs of an incurable debilitating brain disease caused by repetitive head trauma. This finding has major significance in ongoing study of the effects of the sports-related concussion, which threatens athletes from Pop Warner football to the NFL...

The Walking Wounded: PTSD Victims

Posted on January 26, 2009
The term "walking wounded" has long been used to describe victims of traumatic brain injury, who may appear healthy but have permanent cognitive, psychological, and other symptoms from brain damage. The term is now being used to describe the American troops in Iraq who are returning from combat duty with post-traumatic stress disorder...

What is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act?

Posted on January 26, 2009
On Thursday, January 22nd, the U.S. Senate passed S. 181, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Swift action is expected in the House to pass the bill and present it to President Obama, who is expected to sign it into law. The effect of the new law will be to restore the 'paycheck accrual rule,' making every instance of pay discrimination, every paycheck, actionable discrimination...

Does Your Home Contain Foul Smelling Chinese-Made Drywall?

Posted on January 21, 2009
This issue was first brought to my attention by fellow blogger, Wayne Parsons, in a January 2, 2009 blog, "Drywall From China Causes Concern Over Sulfur Odor in Homes." Apparently, health department and building officials across the Southeast have been getting a lot of reports about Chinese drywall which, according to the National Organization of Remediators and Mold Inspectors, emits much higher levels of sulfur, methane, and other volatile organic compounds than is considered safe for humans...

The Billion Dollar Antipsychotics Settlement?

Posted on January 20, 2009
According to an article published in last week’s New York Times, goliath drug maker, Eli Lilly appears poised to agree to a $1.4 billion settlement related to marketing and use of its antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa. The article reports that the suit alleges the company sought to push the drug for sedation of unruly seniors in nursing homes and children with behavioral problems...

TN Coal Plant That Spilled Toxic Coal Ash Knew About Leaks

Posted on January 09, 2009
My last blog was about the coal-burning power plant responsible for the massive spill of coal ash in East Tennessee late last month. The chief executive of the Tennessee Valley Authority acknowledged Thursday that the plant’s containment ponds had leaked two other times in the last five years but had not been adequately repaired...

Toxic Coal Ash Spill Threatens East Tennesssee

Posted on December 30, 2008
This past Monday, the Tennessee Valley Authority disclosed to the New York Times a 2007 inventory of toxic materials that the Kingston Fossil Plant, a T.V.A. coal-fired electric plant 40 miles west of Knoxville, had deposited into a holding pond. The holding pond failed last week, flooding 300 acres of East Tennessee...

KBR Accused of Exposing Our Troops to Known Toxic Chemical

Posted on December 23, 2008
The CBS Evening News(12/22, story 8, 3:30, Smith) reported that on since the beginning of the war in Iraq, may be facing yet another scandal." CBS added, in April, 2003, James Gentry of the Indiana National Guard arrived in southern Iraq to take command of more than 600 other guardsmen...

Special Ed Child Kills Self After Being Forced By His School Into Seclusion Cell

Posted on December 18, 2008
pThis is a sad story of the wrongful death of a 13 year-old child who needed help from his special ed school but got a form of torture. A few weeks before a 13-year-old north Georgia special education student killed himself, he told his parents that his teachers had put him in quot;time-out...

Your Cell Phone May Be Causing Memory Problems

Posted on December 08, 2008
Is there a reason we've always been told not to stand too close to the microwave oven? If you can't remember the reason, it may be because you're using your cell phone too much. Scientists at the Division of Neurosurgery, Lund University, in Sweden Nittby studied rats that were exposed to mobile phone radiation for two hours a week for more than a year...

General Shinsheki Chosen to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Posted on December 07, 2008
I've blogged frequently about how traumatic brain injury is the signature injury of the Iraq war. The reaction by the Administration to this tragedy can be summarized as too little too late. Not too long ago, the Veterans Affairs Department was taking a hostile approach to wounded veterans making claims of brain damage or PTSD...

Blast-Induced Brain Damage Posing Long-Term Nightmare for Vets

Posted on December 05, 2008
Major news outlets have reported for the past couple of years that traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the signature injury of the Iraq war. In a long awaited government report, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimates that 22% of wounded troops have suffered brain damage, and calls on the military to take major steps to better evaluate returning veterans for traumatic brain injury...

Prescriptions of Antipsychotics to Children Attract Scrutiny

Posted on December 02, 2008
Last week I wrote a short blog touching on the increasing frequency with which antipsychotic drugs like Risperdal and Zyprexa were being prescribed to children. I primarily focused on the use of antipyschotics in the treatment of juvenile attention disorders...

Anti-Pyschotic Drugs Prescribed To Children With ADD

Posted on November 24, 2008
Attention Deficit Disorder ("ADD") affects countless school age children. ADD is often treated with drugs like Ritalin or Adderall. Both are widely acknowledged as effective weapons against attention disorders in both children and adults. Recently however, some physicians have begun prescribing powerful anti-psychotic medications to treat attention disorders in children...

Cooling Brain of Young Children Before Anesthesia May Prevent Brain Damage

Posted on November 24, 2008
Growing evidence suggests exposure to anesthetic drugs during brain development may contribute to behavioral and developmental delays. Since the human brain continues to develop until approximately age seven, this evidence presents a frightening dilemma for many parents...

FDA Rank and File Do Not Support Preemption

Posted on October 30, 2008
Yesterday the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a report saying FDA career staff objected to a change in preemption rules, even saying the central factual justifications for the agency’s new positions were false...

Retaliation Must Be Taken Seriously By Employers and Employees

Posted on October 29, 2008
Most federal laws from which employees derive rights contain what’s called an anti-retaliation provision. Basically, these provisions provide protection for employees who have engaged in a “protected activity.” A protected activity is normally thought to be an act complaining an employer's violation of federal law...

Stop Businesses From Sending Child Molestors Into Your Home

Posted on October 24, 2008
The Sex Offense Registry can be accessed for free in a matter of minutes. Requiring a prospective employee to sign a release authorizing the prospective employer to access his criminal record takes no time at all. Following through and actually requesting the criminal record simply requires mailing the form, typically with a check for a few dollars...

Documents Reveal Bush Administration Top Priority: Exempt Big Business from Civil Justice System

Posted on October 16, 2008
According to documents obtained through repeated FOIA requests by the American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Bush Administration's attempt to shield big business and Wall Street from the free market date back long before the current bail out. Documents released by AAJ detail how helping corporations escape accountability for dangerous products by denying consumers their Seventh Amendment right to trial by jury and by abrogating the Republican party's long-standing state's rights principles has long been the administration’s top priority...

Predatory Lobbying and Legislating Caused the Economic Crisis

Posted on October 01, 2008
I am a big fan of the philosophy of objectivism, which promotes rational self-interest, individual liberty,and the capitalist system. Followers of this philosophy know that one of the biggest enemies of our free-market capitalist system is government sponsored cronyism...

Serious Brain Damage May Not Show Up On MRI

Posted on September 27, 2008
Boston University Medical School's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy has been studying the brains of former NFL players who donated their brains for medical research. The Center has now studied the brains of six former NFL players, and five of the six brains studied were found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy...

Medtronic Accused by Own Lawyer of Pervasive Kickbacks to Physicians

Posted on September 25, 2008
A qui tam lawsuit filed against medical device maker, Medtronic, by its former senior legal counsel was recently unsealed, and it provides detailed insight into the unsavory way in which surgeons are induced to use certain medical devices. The whistleblower was senior counsel in the spinal-device unit...

New Mexico Appelate Court upholds $13 Million Dollar Negligence Verdict

Posted on September 23, 2008
Despite recent efforts by special interests to cap punitive damages, the fact remains that they are perhaps the best and only shield the general public has against egregious and unsafe actors. According to an Associated Press article reprinted on CNN...

Senate finally acts to protect disabled workers

Posted on September 12, 2008
On September 11, 2008 the United States Senate finally passed a new bill to protect disabled employees and put teeth back into the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to the New York Times, the U.S. House has already passed a similar bill by a vote of 402-17...

When A Salary Is Not A Salary

Posted on September 10, 2008
A federal judge recently ruled that managerial employees of supermarket chain Gristedes were not paid on a salary basis, which may open the door to a large verdict against the company. The lawsuit filed by managerial employees alleges that the company misclassified them as executive employees who are exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires among other factors that the employee be paid on a salary basis...

Wal-Mart Pays Steep Price for "Off The Clock" Violations Against Employees

Posted on September 09, 2008
Retail giant Wal-Mart was hit with a $185 Million verdict in favor of employees who worked "off the clock." The class of employees involved in the lawsuit alleged that Wal-Mart maintained a national policy of preventing employees from using their break and lunch time but subtracting that time from their paychecks...

Grass Really is Greener....

Posted on September 08, 2008
Litigation involving lead paint has been with us for decades. Long ago it became recognized that when ingested, lead could have deleterious effects on the human body. Essentially everyone knows by now it is best to keep our children away from lead and especially important to make sure it does not find a way into their mouths...

Mississippi Supreme Court Part 2

Posted on August 26, 2008
Upon further inquiry into the hullabaloo surrounding the Mississippi Supreme Court's majority decision to attempt to stifle the dissenting opinion of Justice Oliver Diaz in a wrongful death case, I have learned that the anti-Justice Diaz efforts are indeed supported by the forces pushing for more tort reform...

Kudos to NY Times for Keeping Vets' Brain Injury Issues in Forefront

Posted on August 26, 2008
Today, the New York Times continues what must be at least a two year series of reports on one of the hidden tragedies of the Iraq war- the growing tide of combat veterans who come home with traumatic brain injuries. This piece tracks the unfortunate story of Sgt...

Life Imitates Art in Mississippi Supreme Court

Posted on August 25, 2008
In an unprecedented action, the Mississippi Supreme Court attempted to bar the publication of a dissenting opinion by a sitting Supreme Court Justice. The case is a wrongful death case called Mississippi Veterans Affairs Board v. Kraft. One of the issues on appeal involved the statute of limitations, which governs the time limitation for filing a lawsuit...

The New England Journal of Medicine Offers the Supreme Court Some Advice on Drug Company Liability

Posted on August 18, 2008
No drug company wants to face the massive liability created when a Fen-phen or Vioxx is exposed as being dangerous. Thus, much has been made in the press of the new in vogue defense employed by big drug companies. They argue that because prescription drugs are federally regulated, companies that make dangerous drugs are not responsible for their side effects...

Religious discrimination treated as seriously as race or sex discirmination in New Jersey

Posted on August 15, 2008
The New Jersey Supreme Court recently held that religious discrimination hostile work environment claims should be analyzed exactly like hostile work environment sexual harassment and hostile work environment race discrimination claims. According to Jeffrey Gold of the Associated Press, in a 5-0 ruling the Court held that a Jewish police officer was subjected to a hostile work environment filled with religious discrimination...

West Virginia Governor Exposed as Pawn of DuPont

Posted on August 13, 2008
In a story that sounds eerily like the John Grisham book, The Appeal, files released from West Virginia Governor, Joe Manchin's, office reveal that he is in bed with DuPont Company trying to get the West Virginia Supreme Court to overturn a $382 million verdict against DuPont...

Religious discrimination costs $735,000 in New York

Posted on August 08, 2008
No employee should suffer religious discrimination or any employment discrimination. And in New York City a man recently won a $735,000 verdict because his employer discriminated against him for being Jewish. According to the New York Times, Gregory Fishman was an employee of the Mass Transit Authority in Queens...

Tragic Crane Accidents Make Headlines

Posted on August 08, 2008
Unfortunately, workplace accidents are a reality. Much of the time, the damage done is minimal. However, in industrial workplaces, where heavy equipment is prominent, the stakes are raised and accidents too often have tragic results. A recent trend has been accidents involving cranes...

Allstate Hit With $16 Million Bad Faith Verdict

Posted on July 30, 2008
On March 24, 2000, a drunk driver got into his pickup, crossed the center line on a Missouri highway, and hit a compact car head-on. The force of the collision pushed the car back more than 100 feet. The driver and the passenger (husband and wife) survived but suffered life-threatening injuries...

Men are filing more employment law suits than ever before

Posted on July 29, 2008
The Family and Medical Leave Act isn't just for women anymore. According to a report by Tresa Baldas, more men have been asserting their right to care for their family members under the Act. The law, passed in 1993, provides covered employees 12 weeks per year of unpaid leave to care for themselves or their immediate family members...

Worst Insurance Companies for Consumers Revealed

Posted on July 18, 2008
According to a report compiled after six months of researching court documents, SEC and FBI records, state insurance department investigations and complaints, nationwide news accounts, and testimony of former insurance agents and adjusters, Allstate is the nation's worst insurance company for consumers...

Same-sex harassment now on the menu at The Cheesecake Factory

Posted on July 14, 2008
The Cheesecake Factory is known for its sumptuous desserts and generous portions. However, some Cheesecake Factories are now offering a new item: hot, buttered same-sex sexual harassment. The EEOC has filed a class-action suit in an Arizona federal court alleging that three male workers at a Chandler, Arizona Cheesecake Factory suffered months of same-sex sexual harassment...

New Laws Aimed at Curbing Underaged Drinking and Driving

Posted on July 01, 2008
The General Assembly voted in March to institute tougher penalties to curb the number of car accidents involving teens who drink and drive. Those stiffer penalties go into effect today. Previously, those younger than 21 who had consumed alcohol but were not legally drunk before getting behind the wheel faced fines, community service and a license suspension of up to six months...

Brain Injuries Cause Over 50% of Deaths in Seniors Who Fall

Posted on June 24, 2008
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the first comprehensive national look at the role brain injuries play in fatal elderly falls. The study examined 16,000 elderly deaths in 2005 that listed unintentional falls as an underlying cause of death...

Older Workers Gain Some Protection from Mass Layoffs

Posted on June 20, 2008
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that older workers who allege age discrimination during a mass layoff do not have the burden of proving that no reasonable factor motivated the employer. As reported in the NY Times, Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory involved a reduction in force (or RIF) where 30 of 31 employees terminated were over 40 years old...

Attacking Workplace Age Discrimination Head-On

Posted on June 20, 2008
Age discrimination in the work place is nothing new. Especially in the context of hiring and firing, workplace age discrimination can be described as near ubiquitous. Employers routinely lay off elder workers in far greater numbers than their younger colleagues...

Victoria Secrets Thong Case is Ridiculous

Posted on June 19, 2008
Have you seen the Today Show piece on the brand new lawyer and his 52 year-old, thong wearing client who are suing Victoria Secrets? The plaintiff alleges that a metal clasp connected to a decorative metal heart broke off and injured her eye as she was stepping into her thong...

Motor Carrier Broker Liable for Negligent Hiring of Tractor Trailer Truck Driver

Posted on June 18, 2008
Virginia law recognizes a claim for the negligent hiring of an employee or an independent contractor. With respect to independent contractors, the Virginia Supreme Court recognized a rule of liability for negligent hiring of an incompetent independent contractor, adopting the principles set forth in the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 411 which recognizes a defendant's "liability for physical harm to third persons caused by his failure to exercise reasonable care to employ a competent and careful contractor...

Despite Congressional "Support," Federal Employees Struggle to Gain Whistle-Blower Protections

Posted on June 09, 2008
Within the past year and a half, both the House and Senate have passed bills granting expanded protections to Federal Employees who become Whistle-Blowers. The term Whistle-Blower has been with us for quite some time now, but rose to national prominence during the recent high profile collapses of Enron, WorldCom, and others...

U.S. Supreme Court decisively protects employees from retaliation

Posted on May 29, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court recently held that two federal laws protect employees who complain of race discrimination and age discrimination from retaliation by their employers. In a 7-2 opinion the Court held that an employee who complained of race discrimination was protected from retaliation by section 1981 of the U...

Retroreflective tape: How Visible are Heavy Trailers at Night?

Posted on May 26, 2008
The term "heavy trailers" means trailers that are at least 80 inches wide and have Gross Vehicle Weight Rating over 10,000 pounds. I once handled a case in which a tractor trailer driver attempted a U-turn on a dark, country road, and stalled out while the empty trailer was across both lanes of travel...

Nanotechnology: Are Carbon Nanotubes the Modern Asbestos?

Posted on May 21, 2008
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is concerned that the tiny nanoparticles used in nanotechnology pose serious health risks for workers employed in the nanotechnology industry. A study issued this week focuses on one type of nanomaterial, carbon nanotubes, and seeks to determine if nanotubes biologically behave like asbestos...

Police officers win $10 million judgment for opposing discrimination against co-workers

Posted on May 16, 2008
The City of Philadelphia is $10 million dollars poorer this morning after a jury returned a verdict in favor of three police officers who were retaliated against after they objected to the racial discrimination inflicted on fellow police officers...

Wounded Vets Face Attacks at Home From Unlikely Source

Posted on May 16, 2008
Here's another sad story about the federal government trying to screw our brave, wounded soldiers who are simply trying to collect their disability benefits. A psychologist who helps lead the post-traumatic stress disorder program at a medical facility for veterans in Texas told staff members to refrain from diagnosing PTSD because so many veterans were seeking government disability payments for the condition...

High Tech Employees Catching On To Fact They May be Owed Overtime.

Posted on May 15, 2008
There's a widespread misconception among the general public that if you are well-compensated, you are not eligible for overtime. That simply by virtue of one's salary or commissions earnings, their employer can force them to work more than forty hours, even fifty hours per week without any additional compensation...

Digitek� (digoxin tablets) Recalled Due to Deadly Manufacturing Defect

Posted on May 15, 2008
Actavis Totowa (formerly known as Amide Pharmaceutical, Inc.) recalls all lots of Bertek and UDL Laboratories Digitek® (digoxin tablets, USP) as precaution The following is an FDA notice of the nationwide recall of Digitek (digoxin tablets): FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Morristown, NJ -- April 25, 2008 -- Actavis Totowa LLC, a United States manufacturing division of the international generic pharmaceutical company Actavis Group, is initiating a Class I nationwide recall of Digitek® (digoxin tablets, USP, all strengths) for oral use...

Discrimination Complaints Surge in 2007; Pregnancy Discrimination at Record Levels

Posted on May 15, 2008
According to the EEOC discrimination complaints surged in 2007. Discrimination complaints against private employers were up 9% over 2006. Race discrimination, retaliation, and sex discrimination led the field...

Employers Are Hogging Their Employees' Time for Free

Posted on May 14, 2008
The workers of Smithfield Foods, Inc. filed suit against their employer recently seeking to get paid for all of the time that they spent working for the company. According to the lawsuit, Smithfield did not pay the workers for thirty to forty-five minutes that they spent working each day, and that this lost time consisted of time spent by the workers putting on and removing protective clothing and working for the company "off the clock...

There is No Medical Malpractice Crisis

Posted on May 13, 2008
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Medical Association, and their various lobbyists have been screaming for years that medical malpractice law suits are driving up doctors' insurance premiums, and, in turn driving doctors out of certain markets...

Tort Reformers Embrace the Tort System When They Are Injured

Posted on May 12, 2008
When he was 79 years of age, former U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Robert H. Bork, accepted a speaking engagement at the New York City chapter of the Yale Club. As he walked onto the dais, Judge Bork fell backward and injured himself. One might think that Judge Bork took his lumps and refused to sue...

Are Blackberries Turning Sour for Employers Who Do Not Pay Overtime?

Posted on May 01, 2008
Many employers provide Blackberries and other remote devices to their employees hoping to increase productivity by allowing the employees to access their email and perform other work from remote places and at odd hours. From a communications standpoint, these devices provide a virtual office to the employee, and also make the employee available at any time...

Here's Why Preemption is a Joke

Posted on May 01, 2008
Aredia, Baycol, Bextra, Celebrex, Fen Phen, Rezulin, Vioxx, and Zyprexa. These are all drugs that were "approved" by the FDA. Does FDA approval mean that the FDA tested these drugs itself? No! The FDA does not have the resources to test the food, medical devices, and drugs it is empowered to regulate...

Court Orders Counsel to Send Notice of Right to Participate in Wage and Hour Lawsuit to Time Share Salespeople

Posted on April 25, 2008
On April 23, 2008 the law firms of Butler Williams & Skilling and Cupp & Cupp sent Notice to current and former salespeople of Great Eastern Resort Corporation of their right to participate in a lawsuit seeking unpaid overtime compensation and unpaid minimum wages...

Accelerated Cognitive Decline Years After Traumatic Brain Damage

Posted on April 24, 2008
When representing victims of traumatic brain damage, I typically ask the treating physicians whether, to a reasonable degree of medical probability, he or she can say that, as a result of the head injury, the victim is at an increased risk of developing dementia later in life...

Senate fails to protect employees from intentional pay discrimination

Posted on April 24, 2008
If an employer discriminates against an employee in their compensation, the employee now may have as little as 180 days to fight that illegal discrimination. If the employee fails to object within 180 days, that employee can be discriminated against in every paycheck thereafter, forever, with no right to challenge the discrimination...

Congress likely to pass ban on Genetic Discrimination

Posted on April 24, 2008
Imagine if you could take a simple blood test to determine whether you were likely to get cancer in the near future. Armed with that information, you would be vigilant and do everything in your power to ensure early detection and treatment...

BREAKING: Law favors employers over employees - even in arbitration

Posted on April 21, 2008
It's no secret that federal and state law tends to favor employers over employees. In the beginning, there was at-will employment. In the end, there will be at-will employment. But once an employee prevails in a fact finding hearing before a neutral, unbiased arbiter, then the employee can finally rest easy knowing that their efforts have been vindicated, right? Unfortunately, no...

Criticism of Defense Malingering Test Gaining National Traction

Posted on April 20, 2008
On March 5, 2008, I criticized the use by professional defense neuropyschologists of a controversial malingering test called the Fake Bad Scale. See Fake Bad Scale: Weapon of Defense Neuropsychologists, http://www.injuryboard.com/members-area/BlogPost...

Would You Choose To Be Treated By Your State's Worst Doctor?

Posted on April 18, 2008
Last month, lawyers for former patients of Dr. John Anderson King and their families settled 70 medical malpractice claims with the Hospital Corporation of America, the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain, and Putnam General Hospital, which employed King from November 2002 to June 2003...

Virginia Loses a Great Jurist- Hon. John W. Scott, Jr.

Posted on April 17, 2008
Judge Scott, who sat in the Fredericksburg Circuit Court for the past 12 years, died yesterday after having surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Judge Scott was a pioneer as the Fredericksburg area's first African American judge. He was a civil rights advocate from the time he was a teenager when he won a federal civil rights lawsuit for the right to attend James Monroe High School...

Virginia Considers Raising It's Damages Cap Under the Tort Claims Act

Posted on April 14, 2008
In the aftermath of the horrific Virginia Tech shootings, the Virginia General Assembly is considering whether the limits on the state's liability in cases of negligence should be increased above the current $100,000 cap. The cap was last raised in 1983 from $25,000 to $100,000...

Warning: The Adults Know All About Facebook and Myspace

Posted on April 11, 2008
I am not one of those parents who wants to invade my teenagers' privacy and spy on their MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, or other social media sites. But I do want them and other teens and young adults to understand that what they place on their Facebook or Myspace site is on the Internet forever...

High Tech Employees Forced to Work Overtime Actually Less Productive

Posted on April 11, 2008
Many employees in the high tech industry are required to work extensive overtime without pay. In fact, as many professionals in the industry know, working a 60-plus hour workweek is considered the industry standard. While employers claim that they work these employees so hard because of a lack of skilled professionals in the field, the truth is that they are reaping great rewards at a significant cost to their employee's quality of life...

Large Layoffs Ripe for Age Discrimination

Posted on April 10, 2008
As a recent settlement of a class action brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission exemplifies, employers often engage in age discrimination, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), when laying off employees...

Accident Victims Are in Bad Hands With Allstate: Just File Suit!

Posted on April 08, 2008
On April 4, 2008, the District Court of Appeals, First District, State of Florida upheld the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation's suspension of Allstate from writing insurance in the State of Florida. The Office had suspended Allstate weeks before for a refusal to produce the McKinsey documents during an investigation of the company...

Appellate Court Rules Against Veteran In Suit Against Fahrenheit 9/11 Filmmaker

Posted on March 27, 2008
A Federal Appellate Court ruled that a veteran did not have a cause of action for defamation against documentary filmmaker Michael Moore for using footage of the veteran's television interview in the movie Fahrenheit 9/11. The veteran, who lost both of his arms after a helicopter tire exploded while he was serving in Iraq, had been interviewed by Peter Jennings of ABC News while he was being treated at Walter Reed Army Hospital...

When Will the Administration Honor the Wounded Vets?

Posted on March 24, 2008
A recent hearing before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee highlighted the bureaucratic hell wounded war veterans are facing when they return home from Iraq. The mountains of Department of Veterans' Affairs paperwork and red tape encountered by veterans seeking medical care is especially problematic for those with traumatic brain injuries...

Asbestos Verdict in California

Posted on March 13, 2008
A San Francisco jury Monday returned a $20 million verdict in favor of an asbestos victim. The jury determined that the sole remaining defendant at trial, Georgia Pacific Corp., was responsible for 30% of the verdict. The plaintiff was a former film actress and singer who toured the world seven times entertaining our troops as a USO singer...

Fake Bad Scale: Weapon of Defense Neuropsychologists

Posted on March 05, 2008
The Fake Bad Scale (FBS) is a bogus test created by Paul Lees-Haley to wrongly label personal injury claimants as "fakers." The FBS is junk science and should not be allowed in a court of law. Indeed, it violates the province of the jury by attempting to divine the credibility of witnesses...

Heparin Linked to More Deaths

Posted on March 02, 2008
The Food and Drug Administration reported last week that the number of deaths associated with heparin, a brand of blood thinner, has risen. The brand of heparin associated with the problems is made by Baxter International. Baxter produces most of the heparin used in the United States...

$30 Million Asbestos Verdict

Posted on March 02, 2008
Mesothelioma is an aggressive lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. A New Jersey jury recently returned a $30 million verdict in favor of a 50 year old advertising executive who died from mesothelioma. The decedant's exposure to asbestos was when he worked summer jobs at GM warehouses handling asbestos-containing automotive parts...

Florida Jury Awards $5.4 Million Verdict In Sexual Harassment Case

Posted on February 26, 2008
A Florida jury awarded $5.4 Million to a female employee who filed claims against her employer for sexual harassment and battery. The employee had worked for the employer for fourteen years, during which the employer admittedly sought more than a professional relationship with the employee, and even kissed her on the lips at a public function...

Working "Off The Clock" May Entitle Workers to Overtime Compensation

Posted on February 25, 2008
A recent Department of Labor investigation against a Municipal Sheriff's Department illustrates how requiring employees to perform work-related activities prior to "clocking in" violates the unpaid overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Sheriff's Department required its deputies to attend meetings at the start and end of the workday, but did not include this time in calculating the number of hours the deputies worked...

More and More Computer Workers Seeking Overtime Pay

Posted on February 21, 2008
A significant trend in wage and hour law is the number of Computer and IT workers, particularly those in the service industry, who are filing lawsuits seeking to recover unpaid overtime. Many employers mistakenly regard overtime pay as a benefit available only to "blue collar" workers, and misclassify high-tech employees as exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act...

Age Discrimination Protection-the ADEA

Posted on February 18, 2008
Age discrimination is a hot topic these days, with several cases pending for decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects employees age 40 and older from discrimination in employment based on age. Age discrimination can include discrimination in hiring, promotion, pay, benefits, and discharge...

Mortgage Loan Officers File Suit for Unpaid Overtime

Posted on February 15, 2008
Loan Officers for American Equity Mortgage recently filed a national class action lawsuit alleging that their employer misclassified them as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, and seeking recovery of unpaid overtime compensation. This lawsuit is part of a growing trend of lawsuits filed by "white collar" workers in the financial, pharmaceutical, computer, IT, service and other industries seeking to collect unpaid overtime, and alleging that their employers misclassified them as exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the FLSA...

Lowes Faces Another Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit

Posted on February 14, 2008
A Texas woman has filed a class action against Lowes Home Center alleging Lowes violated the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The woman, who was a warehouse employee at a regional distribution center, claims that Lowes owes her unpaid overtime, and did not credit her for time that she performed required work for Lowes before and after her scheduled shift, including checking in her hand-held computer, completing paperwork, and driving to her work area...

Brain Injury-What Are the Symptoms?

Posted on February 14, 2008
The American Academy of Neurology has expanded the definition of the acute or immediate signs of concussion. Symptoms of brain injury can be mild to severe with some symptoms showing up immediately and others not appearing until several days or weeks after the injury...

Texas Company Pays More Than $1.5 Million in Unpaid Overtime Wages

Posted on February 13, 2008
McLane Co., Inc., a wholesale distributor of food and grocery products, has agreed to pay $1,559,316 in unpaid overtime wages to 570 current and former employees after the Department of Labor found that the company had misclassified the employees as exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act...

Federal Court Reinstates Sexual Harrassment Claim

Posted on February 11, 2008
The First Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a public employee's sexual harassment lawsuit claiming that her supervisor created a hostile work environment by staring at her chest. The employee also claimed that the supervisor, the Town Administrator, retaliated against her by transferring her to another job after she complained to the Town Board...

Justice Dep't Fights to Deny Mental Health Care to Vets

Posted on February 09, 2008
No matter how politicians view the war in Iraq, they all say publically that they support the troops. The signature injury of this war, brain damage, results in a host of symptoms including depression, suicidal ideation, and post traumatic stress. In opposing a proposed class action lawsuit accusing the government of illegally denying mental health treatment to troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration argues that veterans have no legal rights to specific types of medical care...

Boys and Girls Club Faces Retaliation Suit

Posted on February 08, 2008
The former head of a local Boys & Girls Club filed a "retaliation" lawsuit alleging that she was wrongfully terminated after reporting that the organization had inflated the number of children enrolled in its programs in order to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars from the federal government...

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Posted on February 04, 2008
Even in 2008, sexual assault continues to haunt the workplace. Since 1964, when sex and gender based harassment were outlawed with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, some male employers and supervisors have continued to use the workplace as a trolling ground for sexual gratification...

Contingency Fee Commercial Litigation

Posted on February 04, 2008
For generations, the hourly billing business model for law firms has forced plaintiffs involved in commercial litigation to pay attorneys by the hour regardless of the outcome of the litigation. A better business model for plaintiffs seeking to hire counsel to initiate business litigation may involve contingency fees, fixed legal fee pricing or a combination of a diminished hourly rate and a partial contingent fee...

Collective Wage and Hour Claims for Pharma Sales Reps

Posted on February 03, 2008
A number of pharmaceutical companies, including Roache Laboratories, Inc., Abbot Laboratories, Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., Pfizer, Inc., Merck & Co. Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, are facing wage-and-hour suits filed on behalf of their sales representatives...

Old Head Injuries Linked to Behavioral & Cognitive Problems

Posted on February 02, 2008
Researchers studying brain injury believe that people with unrelated social or cognitive problems may have something in common: a long-forgotten blow to the head. It is widely accepted that severe head injuries can lead to cognitive and behavioral problems...

Mild Head Injuries Tied to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Posted on February 02, 2008
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine represents the military's first large-scale effort to gauge the effect of mild head injuries -concussions (many from roadside blasts)- that some experts worry may cause a host of undiagnosed neurological problems...

Butler Williams Wins Important Unpaid Overtime Decision

Posted on January 31, 2008
We are pleased to report that, today, our law firm received a favorable Fourth Circuit Court ruling for a client establishing a claim for a company's retaliation against former employees who claim unpaid overtime compensation. The controlling law which requires the payment of overtime for all hours worked over 40 per week, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), contains separate retaliation protection to "employees" who claim unpaid overtime or minimum wages...

Wage and Hour Claim Costs Company $10 Million

Posted on January 30, 2008
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides that the vast majority of employees are entitled to overtime pay at "time and a half" for every hour worked beyond 40 hours in a week. The FSLA is complex, and many employers violate both the FSLA and state laws governing overtime pay...

Allstate Faces Contempt Charges for Handling of Auto Cases

Posted on January 17, 2008
I blogged earlier this year about Allstate's "Delay, Deny, and Defend" policy designed to screw injured victims making claims under Allstate policies. CNN's Anderson Cooper also did an expose on this practice. The courts are now catching on. Allstate is facing contempt charges in Missouri with a $25,000...

Your Stryker Hip Implant Could be Defective

Posted on January 17, 2008
According to an FDA Warning issued on November 28, 2007 and released to the public on January 15, 2008, some models of Stryker hip implants may be defective. The FDA has received numerous complaints concerning Stryker hip implants from patients experiencing fractures, pain, wear particles, fragments, and broached bones resulting in bone fractures...

Fibromyalgia Drug Approved by FDA

Posted on January 14, 2008
Fibromyalgia is a disease whose very existence is questioned by some doctors, typically doctors hired by insurance defense lawyers in personal injury cases. However, fibromyalgia must be a real disease, because drug giant, Pfizer, says it is. Pfizer is marketing its drug Lyrica, which is the first drug approved to treat this pain condition...

Lockhead to Pay for Racial Discrimination

Posted on January 07, 2008
Lockheed Martin Corporation has agreed to pay a former African American employee $2.5 million to settle a racial discrimination case filed by the U.S. Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission. The former employee, a 45 year old aviation electrician, said he was called racial slurs and threatened by four co-workers and a supervisor between 1999 and 2001...

Contaminated Heparin Syringes Recalled

Posted on December 27, 2007
Manufacturers of sterile medical products are supposed to follow strict sterility standards. Unfortunately, there has been a growing number of reports and recalls of contaminated medical products caused by poor quality controls by manufacturers of products required to be sterile...

Toy Fingerprint Kit Contains Deadly Asbestos Powder

Posted on December 21, 2007
No sane parent should buy a toy made in China. As if the lead paint crisis was not bad enough, a children's toy modeled after the popular television series CSI tested positive for tremolite, a deadly asbestos powder. Shockingly, the toy is a "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Fingerprint Examination Kit" and the fingerprint powder contains asbestos...

Federal Regulators Miss Chance to Lower Truck Accidents

Posted on December 20, 2007
Driver fatigue is a leading cause of tractor trailer truck accidents. Consumer advocates sued recently to require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to lower the current 11-hour driving limit to 10 hours. The requested change would have resulted in one less hour behind the wheel each day...

R.I. Supreme Court Upholds Lead Hazard Mitigation Act

Posted on December 12, 2007
On Tuesday, Rhode Island's Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of The Lead Hazard Mitigation Act (LHMA) which went into effect in 2005. The purpose of the LHMA is to reduce the hazards of deteriorating lead based paint to humans. Lead is a neurotoxin which can cause severe brain damage...

Fatal Truck Crash Results in $36.3 million Verdict

Posted on December 05, 2007
On a clear day in April 2004, Thomas Steven, father of eight kids and owner of a plumbing supply company, was driving his Chevrolet Suburban and obeying the rules of the road. At the same time, a driver of a Swift Transportation tractor-trailer drove 65 mph across three sets of rumble strips designed to warn of an approaching stop sign, ran the stop sign, and crashed into the Suburban, killing Mr...

Dennis Quaid and Wife Sue Drug Maker

Posted on December 04, 2007
In a lawsuit filed today, actor Dennis Quaid and his wife sued Baxter Healthcare Corp., the maker of the blood thinner, heparin. The Quaid's newborn twins and a third patient at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center were mistakenly given doses of heparin that were 1,000 times stronger than the intended dose...