South Carolina Lawyer Blog: Personal Injury Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Personal Injury Law Blogs

Personal Injury Law

South Carolina Lawyer Blog

Covers South Carolina injury and accident law including food poisoning, car accidents, and product liability.
By Louthian Law Firm

Post Frequency: 0.3/day

Last Entry: November 20, 2009 at 10:00:10

$6.5 Million Awarded To Boy Injured By Ford Seatbelt

Posted on November 20, 2009
A 14-year-old boy who was left paralyzed below the waist from a 2002 automobile wreck has been awarded $6.5 million by a Memphis jury, reports The Commercial Appeal. The boy, who was 6 years old at the time of the accident, was in the back seat of his grandfather's 1995 Mercury restrained by an adult seatbelt...

Louisiana Woman Awarded $45,000 In Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

Posted on November 18, 2009
A former Police Department communications supervisor from Zachary has been awarded $45,000 from a federal court jury in her sexual harassment lawsuit against the former Assistant Police Chief. According to her testimony, the assistant chief asked her to have a relationship with him in December 2005 and again in July 2006...

Homeless Man Awarded $41,000 In Fraternity Shooting

Posted on November 09, 2009
A homeless man who was shot with a .22 caliber rifle by an Oregon State University fraternity member has been awarded over $6,000 for medical expenses and $35,000 in non-economic damages, totaling over $40,000. The jury found both the Association of Alpha Beta Chapter of Alpha Gamma Rho (AGR) and a former member responsible for the 2006 shooting...

Pfizer To Pay $75 Million To Woman Who Developed Cancer After Taking Prempro

Posted on November 06, 2009
A Philadelphia jury has awarded $75 million in punitive damages to an Illinois woman who developed cancer after taking one of Pfizer's menopause drugs. The punitive award is about 20 times greater than the $3.7 million awarded in actual damages. More than 6 million women have taken Prempro, a hormone replacement drug used to treat symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and mood swings during menopause...

To access blog feed reader register for free. (You will also learn about new ways to read and access the freshest law blogs.)

$8.5 Million Awarded SUV Rollover Lawsuit

Posted on November 03, 2009
The Gadsden (Alabama) Times reported that an Etowah County Circuit Court jury has awarded $8.5 million to a woman injured in a 2003 Mercury Mountaineer rollover. Two people were killed in the accident and two were injured, including Latoya Duckett. Ms...

Jury Awards $893,684 Over Birth Injury

Posted on October 27, 2009
The Janesville (WI) Gazette reports $893,684 has been awarded to parents of a baby boy who suffered permanent injury to his shoulder during his birth in 2001. The parents sued Janesville's Mercy Hospital, Mercy Women's Health Center, Mercy Clinic West and two doctors, claiming they were negligent in the way they handled the mother's labor and the birth of her son...

Radiation Overdose Leads To Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Posted on October 23, 2009
A patient who received an overdose of radiation during a CT scan at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has filed a lawsuit against the hospital and General Electric Healthcare, maker of the scanner. The lawsuit claims negligence on the part of the hospital and the manufacturer in regards to performing the scans...

$49 Million Awarded In California Personal Injury Lawsuit

Posted on October 06, 2009
One of the country's largest personal injury verdicts was awarded to a former college student who is permanently brain damaged after a 2007 automobile accident, reports the Mercury News. The Santa Clara jury found two truckers and state transportation officials at fault in the accident...

$3.7 Million Awarded To Family After Farm Worker's Death

Posted on October 06, 2009
The Green Bay Press Gazette reports a Brown County, Wisconsin jury has awarded the family of a farm worker $3.7 million in their medical malpractice lawsuit. The worker died after contracting a fungal infection called blastomycosis. On two separate occasions in December of 2003 the man sought medical treatment at the Bellin Family Medical Facility...

$500,000 Awarded in Personal Injury Assault Case

Posted on September 28, 2009
The Observer-Dispatch of Utica, N.Y. reports a 67-year-old Vietnam War veteran has been awarded $350,000 as a result being beaten by a Utica police officer. Once the attorney fees are added to the earlier jury award of $60,000 for pain and suffering, the total amount would be $500,000...

Family of University of Washington Scientist Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Posted on September 25, 2009
The family of a 39-year-old scientist at the University of Washington has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver of the vehicle that struck and killed him on February 4, 2009, reports the Ballard News-Tribune. Kevin Black was struck by a Ford E250 van as he was bicycling to work...

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed in Texas I-35 Truck Accident Deaths

Posted on September 25, 2009
The sole survivor of an SUV struck by an 18-wheeler in a construction area of Texas I-35 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Named in the suit are her 13-year-old son and her 63-year-old father who both died in the accident which occurred over the 4th of July weekend...

Failure to Advise Woman of Mammogram Results in $3 Million Settlement

Posted on September 14, 2009
The family of a 47-year-old woman has accepted a $3 million settlement against University Diagnostic Medical Imaging and two Bronx doctors for not notifying her of her mammogram results. Her mammograms showed possible breast cancer. The technician, who suspected breast cancer during the woman?s routine mammograms in 2001 and 2002, recommended an MRI and sent the results to her doctor, Dr...

Cedars-Sinai To Pay $7.3 Million In Negligence Lawsuit

Posted on September 09, 2009
A $7.3 million award has been returned by a Los Angeles jury in a lawsuit alleging Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was negligent, reports the Enquirer-Herald. The lawsuit was filed in 2005 by the parents of a baby who was misdiagnosed by doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center...

$3.5 Million Awarded in Texas Cancer Misdiagnosis

Posted on September 02, 2009
The Dallas Morning News reports one of the largest awards in Denton County, since tort law reform of 2003, has been awarded to the family of a woman who died from misdiagnosed cancer in 2004. The $3.5 million is expected to be reduced to $1.5 million due to civil law and will be divided between her husband, her two children, and her father...

Permanently Injured Teen Receives $30 Million Award

Posted on August 31, 2009
A Tennessee jury has awarded $30 million to a 19-year-old who has permanent brain damage as a result of a traffic accident three years ago, reports The Commercial Appeal of Memphis. In 2006, a gravel truck ran into the side of the teen's truck, killing his passenger and leaving him in a coma for eight months...

$5.3 Million Awarded in Smoker's Death

Posted on August 17, 2009
The Miami Herald reports a Broward County jury awarded a 92-year-old man over $5.3 million in his wrongful death lawsuit against Philip Morris, the cigarette maker. The man's wife died in 1996 at the age of 63 from lung cancer after smoking two packs of Marlboros a day since she was 16-years-old...

Maryland Jury Awards $1.85M in Newborn's Wrongful Death

Posted on August 10, 2009
The Frederick News Post reports a Montgomery County Circuit jury has given a couple a $1.8 million award in the death of their newborn son. When the baby was born on July 5, 2005, the doctor chose to use vacuum extraction for the delivery because the baby's head was wedged in the birth canal...

Yamaha's Rhino Investigated by CBS News

Posted on August 06, 2009
According to an exclusive CBS News investigation, there have been 59 deaths and hundreds of injuries linked to Yamaha's off-road vehicle, the Rhino. CBS reports that before the Rhino was available for sale, it was tested on trails in Kentucky in July 2002...

$3.5 Million Awarded in Wrongful Death Logging Truck Accident

Posted on July 31, 2009
A Chilton County, Alabama jury has awarded $3.5 million to the family of a man killed when the van he was driving was crushed between two logging trucks, reports the Montgomery Advertiser. Ken Gorum Trucking and Gary Fruge, the driver of the logging truck, were held responsible for the accident and have been ordered to pay the award...

Parents Sue Day Care Center in Child's Death

Posted on July 26, 2009
According to the Philadelphia Daily News, the parents of a 2-year-old boy will sue Fairy Tales Daycare and its owners in the boy's death. On July 1, 2009, the child died after being left in the back seat of a locked van with the windows rolled up and temperatures exceeding 80 degrees...

Technician Accused of Spreading Hepatitis C in Three States

Posted on July 20, 2009
Colorado, Texas, and now New York are advising patients to get tested for hepatitis C while health officials investigate a technician addicted to pain killers, reports the Associated Press. Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco has begun to notify 2,800 patients of their possible exposure to Hepatitis C because of a surgical technician?s drug dependency...

Woman Awarded $556K for Injuries in Truck-Car Accident

Posted on July 08, 2009
Mississippi?s Starkville Daily News reports the county?s largest verdict of its kind since 1992 has been awarded to a woman for her injuries in a 2004 accident. The jury awarded a woman $566,800 in damages in her lawsuit against Star Transportation Inc...

'Black Box' Warning ordered for Anti-Smoking Drugs, Chantix and Zyban

Posted on July 02, 2009
The FDA has ordered Pfizer Inc., maker of Chantix, to add the strong ?black box? warnings - the agency?s most urgent ? to this anti-smoking drug reports Forbes.com. The FDA says patients taking Chantix should be watched for serious mental health problems including suicide...

Officials Say Cold Remedy Zicam Can Damage Sense Of Smell

Posted on June 17, 2009
Federal officials are warning consumers to stop using Zicam, a popular cold remedy. The reason: it could damage or destroy users' sense of smell. The Food and Drug Administration has received 130 reports of people who lost their sense of smell after using Zicam nasal products, which include Zicam Cold Remedy and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs...

$225,000 Paid In Taser Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Posted on June 04, 2009
The Coloradoan reports Larimer County commissioners have agreed to pay $225,000 to the estate of a man who died after being tasered repeatedly by sheriff?s deputies. The man died October 25, 2005, almost three weeks after his heart stopped while being arrested by deputies...

Two Firms Sued for Alleged Fraud in Debt Settlement

Posted on May 28, 2009
Two large debt settlement companies in New York have been sued by the state Attorney General for allegedly engaging in fraudulent and deceptive business practices and false advertising. Among the problems, according to NY Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo: one company enrolled 18,000 customers in New York State during the past five years and earned $17 million in fees but settled debts in only 2,000 of those cases...

Ground Beef Recalled Over Fear of Foodborne Illness, E. Coli Infections

Posted on May 22, 2009
An Illinois meatpacker has recalled nearly 96,000 pounds of ground-beef products after receiving reports of E. coli infections that may be linked to the beef, said the federal Agriculture Department. The meatpacker, Valley Meats LLC, distributed the beef in 10-pound to 40-pound packages in March, according to the federal agency...

$1 Million Awarded In Medical Malpractice Death

Posted on May 20, 2009
A federal jury awarded almost $1 million to a 79-year-old Vermont resident's family on May 15, ending a lawsuit filed in 2006 against Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The woman underwent coronary bypass surgery at the medical center in August 2005 and was readmitted two days later because she had difficulty breathing...

Chantix Causes Serious Side Effects

Posted on May 14, 2009
In 2006, the website, Chantix Home, stated the drug ?has no match among the smoking cessation drugs at present.? The site lists side effects, based on the clinical trials performed by Pfizer (the maker of Chantix) are pretty common ones such as nausea, sleep disorder, gas, constipation, headache, and loss of taste...

Ed McMahon Settles Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Posted on May 08, 2009
Ed McMahon has settled a medical malpractice lawsuit against Cedars Sinai Medical center for an undisclosed amount reports Entertainment Tonight. The long time TV personality claims the doctors failed to correctly diagnose a broken neck he sustained in a 2007 after a fall at a friend?s house...

Washington State Woman Awarded $5.5 Million in Car Crash

Posted on April 30, 2009
Washington State?s Bellingham Herald reports Whatcom County and the state must pay $5.5 million because their negligence allowed a drunk driver to injure a Washington woman in January 2007. The jury found the county and the State Patrol were negligent in not preventing the other woman from driving drunk before the crash...

Sales of Three Yamaha Rhino ATV / UTV Vehicles Suspended Because of Rollover Risk

Posted on April 15, 2009
Following reports of 46 deaths and hundreds of injuries -- many from rollover accidents -- sales of three Rhino off-highway recreational vehicles have been halted until free safety repairs can be made by Yamaha Motor Corp., the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced in late March...

Prescription Drug Raptiva Removed From Market

Posted on April 09, 2009
The Genentech unit of drug maker Roche Holding AG, makers of the psoriasis drug Raptiva, is removing the drug from the market after learning it can cause a rare fatal disease of the central nervous system. Raptiva was approved in 2003 for the treatment of chronic moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, a condition of the skin characterized by red, scaly, inflamed patches of skin...

Most of $8.5 Million Award Upheld In Medical Misdiagnosis Case

Posted on March 30, 2009
USA Today reports a federal judge has upheld most of the $8.5 million he awarded in a medical misdiagnosis case. In 2002, a doctor at Scott Air Force Base, in southern Illinois, misdiagnosed the ex-wife of a captain when she came to him with a rash on her arm and he assumed she was an addict wanting prescription drugs...

$4 Million Verdict For Family Whose Son Had Severe Birth Injuries

Posted on March 26, 2009
A Palm Beach County, Fla. jury has awarded $4 million to a family whose child was born with severe mental retardation more than 11 years ago at a Florida Hospital. The family's lawsuit contended that problems getting an operating room led to several hours of delay...

Nev. Surgeon May Lose Medical License

Posted on March 11, 2009
At an emergency meeting on March 11, 2009, the Medical Board of Nevada is meeting to consider suspending the license of a Las Vegas surgeon after he has been accused of multiple counts of dangerous conduct, reports the Las Vegas Sun. Most of the doctor?s incidents have occurred at Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center...

Patients Right to Sue Drug Makers Upheld By Supreme Court

Posted on March 05, 2009

NC Tainted Syringe Case Reveals Flaws In Agency Oversight

Posted on February 27, 2009

Pfizer Runs Anti-Smoking Ad Without Naming Chantix

Posted on February 19, 2009
With the increasing reports of suicidal thoughts and other serious neuropsychiatric symptoms tied to the anti-smoking drug Chantix, the drug's maker has launched a new ad that does not even mention the product by name. Consumer Reports says such ads are known as "help-seeking" ads come in handy for drugs "that have a particularly nasty list of side effects...

Possible Salmonella Found At Texas Peanut Plant

Posted on February 10, 2009
The Peanut Corp. of America, the company at the center of a national salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds of people, has temporarily closed its plant in Plainview, Texas, after test results showed "the possible presence of salmonella" in some of its products...

Radiologists Misjudge Risk of Being Sued For Medical Malpractice

Posted on February 06, 2009
Radiologists who work in breast imaging estimate their chances of being sued as four times higher than the actual number of lawsuits, reports the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS), the nation?s oldest radiology society. The University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Seattle, WA, released the results of studies conducted in 2002 and 2006...

GA Peanut Processor Linked To Salmonella Outbreak Shipped Contaminated Products 12 Times in Past Two Years

Posted on January 28, 2009
Peanut Corporation of America's Georgia plant, which has been linked to salmonella in peanut butter that has made 500 people ill and killed eight, shipped out contaminated peanut butter 12 times in the past two years, federal officials said yesterday...

Senate Passes Wage Discrimination Bill

Posted on January 23, 2009
A wage discrimination bill that reverses a 2007 Supreme Court ruling cleared the Senate Jan. 22 and could be ready for signing by President Barack Obama within days. The bill is aimed at negating a high court ruling that narrowly defined the time period during which a worker can file a claim of wage discrimination...

Louthian Law Firm Makes News in Employment Law Filing

Posted on January 17, 2009
South Carolina Attorney Herbert Louthian is one of the attorneys representing an assistant superintendent in a lawsuit against Hampton School District Two. The South Carolina school official alleges she was wrongfully placed on administrative leave twice in less than one year...

Federal Leaders Urge Caution As Mortgage Fraud Grows

Posted on December 30, 2008
Mortgage fraud is turning into a blight on the national economy, and federal authorities are warning homeowners, including those in South Carolina, to tread carefully when buying or selling property. Mortgage fraud is now estimated as costing Americans $4 billion to $6 billion annually, according to the FBI...

Jury Awards $1.25 Million To Family For Neglect By Nursing Home

Posted on December 23, 2008
The family of a man who died four years at a Georgia nursing home have been awarded $1.25 million after a DeKalb County jury concluded that nursing home neglect was responsible for the man's death. Tucker Nursing Center allegedly provided inadequate care to the man when he was admitted in 2002 at the age of 67...

Jury Awards $48 Million To Worker Paralyzed In Steel Mill Accident

Posted on December 16, 2008
A jury has awarded $48 million in damages to a worker rendered paraplegic after a fall from a ladder at an Indiana steel mill. Anthony Arciniega fell from a ladder at ISG Burns Harbor -- now ArcelorMittal -- in November 2004. Court documents said the ladder was covered with refractory concrete due to the negligence of a subcontractor...

$13 Million Verdict Reached Over Alleged Injury From Acne Drug

Posted on December 02, 2008
A New Jersey jury has awarded nearly $13 million to three acne drug users who developed severe inflammatory bowel disease after taking the medication. The three plaintiffs are Florida residents who used the drug to treat adolescent acne. All three developed bowel disorders, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease...

Family wins $20.5M for Son's Childbirth Injuries

Posted on November 24, 2008
A Pennsylvania jury has awarded $20.5 million to a family after alleged mistakes made during childbirth led to serious medical problems for their newborn son. The family will receive $2 million for health care expenses and related costs while the son, who is developmentally impaired, will receive $18...

Court Verdict Demonstrates Serious Consequences of Bike-Car Accidents

Posted on November 21, 2008
A recent court verdict in Missouri demonstrates the kind of traumatic injuries that can occur in a bicycle-car collision. A jury returned a $1.8 million verdict in a personal injury case brought by a University of Missouri student. She was seriously injured in 2005 when she was struck by two vehicles at an intersection near campus...

Hot Dogs Recalled due to Possible Listeria Contamination

Posted on November 12, 2008
R.L. Zeigler Co., Inc in Selma, Alabama has issued a recall on approximately 28,610 pounds of hot dog products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis which can be fatal for people with weak immune systems, infants, and the elderly...

Family Awarded $13.3M in Pain Patch Wrongful Death

Posted on November 07, 2008
A Florida jury has awarded $13.3 million to the family of a woman who died when her pain patch failed and flooded her system with too much medication. Susan Diane Hodgemire, 34, suffered from violent vomiting and fell into a coma after the contents of the patch came into direct contact of her skin...

Report: More Marine Deaths From Motorcycle Crashes In Past 12 Months Than Iraq Combat

Posted on October 31, 2008
Motorcycle accidents during the past 12 months have killed more Marines than combat duty in Iraq, a new report says. The alarming death rate has prompted military officials to call a meeting to address the issue. Since last November, 25 U.S. Marines have died in motorcycle crashes, compared to 20 Marines killed during fighting in Iraq...

Infant Death Prompts Recall of More than 1.5 Million Cribs

Posted on October 22, 2008
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the voluntary recall of about 1.5 million cribs following the death of an 8-month-old child. Two separate drop side cribs made by Delta Enterprise Corp., of New York, New York are involved in the recall notice...

Legal Experts Predict Increase In Lawsuits Over Heart Drug Trasylol

Posted on October 16, 2008
The drug Trasylol was used during open-heart surgery to reduce blood loss in thousands of patients. However, the FDA suspended sales of the drug in 2007 over a possible link to kidney failures, heart attacks and strokes. Because so many heart surgery patients received Trasylol during the 14 years it was on the market, attorneys told legal newspaper Lawyers USA that litigation is likely to develop into a mass tort...

Patient Awarded $9.8 Million For Malpractice During Heart Surgery

Posted on October 09, 2008
A Lexington, KY hairdresser who became paraplegic after a routine heart surgery has been awarded $9.89 million in the largest medical malpractice verdict ever in Fayette County. The plaintiff had valve surgery in April 2006. The surgery took less than an hour and was successful, but medical experts testified that the surgeon misplaced a hose to a machine that pumps blood during the surgery, causing too much blood and oxygen to be pumped to her right hand -- and too little to her brain and thoracic spinal cord...

Report: More Than 90 Percent of Nursing Homes Cited for Safety Violations

Posted on September 30, 2008
A new federal report found that nine of every 10 nursing homes were cited for violating federal health and safety standards last year. For-profit homes were more likely to have problems than other types of nursing homes, according to the report. Problems included infected bedsores, medication mix-ups and poor nutrition...

COPD Drugs Tied to Increased Risk of Stroke, Heart Attack

Posted on September 23, 2008
Common drugs that patients take for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have been linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular problems, researchers report. Scientists in North Carolina found a 58 percent increased risk of cardiac death, heart attack or stroke in people taking these drugs, said Dr...

FDA Considers Food Label Change for Allergies

Posted on September 16, 2008
Responding to concerns that food labels aren't doing enough to alert consumers to the presence of allergens, or that the labels are just plain confusing, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hosted a public hearing Sept. 16 on what it can do to improve things...

FDA to Compile Quarterly List Of Drugs Being Investigated

Posted on September 08, 2008
The Food and Drug Administration will begin a quarterly posting of drugs whose safety is under investigation because of complaints filed by drug companies, physicians and patients. The FDA will name the drug and the nature of the "adverse events" but will not describe the number of complaints or how serious the events were, FDA officials said...

Wash. Jury Awards $14.8 Million To Woman After Unsuccessful Jaw Surgeries

Posted on August 27, 2008
A Spokane, Wash. jury has awarded $14.8 million to a woman who alleged a local dentist was negligent in a series of jaw surgeries in 2000 and 2001 that left her permanently disabled. Medical and dental malpractice is a politically charged issue, which has led to an extremely complex set of state laws governing malpractice lawsuits...

Widow Sues Pfizer, Alleging Husband's Suicide Was Linked To Stop-Smoking Drug

Posted on August 22, 2008
An Indiana woman whose husband committed suicide in January 2008 has filed a lawsuit against Pfizer, the manufacturer of Chantix, a smoking-cessation drug her husband was taking. The woman alleges that the company failed to warn consumers that the prescription medication might cause serious psychiatric symptoms such as suicidal thoughts...

Skin Warning Issued About Alcoholism Therapy

Posted on August 13, 2008
The FDA is warning doctors about severe skin reactions in alcoholism patients who use Vivitrol, an injectable treatment made and marketed by Cephalon Inc. Doctors and patients should watch for swelling, infection, and other complications where the drug is injected...

S.C. Courts? Openness in Settlements Could Spread to Other Jurisdictions

Posted on August 04, 2008
In South Carolina, thanks to U.S. Judge Joe Anderson and State Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal, settlement records in cases involving public safety have been open for several years. That is a benefit to the public, according to a recent news report, because it lets consumers know just how dangerous a product might be...

Securities Arbitration Cases for Retirees

Posted on March 31, 2008
Continuing our conversation of Securities Arbitration cases for defrauded retirees, the common plaintiff in these cases all share similar characteristics: ? The individual has taken early retirement in the past three to five years ? The person purchased a variable annuity with retirement funds which was then placed in an individual retirement account (IRA) or; ? The retirement fund consisted of a cost-basis employer stock plan which was then converted to a rollover IRA or; ? The individual was advised to invest retirement funds into leveraged funds...

Avondale Seeks $420 Million from Norfolk Southern Railroad

Posted on March 31, 2008
When a Norfolk Southern train wreck caused a toxic chlorine spill in the mill town of Graniteville, the Avondale textile company?s flagship canvas plant had to be closed for eight days for safety reasons. The company closed its doors for good in May 2006 after experts determined it would have cost more than the business was worth to clean the buildings and replace the machinery...

Securities Arbitration: New Hope for Defrauded Retirees

Posted on March 17, 2008
Two recent awards in retirement securities arbitrations are bringing hope to retirees who have disputes with brokerage firms that gambled away their retirement funds. The first, in the case of Cain v. Securities America, concerns a retiree whose hard-earned savings were liquidated in favor of more aggressive investments...

New Ammo in the Fight for Subprime Loan Securities Victims

Posted on March 15, 2008
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal points out a strategy that has given victims of the subprime loan crisis new hope: using the 1921 Martin Act as a legal tool to crack down on misleading mortgage-backed securities offerings. Why is the Act so powerful? Simple: it takes away the burden for a plaintiff to prove intent to defraud, making filing a lawsuit against an unethical securities company that much easier for plaintiffs...

Should South Carolina Speed Limits Be Raised?

Posted on March 10, 2008
An interesting debate on South Carolina speed limits is heating up the pages of the Charleston Post and Courier. A recent editorial on speeding prompted community response from readers who debate speed limits, enforcement of limits, and lack of driver education...

Tabor City Crash Racks Up Mighty List of Charges

Posted on March 10, 2008
Driving while impaired. Felony hit-and-run. Open container in vehicle. Driving with a revoked license. Felony speeding to elude arrest. Running a stop sign. Any one of these violations could result in a brush with law enforcement. But when Richard Green of Tabor City got behind the wheel on Monday, March 3, he racked up all six charges in a car chase that led to a South Carolina Car Accident involving four other vehicles...

One-Car Crash Cuts Vet?s Life Short

Posted on March 07, 2008
A 21-year-old Iraq war veteran will never get the chance to reunite with his young wife, who remained in Iraq at the time of the South Carolina car crash that claimed his life. The man, George Elizondo, had served his tour of duty in Iraq as a naval medic and hospital corpsman...

Sugar Refinery Fire Extinguished, Death Toll At 8

Posted on March 04, 2008
A week after the fires at the Imperial Sugar Co. plant in Port Wentworth started, firefighters finally managed to douse the last remnants of the refinery blast, but not before another victim was pronounced dead. Seven other people have been found dead in the rubble at the Imperial Sugar Co...

USDA Orders Largest Meat Recall in U.S. History

Posted on February 29, 2008
The USDA ordered a meat recall after an investigation revealed a disturbing story about the inhumane methods by which one of our nation?s slaughterhouses treats its animals. According to an Associated Press report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse which is the subject of an animal abuse investigation...

South Carolina Rural Roads Ranked Among Nation?s Most Dangerous

Posted on February 27, 2008
In an alarming statement on the lack of safety on the roads in South Carolina, a group of business leaders released a report on Tuesday, February 12th that details the loss of life and economic toll of accidents on South Carolina roads. The statistics paint a grim picture: Someone dies in a South Carolina auto accident about every eight hours...

Poultry Plant Forces Injured Workers Back On The Job

Posted on February 24, 2008
In a prime example of the lengths to which an employer will go to maintain profits and maintain a seemingly spotless safety record, a Greenville poultry plant has been accused of forcing workers with on-the-job injuries back on the job only hours after having medical procedures to repair things like lost digits and broken bones, according to an Associated Press report...

Wal-Mart, Toys ?R? Us Impose Stricter Safety Measures

Posted on February 21, 2008
In response to the laundry list of unsafe toys and recalled children?s products in the past calendar year, the nation?s top two toy sellers in the U.S., Wal-Mart and Toys ?R? Us, have announced that they will be imposing stricter measures on their suppliers ? including tougher lead content standards...

FDA Suspends Marketing of Trasylol

Posted on February 18, 2008
Trasylol, a defective drug manufactured by Bayer AG, may have claimed as many as ?1,000 lives per month? in the time before it was recalled, according to a doctor who presented a study to the FDA in September 2006. It wasn?t until November 2007, however, when the Canadian Data Safety Monitoring Board had stopped a Trasylol trial after a data analysis indicated that the 30-day mortality risk in the study?s patients was nearing ?statistical significance?, that Bayer suspended sales of the drug in the US at the FDA?s request...

Bridge Victims Prepare To Sue

Posted on February 13, 2008
Victims of last summer?s August 1st bridge collapse in Minneapolis, which claimed the lives of 13 people while injuring 145 others, have filed preliminary paperwork to sue the state, according to an Associated Press report published on January 22nd. The dozens of victims who were injured when the Interstate 35W bridge plummeted 60 feet into the Mississippi River had a deadline of 180 days from the accident to notify the state of their intent to sue for personal injury, that deadline date was January 27th...

Lawmakers Demand Toymaker Stop Selling Toys With Lead

Posted on February 11, 2008
If you have read our blog for any amount of time, you have seen countless entries about the recall of toys that contain lead paint. This recent rash of unsafe toy recalls reached a predictable end on Wednesday, January 30th when according to an AP article, lawmakers have stepped up and are asking the largest toy manufacturer in the U...

Children Injured When Church Bus Overturns

Posted on February 07, 2008
In a tragic example of the worst kind of South Carolina Bus Accident, ten children and their driver were injured when their bus overturned, according to an AP Report posted January 24th. The church bus overturned in Pickens County on the evening of Wednesday, January 23rd on U...

Uninsured Drivers Put South Carolina At Risk

Posted on February 04, 2008
The state Department of Motor Vehicles came out with some good news for South Carolina drivers this month. According to The State, the number of uninsured drivers involved in accidents in our state has dropped by half in the past few years, from 18% in 2003 to 9% in 2006, thanks to laws passed in 2002 and 2005...

Truck Accident Shows Importance of Maintenance

Posted on February 01, 2008
Our neighbors in Georgia bore the brunt of a South Carolina company?s mistake on Jan. 24, when bad brake maintenance caused an avoidable accident in Effingham County. According to an article in the Savannah Morning News, a tractor-trailer that belonged to Smith Logging of Grays tried to stop for a stop sign and discovered that his brakes were not working...

Third Lawsuit Filed in New Year?s Eve Accident

Posted on January 31, 2008
In a case that reads like a nightmare, a lawsuit asking for $10 million has been filed against a man who caused a car wreck in Anderson County on New Year?s Eve. According to the Anderson Independent-Mail News, it?s the third lawsuit against driver Robert Blair and his employer, Craft Construction, over the fatal three-car accident...

Intersection With Repeated Accidents Called Unsafe

Posted on January 28, 2008
In the wake of a fatal accident this month, residents are questioning the safety of an intersection in Darlington County. According to a story posted on the website of news station WBTW, the intersection of S.C. 340 and Rogers Road saw 62 crashes in the five years between 2002 and 2007...

Bill Would Be Good for Teen Drivers -- And All of Us

Posted on January 25, 2008
Because the Louthian Law Firm has handled South Carolina auto accident cases for nearly 50 years, unfortunately we?ve seen firsthand that younger drivers are more likely to make bad decisions out of inexperience. That?s why we were pleased to see that the South Carolina legislature is considering a bill that would require defensive driving courses for teens...

GE Recalls Close to 100,000 Microwave Ovens

Posted on January 21, 2008
General Electric has recalled 92,000 combination wall and microwave ovens. The product recalls come after the discovery that the door switch in the ovens can overheat and ignite plastic components in the appliance. The defective units were built by GE Consumer & Industrial, of Louisville, KY and sold under the Kenmore, GE, and GE Profile Brands...

$200,000 Settlement Reached in Death of Student

Posted on January 18, 2008
The family of a Blufton Middle School boy who died after a fight on campus reached a $200,000 South Carolina wrongful death settlement with the school district and local government. Francisco Belman ? 14, died in 2002, several months after being punched in the chest by two fellow students as part of a gang initiation...

Nissan Recalls Over Half a Million Cars

Posted on January 14, 2008
Nissan has announced an auto product recall of over 650,000 of its Altima and Sentra passenger cars to fix problems with a sensor that could lead to engine stalling. The Japanese automaker said the recalls affects Altima and Sentra vehicles from the 2002 and 2005-2006 model years equipped with a 2...

Highway Worker Killed In Accident

Posted on January 11, 2008
A state department of transportation road maintenance foreman died after being hit by a pickup truck while on the job, according to an AP wire report. Standra Jones of Gaston , South Carolina died of multiple injuries at 6:21am at Lexington Medical Center following the truck accident according to authorities...

Dangerous Rail Crossing to be Upgraded

Posted on January 07, 2008
A drop down safety gate and flashing signals are being added to a Graniteville, South Carolina crossing where five people died in a car-train collision 3 years earlier. The tracks themselves are also being moved closer to the Graniteville canal to provide further safety and make room for the changes...

Safety Failures Right Where You Don?t Need Them

Posted on December 28, 2007
Families have probably heard a lot this year about recalls of defective toys with unsafe lead paint. But as the holidays approach, people buying ?toys? for older loved ones should watch out for product defects too. The latest case in point, reported by The State on Nov...

Medical Negligence Gives Patients Profound Physical and Mental Problems

Posted on December 26, 2007
As medical malpractice and birth injury attorneys, we?re interested in major developments in medical malpractice law. Recently, we ran across two major cases (in a legal publication that we can?t link to, unfortunately) that were serious enough to share...

Yet More Bad News on Infant Car Seats

Posted on December 24, 2007
On the day before Thanksgiving, Graco Children?s Products quietly recalled more than 300,000 infant car seats because they may pose a choking hazard. The backing of the seats can peel away from the seams, exposing filling underneath that could choke a curious baby...

Major Victory in Explorer Class Action Litigation

Posted on December 21, 2007
Owners of rollover-prone Ford Explorers scored a major victory Nov. 28 when Ford Motor Co. agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by consumers. About a million people in Texas, Illinois, Connecticut and California had alleged that their SUVs were prone to roll over, which hurt their value because of the actual or perceived danger...

Defective Heating Units Can Cause Deadly Fires

Posted on December 19, 2007
Just in time for winter weather comes a recall of wall-mounted heating and cooling units from Carrier, Inc. The company?s wall-mounted heating and cooling units (known as PTAC/PTHPs) are being recalled because the insulation inside them can break, sparking fires and causing toxic smoke...

Nike Among Companies Announcing 3 New Recalls

Posted on December 17, 2007
3 new product recalls involving a football helmet, folding chairs, and cookies were announced on November 15th, according to an Associated Press report. Nike is recalling about 235,000 football helmet chin straps after the company received 18 reports of the straps breaking, including some that resulted in facial lacerations and concussions, a government safety group announced...

Merck To Pay $4.85B Vioxx Settlement

Posted on December 14, 2007
Merck & Co., manufacturer of the painkiller Vioxx, said Friday November 9th that it will pay $4.85 billion to end thousands of state and federal lawsuits over its painkiller Vioxx in one of the largest drug settlements ever. Vioxx was developed to treat arthritis, but was pulled from the market on September 30, 2004 after its researchers determined that continued use of the product doubled risk of heart attacks and strokes...

Fisher-Price kitchen toys recalled due to choking risk

Posted on December 12, 2007
The world?s largest toy manufacturer, Mattel Inc., announced on Tuesday November 6th that it was recalling more than 172,000 Fisher Price kitchen toys in the United States and Europe because several children choked and gagged on small, detachable parts...

Worker?s Comp Commission won?t follow Sanford order?s standard

Posted on December 10, 2007
The South Carolina Workers? Compensation Commission rejected an order made by Governor Mark Sanford to begin using new uniform standards in deciding how much should be paid to injured workers with long-term disabilities. The commission signed an order on October 25th that said that they would follow the law as written, which took into account the individual facts of each case, and not Sanford?s order to begin using uniform standards in determining the amounts awarded to the injured workers...

Auto crashes are top killer of teenagers

Posted on December 07, 2007
More teens die each year in the U.S. from automobile crashes than any other cause, a group said Tuesday, and the national rate doubles among S.C. teens. The South Carolina National Safety council said it wants Alive at 25, a defensive driving survival course for young drivers 16 to 24, to become available in all S...

5 Million Frozen pizzas recalled due to E.Coli contamination

Posted on December 07, 2007
The latest in the litany of voluntary food recalls was announced on Saturday, November 3rd, when General Mills recalled nearly 5 million pizzas after an investigation by federal and state regulators found that the pepperoni topping likely caused several E...

More lead tainted toys recalled

Posted on December 05, 2007
Mattel recalled 665,000 lead-contaminated children?s products and the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced recalls of 627,000 other Chinese-made toys from various manufacturers that are contaminated with lead, according to an Associated Press report...

Alcohol, Speeding Cause of Most Fatal South Carolina Traffic Accidents

Posted on December 03, 2007
If you commute for any substantial amount of time on South Carolina roads, you see it on a daily basis; the remnants of dangerous, sometimes deadly, automobile accidents on the shoulders of our highways. Emergency vehicles treating the injured, highway patrol officers directing traffic and clearing the roads of the wrecked automobiles...

3 New Product Recalls Announced

Posted on December 03, 2007
A trio of product recalls were announced on October 25th in an Associated Press report. The recalls were for a treadmill, a ski board, and bicycle forks and were all from separate manufacturers. The first recalls, were for 4,700 Cybex or Trotter treadmills manufactured by Cybex International that were recalled and repaired in October 2003...

Baby seats recalled after children hurt

Posted on November 29, 2007
A South African baby seat manufacturer recalled about 1 million of its ?Baby Sitter? seats after 28 reports of babies falling out of the seats, including three skull fractures, according to an Associated Press report. Bumbo International, which manufactured the child seats, recalled the products because babies were at risk for serious head injuries when the seats are placed on a table, countertop, chair or other raised surface and the infants arch their backs, possibly causing them to flip out of the seats and fall onto the floor...