| | Attorneys filed a lawsuit Monday on behalf of the widow of a man who was killed in a Georgia sugar refinery explosion. According to the lawsuit, Savannah Foods & Industries, the company that owns the property where the Imperial Sugar Company refinery operates, was liable in the death of Shelathia Harvey. The suit also names a company contracted to clean sugar dust at the refinery. AP, Atlanta Journal-Constitution 04/30/2008 | |
| | A New York doctor implicated in reusing syringes on thousands of patients has settled a malpractice lawsuit filed by a man who allegedly contracted hepatitis C under the physician’s care. In the lawsuit, Peter Mattmuller claims that Dr. Harvey Finkelstein reused a syringe multiple times before using it to inject medication into Matmuller. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Michael Amon, Newsday 04/30/2008 | |
| | A New Mexico elementary school has been named in a lawsuit filed by the mother of a 7-year-old who died after collapsing during a physical education class. Candi Martinez claims that the school failed to excuse the girl from the class despite knowledge of an existing heart condition and a note from her parents. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that the school negligently delayed emergency medical attention. The suit seeks unspecified damages. Jose L. Medina, Las Cruces Sun-News 04/30/2008 | |
| | The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was at least partially negligent in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, an appellate court held Tuesday. The court’s ruling upholds a jury finding that the Port Authority was 68 percent responsible for failing to safeguard the building’s underground parking structure from terrorist attack. The case is Nash v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Noeleen G. Walder, Law.com 04/30/2008 | |
| | San Francisco has agreed to pay $5.1 million to settle a medical malpractice claim stemming from a 2005 incident that left a man with anoxic brain injury. According the court documents, the city admitted that it mismanaged dosage of medication that caused the man to suffer cardiorespiratory failure at San Francisco General Hospital. Attorneys for the man had previously settled with the University of California. Wyatt Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle 04/30/2008 | |
| | Two Pennsylvania families have filed a lawsuit that accuses the alleged ringleader of a body-parts theft ring, two Philadelphia funeral homes and a cremation facility of illegally harvesting body parts for medical use. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, names Michael Mastromarino, Philadelphia funeral-home operators James McCafferty Jr. and brothers Louis and Gerald Garzone. The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages on 16 counts of negligence, fraud, deception as well as emotional distress and punitive damages. Joseph A. Gamardello, Philadelphia Inquirer 04/30/2008 | |
| | Two clients of a financial services company whose personal information was stolen from computer records earlier this year will refile their lawsuit against the company, their attorney said. Lowell Schafer of Montana and Terri Ann Oppenheimer-Schafer of Texas filed the lawsuit against D.A. Davidson after the firm revealed that hackers accessed information, including names and Social Security numbers, for more than 200,000 current and former clients. According to their attorney, the complaint was withdrawn to allow other plaintiffs to join the lawsuit. Jo Dee Black, Great Falls Tribune 04/30/2008 | |
| | A lawsuit filed by three former University of Houston doctoral students received new life this week following the ruling of a federal appeals court. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a magistrate had wrongly dismissed the lawsuit based on delays beyond the plaintiffs’ control. In the lawsuit, Ricky Raymond, Donald Eubanks and Virginia Lara claim that they were wrongly kicked out of the Graduate College of Social Work because of race and gender discrimination. Cindy George, Houston Chronicle 04/30/2008 | |
| | A federal appellate panel dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday that sought to hold gun makers responsible for illegal weapons entering New York City. According to the lawsuit, originally filed in 2000, gun manufacturers and wholesalers knowingly marketed to parties that siphoned guns to illegal markets. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal ruled that gun makers were protected from the lawsuit under the 2005 Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Christine Kearney, Reuters 04/30/2008 | |
| | Plaintiffs in a securities class-action lawsuit against Eli Lilly and Company failed to file their claim within a two-year statute of limitations, a federal judge has ruled. Eastern District of New York Judge Jack B. Weinstein found that red flags surrounding the drug Zyprexa were raised years before the December 2006 New York Times articles cited by the plaintiffs as the first public notice of their claims. Mark Fass, Law.com 05/01/2008 | |
| | The parents of a child born with asphyxia-related cerebral palsy and brain damage will receive $1.35 million following a settlement reached Wednesday with a Virginia hospital. According to the lawsuit, University of Virginia Medical Center doctors failed to provide adequate care in the hours before the birth of the child. The hospital had argued that it was immune from malpractice claims under the doctrine of charitable immunity. Earlier this year, the Virginia Supreme Court rejected that defense. Bill McKelway, Richmond Times-Dispatch 05/01/2008 | |
| | A London-based law firm has been dismissed from a securities class action alleging that the firm helped a healthcare finance company conceal its financial health. District Court Judge Legrome Davis found that shareholders of DVI Inc. could not continue their claims against Clifford Chance based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlantic Inc. The ruling is one of the first to cite Stoneridge in dismissing a so-called scheme liability claim against a third party. Anthony Linn, Law.com 05/01/2008 | |
| | Attorneys presented closing arguments Wednesday in a class-action lawsuit that accuses the Department of Veterans Affairs of neglecting the health problems of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Attorneys for the Veterans for Common Sense and the Veterans United for Truth argued that the VA had engaged in ongoing neglect in its care of veterans. VA attorneys countered that the agency needs more time to deal with increasing and highly complex claims. A ruling in the case is expected in June. Neil MacFarquhar, The New York Times 05/01/2008 | |
| | The federal government was negligent in the cancer-related death of an immigrant being held on drug charges, a spokesperson for the United State Attorney’s Office acknowledged. Records indicate that, despite recommendations from several doctors, a cancerous growth was never biopsied and the man received no treatment. Earlier this year, a federal judge allowed the family of the man to go forward with their lawsuit against the government. AP, LA Times 05/01/2008 | |
| | Health officials are speculating that a contaminant discovered in a blood thinning medication now linked to 81 deaths may have been added deliberately. In written testimony, an official with the Food and Drug Administration told a congressional committee that the agency theorizes that the addition of the contaminant was intentional but lacks evidence to prove that hypothesis. China has blocked FDA efforts to inspect plants that produce ingredients for heparin, insisting that they be allowed to inspect American plants. Gardiner Harris, The New York Times 04/30/2008 | |
| | Federal health regulators have warned Merck & Co. that inspectors have discovered a number of manufacturing deficiencies at the company’s primary vaccine plant. In a letter to the company, the Food and Drug Administration ordered Merck to correct what the agency characterized as “significant objectionable conditions.” The plant, located outside of Philadelphia, has recalled two vaccines in the past year because of sterility problems. AP, The New York Times 05/01/2008 | |
TEXAS LAWYER CASE SUMMARIES | | |
| | No genuine issue of material fact existed regarding whether the inadequacy of the warning on the drug Effexor was a producing cause of her husband's death, because Dr. Thomas Sonn's testimony rebutted the read-and-heed presumption. Ackermann v. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, U.S. 5th Court of Appeals, No. 06-41774, 4-24-2008. , Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 05/01/2008 | |
| | Because Richard Morris never gave National Union Fire Insurance Co. any notice of the suit, National Union owed no duty to defend Morris. Crocker v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, U.S. 5th Court of Appeals, No. 05-50813, 4-24-2008. , Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 05/01/2008 | |
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