TTLA EClips • TTLA Home • Search Litigation Bank • About December 11, 2008 -  Trials for Ground Zero Workers Scheduled for 2010 -  Justices Hear Arguments in Pregnancy Bias Case -  Lawsuit Filed Over Katrina Relief Funds -  Jury Awards Damages for Fatal Crash -  New Trial Scheduled in Ford Rollover Suit -  Hospital Group Weighs Bonuses for Patient Care -  FDA Official Warns of Asthma Drug Dangers -  Heart Device Component Needs Testing, Doctor Says     This Service Sponsored Exclusively by The James Street Group A Member Service of Texas Trial Lawyers Association   Laws/Cases Trials for Ground Zero Workers Scheduled for 2010 Attorneys representing New York City and thousands of workers who claim they were sickened by dust at the site of the World Trade Center collapse have agreed to proceed with trial beginning in 2010. Under a recently agreed upon case management plan, the court will first move forward with cases involving workers suffering from the most severe health problems. More than 9,000 firefighters, police officers, construction workers and others claim that the city failed to provide them with breathing masks during the nine-month cleanup effort.  Mireya Navarro, The New York Times  12/10/2008 Read Article: The New York Times     Justices Hear Arguments in Pregnancy Bias Case The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case that could further define when workers may seek to recover damages for past discrimination. Several justices seemed unswayed by AT&T’s argument that the court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear should block claims filed under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 for discrimination that occurred during the 1960s and 1970s. The four plaintiffs were denied seniority pension credit because they took pregnancy leave before the law barred treating pregnancy leave differently than other types of leave. The case is AT&T v. Hulteen.  Adam Liptak, The New York Times  12/10/2008 Read Article: The New York Times     Lawsuit Filed Over Katrina Relief Funds Attorneys representing Mississippi Gulf Coast residents have filed a lawsuit accusing the Department of Housing and Urban Development of improperly diverting relief funds in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. According to attorneys, the agency violated congressional requirements that at least half of $5 billion in relief funds be distributed to low and moderate-income residents. The lawsuit seeks to bolster funds benefiting housing and employment opportunities aimed at poorer residents of the region.  Staff, Boston Globe  12/10/2008 Read Article: Boston Globe     Jury Awards Damages for Fatal Crash A Florida jury has awarded more than $8 million to the family of a decorated North Miami Beach police officer who was killed in a 2004 traffic accident. Jurors found that the family of the other driver and the Florida Department of Transportation were 70 percent negligent in the crash. The decedent Officer Orestes Lorenzo was found to be 30 percent responsible for the accident that caused his death.  Jose Pagliery, Miami Herald  12/10/2008 Read Article: Miami Herald     New Trial Scheduled in Ford Rollover Suit A New Jersey couple involved in a 2001 rollover crash will receive a new trial in their lawsuit against Ford Motor Co., a state appeals court has ruled. The appellate panel vacated a jury verdict in favor of Ford and ordered a new trial after finding that the trial judge did not provide proper instructions to the jury. The coupled claimed that design defects caused their Ford Explorer to flip over, leaving one of them with brain injuries.  AP, Newsday  12/10/2008 Read Article: Newsday     Healthcare Hospital Group Weighs Bonuses for Patient Care JPS Health Network is weighing a plan that would base executive compensation on improvements in patient care and satisfaction rather than on financial performance. Officials with the hospital district said previous financial-based incentives were too easily achieved and may hurt patient care. JPS Health Network hospitals ranked among the bottom 4 percent of public facilities nationwide in terms of a patient satisfaction, recent data shows.  Anthony Spangler, Ft. Worth Star Telegram  12/11/2008 Read Article: Ft. Worth Star Telegram     Products FDA Official Warns of Asthma Drug Dangers A number of popular asthma medications may have caused more than 14,000 deaths since 1994, a Food and Drug Administration official told experts on Wednesday. Speaking before an FDA advisory board, Dr. David Graham said that the drugs Advair, Symbicort, Serevent and Foradil provided little benefit for asthma sufferers when weighed against other available treatments and potential risks. However, a separate FDA doctor told the panel that Dr. Graham’s concerns were unfounded. The board is expected to vote Thursday on whether the drugs should be continued to be marketed as asthma treatments.  Gardiner Harris, The New York Times  12/10/2008 Read Article: The New York Times     Heart Device Component Needs Testing, Doctor Says In an article published Wednesday, a leading cardiologist warned that a soon-to-be-approved electrical component for implantable heart devices may prove dangerous to patients. In the article, published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Robert G. Hauser of the Minneapolis Heart Institute argues that manufacturers and federal regulators have not adequately tested the new defibrillator connections, or leads, for potential short-circuiting problems. Dr. Hauser previously warned about problems with recalled leads in Medtronic-produced defibrillators.  Barry Meier, The New York Times  12/10/2008 Read Article: The New York Times     Published by TRIALSMITH, Litigation Tools for Trial Lawyers