Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. engaged in a “staggering” pattern of misconduct aimed at covering up its role in the deaths of four young people whose car collided with a train largely because a crossing gate wasn’t working properly. To punish the railroad, which allegedly began destroying evidence within minutes…
A trial date has been set in the case against Wal-Mart in the death of a Chadron, Neb., woman. David Lehman sued the corporation shortly after his wife, Julie, died after falling in the Chadron store. The case, filed in Dawes County District Court was removed to the U.S. District…
After years of foot dragging, Metrolink has spent $30 million to settle most of the lawsuits arising from the 2005 Glendale train crash that killed 11 and injured about 180, according to plaintiffs’ attorneys. Among those settlements are two injury cases, one for $5 million and the other for $3.8…
A lawsuit against a Swiss pharmaceutical company went to trial last week in Missoula, but a verdict in the case could have national significance for hundreds of plaintiffs suing the company in a mass tort. Peggy L. Stevens of Missoula filed suit against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. last year, alleging the…
The family of an 86-year-old Boston woman who died after she fell from an operating table following hip surgery has settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Boston Medical Center. The family’s lawyer, Meyer, said the hospital agreed to pay $900,000. Meyer said the case exposed gaps in operating room procedures…
Under rules to be proposed this week, the Department of Veterans Affairs plans to add Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart disease and hairy-cell leukemia to the growing list of illnesses presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant used widely in Vietnam. The proposal will make it substantially…
The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued its order on October 1, 2009, establishing MDL No. 2100 for individual lawsuits filed by women who have been injured as a result of their ingestion of Yasmin, Yaz and Ocella oral contraceptive products. All of the cases pending in federal…
In the first Paxil birth defect case to go to trial, jurors heard testimony late last month that manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was aware of reports of birth defects from mothers who took the antidepressant while pregnant but withheld the information from the FDA and consumers. (Kilker v. SmithKline Beecham Corp.,…
The first of more than 600 lawsuits claiming the makers of the antidepressant Paxil hid evidence that its drug caused birth defects in order to boost profits is now waiting for a Philadelphia jury’s verdict. The lawsuit involves allegations from Michelle David, who claims drug maker GlaxoSmithKline concealed negative study…
Yaz, manufactured by Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a combination birth control pill containing drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol. Yaz is marketed not only as a contraceptive pill, but as a proven treatment for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a condition with severe emotional and physical premenstrual symptoms. Yaz also is marketed…