An Indiana jury has awarded $5 million to a Mooresville woman still experiencing ill effects from a misdiagnosis nearly a decade ago at Methodist Hospital. Roxxanna Smith, then 18, arrived at the emergency room in July 2000 with a ruptured diaphragm after playing softball. But through a series of miscommunications…
The Environmental Protection Agency declared its first-ever “public health emergency,” saying the federal government will funnel $6 million to provide medical care for people sickened by asbestos from a mine in northwest Montana. The declaration applies to the towns of Libby and Troy, where for decades workers dug for vermiculite,…
The wrongful death civil trial over a 2005 fatal brawl in a McDonald’s parking lot hit a stumbling block when the judge dismissed the jury picked to hear the case. Attorneys agreed on a six-member jury, but since then lawyers on the plaintiff’s side uncovered facts about three of the…
While investigators scour the Atlantic for clues to the cause of the crash of Air France Flight 447, lawyers in Brazil, France and the U.S. are taking steps to determine the proper forum for any lawsuits. Sophie Bottai, whose client was the first granted victim status in a French criminal…
The acne remedy Accutane, a synthetic form of vitamin A used to treat serious forms of acne that can cause scarring, has been the subject of extensive litigation because of a long list of side effects including inflammatory bowel disease, suicide, and birth defects. The U.S. manufacturer of Accutane, Hoffman…
Since its April board meeting, the Texas Medical Board has taken disciplinary action against 71 licensed physicians. The actions included 15 violations based on quality of care; 11 actions based on unprofessional conduct; two nontherapeutic prescribing violations; six agreed orders based on inadequate medical records violations; one action based on…
The family of a retired Navy sailor who died of cancer triggered by asbestos fibers he inhaled on the job decades ago has won $1.2 million in its lawsuit against a ship-parts manufacturer. Gerald Gray died in April after suffering from mesothelioma. His death, at age 75, came five weeks…
Federal drug regulators warned consumers to stop using Zicam, a popular homeopathic cold remedy, because it could damage or destroy their sense of smell. The Food and Drug Administration received 130 reports from consumers and doctors of people losing their sense of smell after using one of the Zicam nasal…
A Darlington County SC jury returned a verdict of $9 million after finding Progress Energy responsible in the wrongful death of 21-year-old Allen Toney of Hartsville. According to a press release, the jury awarded Mary Washington, the victim’s mother, $3.5 million in actual damages and $5.5 million in punitive damages.…
The Eleventh Circuit ruled on Wednesday on an interesting and provocative case. In an unpublished opinion, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in a case in which the mother of a 17 year-old who committed suicide in 2000 sued Hoffman-La Roche, Inc. The plaintiff alleged…