Personal Injury

February 3, 2010

Houston Car Crash Leads to Lawsuit Against Toyota

The family of a Houston woman whose car smashed into a cement wall, killing her on impact, filed what is likely the third acceleration-related wrongful death lawsuit against Toyota in the nation.

Trina Harris, a 34-year-old mother of two, died on impact when her 2009 Toyota Corolla slammed into an East Hardy Toll Road cement divider, leaving no skid marks.

Her husband, filed a lawsuit against Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., gas pedal maker CTS Corp. and Fred Haas Toyota World, which leased her the car.

February 3, 2010

Class Actions Against Toyota Over Gas Pedals Filed in New Orleans

by Dr. Shezad Malik

In response to a nationwide recall of approximately 5.3 million Toyota vehicles for defective accelerator pedals, plaintiff’s attorneys have filed three lawsuits in New Orleans asking Toyota to return profits it made from the sale of the vehicles.

The lawsuits state that the accelerator mechanism of the vehicles can become stuck in a depressed position and fail to return or return slowly to the idle position causing, “extreme, uncontrollable and inherently dangerous acceleration.”

The Toyota models affected by the January recall include the 2009-2010 RAV4, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe, 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2008-2010 Sequoia and the 2007-2010 Camry.

Read the full story here.

February 2, 2010

Toyota’s Huge Problem: Product Liability Lawsuits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

– Toyota Motor Corp is facing a growing number lawsuits from consumers who complain their vehicles suddenly accelerate or may do so, and want the world’s largest automaker to pay for it.

Last week, Toyota stopped selling eight models in the United States and Canada, including its popular Camry and Corolla, because of possible unintended acceleration.

Some 8 million vehicles are up for repair worldwide over problems including alleged faulty accelerator pedals made by the supplier CTS Corp, and the possibility that floor mats could jam the accelerator pedal.

Read the full story here Yahoo.com

February 1, 2010

Pfizer Update: 93% Cut in Prempro Punitive-Damages

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Pfizer Inc. persuaded a Pennsylvania state court judge to slash by 93 percent a $75 million punitive-damages award to a woman who blamed the company’s menopause drugs for her breast cancer.

Judge Ackerman in Philadelphia reduced the award to Connie Barton to $5.6 million after finding it was excessive. Jurors also awarded Barton $3.7 million in compensatory damages in her lawsuit against Pfizer’s Wyeth unit over the hormone- replacement drug Prempro. Ackerman left that award undisturbed in his post-trial ruling, according to court docket entries.

Read the Bloomberg story here.

January 31, 2010

Fort Worth Car Accident Attorney: Toyota’s Slow Awakening to a Deadly Problem

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The 911 call came at 6:35 p.m. on Aug. 28 from a car that was speeding out of control on Highway 125 near San Diego.

The caller, a male voice, was panic-stricken: “We’re in a Lexus … we’re going north on 125 and our accelerator is stuck … we’re in trouble … there’s no brakes … we’re approaching the intersection … hold on … hold on and pray … pray …”

The call ended with the sound of a crash.

January 30, 2010

Allergan Trial Will Focus on Botox’s Safety in Cerebral Palsy Treatments

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The family of Kristen Spears alleges an overdose of the drug manufactured by Irvine-based Allergan Inc. killed her at age 7.

Spears started getting Botox injections at the age of 6 — not to smooth furrows in her brow, but to calm spasms in her legs.

The girl was born with severe cerebral palsy, and Botox, best known as a face-lift-in-a-syringe, can relax contorted muscles and sometimes help young patients walk without surgery.

Read full story here.

January 29, 2010

Dental Malpractice: Drill Bit Left in Maxillary Sinus

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Donna Delgado just wasn’t healing properly after dental surgery.

There was too much bleeding, too much pain. Her head hurt. She was dizzy. She had nosebleeds and sinus infections.

Lodged in Delgado’s right maxillary sinus, the drill bit burr made the 35-year-old woman miserable for nearly a year as she held down a job and cared for her children, according to her lawsuit.

Read the full story here.

January 28, 2010

Kimberly-Clark Unit Must Pay $4.75 M in Product Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Multnomah County jury ordered a medical-device company to pay $4.75 million to a Portland, Oregon, man and his wife in a product-liability lawsuit that may have national implications, according to a report in The Oregonian.

The jury found I-Flow Corp. liable for destroying the cartilage in Matthew Beale’s right shoulder and leaving the 38-year-old father of four with constant pain and a disabled arm, the newspaper reported.

January 27, 2010

Heart Patients Warned Against Using Meridia, an Anti-Obesity Drug

by Dr. Shezad Malik

European and American drug regulators had two starkly different reactions this week to data on an obesity drug. The raw data from the study indicated that people with certain health problems who took the prescription diet drug Meridia had more heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems than people getting a placebo.

January 26, 2010

RI Meat Company Recalling 1.2M Pounds of Salami

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Rhode Island meat company recalled 1.24 million pounds of pepper-coated salami, after officials conducting a months-long, multistate investigation of a salmonella outbreak compared shopping receipts of those who got sick.

The recall by Daniele International Inc. comes amid an outbreak that’s sickened 184 people in 38 states since July.

Daniele has been identified as the source of the ongoing outbreak by William Keene, a senior epidemiologist at the public health division in Oregon, where eight people have gotten sick.