Personal Injury

October 17, 2009

Cargill Settles E. Coli Lawsuit with 11-year-old MN girl

The parents of an 11-year-old Minnesota girl who spent more than a month in the hospital because of an illness caused by an E. coli-contaminated hamburger have reached a settlement with Cargill.

According to Bill Marler, the attorney, the settlement with the parents of the young girl was reached and the terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The girl became ill in 2007 after eating contaminated hamburger supplied by Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation. The hamburger meat was linked to an E. coli outbreak that led Cargill to voluntarily recall about 845,000 pounds of frozen ground beef patties.

According to Marler, she developed a syndrome that forced her to spend more than three weeks on kidney dialysis. Her medical bills added up to nearly $350,000, and she now has a high risk of developing end stage renal disease, Marler said.

October 16, 2009

Home Insurers Discontinuing Chinese Drywall Policies

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Ivory family’s dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida’s Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they’ve been told their entire policy won’t be renewed.

Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from the defective building materials are finding that insurers drop policies or send notices of non-renewal based on the presence of the Chinese drywall.

October 16, 2009

UC Medical Malpractice Case Settled for $6 M

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A 4-year-old boy with cerebral palsy received a judge approved a $5.75 million settlement on his behalf.

Cannon Hoops got $1.75 million up front and another $4 million in annuities that are expected to pay for his medical and assistive care as well as future lost earnings over the rest of his life. The money was awarded by the University of California Board of Regents as a result of injuries the boy suffered when he was born in the UC Davis Medical Center.

October 16, 2009

Yaz / Yasmin MDL Consolidation Update

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A panel of judges ordered that all federal lawsuits over problems with Yaz and Yasmin birth control pills will be consolidated into an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, for pretrial proceedings in the Southern District of Illinois.

This is not a Yaz / Yasmin class action. Each Yaz lawsuit or Yasmin lawsuit will remain an individual claim and if a settlement is not agreed upon during pretrial litigation, each plaintiff will still have a jury will determine the amount of damages they are entitled to in their case.

Read the JPML Order here.

MDL No. 2100 — IN RE: Yasmin and Yaz (Drospirenone) Marketing and Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation — Assigned To Southern District of Illinois.

October 15, 2009

Deaths Linked To Yaz and Yasmin Birth Control Pill

by Dr. Shezad Malik

It was August, 2008, when 24-year-old Tanya Hayes began to experience breathlessness and what her family described as a “nasty, hard cough.” Tanya ignored the symptoms until one afternoon when she collapsed in a car park in her hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Five hours later, she was pronounced dead of a pulmonary embolism.

According to the head of the emergency room that treated Ms. Hayes, her death was the result of “blood clotting caused by factors related to taking the oral contraceptive pill.”
What her family did not discover until later is that the fine print on the package of pills she was taking, known as Yasmin, lists “breathlessness” as a “very rare . . . very serious side effect.”

October 15, 2009

Settlement For Philadelphia Apartment-Fire Litigation

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Less than 14 months after a devastating apartment blaze along the Conshohocken riverfront set back one of the nation’s most successful revivals of an aging town, a $36.3 million settlement has been reached to end all fire-related litigation.

Of that, $27 million will go toward rebuilding the two destroyed Riverwalk apartment buildings, which housed 189 units. The remainder will be shared among the displaced tenants, with amounts depending on individual losses.

October 14, 2009

Cerebral Palsy Birth Injury Case Costs Hospital $43.5 M

by Dr. Shezad Malik

In what is believed to be the largest personal injury lawsuit verdict in the history of the Capital Region, a state Supreme Court jury in Saratoga County awarded $43.5 million to a woman who sued the Bellevue Maternity Hospital in Niskayuna for severe brain damage she suffered during her birth in 1984.

Tiffany Busone, 24, of Schoharie County, sued the hospital for malpractice, arguing she suffered cerebral palsy as a result of a lack of oxygen and a failure to properly resuscitate her during her birth on July 15, 1984.

While Busone has above-average intelligence and earned a degree from Arizona State University, she uses a wheelchair and lacks motor skills due to the brain damage, the sources said.

The lawsuit, initially filed by the woman’s mother, J. Tracy Busone, dates to 1984 when the family lived in Saratoga County.

October 13, 2009

Glaxo Ordered to Pay $2.5 M for Paxil Birth Defect Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

GlaxoSmithKline Plc must pay $2.5 M over claims that its Paxil antidepressant caused birth defects, a Pennsylvania jury concluded in the first of 600 such cases to come to trial.

Jurors in state court in Philadelphia deliberated about seven hours over two days before finding Glaxo failed to properly warn doctors and pregnant users of Paxil’s risk. The panel awarded $2.5 million in compensatory damages to the family of Lyam Kilker. The 3-year-old was born with heart defects his mother blamed on the drug.

October 13, 2009

Glaxo Ignored Paxil’s Birth-Defect Risks, According to Lawyer

by Dr. Shezad Malik

GlaxoSmithKline Plc officials intentionally ignored the possibility that the Paxil antidepressant caused birth defects, a lawyer said in closing arguments of a trial over the drug. Glaxo researchers never followed up on studies showing Paxil posed a birth-defect risk for fear of harming sales,
The London-based drugmaker “made a concerted effort” not to study Paxil’s links to birth defects, Tracey said. Glaxo executives sought to “avoid doing studies that would have revealed the truth about their drugs,” he said.

The trial is the first of more than 600 cases alleging that Glaxo, the U.K.’s largest drugmaker, knew Paxil caused birth defects and hid those risks to increase profits.

The family of Lyam Kilker claims Glaxo withheld information from consumers and regulators about Paxil’s risks and failed to properly test the drug. Lyam’s mother, Michelle David, blames Paxil for causing her son’s life-threatening heart defects.

October 13, 2009

Woman Settles for $7 M in Target Brain Injury Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An 80-year-old woman has been awarded a $7 million settlement from Target Corp. and a mechanical door company after she was knocked to the ground by a faulty automatic door at a Target store in Rosemont in 2007, the woman’s lawyers said in a statement.

The incident on June 21, 2007, caused Claire Putman brain injuries and resulted in “cognitive deficits,” according to the statement from the law firm. Putman, whom records list as a Des Plaines resident, had to move into a nursing home because of her injuries.

According to the statement, Putman was walking into the Target at 7000 Mannheim Rd. when the door malfunctioned and knocked her to the floor, causing her to hit her head. She was then struck by the door again as it continued to open and close.