Wrongful Death

March 7, 2010

Tasers Under Investigation After Claims of Death and Injury

On October 7, 2006, Steven Butler, by his own admission, was drunk and disorderly. He refused an order from a police officer in his hometown to get off a city bus. The officer used his Taser ECD (officially, an “Electronic Control Device”) three times.

According to doctors, Butler suffered immediate cardiac arrest. He was revived by emergency medical technicians who happened to be close by, but his attorneys say his brain was deprived of oxygen for as long as 18 minutes. He is now permanently disabled.

Read the full CNN story here.

March 5, 2010

Law Suit Filed in Crash That Prompted First Toyota Recall

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The family of the man whose Aug. 28 death spurred the first recall of Toyota vehicles for unintended acceleration has filed a products liability and negligence lawsuit against the Japanese automaker.

Mark Saylor, 45, a California Highway Patrol Officer, was killed along with his family after the 2009 Lexus he was driving suddenly accelerated out of control while on Interstate 125 near San Diego.

Read full story here at Law.com

March 5, 2010

Family of Fort Worth Woman Killed in Crash Sues Bar That Served Officer

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Family members of a Fort Worth woman killed in a December wreck involving an allegedly intoxicated off-duty Fort Worth police officer filed suit today against the Fort Worth bar at which the officer had been drinking.

At a news conference in Dallas today, the family’s attorney said the family of Sonia Baker decided to sue The Pour House not as a quest for money, but to hold such establishments accountable for over-serving patrons and “placing profits ahead of safety.”
The lawsuit is filed under the state’s Dram Shop Act, which allows those who sell alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person to be held liable for resulting damages.

Read the full story here at the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

March 4, 2010

Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella 1,100 Birth Control Lawsuits Filed

by Dr. Shezad Malik

In an annual 2009 report released by Bayer, the number of contraceptive lawsuits over Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella has risen to about 1,100 filed cases, and that number will continue to increase as thousands of women are considering claims for serious injuries that have been caused by side effects of the birth control pills.

Included among the claims are five Yasmin and Yaz class action lawsuits; three filed in the United States and two filed in Canada, according to Bayer’s 2009 annual report released late last month.

Read the full Bayer 2009 Report here

March 2, 2010

Fairfax VA Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Case, Family Awarded $1.25 M

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Fairfax County jury has awarded nearly $3 million to the family of a man who died after his esophagus tore while he was swallowing a piece of steak, finding an Alexandria radiologist liable for misdiagnosing the man’s condition as a hiatal hernia.

Large civil jury verdicts are rare in Fairfax, and Virginia’s cap on medical malpractice judgments required the jury’s award of $2,933,500 to be cut by more than half, to about $1.25 million.

Read full story at the Washington Post.

February 27, 2010

Judge: Lejeune Resident Can Move Ahead With Injury Claim

by Dr. Shezad Malik

For what appears to be the first time, a former resident of Camp Lejeune, N.C., has been permitted to move ahead with a claim against the Marine Corps for years of water contamination that she says led to the development of her non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The U.S. Department of the Navy, which includes the Marines, this week lost its bid to dismiss the case of Laura J. Jones of Iowa, who lived at Camp Lejeune from 1980 to 1983 as the spouse of a Marine officer.

In 2005, more than two decades after she left North Carolina, Jones was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

February 26, 2010

Toyota Owners Took Concerns to Dealership Before Fatal Southlake Crash

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Monty and Linda Hardy had taken their 2008 Toyota Avalon to a Grapevine dealership “several times” with complaints about uncommanded acceleration but were told there was nothing wrong, their attorney says.

On the day after Christmas, Monty Hardy was driving the Toyota in Southlake when it sped through a T-intersection, barreled through a steel fence, struck a tree and landed upside down in an icy pond. He and all three passengers in the car were killed.

Read full story here at Dallas Morning News

February 26, 2010

Glaxo Backs Avandia’s Safety Says That US Report Biased

by Dr. Shezad Malik

GlaxoSmithKline Plc rejected allegations that it concealed safety information about its diabetes drug Avandia or acted inappropriately in marketing it, saying a U.S. Senate staff report was inaccurate and incomplete.

The company diligently studied the drug’s safety and effectiveness, and communicated its findings to governments, regulators, scientists and doctors, London-based Glaxo said in a statement.

Read the full Bloomberg story here.

February 23, 2010

Federal Subpoenas Hit Toyota on the Eve of Hearing

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The pressure on Toyota Motor Corp. intensified as the company disclosed subpoenas from a federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission related to sudden acceleration in its cars, while the leaders of a congressional panel accused Toyota of misleading the public about safety problems.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, in an 11-page letter, previewed issues its members likely will raise at a hearing Tuesday. The letter criticized Toyota for resisting the possibility that electronic defects could be responsible for the reports of unintended acceleration.

Read full story here at the WSJ.

February 23, 2010

FDA Faces More Pressure to Pull Avandia Diabetes Drug

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Food and Drug Administration, under fire from a new Senate report questioning the safety of GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s diabetes drug Avandia, told doctors that patients taking the medicine should stay on it unless their doctors say otherwise.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.), the chairwoman of the House appropriations panel that controls the FDA’s budget, said: “I strongly urge the FDA to remove Avandia from the market until a truly independent, science-based advisory panel can evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the drug.”

Read full article here at the Wall Street Journal.