Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

April 29, 2010

Gulf Oil Spill Law Suits Start

Two new federal lawsuits are filed over the oil spill that is currently spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion on one of BP PLC’s offshore rigs. Both lawsuits were filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The first was filed on behalf of two Louisiana commercial shrimpers Acy J. Cooper and Ronnie Louis Anderson, who allege that the spill “is causing dangerous environmental contamination of the Gulf of Mexico and its shorelines, threatening Louisiana’s sensitive wetlands and estuarine areas” and it “will continue to cause loss of revenue to persons (and businesses) who are being prevented from using the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana’s Coastal Zone for diverse activities, including work and to earn a living.”
Read the full WSJ story here.

April 29, 2010

Dallas Accutane Lawsuits Update

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Accutane® (isotretinoin or roaccutane) is considered by many dermatologists to be the strongest, most effective weapon against persistent, severe acne.

It is a derivative of Vitamin A, and the drug works by reducing the skin’s production of oil.

A current Black Box warning on Accutane cautions consumers about its potential to harm unborn children. Additional serious side effects associated with Accutane use include depression, colitis, and liver disease. Roche Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Accutane, has been named in thousands of lawsuits filed by patients who experienced severe side effects or whose loved ones experienced adverse reactions following Accutane use.

April 29, 2010

R.J. Reynolds Loses $46.3 Million Smoker’s Verdict

by Dr. Shezad Malik

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the second-biggest U.S. cigarette maker, must pay $46.3 million to the widow of a Florida man who died from lung cancer in 1995, according to a Florida jury.

Six state-court jurors in Gainesville voted unanimously in favor of the widow of Frank Townsend, who started smoking at age 13 or 14, according to Greg Prysock, who represented Lyantie Townsend in the case.

The verdict is the latest in favor of a smoker or family member in the state following a 2006 Florida Supreme Court decision in the “Engle” case, which allowed individual smoker lawsuits after the court decertified a statewide class-action case.

Read the full story here.

April 28, 2010

Fire Trainee’s Family Sues For Her Wrongful Death

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The family of a firefighter trainee killed during a training exercise has sued the city of Baltimore for her suffering and death.

The mother and two children of Racheal Wilson, 29, who had been with the fire department three months, allege in their $35 million lawsuit that the exercise was conducted in violation of dozens of federal requirements.

In February 2007, Wilson was sent with other cadets into a burning rowhouse in which instructors had set seven fires, although national guidelines allow only one. The cadets weren’t properly prepared, nor was an evacuation plan drawn up, the lawsuit alleges. Wilson was given inadequate breathing equipment and clothing that didn’t protect her from the extreme heat, the suit maintains, with allegations based on an independent investigation of incident.

Read full story here.

April 27, 2010

U.S. hospitals Are Not Reporting Disciplinary Action to National Databank

by Dr. Shezad Malik

For almost 20 years, federal law has required hospitals and medical boards to report doctors they discipline — for medical incompetence, unprofessional conduct, and substandard care to the National Practitioner Data Bank.

It was designed to protect the public from bad doctors, particularly those who move to another hospital or another state to try to hide their mistakes.

The Data Bank allows hospitals and other medical organizations to see a doctor’s disciplinary record before hiring him or her — with a single, simple check instead of having to contact medical boards in every state.

Read the full story here.

April 26, 2010

Texas NuvaRing Blood Clot Lawsuits Filed Over DVT and Pulmonary Embolism

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Three women from Texas have filed Nuvaring blood clot lawsuits against Organon and Merck & Co., the drug makers, alleging that the popular birth control ring caused them to suffer from a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism and other injuries.

The Nuvaring lawsuits were filed on March 26 in the Marshall division of the Eastern District of Texas by Stephanie Huckabee, Amber Dawn Morgan and Christina Renee Pritchard. The women allege that the manufacturers failed to warn consumers about the risk of blood clots from side effects of NuvaRing.

Read full story here.

April 26, 2010

Dr. William Olmsted, Dallas Child Psychiatrist on Probation for Molestation Loses Medical License

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Texas Medical Board finally has taken away Dr. William Olmsted’s license.

Olmsted made headlines last year after the board let him keep practicing even though a Dallas County judge had put him on probation for molesting a girl. The child psychiatrist was ordered to start treating men only, to get a psychiatric evaluation of his own, to take “professional boundaries” courses, and to pay a $5,000 fine.

Read the full story here.

April 26, 2010

Arlington Texas Airman Getting Life Back on Track After Losing Legs

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An Arlington airman lost his legs in a botched gallbladder surgery at a military hospital in California.

Colton Read had been having stomach problems while stationed at Beale Air Force Base near Sacramento, Calif. He agreed to have laparoscopic gallbladder surgery.

During the procedure, an instrument being threaded through his belly nicked his aorta and cut off blood flow to his legs. He was moved from the David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base to the University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Surgeons there had to amputate both legs.

A 1950 Supreme Court decision known as the Feres Doctrine does not allow military personnel or their families to collect damages from military doctors for negligence or malpractice.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/04/17/2122240/arlington-airman-getting-life.html#ixzz0lhc6g4KW

April 25, 2010

Suit Alleges Cardinal Mahony Conspired to Hide Priest’s Sexual Abuse of Children

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A 25-year-old Mexican man filed suit alleging that Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles Archdiocese and a Mexican cardinal conspired to hide a priest’s 20-plus years of child sexual abuse, exposing dozens more young victims to rape by a known pedophile.

The complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles relies on a U.S. law, more than 200 years old, that allows foreign victims of human rights abuses to bring their perpetrators to justice in U.S. courts. The civil suit is the first known to use the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 to demand a jury trial and compensation for sexual offenses committed abroad by clergy, attorneys said.

Read full story here at the LA Times

April 25, 2010

Jury Awards $15M Asbestos Verdict : Dallas Texas Mesothelioma Attorney

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Mississippi jury has awarded $15 million to a 71 year-old oil industry worker who developed asbestosis after years of handling bags of product containing 99 percent asbestos.

Plaintiff Troy Lofton, who testified at trial with tubes in his nose and ears and holding an oxygen bottle that assists his breathing 24 hours a day, alleged that ConocoPhillips manufactured a dangerous product while knowing of its dangers.

The case is only the third to go to trial of over 700 pending cases involving oilfield workers who developed lung cancer, asbestosis or mesothelioma after handling products made by ConocoPhillips or its subsidiaries.

Among the evidence at trial was a handwritten document indicating that the company had weighed the cost of personal injury lawsuits against the profits of continuing to sell asbestos.

Read full story here.