Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

November 6, 2009

Pfizer Jury to Award $75 M Prempro Verdict to Woman

Pfizer Inc. must pay about $75 million in punitive damages to an Illinois woman who developed cancer after taking one of the drugmaker’s menopause treatments.

A Philadelphia jury ordered Pfizer’s Wyeth unit on Oct. 26 to pay the bad-conduct award, which is about 20 times larger than the $3.7 million in actual damages the panel awarded to Connie Barton over her use of Wyeth’s Prempro menopause drug, according to people with direct knowledge of the verdict.

A judge ordered Barton’s punitive-damage award sealed at Wyeth’s request until the trial of another Prempro lawsuit in the same courthouse is completed. Lawyers in that case say jurors won’t start deliberating on that suit’s claims for another three weeks.

November 5, 2009

Wyeth to Face New Trial on Punitive Damages in Prempro Hormone Replacement Case

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Donna Scroggin had a hormone replacement product liability suit against Wyeth and Upjohn and at the spring 2008 trial her claim that the drug companies failed to warn of the increased risk of breast cancer resulting from their estrogen and progestin products, a federal district court jury awarded the breast cancer survivor $2.75 million in compensatory damages. In the second phase of trial, the jury hit Upjohn with about $8 million in punitive damages, and Wyeth with $19 million.

After post-trial motions, the judge upheld the jury’s liability finding and $2.75 million compensatory damages verdict against Wyeth and Upjohn. But he struck the testimony of Scroggin’s punitive damages expert and vacated the punitive damages awards against the drug companies.

Read the opinion here.

November 5, 2009

Widow Files Wrongful Death Suit Over Fatal Training Exercise

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The widow of a Volusia County Fla firefighter who died when a tree fell on him during a brush-fire training exercise is suing the county Fire Services department for wrongful death.

County firefighter John Curry was with the department nine months and attending his first training with a wildfire team when he was killed.

Volusia County Fire Services knew that using untrained firefighters to cut down trees was dangerous, according to the complaint filed, and failed to protect Curry from his death.

November 4, 2009

Family of Child who Drowned Files a Wrongful Death Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The family of the 9-year-old boy who drowned in a city pool is seeking $15 million from the city, according to a wrongful death claim filed in City Hall.

Jameson Auciel, died on Aug. 20, three days after he was pulled unconscious from the McGrane Pool in Providence city’s West End.

Jameson had been floating face down in the 3- to 4-foot public pool. His cousin, Gamaelle Bazelais, 8, was also found floating face down and unconscious in the pool. Both were rushed to Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence.

November 3, 2009

BP Faces Fine for ’05 Refinery Wrongful Death Explosion

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced the largest fine in its history of $87 million in penalties against the oil giant BP for failing to correct safety problems identified after a 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers at its Texas City, Tex. refinery.

The fine is more than four times the size of any previous OSHA sanction. Federal officials said the penalty was the result of BP’s failure to comply in hundreds of instances with a 2005 agreement to fix safety hazards at the refinery, the nation’s third-largest.

OSHA issued 271 notifications to BP for failing to correct hazards at the Texas City refinery over the four-year period since the explosion. As a result, OSHA, which is part of the Labor Department, is issuing fines of $56.7 million. In addition, OSHA also identified 439 “willful and egregious” violations of industry-accepted safety controls at the refinery. Those violations will lead to $30.7 million in additional fines

November 3, 2009

Rapid Weight Gain Associated With Antipsychotic Drugs

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Young children and adolescents who take the newest generation of antipsychotic medications risk rapid weight gain and metabolic changes that could lead to diabetes, hypertension and other illnesses, according to the biggest study yet of first-time users of the drugs.

The study, to be published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, found that 257 young children and adolescents in New York City and on Long Island added 8 to 15 percent to their weight after taking the pills for less than 12 weeks.

November 3, 2009

Bat Maker Found Liable for Player’s Wrongful Death

by Dr. Shezad Malik

After 12 hours of deliberation, a jury sided with the parents of baseball pitcher Brandon Patch in a civil suit over the player’s death during a 2003 game in Helena.

Aluminum bat maker Hillerich & Bradsby Co. failed to provide adequate warning as to the dangers of the bat used by a Helena Senators player during the game, according to at least eight of the 12 Lewis and Clark County jurors.

Hillerich & Bradsby Co. was ordered to pay $792,000 to Patch’s estate, which is represented by his mother, Debbie Patch, who filed the suit.

November 3, 2009

Amylin, Lilly’s Byetta Gets Stronger Safety Warning

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. said safety warnings were strengthened for their diabetes drug Byetta relating to the risks of pancreatitis and the medicine’s use by patients with severe kidney disease.

Patients with “severe kidney problems” shouldn’t take Byetta and the treatment should be “used with caution” in people who have had a kidney transplant, San Diego-based Amylin and Indianapolis-based Lilly said in a statement. The companies also said U.S. regulators approved the use of the drug as a stand-alone medication for adults with Type 2 diabetes.

Six patients taking Byetta died in August 2008 from pancreatitis, an inflamed pancreas. A safety alert was issued by the Food and Drug Administration though Amylin said no evidence directly linked the drug to the deaths. The revised language reflects the concerns raised by the FDA a year ago, according to Amylin’s medical director.

November 2, 2009

Anemia Drug Raises Stroke Risk in Kidney Patients

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A drug designed to fight anemia appears to double the risk of stroke in patients with diabetes and kidney disease without substantially improving their quality of life, a new study finds.

Darbepoetin alfa, marketed as Aranesp and known as an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA), is often prescribed for diabetic patients with chronic kidney disease and mild anemia.

“The benefits we assumed we would have by treating anemia were less striking and the risks were more striking,” said lead researcher Dr. Marc A. Pfeffer, a professor of medicine in the cardiovascular division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“This provides new data for doctors and patients to make their own risk-benefit assessment,” he said. “There was a perception that treating anemia would make people feel so much better that we’ll take risks, but the benefit in quality of life was not as great as we thought, and there was a clear doubling of your risk for a stroke.”

November 2, 2009

Firefighter’s Widow Alleges Department Failed to Properly Maintain Equipment.

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The widow of a LA firefighter who was killed last year while on duty has sued the fire department and the city for allegedly causing his death by refusing to replace outdated equipment.

Ralph Arabie, a 30-year veteran of the David Crockett Steam Fire Company No. 1, was killed in September 2008 at the station when the hydraulic boom of a 1965 aerial device struck and pinned his head to the back of one of the station’s trucks. He was pronounced dead at the scene of blunt force trauma to the head.

The lawsuit, filed alleges that Arabie was killed because the city and station failed to “properly maintain an already over aged fire truck,” and “replace overly-aged hydraulic components.”

Jan Arabie is suing for damages including the loss of her spouse, loss of support, mental anguish and emotional distress.