Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog
FDA has required the manufacturers of the smoking cessation aids varenicline (Chantix) and bupropion (Zyban and generics) to add new Boxed Warnings and develop patient Medication Guides highlighting the risk of serious neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients using these products. These symptoms include changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts and behavior, and attempted suicide. The same changes to the prescribing information and Medication Guide for patients will also be required for bupropion products (Wellbutrin and generics)that are indicated for the treatment of depression and seasonal affective disorder.
Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm has offices based in Fort Worth and Dallas and represents people who have suffered catastrophic and serious personal injuries including wrongful death, caused by the negligence or recklessness of others. We specialize in Personal Injury trial litigation and focus our energy and efforts on those we represent.
Texas Company to Pay $3M to Black Workers
An East Texas company must pay black workers more than $3 million in back pay as damages in a class action lawsuit charging racial discrimination, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Ron Clark said Lufkin Industries Inc. must pay the workers $3.1 million as well as 5 percent interest to compensate them for acts of discrimination dating to 1994.
A bench trial in 2005 found that the company unlawfully made initial assignment and promotion decisions that discriminated against black workers.
“Lufkin Industries has been profiting for years from its policy of unlawful discrimination,” wrote Clark, who succeeded Cobb on the bench in the Eastern District of Texas. “At the same time, as Judge Cobb found, Lufkin’s CEO was indulged with a corporate jet and pilot and in 2002 a paycheck three times that of the president of the United States.”
EEOC Suit Claims Kmart Fired Man for Using a Cane
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Kmart Corp., alleging that the discount retailer fired an employee at a store after discovering he uses a cane to help him walk and stand.
Alonzo McGlone worked as a greeter at the Kmart store in Norfolk in September 2004, according to the commission, which filed its lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. It charged that Kmart discriminated against McGlone and violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing to let him use a cane and denying him work because of his disability, a debilitating back impairment known as spinal stenosis.
Yaz Class Action Law Suits in Progress
The Yaz® birth control pill has been on the market since 2006. Yaz is taken orally once daily to prevent pregnancy.
Yaz differs from other birth control methods because it contains a progestin hormone called drospirenone, which can increase potassium levels in the bloodstream.
Yaz has been linked with serious adverse heart problems. In a letter sent to the manufacturer of Yaz, the Food and Drug Administration warns of blood clots, heart attack, stroke, and gall bladder disease in Yaz users.
The FDA says, “Yaz has additional risks because it contains the progestin, drospirenone which can lead to hyperkalemia in high risk patients, which may result in potentially serious heart and health problems. Women taking Yaz must be concerned about the drug interactions that could increase potassium, in addition to the drug interactions common to all combination oral contraceptives.”
MRI Gadolinium Induced Kidney Failure
Ever since the issue of MRI health risks began circulating, Gadolinium kidney failure has been debated—especially with its link to nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) and increased risk for MRI and kidney failure when used in association with MRI for persons with compromised kidneys.
However, a new study casts a certain amount of doubt. The study: High-Dose Gadodiamide for Catheter Angiography and CT in Patients With Varying Degrees of Renal Insufficiency: Prevalence of Subsequent Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis and Decline in Renal Function, was recently undertaken at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.
The results of the study were published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.
“The purpose of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis and nephrotoxicity among patients with differing degrees of renal dysfunction who are exposed to high doses of gadodiamide,” said Mellena D. Bridges, MD, lead author of the study.
Home Depot Product Liability Suits Advances
A federal judge in Atlanta is permitting dozens of product liability suits against Home Depot and the makers of a tile grout cleaner to proceed to trial on negligence claims, but he has stripped away other claims that sought damages for violating federal consumer product safety laws.
Ten of those suits, filed by an Atlanta attorney on behalf of Home Depot customers who were hospitalized after using Tile Perfect Stand ‘N Seal Spray-On Grout Cleaner, are among approximately 50 suits that have settled, according to a Home Depot attorney. The settlements are confidential, said Frank A. Ilardi of Houck, Ilardi & Regas, who shared lead counsel duties with Texas attorney William J. Maiberger Jr. until Ilardi negotiated the settlements.
N.J. Crash Victim Caught in County-Insurer Lawsuits
Nicholas Anderson should be a multimillionaire.
Instead, he is penniless – and in need of medical treatment he can’t afford.
On Dec. 23, 2004, Anderson was driving home when a tire caught on a six-inch lip on the roadside and he lost control of his car. The car crashed into a guardrail, which impaled the vehicle, severing Anderson’s left leg and nearly severing his left arm. He was 18.
He sued Camden County, and last year a jury awarded him $31 million, finding that the county-maintained road was dangerous because of the drop in elevation between the road and shoulder, and because of the guardrail’s design.
“I’m in pain every day,” Anderson said.
Starbucks Pays $120,000 to Settle Racial Discrimination Lawsuit
Starbucks agreed to pay a former lead network engineer in Seattle $120,000 plus a mediator’s fee to settle a lawsuit that alleges racial discrimination and retaliation “so severe that it required him to take a medical leave of absence.”
Victor Washington, who is African-American and worked for Starbucks from September 2006 until May 2008, alleges in the July 2008 lawsuit that a white co-worker made racist comments to him such as repeatedly telling him to “fetch” the co-worker’s umbrella and tie his shoes for him. In the lawsuit, Washington says he complained to his supervisor and to Starbucks’ human resources department, and that they took no action, although the supervisor increased his workload and gave him undesirable assignments.
Zicam and Shareholder Litigation Begins
There is a big mess at Matrixx Initiatives, a Scottsdale, Ariz., maker of over-the-counter health care products. Best-known for its homeopathic Zicam Cold Remedy offerings, Matrixx hit a rough patch on June 16, when the Food and Drug Administration advised consumers to stop using two of its popular remedies.
The F.D.A. said that it had received more than 130 reports of anosmia — or loss of smell — from users of the products and that more than 800 such reports had been delivered to Matrixx. The agency told Matrixx that Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel and the same treatment in swab form could no longer be marketed without government approval.
Florida Court Awards Paralyzed Trucker $14.6 M
A Broward Circuit Court judge has ordered an insurance company to pay a paralyzed truck driver $14.6 million because of a 2007 accident.
Derry Brown Jr. of Pahokee was hauling a load of sugar in an 18-wheeler when a driver ran a stop sign, cutting him off on May 31, 2007. Brown, 64, swerved out of the way, and his truck overturned on State Road 80, just east of Lion Country Safari in Palm Beach County.
The accident cost Brown the use of his arms and legs and left him with mounting medical bills. If Brown had not swerved, the other driver would have died, Brown’s attorney, Robert Kelley, told the court.