And We Thought the Cicadas Were Bad in Chicago!
In one of the more “bugging” personal injury cases to be seen in the last 17 years, a railroad worker is suing the Kansas City Southern Railway Co. for damages sustained from an insect sting on the job three years ago. Michael Aguillard claims it was the responsibility of the railway to inform him about the dangers of bug bites and stings and thus negligently failed to provide him with a safe workplace when it did not warn him of this information, spray for bugs and give him the proper working equipment. Aguillard was stung on June 20, 2004 while working with track materials and has claimed that he suffered injuries to the soft tissues, ligaments, tendons, muscles and blood vessels of his hands, arms, back and heart, including a mitral valve prolapse. Aguillard also claims in his personal injury lawsuit that he has suffered severe pain and suffering and is suing for lost wages, earnity capacity and benefits.
As the song goes, it’s a hard knock life for bugs. Oh wait. That’s us, not bugs.
A House subcommittee has approved legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) greater power to oversee drug safety. The changes would improve drug labels and force pharmaceutical companies to conduct studies of products already on the market.
The Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health voted to improve the FDA’s ability to detect harmful side effects once medication are sold. Lawmakers said the changes were needed following drugs being pulled from the market, including Merck’s Vioxx and GlaxoSmithKline’s Avandia. Personal injury lawsuits regarding Vioxx have been working their way through the courts.
The full committee will consider the legislation soon. The Senate has already approved a similar measure. The House and the Senate will need to iron out any differences in their bills after they’ve passed both houses of Congress.
A West Palm Beach, Florida personal injury jury found Ford Motor Company responsible for a woman’s crippling injuries and awarded her $10.4 million. 66-year old Donna Grimes of Boca Raton was left a quadriplegic when her Ford Explorer was struck from behind.
The jury found that her injuries occurred when the reclining mechanism in her seat failed, throwing her backward and snapping her neck when her head struck the back seat.
Ford said it will appeal the personal injury award. A spokesman said the crash was so severe that Ford’s seat design could not be held responsible for Ms. Grimes’ injuries.
An 11-year-old girl gets bitten by a Rottweiler back in 1999 and is left with serious injuries to her face. As a 19-year-old woman, she files a personal injury lawsuit against the owners of the animal. How is she able to do this? Hasn’t the statute of limitations long run out on her filing a personal injury claim?
Not so in this case. Laura Haidet was attacked eight years ago by a dog owned by Gregory and Nancy Kovalchick while she was playing video games with other children at the home of the defendants in Bristolville, Pennsylvania. A Vindy.com story explains that while the statute of limitations for filing for bodily damages in Pennsylvania is two years, this does not apply to a minor under normal circumstances. Haidet’s personal injury attorney, Rick Bush, elaborated in the story that the statute of limitations for a case involving a minor begins from the date of the person’s 18th birthday. In other words, Haidet had two years from the day she turned 18 to file her Pennsylvania personal injury lawsuit for bodily damages; which thus makes her claim as a 19-year-old acceptable.
Haidet suffered deep wounds to the face during the dog attack, which was described in the personal injury lawsuit as being “without warning or provocation.” She needed 150 stitches to close the wounds and required surgery for scar revision. Haidet now claims that she needs surgery to improve the positioning of her nose cartilage and a noticeable difference between both sides of her nose. She is thus seeking more than $25,000 from the Kovalchick family, who was not available for comment in the story.
This personal injury case once again reveals the importance of talking to an experienced lawyer as soon as possible after suffering a personal injury. Statutes of limitations vary from state-to-state and sometimes even by the type of claim, and thus may not be as clear cut as you think. With that said, a local personal injury attorney can fill you in on the statute of limitations in your state and provide the clarity that you may need.
No, it’s not some cliffhanger to the season finale of some popular television show but rather a real-life personal injury case that is to be continued. A medical emergency has forced an Illinois judge to stop a personal injury case in which William Clawson was suing the man who repossessed his car. Clawson had claimed that he suffered severe neck injuries and medical anguish when he drove a golf cart in front of his car on February 27, 2005. Clawson has also alleged that he thought his car was being stolen (it was actually being repossessed) and thus drove the golf cart in front of it. While on the way to court to testify as a key witness in the trial last week, Clawson’s wife suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized; thus prompting Madison County Circuit Judge David Hylla to reassign the case to June 18th.
While he had been seeking $100,000 in damages, Clawson must now wait for his wife to recover from her own physical damages. Hylla has said that 11 of the original 13 jurors in the case will continue in the case, and that he will choose two replacement jurors before the trial begins. Read more about this interesting personal injury case in this story from The Madison County Record.
A New York medical examiner has determined that a 17-year-old track star died after overusing sports cream. Arielle Newman, a cross-country runner at Staten Island’s Notre Dame Academy, died after her body absorbed high levels of methyl salicylate, a compound found in many anti-inflammatory creams, such as Bengay and Icy Hot.
A medical examiner’s spokeswoman said it was the first case of death from using a sports cream the office had encountered. She said Newman was spreading the muscle cream on her legs between competitions, applying adhesive pads containing the anti-inflammatory, and using an unspecified third product containing the chemical.
A spokesman for Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Bengay, expressed sympathy over the death, but reminded consumers about “the importance of reading the label on this and all over-the-counter medicines to ensure safe and proper use.” According to the Associated Press, the label on Ultra Strength Bengay says the product should be applied no more than three or four times daily and consumers should stop and see a doctor if the condition worsens or symptoms persist for more than a week.
Can we expect a personal injury lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson?
The mother of a man who was shot and killed seven years ago in a struggle with a New York police officer was awarded $10 million in punitive damages on Wednesday. A NY1 News story detailed how 23-year-old Malcolm Ferguson was unarmed in March of 2000 when he was shot during an altercation with plain-clothed police officer Louis Rivera, who is still with the NYPD but now works a desk job and no longer carries a gun. While the death was ruled accidental, the victim’s mother, Bronx resident Juanita Young, has claimed that her son was a victim of police brutality. While Young has vowed to continue to fight for the rights of victims of police brutality, the New York City Law Department has said that it will appeal the ruling of this personal injury lawsuit as the jury agreed that the shooting was an accident. The NYC Law Department added in a statement that it is confident the wrongful death verdict would be dropped in the appeals process.
Young has said that she will like to see the criminal case reopened and charges filed against Rivera. We’ll keep you updated on any more developments with this case.
An interesting Boston Globe story detailed how the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad recently came to a “good faith” safety agreement with the Federal Railroad Association in which the MBCR will try to get its workers’ union to agree to random drug testing. Amazingly, the MBCR does not have the authority under federal rules to require drug tests of the 276 members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees that work for them. This safety agreement comes in the wake of a January train accident in Woburn in which two train workers were killed and four others suffered serious personal injuries. A source close to the investigation revealed that one of the workers who was struck by the train tested positive for marijuana.
Specifically, the workers involved in this accident failed to install a required safety device which activates signals to train conductors that workers are on the tracks. Federal investigators later found the metal shunt device in the truck nearby and learned that a dispatcher mistakenly let the train go through the work site.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that railroad workers have been found to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Two employees tested positive for drugs and alcohol during a fatal train accident in Gloucester last June. The story said that federal officials are considering fining the MBCR for failing to send specimens from the dead workers for testing in proper time, which begs the question of why they are still considering the fine and haven’t implemented one already.
With the safety of not only these workers but also daily commuters who use the MBCR on the line, it is vital that random drug testing be allowed. The union has expressed a willingness to discuss the proposed safety agreement and will meet with officials of the railroad on June 26th. Here’s hoping that they are able to agree on the importance of drug testing in preventing these types of disturbing train accidents in the future.
The death of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock in a drunk driving accident last month was detailed throughout the country, and Hancock’s father just recently sued the bar which served his son prior to the fatal accident. In a somewhat similar light, the father of a Virginia Beach teenager who died in a recent drunk driving accident caused by someone else has filed a multi-million personal injury lawsuit against the restaurant which served the DUI suspect. Alison Kunhardt and her friend Tessa Trachant were killed on March 30th when alleged drunken driver Alfredo Ramos slammed into the back of their vehicle shortly after leaving the Ensenadas Mexican Restaurant. In a personal injury lawsuit seeking in excess of $10 million, David Kunhardt has claimed that employees at the restaurant knew that Ramos was intoxicated but served him throughout the evening of the fatal accident.
A WAVY.com story detailed how Virginia is one of a few states that does not hold restaurants liable for the actions of their patrons and how this personal injury lawsuit is hoping to change this law. Current Virginia law also prohibits restaurants from serving patrons who are drunk, which Ramos allegedly was when he entered the restaurant on the night of the deadly accident. Ramos has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths and is scheduled to appear in court on June 26th. We’ll keep you updated on any more developments with this Virginia personal injury lawsuit and this challenged law.
A recent report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission revealed that 64 injuries and one death were reported last year involving the Heely, which is a popular children’s shoe containing a wheel on the bottom that can be used to roll around like a roller skate. In Illinois, this report drew the interest of several news sources on Monday night. A short piece on Chicago’s Fox 32 News on Monday night detailed this CPSC report while a story on WMBD-WYZZ TV examined one Peoria orthopedic surgeon’s opinion of the product. Dr. James Williams alleged in the story that rocks can often get caught in the gaps between the wheels and the sole of the shoe and cause kids to lose control and fall down. Williams suggested that these shoes are especially harder for younger kids to balance; thus making them more susceptible to injury.
Williams added that he has already seen anywhere from 20 to 30 children this year for treatment of Heely-sustained injuries, which most notably included hurt wrists and ankles. The surgeon suggested that parents require their kids to wear helmets and elbow and knee pads when using Heelys. It will be interesting to see if there are any more stories in the future about Heely injuries or whether this is just a matter of the need for better safety with the product.
The Injury Blog has detailed in the past how ATV accidents can lead to serious personal injuries, and a recent WKYT–WYMT story provided some disturbing numbers about these dangers in Kentucky. The story examined state police records from 2000 to 2007 and noted that 131 people have died in Kentucky ATV accidents during that time. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has ranked Kentucky as the number state in the country for fatal ATV accidents during the last three years.
The story added that the six deadliest counties for Kentucky ATV accidents were in the mountains of East Kentucky. Coroner Richard New said in the story that most of those accidents occurred due to people who were riding ATVs in areas that they were not familiar with. Pike County has witnessed 9 ATV deaths from 2000-2007 and led all Kentucky counties in this dubious distinction in the time period.
A Boston pediatrician who was blogging under the name of “Flea” about a personal injury lawsuit in which he was a defendant quickly came to terms with the family of a boy suing him for their son’s death after it was revealed during the trial that he was the arrogant blogger. Specifically, Robert P. Lindeman was sued by the family of Jaymes Binns, a 12-year-old boy who died of diabetic ketoacidosis in March of 2002, in a personal injury suit claiming that Lindeman failed to diagnose their son’s diabetes. A Boston Globe story detailed how Lindeman used his personal blog, the drfleablog, to ridicule the case of the Binns’ family and their lawyer Elizabeth N. Mulvey, who pulled out a surprise in court when she asked the doctor whether he was in fact Flea. Lindeman confessed to his alter-identity, settled the case a day later and took down his blog shortly thereafter.
So if you’re wondering why Lindeman would use the word “Flea,” here’s the medical explanation. A flea is apparently what surgeons call pediatricians in training. Neither Lindeman nor his attorney had any client on the case, even though the pediatrician did a lot of talking on his blog. Lindeman apparently revealed the strategy of the defense, accused the jury of dozing off, and even made fun of Mulvey for biting her nails during the case.
Lindeman’s arrogance was especially apparent in claims on the blog that the plaintiff was not going to win with its current approach of painting the defendant as a jerk. After his disclosure in court, Lindeman apparently felt the heat when Mulvey relayed that she was prepared to leak his unabashed comments about the jurors, lawyers and legal process. Lindeman came to a quick settlement, which was not revealed but described as being substantial. The parents of Jaymes Binns did not have any comment on the case.
With Little League and Babe Ruth baseball leagues in action throughout the country, a Pennsylvania legislator would like to see a ban on the use of aluminum bats in youth and high school games. State Representative Mike Carroll has introduced legislation mandating such a ban with the goal of preventing serious injuries. Carroll said in a Pocono Record story that lightweight, aluminum bats pose greater threats than wooden bats since they cause the ball to travel faster and farther. Carroll added that severe accidents and injuries are just waiting to happen with the use of aluminum bats. Major League Baseball does not use aluminum bats for safety reasons.
With similar intentions as this Pennsylvania legislation, the New York City Council will ban the use of metal bats in high schools beginning this September. The Pocono Record story added that nearby New Jersey is considering similar legislation as in Pennsylvania while Montana’s American Legion teams have banned the use of metal bats after a pitcher was killed by a line drive off of an aluminum bat. We’ll keep you updated on this legislation in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Under the impression that a jury deviated from settlements typical to similar personal injury cases, a Manhattan judge had reduced a $14.1 million verdict for a woman’s car accident injuries to $3.2 million. Lori Keating was struck by a cab in 2003 and left with leg injuries that required many surgeries, prevented her from working and limited her physical activities. After being awarded $14.1 million last year by a jury in the Manhattan state Supreme Court, Keating and her New York personal injury lawyer saw one of the highest personal injury verdicts for a Staten Islander be severely reduced yesterday. Justice Lottie W. Wilkins was described in a Staten Island Advance story as saying that she needed to find a balance between “the jury’s magnanimous impulses” and legal requirements that awards fall in line with verdicts in similar cases.
The story clarified that Wilkins essentially ordered a new trial on the amount of damages for pain and suffering that was originally awarded to Keating last year. Specifically, the jury awarded Keating $7 million for future pain and suffering, $5 million for past pain and suffering, more than $1.1 million for lost earnings and nearly $900,000 for medical bills. Her husband Kevin Keating was awarded $100,000 at the time for past loss of his wife’s services.
With that said, Wilkins let the awards for Keating’s husband, lost earnings and medical expenses stand. However, she reduced the awards for future pain and suffering to $500,000 and past pain and suffering to $600,000. Mrs. Keating has not accepted these terms, and the case has been appealed. We’ll keep you updated on the latest developments with this New York personal injury case.
Our affiliate, Total Divorce, took a place in blogging history yesterday by matching all donations made during the first day of the historic Blog Catalog Donors Choose movement to use social media for good. Hundreds of bloggers across the country and even outside the U.S. have been blogging this week to encourage their readers to participate in the challenge, which allows donors to select specific elementary school projects to fund.
Read more about the Total Divorce donation here:
Total Divorce Joins Blog Catalog Fundraising Challenge for Schoolchildren Across America
