Accident and Injury Lawyer Blog

Health Officials are reporting that the number of illnesses caused from individuals having consumed raw milk has risen to 35 people over four states. The confirmed cases of Campylobacter infection include 28 people in Pennsylvania, four in Maryland, two in West Virginia and one in New Jersey.

The tainted milk appears to have come from the Family Cow farm in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and health officials have said that consumers should discard raw milk bought from the Family Cow farm on or after Jan. 1. The farm has voluntarily suspended raw milk production.

The federal Food and Drug Administration warns that raw, or unpasteurized, milk can contain harmful bacteria, and Maryland law prohibits its sale. Still, dairy farmers have said that the demand is growing because of concerns about hormones in traditional dairy products.

The J.M. Smucker Company has announced a limited recall on 16 oz. Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter Chunky, as it has been determined that it may be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

The affected Peanut Butter is packaged in 16oz jars, and is marked as follows:

• UPC: 5150001701 (located on the side of the jar's label below the bar code)
• Production Codes: 1307004 and 1308004
• Best-If-Used-By dates: August 3, 2012 and August 4, 2012
• Chunky product only (not creamy)
• Impacted product would have been purchased between November 8 - 17, 2011

This product was distributed in: Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

No other products of The J.M. Smucker Company are affected by this recall.

The West Virginia Supreme Court last week dealt with a common problem in car accident cases: the defendant has no coverage. The Plaintiff, who suffered serious injuries, tried to bring a claim against Nationwide Insurance after it disclaimed coverage because the defendant's insurance policy had been canceled. Defendant claimed he did not know the policy was canceled. (They somehow never seem to know.)

Plaintiff in this case was blameless. He was driving a van and struck a sport utility vehicle head-on. He suffered real injuries: a broken femur, concussion, low grade coma, broken nose, broken ribs, bruised shoulder, injured hips, and multiple bruises, cuts and scrapes. Plaintiff files suit and gets a default judgment of over $6 million. Of course, that and a quarter will buy you a turn at the arcade.

Continue reading "No Coverage Means No Coverage" »

West Virginia medical malpractice lawyers are chasing the path set by Illinois malpractice lawyers (and trying to avoid the path of Maryland malpractice lawyers) in contesting the cap on noneconomic damages in West Virginia malpractice lawsuits.

In 1986, West Virginia enacted a cap on pain and suffering awards in malpractice cases. The cap was originally set at $1 million, but has been knocked back to $250,000 for most malpractice lawsuits and $500,000 for the most severe claims. Additionally, the cap applies no matter how many plaintiffs there are, so multiple plaintiffs have to split the award, which can be no more than $500,000.

After their $1.5 million verdict was reduced in a malpractice claim involving rhabdomyolysis, a West Virginia couple is making the same case that was argued successfully in Illinois and unsuccessfully in Maryland: the cap is unconstitutional because it deprives plaintiffs of their right to a jury trial.

A personal injury lawsuit has been filed against a bar in Charleston by a man who was shot in stomach in 2008. Plaintiff's lawsuit claims that the bar was negligent in allowing entry to the guy with the gun. The gist of the argument appears to be the employees saw the gone but did nothing about it

I really hate these types of cases. The bar's duty to make take affirmative action really should always depend on the context. Does he have license to carry a gun? Was he acting in such a way as to lead a reasonable person to believe he was a danger to himself or other?

The same doctor gets sued for the same injury in Huntington, West Virginia. Two Plaintiff allege medical malpractice against the same obstetrician and gynecologist for separate acts of negligence within the same month in 2007.

Frequent flyer doctors make up an obscene percentage of the medical malpractice payouts in this country.

The Register-Herald in Berkeley, West Virginia writes an article about the efforts of pharmacists in West Virginia to add themselves to the list of health care providers under West Virginia law entitled to protection under West Virginia’s medical malpractice cap.

The Baltimore Injury Lawyer Blog has a post on a Maryland Daily Record article looking at how President-Elect Barack Obama might change the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals which includes Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

I've spend far more time thinking about how President Obama will change the country than his impact on lawyers or even my own clients. But President Obama is going to nominate judges that I am going to stand before and argue. While I do think President Bush has nominated a lot of good judges, this fact makes me a little happier to be a lawyer today. I'm not saying every plaintiffs' lawyer is going to have a better shot at success in front of judges nominated by Obama. I just think they are likely to be fair and reasonable judges.

My two volume treatise Insurance Settlements is now available from James Publishing. The book discusses how to position a lawyer's car accident, truck accident, medical malpractice or product liability case to the best possible settlement at every step along the way (until the state's high court affirms the judgment).

Click on the James Publishing link. If you have any comments on the book, please email me at ronmiller@millerandzois.com under the subject "Insurance Settlements Comments."

Seeing Jimmy Carter tonight at the convention reminds me of the line that Ronald Regan used so effectively against him, “There he goes again.” In West Virginia, the malpractice reform drum beat goes again, this time on the scanty information that the number of medical malpractice lawsuits filed in West Virginia is grew from130 in 2004 to 174 in 2007.

The reality is that 75 medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed in West Virginia through July of this year. At that pace, there will be less medical malpractice cases filed in West Virginia than there had been in years.

If doctors and malpractice reform advocates are going to beat the drum again, couldn’t they wait until there have something resembling evidence? As the Maryland Medical Malpractice Blog points out, random malpractice lawsuit filings are not a predictor of trends. In West Virginia, more than a third of the medical malpractice filings for the year were in July. Does this mean there will be 338 medical malpractice lawsuits filed over the course of the next year? Of course not.

Our lawyers are reviewing Byetta claims after the FDA announced this week that the diabetes drug has been linked to severe pancreatic problems in dozens of patients. On Monday, the FDA warned patients taking Byetta to discontinue use if they develop symptoms of the disorder. Further the FDA said that doctor prescribing Byetta should consider other prescription options for patients with a history of pancreas problems.

Since Byetta was introduced into the United States in 2005, more than 700,000 patients have used the Byetta.

Our lawyers are now exploring potential Byetta lawsuits. If you would like to discuss your case with a Byetta lawyer, call 800-553-8082 or click here for a free consulation/case evaluation (or even to answer any question you may have). For more information on Byetta and the concerns with Byetta, click here.

Last week, Digitek manufacturer Actavis Totowa recalled over 65 different drugs made at their New Jersey manufacturing plant. The list of recalled drugs (in some form or another) includes such generic drugs as Bellamine, Buspirone, Carisoprodol, Oxycodone Meperidine, and Rifampin. This strengthens the conclusion that the New Jersey plant that made these drugs may be the cause of irregularities in Actavis medications.

In April 2008, Actavis recalled Digitek, a drug prescribed to treat heart failure and irregular heartbeat because it was discovered that Digitek tablets appeared to have double the thickness – and likely double the active ingredient – listed on the label. When Digitek is given in abnormally high doses it can lead to digitalis toxicity which, paradoxically, worsens the problems Digitek is intended to treat, causing nausea or lower blood pressure and other side effects from the Digitek overdose that can lead to the increased risk of stroke or a heart attack.

If you would like to speak to a Digitek recall lawyer about a potential Digitek lawsuit, call 1-800-553-8000. For more information on the Digitek overdose recall or a free consultation on your potential Digitek case, click here.

Zimmer's Durom Cup hip implants are likely to be the subject of a good number of lawsuits from patients with the Zimmer implants. But they will not be the only ones. Apparently, Zimmer’s own shareholders may agree that Zimmer left its hip implant on the market way too long. Last week, shareholders of Zimmer stock filed a class action in Indiana. Interestingly, the lawsuit seeks damages for shareholders who purchased stock between January 28, 2008 and July 21, 2008. This tells our Zimmer hip implant recall lawyers that these shareholders believe that Zimmer knew or should have known and issued a recall on or before January 28, 2008.

If your Zimmer Durom hip resurfacing cup was defective, call our Zimmer hip implant lawyers at 1-800-553-8082 or click here for a free consultation.

More information on the Zimmer Hip Implant Recall
History of the Zimmer Durom Cup Hip Implant Recall
More information on the Zimmer hip implant recall lawsuits

Jury Verdict Research(r) study reports that rotator cuff injuries reached a 7-year high in 2006 with a compensatory award median of $72,667. This is almost 50% higher than previous reported settlements and verdicts in rotator cuff injury cases.

Our lawyers have never understood while the national data in these cases was so low. Washington D.C. rotator cuff injuries have averaged well over $100,000 for rotator cuff settlements and verdicts so we have never understood why the national average was as low as it has been. In any event, for whatever reason, rotator cuff verdicts are on the rise.

Our lawyers handle rotator cuff injury cases throughout the United States. Our lawyers have handled scores of rotator cuff injuries in car and truck accidents, typically in side collision or "T-bone" accidents. Our lawyers believe that insurance companies do not give fair value in most rotator cuff injury cases and our lawyers will fight to get you the financial compensation you deserve. Call a rotator cuff lawyer to protect you at 800-553-8082 or click here for a free consultation and case evaulation.

Related Posts

What Is the Value of Your Personal Injury Claim? (how the value of rotator cuff and other person injury settlements are calculated)

Sample Demand Letter (sample letter demanding settlement in a personal injury case)

Handling Your Claim Without a Lawyer (tips and pratfalls)

Lawyers representing Digitek overdose victims have filed nine lawsuits in New Jersey against Actavis Totowa LLL and its parent company Actavis Group, alleging a manufacturing defect in Digitek, namely that some Digitek tablets have contained twice the active ingredient of the drug. Digitek recall lawsuits have also been filed in West Virginia and California.

Our Digitek recall lawyers are reviewing these Digitek overdose cases in all 50 states expecting that a consolidated class action lawsuit will be appropriate (as opposed to this scatting of individual cases). If you want to discuss your case with one of our Digitek lawyers call us at 800-553-8082 for a free consultation or click here for a free Internet consultation.

West Virginia has prohibited lawyers from seeking damages in auto accident, medical malpractice and other personal injury cases in a complaint. The legislation passed unanimously through the West Virginia legislature.

West Virginia already has a similar law in medical malpractice cases. Other jurisdictions should follow suit because of the insanity of reporters reporting on the amount of the ad damnum clause - which has absolutely nothing to do with the true damages sought - was an embarrassment to all lawyers handling personal injury cases.

Steve Cohen writes a column in the West Virginia Record on lawsuit abuse today in West Virginia. Like the editorial I discussed last week, it is just silly. No effort to obatin the real facts is made. The lawyer complaints that the problem is with West Virginia personal injury lawyers. Yet, none of the cases he cites are personal injury cases. Is the insanity of this lost of everyone at the West Virginia Record?

The latest case of which he complains is a Kanawha County jury verdict that awarded a Charleston surgeon $5 million in compensatory and $20 million in punitive damages, deciding that hospital executives smeared Hamrick's reputation and wrongfully revoked his privileges in a dispute over the doctor's malpractice insurance. Setting aside the fact that this is not a personal injury case in any way, shape or form, how Mr. Cohen - who knows so little about the case he thinks it is a personal injury case - feels comfortable calling the very lawsuit absurd is a slap in the face to the Kanawha County jury that listened to the evidence and rendered a verdict.

The West Virginia Record has an editorial about how the three of the top verdicts in the country came from West Virginia and derided plaintiffs’ lawyers as “tort barons” destroying industry in West Virginia and through the country.

Okay, the problem is West Virginia personal injury lawyers (tort lawyers). Just for fun, let’s look at the fact and see about all of these tort claims. The big verdict was a $404 million award in Roane County v. Columbia Natural Resources. In that case, 10,000 other royalty owners who questioned the price they were being paid for natural gas produced from their property. This is not a tort claim. This is a company stealing from people. Exactly how should such a claim be handled? Should the plaintiffs have allowed this to go on without question for the “good of industry?” How many folks on the Editorial Board of the West Virginia Record would have refused payment if they were in the class? It is just plain silly.

The second case cited, a $251 million verdict against Du Pont in Clarksburg was not a personal injury case but a lawsuit over Du Pont’s handling of the environmental cleanup created by a West Virginia zinc-smelting facility. This is was not a single insured person. This was a lot of people who had been hurt by a very large company in a case where the jury found they did not give due consideration to the environment or the surrounding property owners. Approximately 7000 people suffered harm to their property and we subjected to significant health risks. What would the Editorial Board of the West Virginia Record do if they sat on the jury in this case?
The final verdict in the top 10 was a $219 million verdict against Massey Energy. The Plaintiff was another big company who was suing for breach of contract. Perhaps if one big company breaches a contract against another big company, they should not be able to sue for breach of contract. Wonderful logic.

This West Virginia Record’s editorial is pathetic. I could argue their position better than they did. There is an intellectual argument that can be made calling some aspect of our tort system in question. I don’t agree this argument – I think it is dead wrong - but it can be made based on facts and it held by reasonable people. This argument is just plain silly and is an embarrassment to the West Virginia Record and the people it has misled.

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