New York Personal Injury Law Blog » Personal Injury Law Round-Up

 

June 1st, 2007

Personal Injury Law Round-Up #14

The New York Personal Injury Law Blog presents the week that was:

Before heading over to the courtroom, we look in on risky conduct that leads to lawsuits, check to see that the courthouse doors are open, and that we’ve selected the right attorney for the job:

The lawyer flying commercial flights with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis landed on the front page of the New York Times today. But Daniel Solove at Concurring Opinions had already taken a crack at the subject with Can the TB Patient Be Sued? Professor Bainbridge also opines on it in Flying TB Infected Lawyer’s Liabilities. The carrier is Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker of The Speaker Law Firm, but don’t bother going to his site, as it has been taken down. Incredibly, he is the son-in-law of a microbiologist. Did he also give his new son-in-law some fatherly advice? Which leads to the next question of who might be sued if someone else contracted the disease…

Last week’s Round-Up heavily covered the breaking story of diabetes drug Avandia, and this week the responses: Ed Silverman at Pharmalot on the drop (to zero) of new prescriptions for the drug; The WSJ jumps all over the issue claiming NEJM editors gave short shrift to the study’s flaws; David Phillips at 10Q Detective points an accusatory finger at the press in Who Benefits from Glaxo’s Drug Disaster?; Glaxo defends itself in the British journal Lancet (WSJ Health Blog) and Derek Lowe from In The Pipeline does an analysis in The Avandia Wars Continue. (several via Kevin, M.D.) Mark at A Georgia Lawyer discusses the FDA smear campaign against the Avandia critic;

One question that comes up prior to starting a suit is the extent of insurance coverage (because you can’t get blood from a stone), but in this accident, I’m betting it is one issue that the parties won’t worry about (via South Carolina Trial Law Blog);

Andrew Bluestone from New York Attorney Malpractice Blog brings us a story that will no doubt result in lawsuits against many: A man had his conviction overturned, and then spent the next 17 years in jail, while his attorney, the prosecutor and the courts all dropped the ball;

Still on the subject of attorneys and clients, this one is too good not to include even though it doesn’t deal with personal injury law: From Scott Greenfield’s Simple Justice, The Wrong Things Potential Clients Say To Criminal Defense Lawyers And Why;

Moving on to the start of litigation:

Here is a litigant that apparently wishes they never started suit…Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky brought a retaliatory lawsuit against two attorneys that had alleged unclean conditions at the hospital in numerous lawsuits, and then saw most of them dismissed. So the hospital turned around and sued, and was more than happy to talk about it to the press. Perhaps what they didn’t expect, for some bizarre reason, is that the attorneys who had been sued would actually defend themselves and publicly give the basis of their suit…and it wasn’t pretty since it dealt with unclean conditions. Now what? The hospital, after starting the suit and starting the comments in the press, turns around and asks the court for a gag order. Michael Stevens at the Kentucky Law Review has all the details…and then…late breaking news, the Hospital asks the court to gag their gag order. I wonder how much they billed for all that.

William Childs at TortsProf writes of an asbestos case where the judge rejected a pre-packaged bankruptcy;

Baseball fans have no doubt heard of St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Josh Hancock being killed in a car accident April 29 when he slammed into a tow truck. Published reports said he was drunk, speeding and talking on his cell phone. His father sued the bar on a dram shop theory, as well as the tow truck operator for not having appropriate warning devices, as well as the driver of the car needing aid. A sober legal analysis of the claims comes from Howard Wasserman at the Sports Law Blog (via TortsProf) and a snarky analysis from David Nieporent at Overlawyered;

As we get ready for trial, we always wonder about juries and jury selection. And so, we turn once again to Anne Reed at Deliberations for more insight and tips in: “Do Juries Deliberate?” A Survey In Seattle;

Now in the middle of trial, we turn to Flea, the pseudonymous med-blogger that was outed during his cross-examination. In Round-Up #11 back on May 11th, I wrote this:

In part of an extraordinary medical-legal series, pediatrician (and blogger) Flea repeatedly let loose with his observations and emotions regarding his own medical malpractice trial: as defendant in a wrongful death case. Jury selection is now complete, and he reflected on the jurors chosen and the traumatized parents. Except that Flea has now taken down some, though not all, of those the posts on the subject. Why has he chosen some, but not all? With the death of a child at stake, it is clear Flea’s trial is not just about money…Will the nail-biting drama end in verdict or sigh-producing settlement? I’m guessing we haven’t heard the last of this.

From settlement to verdict: In New Jersey, an Accutane trial has resulted in a $2.6M award for inflammatory bowel disease, based on a failure to warn of the disease, according to Tom Lamb at his Drug Injury Watch;

And finally a little weekend reading:

Enjoy the weekend.

(Submissions for next week’s edition may be made to blog[at]TurkewitzLaw.com)

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