Personal Injury Law

Insurance Companies Fighting to Survive Frivolous-Lawsuit Onslaught

Posted on March 15, 2011
Health insurance companies, battling the overwhelming costs of frivolous lawsuits and jackpot justice that are putting honest doctors out of business and risking the lives of Americans every day, are struggling to survive in this down economy, many shuttering their doors as they fold up, one-by-one...

Truckers Aren?t the Enemy

Posted on March 10, 2011
Kevin Ransom has an interesting article on startling statistics regarding fatal auto-truck accidents: many of the accidents involve cars hitting the back of trucks, and the car occupants being killed because the rear-bumper protector ("underride guard") on the truck simply isn't preventing the car cabin from being crushed: In 2009, 70 percent of the 3,163 people who died in all large truck crashes were occupants of cars or other passenger vehicles, Lund said...

Real Medical Malpractice Reform in New York?It?s About Patient Safety, Stupid.

Posted on March 07, 2011
You've no doubt been hearing a lot about 'Tort Reform,' or what I like to call 'malpractice entitlements.' The idea is simple: someone hurts you through their own carelessness, but you pick up the bill (or, if you can't afford it, the taxpayer picks it up through medicaid and the like)...

Oklahoma Republicans Show True Colors: Anti-Justice Business Tools

Posted on February 11, 2011
'Malpractice Entitlements' are on their way to hitting Oklahomans soon, making doctors a 'special class,' entitled to commit malpractice without paying for their mistakes. Malpractice Entitlements (misleadingly branded 'Tort Reform' or 'Lawsuit Reform'), seek to fix a problem that doesn't exist—runaway jury verdicts and lawsuit-inspired insurance hikes...

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Allcare Dental Closure National Class Action Lawsuit Filed

Posted on February 07, 2011
Allcare Dental's recent and unexpected closure has left Allcare Dental patients waiting on services in a lurch—without records or a dentist. While Allcare Dental has been providing some assistance in getting records to other dental chains, many of Allcare Dental's patients had already paid hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in prepayments and deposits for work that was never done...

Malpractice Entitlements on the Way

Posted on January 27, 2011
When someone crashes into your car, they have to pay to fix your car. When someone makes a mistake that hurts you, they have to make things right. We do that though a civil justice system, and the rules apply to everyone. Well, almost everyone. Through scare tactics and misleading statistics, the AMA has managed, in cahoots with insurance companies, to make "special rules" for your doctor in many states...

Left Stranded: Allcare Dental Exits, Stage Left

Posted on January 10, 2011
Allcare Dental Drops Patients, Employees Allcare Dental offices have closed throughout the country, leaving customers who 'pre paid' in order to secure discounts high-and-dry. They also might have left former employees unpaid as well. Allcare Dental has left various notes to its aggrieved customers on its message website, but it focuses on patients' records, not their fees...

Safer Children: Jury System Helps Make Toys Safer

Posted on December 03, 2010
You probably know that there are more lawsuits regarding children's toys than there were a generation ago. Maybe you've seen recalls of cadmium-tainted jewelry, or information about dangerous car seats. Do you blame overly litigious parents? A new report suggests that, in fact, toys are much less safe, and cause many more injuries than a generation ago, so before we blame parents, let's look at the facts...

Justice Delayed: Alan Newton Receives $18.5 Million for 22 Years

Posted on October 22, 2010
The New York Times reports that Alan Newton, in prison for more than 20 years for a rape he did not commit, won $18.5 Million dollars for his troubles. Sadly, it appears he spent at least 10 extra years in prison, waiting for the police to find the rape kit that eventually demonstrated his innocence...

Bank Overdraft Fees?Consumers Fighting Back

Posted on September 30, 2010
Most people have been charged a bank fee at some point or other, and when it comes to a bank overdraft fee, you can get sticker shock at the $30-40 per overdraft. Add multiple overdraft charges and the bill skyrockets. To add insult to injury, some banks intentionally re-order your drafts—whether checks or debit charges—so that the largest items come out first...

Protecting Your Wages: The Fair Labor Standards Act

Posted on August 04, 2010
As the old adage goes, time is money. For the 72 million hourly workers in this country, that saying is quite literally true. For hourly workers, each and every minute they work contributes to their total pay – the money they use to pay their bills and feed their families...

Perforated Bowel: Do I Have a Case?

Posted on July 23, 2010
Colonoscopies, hysterectomies, gall-bladder removal, upper endoscopy. Whenever doctors are operating in or near the digestive tract, there is a risk of perforated bowel or a nicked intestine. This is a true medical emergency—one that often goes unnoticed during the critical period between the injury and the diagnosis, and can quickly lead to massive infections, peritonitis, sepsis, a colostomy, and if unsuccessfully treated, death...

The Importance of Getting a Second Opinion

Posted on July 20, 2010
A recent New York Times article relates the sad story of Monica Long. In 2007, after her annual mammogram revealed a questionable area in her right breast, Monica underwent a biopsy. A week later, she was diagnosed with a form of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS...

Joint Replacement -- Shared Information Is Key to Preventing Future Mistakes

Posted on July 07, 2010
A recent New York Times article outlines not only the growing popularity of total joint replacements -- no wonder given America's aging yet active population -- but also the risk involved in receiving these replacement joints. According to the article, a 2007 study revealed that 7 percent of hips implanted in Medicare patients had to be replaced within seven and one-half years...

More Scary Reports About Diabetes Drug Avandia

Posted on June 30, 2010
As more and more Americans are diagnosed with Type II diabetes, many turn to medication to manage their condition. Two new studies offer evidence that the diabetes drug Avandia significantly raises the chances of a heart attack, and increases the risk for strokes, heart failure and death...

The 7 Most Important Things To Do After a Nursing Home Injury or Fall

Posted on June 25, 2010
It's inevitable: bad things happen. When they happen to a loved one in a nursing home or assisted care facility, you or your client may be left with a lot of questions. Was this preventable? Did the nursing home staff do what they should have to prevent this type of injury? Often, nursing-home injuries involve a fall, which can have severe consequences for the elderly...

Never Events: Medical and Nursing Home Errors that Should Never Happen

Posted on June 22, 2010
In an effort to raise awareness about the prevalence and impact of errors that occur in hospitals and nursing homes across the country, starting in 2002 advocacy groups like the National Quality Forum (NQF), a nonprofit organization geared toward developing a strategy for measuring the quality of healthcare in the United States, introduced the idea of "never events...

Deadly Dust: Tort Deform Means Zero Liability for Asbestos Exposure

Posted on June 10, 2010
The premise is simple: you hurt someone, you take responsibility for your actions. For some reason, the rules don't always apply to corporations, especially if your state has been bamboozled into so-called tort reform: limiting an injured person's right to be compensated for injuries someone else caused...

8 Things You Must Do Before Choosing a Nursing Home

Posted on June 09, 2010
Deciding where you or your loved one will live is always an important decision, but even more so when entering a nursing home or assisted care facility. In working on cases involving nursing home abuse and mistreatment, one thing is clear: not all nursing homes are alike...

Another Cadmium Recall -- Are We In For More?

Posted on June 07, 2010
Last week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that McDonald's was voluntarily recalling approximately 12 million drinking glasses sold at its locations throughout the country. The glasses, part of a promotional campaign for the latest installment of the Shrek movie franchise, are painted with the images of characters from those films...

Automobile Accident or Defective Automobile? What to Look for and When to Investigate an Auto Defect

Posted on June 04, 2010
Thousands of motor vehicle collisions occur every year. More than43,000 people died in car crashes/accidents in 2005 alone. Most often the motorists involved in a car crash seek to determine who among them was responsible for causing the crash. Sometimes, however, and usually unbeknownst to most motorists, a vehicle itself, or the way a vehicle was designed or manufactured, is the cause of the accident...

Cutting Tape: Faster Recovery for the Wrongfully Convicted?

Posted on June 01, 2010
An Ohio legislator has introduced legislation making it faster and easier for wrongfully convicted people to receive their compensation for their time in prison. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that: State Sen. David Goodman, Republican from New Albany, introduced a bill last week that would require the state to pay wrongly imprisoned people 50 percent of their mandated compensation within 60 days of their release from prison...

Another Obstacle in the Path to Justice: Erwin v. Bryan and the Demise of Rule 15(D)

Posted on May 28, 2010
As frequenters of the blogs on Injury Board likely realize, it's not easy being a plaintiff these days. With the forces of tort reform working overtime to deny injured individuals the true measure of justice, your typical plaintiff faces a long and difficult road to recovery...

No Day in Court: Tort Deform, Judicial Activism, and the Sad Case of Keith Theobald

Posted on May 21, 2010
You're driving down the highway when, suddenly, the car in the lane next to your clips another vehicle, swerves into your lane, and sends you careening across three lanes of traffic, your car flipping into the woods as you're ejected from the vehicle...

Protecting Your Family: Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage Series (Part 3)

Posted on May 14, 2010
Part 3: Ohio's Implied Uninsured Motorist Coverage after Advent v. Allstate Insurance Co. If you practice in Ohio, you're probably already aware that Ohio used to mandate Uninsured Motorist ('UM') coverage, but that requirement was removed in 2001 by S...

Does Your Surgeon Use a Checklist? She Should.

Posted on May 12, 2010
There's no such thing as a risk-free surgery; too much can go wrong. Sometimes our bodies simply can't take the stress and strain of a major surgery, but sometimes a careless mistake can cause paralysis, loss of function, or even death. We've worked on cases where simply getting a mole removed led to serious burns from a surgery-room fire caused by the careless use of instruments...

Retailer Voluntarily Recalls Children's Jewelry with High Levels of Cadmium

Posted on May 11, 2010
On May 11, 2010, the retail chain Claire's and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of children's jewelry sold by the retailer. The recall centers on about 19,000 "Best Friends" charm bracelets made in China and sold exclusively by Claire's, which operates more than 3,000 stores in North America and Europe...

Protecting Your Family: Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage Series (Part 2)

Posted on May 10, 2010
Part 2: Uninsured Motorist Coverage Terms Now that you're thinking about Uninsured Motorist ('UIM') coverage from the previous parts of this series (the Introduction and Part 1), what do you need to consider in terms of coverage? Talking with a reputable broker is a great place to start...

The McDonald's Hot Coffee Case

Posted on May 07, 2010
All of us have heard about the multi-million dollar verdict in favor of the woman who spilled her McDonald's coffee in her lap while pulling away from the drive-thru, right? The McDonald's Hot Coffee Case has become legendary, exposing a "jackpot civil justice system" or as one of too many "frivilous lawsuits" clogging up the courts...

Protecting Your Family: Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage Series (Part 1)

Posted on May 07, 2010
Uninsured Motorist Insurance Series, Part 1: UIM Coverage Basics Most people have auto insurance—you're likely legally-obligated to have it. The better your policy, the higher your coverage, the more protected you are, right? Wrong. In many ways, you're protecting other drivers, not yourself, or your family...

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