Consumer Law

E. Coli-Tainted Nestle Cookie Dough Puts California Teen in the Hospital

Posted on June 26, 2009
You may have heard that one of America?s favorite guilty pleasures?Nestle cookie dough?has unfortunately joined the ranks of ?spinach, lettuce, jalapenos, beef, pet food, peanut butter, pistachios and alfalfa sprouts? (among other ingestible items) as a member of America?s recalled/tainted...

New Kind of Medical Malpractice ? Not Telling Patients About Test Results

Posted on June 25, 2009
In what can only be described as a devastating new report, it turns out that ?Failing to inform a patient of an abnormal outpatient test result or to document informing patients of abnormal outpatient test results are common. And it...

Oops! Medtronic Did it (Yet) Again!

Posted on June 24, 2009
Several weeks ago, we told you about a Walter Reed surgeon named Timothy Kuklo who was on Medtronic?s payroll when he published a ?study? that made false claims and grossly inflated the benefits of the company?s bone-growth product, ?Infuse,? in...

New Report: 3400 Americans will be Injured or Killed by Defective GM/Chrysler Cars in First Post-Bankruptcy Year Alone

Posted on June 23, 2009
Just as the number of states? attorneys general filing objections to the ?bankruptcy loopholes? contained in the Chrysler/GM bankruptcies reaches 11, our friends at Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. have released a new report, which predicts more than 3,400 Americans...

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Another GM/Chrysler ?Bankruptcy Loophole? Update

Posted on June 22, 2009
As promised, we?re continuing to follow the Chrysler/GM bankruptcies (and in particular, developments involving the ?bankruptcy loopholes? which effectively immunize both companies from lawsuits should defects in the ?old? pre-bankruptcy Chrysler GM/vehicles injure or kill people)...

Health Insurers to Cruel Rescission Policies: ?We Wish We Could Quit You?Not!?

Posted on June 19, 2009
We?ve talked before about lawsuits that have arisen out of an insidious little practice called ?rescission,? whereby health insurance companies drop patients with serious illnesses then back charge them for treatment they?ve already received. Well, earlier this week, executives from...

Real Health Care Reform Must Begin With Reducing Medical Malpractice

Posted on June 19, 2009
Every once in a while, a web headline has a way of calling out to us, ?Click me!? The following column from Bloomberg columnist Anne Wollner, did just that. ?Cap Medical Malpractice, Not Malpractice Awards,? reads the lead caption. Hallelujah!...

Chrysler/GM ?Bankruptcy Loophole? Update

Posted on June 17, 2009
As regular readers of ThePopTort can attest, we?ve been following the Chrysler/GM bankruptcies with the utmost interest (here, here, here), particularly with respect to the ?bankruptcy loopholes? which effectively immunize both companies from lawsuits should defects in the ?old? pre-bankruptcy...

Medical Malpractice: Interesting Responses to Obama?s Offer to ?Bargain?

Posted on June 16, 2009
Yesterday, we told you that President Obama might support bargaining away the rights of injured patients to gain right-wing support for his national health plan. We were a little fearful that an AMA imprimatur would give this plan some juice,...

Will Exxon Stop Fighting Now Over Paying for The Valdez Oil Spill Damage?

Posted on June 16, 2009
It was around this time last year when we started talking about the Exxon Valdez oil spill ? and not just for nostalgia. The company had fought residents and fishermen hurt by the spill?s ecological disaster for 19 years. In...

Obama Dangles the Rights of Medical Malpractice Survivors to AMA as a ?Bargaining Chip?

Posted on June 15, 2009
Today, President Obama delivered a much-anticipated speech to the American Medical Association (AMA) about his comprehensive plan to reform the country?s health care system. For those of us who care deeply about the rights of those injured by preventable medical...

Documents Show Lilly Marketed Zyprexa for Dementia, Knowing It Did No Good

Posted on June 12, 2009
Regular readers of ThePopTort may recall that in February, we ran a piece suggesting that drug companies were fast becoming America?s ?new bottom-feeders,? displacing the likes of say, telemarketers as society?s number one social pariahs. Well, this next item sort...

In the News Special Report: Chrysler/GM ?Bankruptcy Loophole? Round-up

Posted on June 11, 2009
Bankruptcies are a ?ticking time bomb? given how many Chrysler and GM cars with defects could be on the road. U.S. News & World Report, USAToday, Scripps, and BusinessWeek explain. The National Law Journal is also covering. Other great coverage...

Illinois AG: Chicago Suburb Supplied Toxic Drinking Water for 20 Years?and Lied About It

Posted on June 10, 2009
In most locales, it?s polite to offer house guests a cool beverage upon entering?perhaps even a nice refreshing glass of water, straight from the tap. But this next item has us wondering: what will be the go-to beverage in Crestwood,...

Clear and Present Danger: U.S. Supreme Court Greenlights the Chrysler-Fiat Deal

Posted on June 10, 2009
Buckle your seatbelts, 40 million Chrysler/GM owners?and better hope they work. Late yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted its temporary stay of bankrupt Chrysler?s sale to Fiat ?placing millions of Americans at risk in the process. Some of these cars...

Let?s Hope Oklahoma-style Anti-Civil Justice Laws Don?t Put Seniors at Risk

Posted on June 09, 2009
It?s pretty clear that those of us at ThePopTort don?t like it when lawmakers tell jurors what to do by legislatively ?capping? compensation that juries can award. But when state lawmakers do go down that mistaken road, they must, at...

Breaking News! The U.S Supreme Court Delays Bankrupt Chrysler Sale to Fiat!

Posted on June 08, 2009
The headline says it all! And as you can imagine, we?re pretty ecstatic over here, given what the bankruptcy would mean for those injured by the ?old? Chrysler?s product defects (here, here, here, here). Of course, like all breaking news,...

Supreme Court Says Coal Company Donation Should Disqualify West Virginia Judge

Posted on June 08, 2009
Don Blankenship, the CEO of Massey Coal, ?tort reformer? and one rich dude, thought he could buy his way to justice in West Virginia. But he?s been failing lately ? big time. First, he tried to buy the 2006 mid-term...

Ferry Victim Wants to Pay Attorney?s Contingency Fee, Despite Judge?s Interference

Posted on June 08, 2009
Last September, we told you about a former Fulton Fish Market worker named James McMillan who was left a quadriplegic as a result of the 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash. The gist of the story was related to McMillan?s fee...

Report Shows No Link Between Medical Malpractice Suits and Insurance Rates for NY Docs

Posted on June 05, 2009
A new report released today and endorsed by a coalition of consumer organizations (including CJ&D!) shows that ?despite rising malpractice insurance premiums over the past several years there has actually been a drop in medical malpractice payouts made by New...

The Sound of (Liability) Silence: Bausch & Lomb?s 600 Confidential ?Eye Fungus? Settlements

Posted on June 05, 2009
So the House Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing yesterday about a bill aimed at curbing potentially hazardous ?confidential settlements? in Federal courts?and the timing couldn?t have been better, given a story that came out earlier this week involving...

Chrysler/GM Auto Defect Victims Head to DC?Demand Justice, in Spite of Bankruptcies

Posted on June 04, 2009
As we mentioned yesterday, families and severely injured victims of defective GM and Chrysler vehicles are in Washington DC this week seeking immediate help from lawmakers to remedy those companies? excessively cruel bankruptcy plans. Under both schemes, warranties issued by...

Driving Chrysler or GM Cars? Better Beware! Sell it Now!

Posted on June 02, 2009
As we alluded to a few days ago, one of the great untold stories of the Chrysler and GM bankruptcies is that under both plans, families driving any of these cars (about 10 million Chrysler, 30 million GM vehicles now...

We?re Keeping Our Ears to the Ground About Sotomayor?s Views on Business

Posted on May 29, 2009
The Sonia Sotomayor speculation games have definitely begun! Ever since her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, policy nerds, pundits, and blearly-eyed bloggers have been in a ?wonkadelic? frenzy over who Judge Sotomayor is and how she?s likely...

Louisiana Anti-Senior Citizen Bill Defeated!

Posted on May 28, 2009
Great news, civil justice fans! It?s an ?ask and ye shall receive? kind of day here at ThePopTort! Just one day after we told you about a horrendous anti-civil justice, anti-consumer, anti-senior citizen law that was under consideration in Louisiana,...

Chrysler and GM Bankruptcies Could Bankrupt Those Injured by Defective Vehicles

Posted on May 28, 2009
Last week, we told you about the many consumers severly injured by design and manufacturing defects in Chrysler vehicles, who could go uncompensated as a result of Chrysler?s proposed bankruptcy. Well increasingly, the news has been filled with stories that...

Louisiana Bill Seeks to Deprive Civil Justice to Seniors

Posted on May 27, 2009
Several weeks ago, we celebrated the demise of a Tennessee bill that would have severely limited compensation for nursing home patients who had suffered the worst kinds of abuse and neglect. The ?Kill Old People Cheap Act,? as it had...

Obama Selects Sotomayor as Supreme Court Nominee

Posted on May 26, 2009
Time to shift speculation gears from who will be the next U.S. Supreme Court nominee to who is Sonia Sotomayor and what does she stand for. Here?s some interesting preliminary info. from the New York Times? ? Sotomayor, 54, would...

New Fraud Law Adds Important Layers of Corporate Accountability

Posted on May 26, 2009
We?ve talked about the importance of broadening the liability of those whose unscrupulous actions helped create the country?s current economic woes, so you can imagine how tickled we were to learn that President Obama signed into law some of ?the...

Chicago Tribune Acknowledges the Reality of Medical Malpractice

Posted on May 22, 2009
Let?s face it. There probably isn?t a newspaper in the country more rabidly in favor of limiting the compensation of patients injured by reckless medical care ? especially by OB-GYN?s - than the Chicago Tribune. So when the Tribune published...

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