Injury & Accident Law

What Susan Boyle Can Teach Trial Lawyers

Trial lawyers can learn a few things from Susan Boyle, the dowdy-looking, unemployed woman who surprised judges on Britain’s Got Talent with her angelic singing voice. The lesson is about expectations, blogger Eric Turkewitz writes at his New York Personal Injury Lawyer Blog. Boyle’s success story can be attributed to…

Apr 23, 2009 1:53 PM CDT

Rogue Juror’s Note Nixes $3M Pact, Ford Claims; Top Texas Court OKs Discovery

After a six-week trial in a products liability case over a Ford Explorer rollover accident, the forewoman of a jury in Brownsville, Texas, sent a note to the judge on the second day of deliberations. It read: “What is the maximum amount that can be awarded?” At that point, lawyers…

Apr 22, 2009 5:22 PM CDT

Lawyer Offers to Give $25K to Charity if He Gets 25K Twitter Followers

A blogging lawyer doesn’t think he can top Ashton Kutcher, but he has been inspired by the actor’s agreement to donate 10,000 malaria nets to charity as a result of winning a race with CNN to sign up 1 million Twitter followers. Seattle personal injury lawyer Bill Marler has a…

Apr 21, 2009 1:22 PM CDT

The New Tarasoff? 6th Circuit OKs Hospital Suit Over Ax-Wielding Ex-Patient

Decades ago, the groundbreaking Tarasoff decision made the tort law casebooks after the California Supreme Court found that a treating psychotherapist had a duty to warn a third party of potential danger posed by his patient. The rule applied by the court was was later codified into state law, and…

Apr 7, 2009 8:49 PM CDT

Supreme Court Dismisses Appeal of $79.5M Punitive Tobacco Award

The U.S. Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal of a $79.5 million punitive award in a tobacco case, saying it had erred in granting certiorari. The appeal by tobacco maker Phillip Morris was “dismissed as improvidently granted” in a one-sentence order, according to SCOTUSblog and the Associated Press. The dismissal…

Mar 31, 2009 2:55 PM CDT

Now is the Time for ‘Life Without Lawyers,’ Says Covington & Burling Partner

New York City-based litigator and legal reform activist Philip K. Howard has been waging a battle to reshape the U.S. legal system for 15 years. Now, with the collapse of Wall Street financial giants and the promise of new regulations by the Obama administration, the Covington & Burling partner says…

Mar 24, 2009 6:16 PM CDT

Law Firm Revealed Study Suggesting Seroquel Risks

A law firm that represents patients who took the antipsychotic drug Seroquel has revealed documents about a hush-hush study showing patients who took the medicine had a risk of weight gain and diabetes. The so-called Study 15 was disclosed to the Food and Drug Administration but not to doctors or…

Mar 18, 2009 6:19 PM CDT

Texas Lawyer Gives Kidney to Courtroom Opponent

A Texas plaintiffs lawyer has donated a kidney to a frequent opponent in the courtroom. Keith Langston of Daingerfield decided to donate a kidney after he learned from a colleague that lawyer Scott Skelton of Lufkin was nearing kidney failure, Legal Blog Watch reports. Skelton, a partner with the Zeleskey…

Mar 10, 2009 12:16 PM CDT

Winston Partner Takes Firm Client to Trial, Claiming Fen-Phen Damaged Her Health

Corrected: Winston & Strawn has represented Wyeth in at least one case claiming the company’s diet drug fen-phen caused health problems. Now a junior partner at the law firm has taken the offensive, claiming in a Los Angeles trial that the diet drug has likely shortened her own life. Jessie…

Mar 6, 2009 1:58 PM CST

Was Death of Justice’s Son Reason for Recusal in Agent Orange Cases?

Justice John Paul Stevens declined to participate in the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear three cases involving Agent Orange yesterday, prompting questions about whether his son’s cancer death was the reason. Stevens’ son, John Joseph Stevens, was a Vietnam veteran who died of cancer more than a dozen years…

Mar 3, 2009 2:35 PM CST

Some Passengers Mull Lawsuits Over Life-Saving US Airways Crash-Landing

A US Airways pilot made aviation history last month and was hailed as a hero after he crash-landed his plane on the Hudson River and all aboard survived. But some of the 150 passengers whose lives he saved are talking about suing the airline for damages, contending that a $5,000…

Feb 25, 2009 10:21 PM CST

Continuing Luzerne, Pa., Court Probe: Were Auto Accident Cases Fixed?

Was the deck stacked against defense attorneys in uninsured and underinsured motorists cases in Luzerne County, Pa.? That is the issue on which investigators are now focusing in the latest chapter of an ongoing federal probe of court corruption there, reports the Legal Intelligencer. A pro-plaintiff arbitration system has been…

Feb 23, 2009 8:04 PM CST

Calif. State Bar Poses as Client, Never Sees Lawyer in PI Case

In the course of another investigation, the Orange County, Calif., district attorney’s office focused on a different issue at an Upland lawyer’s satellite office in Westminster. Nonattorneys were apparently running the personal injury law practice, from intake to settlement, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reports. After the district attorney’s office complained to…

Feb 6, 2009 5:52 PM CST

FDA Opens Criminal Probe of Peanut Co.; Obama Calls for Agency Overhaul

The federal Food and Drug Administration has opened a criminal investigation into a closely held Virginia-based company that has been blamed for a salmonella outbreak that allegedly sickened more than 500 people and killed eight. Although Peanut Corp. of America’s own tests in 2007 and 2008 showed that salmonella was…

Feb 2, 2009 5:55 PM CST

Suits Filed Against Peanut Corp.; FDA Says Managers Knew of Contamination

The Georgia peanut plant linked to an outbreak of salmonella sold its products despite a dozen internal tests over the last two years that indicated contamination with the disease, according to officials of the Food and Drug Administration. Michael Rogers, director of field investigations at the FDA, told reporters yesterday…

Jan 28, 2009 12:09 PM CST