Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Jury awards $2.1 million in Illinois medical malpractice suit.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (4/28, Rohde) reports, "A jury awarded $2.1 million a former Illinois restaurant operator in a medical malpractice case he brought for injuries suffered during treatment he received after a devastating motorcycle accident nearly nine years ago." The jury found that "Dr. Lorraine C. Novich-Welter was negligent in the medical care she provided to Daniel R. Nelson, now 49."

Monday, April 27, 2009

United to pay $3 million to former employee.

The AP (4/27) reports, "A federal court jury in Denver has awarded $3 million to a former United Airlines employee after finding the company retaliated against her for complaining about discrimination." The employee alleged that when she needed to take unpaid leave she was denied and when she didn't show up to work, she was fired. However, she said that "United often approved requests for unpaid leave from male ramp supervisors."

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Prempro Case Not Preempted

Bloomberg News (4/21, O'Reilly) reports, "Wyeth, the drugmaker being acquired by Pfizer Inc., must face a lawsuit by a woman who claims her breast cancer was caused by the menopause medicine Prempro [estrogens, conjugated/medroxyprogesterone], a Texas appeals court ruled." The court decided that "Susan Brockert's 'failure-to-warn' claims aren't preempted by federal drug-labeling regulations, overturning a district judge's finding from February 2007." In its decision, "the appeals panel cited last month's U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding a $7 million award to a musician who lost her arm after being injected with Wyeth's Phenergan [promethazine] nausea treatment." The Supreme Court had ruled that "patients can sue drugmakers for failing to provide adequate safety warnings, even when a treatment and its packaging are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration." The case will now be "sent back to the lower court for further proceedings."

Settlements over long-term insurance policies in Missouri valued at $15 million.

The Kansas City Star (4/21, Margolies) reports, "Two insurers and an insurance administrator have agreed to end litigation over the sale of long-term care insurance policies by entering into settlements valued at $15 million." Hundreds of Missouri residents "who bought policies from American Heritage Life Insurance Co. and Wakely and Associates Inc." will be affected by the agreements.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Manhattan jury awards woman $27.5 million after city bus ran over her.

The New York Times (4/17, A22, Robbins) reports that Gloria Aguilar was "awarded $27.5 million" by a jury "after a New York City Transit bus ran over her while it was turning a corner two blocks from her apartment in 2005." She "had to have her leg amputated and has worn a prosthetic leg ever since."

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Bayer settling suits over contrast agent used for imaging tests.

Bloomberg News (4/16, Pearson, Fisk) reports that Bayer AG "has started settling lawsuits over its Magnevist contrast agent used in diagnostic imaging tests." In May 2007, the Food and Drug Administration "ordered...that all five gadolinium-based agents in the US carry a black-box warning, the agency's strictest caution." The products are "used to highlight internal organs in magnetic resonance imaging scans." The FDA claimed that "patients with weak kidneys who receive the gadolinium-based agents are at risk of nephrogenic system fibrosis." Now, "Bayer, General Electric Co., and Tyco International Ltd. are among companies facing more than 300 lawsuits over complaints that contrast agents containing the chemical gadolinium may increase the risk of death in patients with weak kidneys." Peter Burg, an attorney with Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh Jardine PC, who is head of a steering committee of lawyers for the product's users, "said negotiations would include state court cases and lawsuits consolidated in federal court in Cleveland."

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Citigroup ordered to pay fine for misleading investors.

The Arizona Republic (4/15, Harris) reports, "The Arizona Corporation Commission on Tuesday ordered Citigroup Global Markets Inc. to pay a $455,128 fine after regulators say the company provided misleading information on auction-rate securities sales in Arizona." This marks the "final step in the state's auction-rate securities case against Citigroup, settled in August." Citigroup "neither admitted nor denied the commission's findings." According to the commission, "the investigation into Citigroup's role in the marketing of auction-rate securities was part of a larger effort to address problems in connection with such investments."
The Arizona Daily Star (4/14) reported, "The investigation was part of a 12-state inquiry into whether prominent Wall Street firms misled investors when placing them into auction-rate securities." Under the settlement, "Citigroup agreed to buy back the securities and reimburse investors who sold at a loss."

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Removing recalled Medtronic leads seen as difficult by most experienced surgeons.

The New York Times (4/7, B1, Meier) reports that Sprint Fidelis, which is a heart defibrillator cable, was pulled from the market by Medtronic after "five patients who had the cables died." However, "in the next few years, thousands of those patients may face risky surgical procedures to remove and replace the electrical cable, which connects a defibrillator to a chamber of the heart." So far, there have been four deaths due to damage done to blood vessels when less experienced doctors attempted to remove the leads. "Last year, to win approval for a new heart cable from the Food and Drug Administration, the company agreed to provide the F.D.A. with future data from '10 experienced extraction centers,' according to agency records." However, "Medtronic says it does not plan to make such a list public." Thus far, "Medtronic has been shielded...from legal claims over the recalled device" and "more than 1,000 patient lawsuits involving the Sprint Fidelis have been thrown out because of a ruling last year by the Supreme Court."

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Victim wins $22.3 million from pharmaceutical company.

The New York Law Journal (4/2, Fass) reports that three decades after his daughter had been immunized against polio and Mr. Tenuto contracted the disease after coming in contact with the infant's stool, becoming paralyzed, he "has won a $22.3 million verdict in New York state court against Lederle Laboratories, the giant pharmaceutical company he claims negligently manufactured the vaccine Orimune and failed to adequately warn doctors of its dangers."