Articles Posted in Personal Injury

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According to the report from the Judicial Panel on MultiDistrict Litigation the number of Pradaxa cases filed in federal court involving internal bleeding has increased from an estimated one hundred to one hundred and fifty-one. This most recent report was issued on November 14, 2012.

The report comes during a time when researchers have been disagreeing about the drug’s safety. According to The Journal for The American Medical Association warning on September 3, 2012, the association feels that the Food and Drug Administration may have rushed the approval of Pradaxa and overlooked major side effects such as internal bleeding. However, in a study performed by Food and Drug Administration on November 4, 2012, they state that for now Pradaxa has the same risks as other blood thinning medications.

A report released by the Institute for Safe Medicine Practices’ QuarterWatch on October 3, 2012 estimates that the complaints to the Food and Drug Administration concerning Pradaxa have increased by ninety percent in four years. The concern over Pradaxa internal bleeding risk is that once the bleeding starts there is little that can be done to stop it, according to doctors’ on November 6, 2012.

If you or someone you care about has suffered from dangerous and even life-threatening side effects while on Pradaxa, then you should speak to a Tennessee defective drug Pradaxa and personal injury lawyer right away about your claim. They will hear your case and work with you to make sure you get the compensation you need for what you have been through.
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In Tennessee as well as all across the country, people expect that when they buy products especially for use by their babies and infants that these products will be sturdy and safe to use. Unfortunately, however, some products have defective parts that can cause serious injury or in death when used. If you or someone you love has experienced personal injury or died after using a defective consumer product, then you should speak to a Tennessee product liability lawyer right away.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, four national retailers have recalled over 150,000 Nap Nanny Baby recliners following the deaths of five infants and reports of children nearly falling out of the recliners. This recall includes Nap Nanny Generations One and Two, and the Chill model infant recliners sold between 2009 and 2012. The Nap Nanny was originally designed to mimic the curves of a baby car seat. It elevated the head slightly to help reduce reflux, gas, stuffiness and other problems.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission warned parents and caregivers that the Nap Nanny contains defects in its design, warning, and directions. They stated that the product poses a substantial risk of personal injury and death to infants. Amazon.com, Buy Buy Baby, Diapers.com and Toys R Us and Babies R Us agreed to voluntarily participate in the recall of the Nap Nanny because its manufacturer is unable or unwilling to participate. The maker of the product, Baby Matters LLC has gone out of business but before it did, the company stated that they did not believe the complaint had merit and its product was safe if the instructions were followed.
The first two versions of the foam recliner were recalled in July of 2010 after the Consumer Product Safety Commission learned of one death and twenty-two reports of infants hanging out or falling over the side of the Nap Nanny even though most of the infants had been placed in the recliner’s harness. Following these recalls, the agency learned of four more deaths. Four of the deaths were connected to the first versions of the recliner, and one to the newer model.
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In Tennessee and all across the country, families place their elderly loved ones in nursing homes each year. When doing so, they expect that their loved ones will be properly taken care of and looked after. Unfortunately, many nursing homes are understaffed, overworked, and improperly trained. This can and unfortunately often leads to nursing home abuse and neglect for many patients. If you feel that someone you love has been injured or died as a result of nursing home abuse or neglect, then you should talk to a Tennessee nursing home neglect lawyer as soon as possible.

In a recent study, Tennessee has accumulated a little over $4 million in nursing home fines over the past three years, making it the sixth highest total of any state in the United States, according to data collected by ProPublica the non-profit news organization. Tennessee handed out eighty-six fines and the average fine amount is the second highest in the nation.

The fine amounts are between $2,015 and $525,188. They were handed out to forty-two of over three hundred licensed nursing homes in Tennessee. The largest single fine of $525, 1882 was handed to the Bristol Nursing home in Bristol. The second highest, $465,195 was handed to the Colonial Hills Nursing Center in Marysville.

The data found that forty nursing homes in Tennessee had serious deficiencies. The local nursing homes that received fines include: Ridgetop Haven in Goodlettsville at $83,115, Spring Meadows Health Care Center in Clarksville, which was fined $245, 735, Imperial Gardens Health and Rehabilitation which was fined $347,043, and The Health Center at Richland Place in Nashville was fined $2,633.
The Crestview Health and Rehabilitation Center in Nashville did not receive a fine but received citations for fourteen serious deficiencies. Lebanon Health and Rehabilitation was also cited for five serious deficiencies and Imperial Gardens in Nashville had three serious deficiencies that were cited.
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The Tennessee Meningitis Litigation continues. As it does so, we have also been staying on top of litigation in surrounding states. According to information about two cases, having the cases back in the state court will give the clients involved in the lawsuits a clear advantage. According to state court rules unlike federal court rules, discovery will begin immediately which should answer some critical questions, including the amount of insurance coverage the compounding firm has. Attorneys involved in these cases including those in Tennessee have stated that the amount of insurance coverage the drug firm has will be critical in the awarding of any potential damages.

According to state and federal officials, the New England Compounding Center is responsible for distributing a spinal steroid that has resulted in thirty-six deaths including thirteen in Tennessee and sickened hundreds of other people.

In another development, lawyers for some of the plaintiffs in pending Massachusetts cases have reached a tentative agreement on an inspection of the drug compounding firm’s facilities. In a decision issued on Tuesday, December 11, 2012, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor 4th concluded that the issues in the two cases did not raise sufficient questions of federal law to justify a transfer to federal court. The cases were originally filed in Middlesex Superior Court but then moved to federal court at the request of the compounding firm’s lawyers. This ruling will not have any immediate impact on other cases in Tennessee that were transferred from circuit court in Nashville to the U.S. District court in Massachusetts. Different rules will apply because the cases were filed in Tennessee against a company in another state.
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Senseless Tennessee car accident cases that involve alcohole have seem to become common place. The anger directed at these avoidable tragedies is often reflected in the jury awards According to this case, Duane Arlen Clark struck Keara Kroelinger after she was stopped at a light and pulled out when it turned green. Clark was said to have had high levels of Xanax and prescribed methadone in his system when he ran the light in his pickup truck hitting Kroelinger’s car.

The jury took ninety minutes to decide the verdict in this case. The judgment was against Clark who is now serving a prison sentence of fifteen years after pleading guilty to manslaughter. The family of Kroelinger was awarded $13 million in punitive damages. Charles Kroelinger, the victim’s father, stated that he intends to use the money he received from the verdict to set up an education fund in Keara Kroelinger’s name because she was attending graduate school and pursing a master’s degree in psychology before the accident occurred.
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We have been moving forward with litigation surrounding the Tennessee Fungal Meningitis Outbreak. Unfortunately, it appears that there may be more tragic cases that have yet to be diagnosed. According to Tennessee Health Commissioner, Dr. John Dreyzehner, fungal infections are up twenty-seven percent in Tennessee after rechecking new illness updates in the national outbreak after Thanksgiving. The company that had contaminated injections is continuing action to revamp and improve oversight of pharmacy labs. The total number of fungal infections and illnesses in Tennessee is now one hundred and seven, including twenty-three new cases since the Thanksgiving holiday. Eighty-one of the illnesses since the outbreak began are cases of meningitis, but almost all the new cases are localized infections. One new case was meningitis alone, while two other people were diagnosed with both meningitis and localized infections. Tennessee’s death toll remains at thirteen.

So far, known infections are linked to only the recalled steroid methylprednisolone acetate, however, Tennessee doctors are urged to look for illnesses stemming from other New England Compounding products where the contaminated injections were found. It is also possible that contaminants also have been detected in unopened vials of triamcinolone, a steroid that is injected into the eye as a treatment for a type of vision loss called age-related macular degeneration. According to Dr. John Dreyzehner, the longest period for an infection to occur after the last injection of methylprednisolone acetate has been eighty-two days in Tennessee and nationwide the longest reported incubation period has been one hundred and twenty days.

The antifungal drug Voriconazole can be prescribed for the localized infections, but the boils also have to be drained and cleaned out. In a few cases, another antifungal, Amphotericin B, has been prescribed. According to Dr. John Jernigan, who leads the nationwide response to the outbreak for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “the time is unknown for how long people will have to take Voriconazole.” Also, Dr. John Jernigan stated that, “a smaller cluster of another type of fungal meningitis also caused by spinal injections more than a decade ago had an incubation period as long as one hundred and sixty days.
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There has been several residents in Tennessee suffering from apparent defective Stryker hip implants. Currently there are a significant number of Stryker recall lawsuits that continue to move forward. The Supreme Court in New Jersey is currently considering a request to consolidate litigation in New Jersey for all of the Stryker Rejuvenate lawsuits filed in the state. November 30th of 2012 was the last day the Acting Administrator of the Courts would accept comments or objections to the request.

According to the Stryker hip recall, the company announced its recall of the Rejuvenate and ABG II Modular Hip Stems on July 6, 2012, due to a potential risk for fretting and corrosion at the modular-neck junction. As much as 20,000 people have been affected by the implants that were sold before the recall. According to Stryker the Rejuvenate and ABG II Modular Hip Stems could develop adverse local tissue reactions which could result in pain or swelling for the people with the implants.
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Car accidents can result in even more serious injuries when the vehicles may not have been properly tested by their manufacturers. the parents of fifteen Skylar Carpenter filed a Tennessee Auto Accident lawsuit against General Motors and her school district after Skylar was killed in a motor vehicle accident in February of 2011. According to the lawsuit, she was a passenger in a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban driven by school teacher Debra Holcombe, along with five other students, who were on their way to an FFA competition in San Antonio. Holcombe was traveling south when she lost control of the vehicle which veered off the road multiple times and skidded into the culvert before becoming airborne and flipping several times.

According to the lawsuit, Skylar Carpenter’s parents are claiming that General Motors was negligent in their design, manufacture, and assembly, marketing and testing of the 2007 Chevrolet Suburban calling it “unreasonably dangerous and defective.” The lawsuit also claims that General Motors knew the vehicle failed to provide adequate occupant protection in a rollover, failed to provide adequate restraint throughout the entire accident, and violated the principles of crash worthiness by not providing proper restraint and by not preventing ejection, and for failing to conduct adequate testing or proper engineering analysis. Also, the lawsuit claims that side airbag failed to perform as designed because it became stuck or ensnared on the curtain rod, it failed to provide ejection mitigation, failed to provide proper restraint, failed to prevent ejection and the seat belt buckle failed to provide proper restraint and unlatched which rendered other safety systems ineffective. The lawsuit states that Skylar was properly restrained but the restraint system failed to protect her as she was ejected from the vehicle.

The lawsuit against the school district claims that the accident would not have occurred had Debra Holcombe, employed by the school district, not been negligent. This lawsuit claims that unknown reasons caused Holcombe to lose control of the vehicle which resulted in Skylar’s death. Both lawsuits are seeking damages for disfigurement, physical and emotional pain, torment, mental anguish, emotional distress, loss of care, maintenance, support, services, advice, counsel, loss of companionship and society, loss of consortium, medical expenses, funeral and burial expenses, interest and court costs.
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In Tennessee and across the country, people expect that when they take a medication, it will help make them feel better. Unfortunately, in some cases some medicines have dangerous side effects that can lead to injury or even death. We are currently pursuing several cases involving the drug Yaz.

Bayer, the producer of Yaz is currently still settling Tennessee Yaz Lawsuit claims at a faster pace than they previously stated they would. The Bayer Company seems to approaching these lawsuits with the thinking that the best thing to do is to settle with the injured as quickly as possible and to put all this behind them. However, the producer of Nuvaring has taken an approach that has resulted in several delays. Many people involved in Nuvaring lawsuits speculate that the producer of Nuvaring has been dilatory with their efforts to delay Nuvaring Lawsuit trial dates for as long as possible.

These delays will come to an end though because the presiding judge in the Nuvaring Multidistrict Litigation has now set trial dates for the first Nuvaring cases to be heard. The first portion of Nuvaring trials are set to be in the beginning of 2013. Those people involved in Nuvaring lawsuits think that the maker made change its strategy now that court dates have been set. People involved in Nuvaring lawsuits are hoping that the producer will take a similar approach like that of the Bayer Company with its Yaz lawsuits.
Nuvaring Lawsuit plaintiffs have waited, in some cases for several years, while medical bills mounted and other damages they claim were caused by Nuvaring.
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In Tennessee the legislature is pushing a new agenda of tort reform to make Tennessee a more “business friendly” state. However, is this agenda putting our citizens at risk? One was to see the results of tort reform is to consider cases against the government. Since they right the laws they have benefited from its own tort reform for years. A case just came out of the court of appeals that I think is a good example of what happens when companies or the government have no fear of legal repercussions.

According to this case, Lori Gregory’s son, James Ballentine, died on May 10, 2010, after a rollover automobile crash in Tennessee on Springfield Highway, minutes from the Robertson County line. While ambulances across that line sat ready and within two to three minutes, Metro dispatched Davidson County ambulances, which took ten to fifteen minutes to arrive. Gregory filed a lawsuit against Metro arguing that it should have called nearby Ridgetop or Greenbrier for help.

According to the Tennessee Court of Appeals however, “Metro had no duty to summon or call for aid outside of its jurisdiction even if that aid was much closer.” This case could set a precedent in Tennessee because it’s the first case to deal with emergency responders’ duty to seek outside aid if it is closer. Gregory could appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court; however, she stated she probably won’t, after having spent most of her life savings on the legal battle already.
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