Premises Liability: What Can I Do If I’m Injured While Staying at a Hotel?
I was recently in Austin for a client mediation and had an experience that many travelers encounter: A disgusting hotel room that smelled of stale cigarettes and mold. Thankfully it wasn't the busy time of year and I found better lodging, but not everyone is so lucky. Since poorly-maintained hotel rooms not only offend the...
Tyson Chicken Nugget Recall & Texas Products Liability Law
Tyson Foods, Inc. recently issued a recall of 132,520 pounds of pre-cooked chicken nuggets. According to their release, some of the 66+ tons of Panko Chicken Nuggets involved in the recall contain pieces of hard plastic within their processed pieces. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service is helping to circulate the Class...
What Do I Do if I’m Injured by a Power Morcellator?
A common but highly-unwelcome occurrence for women is the development of uterine fibroids, small generally-benign tumors that cause considerable pelvic and abdominal pain, getting worse as they grow. Uterine fibroids occur when muscle tissue in the uterus begins to grow abnormally, though science is not yet certain of the reason for this ailment. Fibroid tissue...
Can People Seek Compensation for Zika Infections?
By now I'm sure you've heard the word "Zika." It's the latest mosquito-borne disease to strike fear into our hearts, following the grand tradition of West Nile, yellow and dengue fevers, and malaria. While its impact on generally healthy adults seems to be minimal—outside of exceptionally rare cases of Zika-related Guillain-Barre Syndrome—it's still undoubtedly unpleasant,...
Quality Control Issues with Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22?
Leaving aside the meta-issue of gun ownership currently burning its way through the comments section of your favorite social media, I think we can all agree that if a person is to own a firearm, it would be great if that firearm were trustworthy and not prone to surprising "quirks." Recent reports from Project Appleseed,...
In Light of Xarelto Lawsuits, Here’s a Refresher on Products Liability Law
Most people take for granted that when a defectively designed or dangerous product hurts people, the manufacturer can be held accountable for releasing that product into the marketplace. Most people appreciate (and all enjoy) the fact that our country's products laws place a burden on manufacturers to create safe products. Nevertheless, a fairly significant minority...
Get the Message: Texas Will Try Again to Ban Texting and Driving
Today marks the third day in a row I narrowly avoided serious injury on my way to work. Those familiar with Dallas traffic won't even bat an eye when I say that, but I want to add that in each instance I was narrowly cut off—stomping my brake to avoid collision—and in two of those...
Exposed Bridge Supports Are Killing Texas Motorists
The next time you're driving in your car, take a moment to glance at and bridge or overpass support pillars you come across. If you are driving on a safely-built road, there should be a guardrail or concrete barrier between the roadway and the pillars. Obviously that's not the type of scenery that most motorists...
Risperdal and Invega: Potential Side Effects and Personal Injury Lawsuits
What are Risperdal and Invega? Risperdal is the trade name attached to the medication risperidone, a powerful "atypical antipsychotic" medication designed primarily to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and irritability caused by autism. Invega, a metabolite of Risperdal, is in the same family of medications. It is the brand name for paliperidone. Both drugs are manufactured...
Does Tyson Bully Injured Workers with Post-Injury Waivers?
We owe a hat tip to a reader who sent along an older, but still fascinating piece from ProPublica. The story details efforts around the country by companies to influence workers' compensation laws in favor of employers. One of the more shocking aspects of the story is how it details efforts of companies to exploit...
Merced Co., Ca Bus Crash and Bus Accident Law
On August 2nd, an Autobuses Coordinados USA bus travelling from Mexico to Seattle crashed near Livingston, California, in Merced County. The accident resulted in the deaths of 4 people, with as many as 21 more suffering significant injuries including amputations. According to media reports, rescue workers were literally bagging up body parts of injured people...
Pliva, Inc. v Mensing: Bad News for Generic Drug Takers
Start to finish, it can cost upwards of a billion dollars to put a new drug on the market. That may help to explain, at least a little, why the costs for name-brand drugs can be sky-high. Fortunately generic drugs, which are chemically almost identical and are marketed after the patents on name-brand medications expire,...
Employee or Independent Contractor? The Excel Direct Case
News broke the other day of a settlement in the case of Villalpando v. Excel Direct Inc. et al. The case involves a group of truck drivers and Excel Direct, a trucking company that claims the truckers were independent contractors. The truckers saw things differently, given the many hoops they had to jump through at...
Zofran and Birth Defects: The Cost of Keeping Lunch Down
A common prescription for mothers-to-be is a powerful antiemetic, or nausea control agent, called Zofran. It has been suppressing people's urges to vomit since 1991, and was hailed for many years as a "godsend." More recently, however, research has shown that Zofran use can have extremely harmful effects on a developing fetus. Too bad its...
Abilify and Compulsive Behavior: Betting Against the House
What is Abilify? Abilify is the brand name of the drug aripiprazole. Created by the Japanese company Otsuka Pharmaceutical, it is marketed in North America by Otsuka America and their partner company Bristol Myers-Squibb, an enormous biopharmaceutical manufacturer/marketer. In 2015 alone Abilify pulled in six billion dollars' worth of revenue for these companies. The medication's...
The Routine Job Defense and Foreseeability: Analysis
Worker's compensation is, on the surface, a helpful institution. It's guaranteed recompense if you're hurt in the line of duty, from dish washing to long-haul trucking. And why not? It's not unreasonable to think that an employer should try to keep employees from getting injured on the job. They are, in fact, obligated by law...
Can I Sue for Injuries Sustained from Taking “Enhancement” Supplements?
All the bolded product names used in this article are real. Truth is stranger than fiction. You see them at gas stations all the time and scoff at their ridiculous names: Super Samurai-X. Mojo Risen. Rhino 7. The products often feature a passionate couple or some mighty animal on the packaging, though sometimes they go...
Why Lawyers Are Suing The Makers of Xarelto – Allegations, Justifications, and Big-Picture Implications
If you've watched TV in the past six months, chances are that you've seen a handful of lawyer commercials asking you to "call now" to begin your Xarelto lawsuit. Every example of these commercials that I've seen does an okay enough job explaining what the supposed side effects of Xarelto are, yet all of them...
We Need to Stop Using The Word “Accident.”
Many commonly used words can mean different things based on not only their context, but also who says them and who hears them. On one hand, it's interesting that language can be so flexible, but when so much hangs in the balance—such as in a legal case—it can be challenging to make one's self understood...
A Look at Exploding E-Cigarettes and the Law
Over the last three months, several exploding electronic cigarette (e-cigs) stories have made the news. These incidents occurred in places like Flower Mound, TX, Colorado Springs, Bentonville, AR, and Naples, FL. Unlike at least 25 other exploding e-cig stories that have been documented since 2009, this new rash of stories is notable for the increased...
