All Topics

• Cerebral Palsy Award $38 million

  Ben Glass | February 19, 2008 8:43 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  In Stamford, Connecticut, a city obstetrician has been ordered by a Superior Court jury to pay a family of a boy who was born with cerebral palsy in 2003. The verdict is believed to be among the largest awards for medical malpractice in the history of Connecticut, surpassing an award for $36.5 million against Hartford Hospital and an obstetrician in 2005. On Friday, February 8, a jury ruled...

• United States to Pay $750,000 To Settle Claim

  Ben Glass | February 04, 2008 10:10 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  The United States has agreed to pay $750,000 as a settlement for a medical malpractice suit filed by the family of a woman from Florida who died after undergoing eight surgical procedures in a little over a month at Jacksonville Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida in 2005. Justice Department attorneys and relatives of Betty Jean Plato informed their court-appointed mediator on Wednesday,...

• Frivolous lawsuits

  Ben Glass | July 08, 2007 12:34 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  The Federal judicial Center, the research and education agency of the federal court system, surveyed its judges in 2006 on the issue of "frivolous lawsuits." Two hundred seventy eight federal judges responded and 70% declared that groundless litigation is either a "small problem" or a "very small problem". 15% of the judges surveyed said that frivolous litigation was no problem at all.For...

• Merck Dealt Major Blow in Vioxx Case

  Ben Glass | July 04, 2007 8:15 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  The fact that the Food and Drug Administration approved certain warnings to be placed in Merck's pain drug Vioxx does not immunize the company from lawsuits for "failure to warn." This is the ruling of Federal Judge Eldon Fallon, sitting in New Orleans. Drug companies and other product manufacturers typically try to hide behind the fact that "the government approved our warning, so you can't sue...

• LONG TERM INSURANCE COMPANY ORDERED TO PAY BENEFITS.

  Ben Glass | May 07, 2007 5:59 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  In a recent case decided by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Sun Life Assurance Company was ordered to pay benefits to a woman who suffered severe and chronic pain in her lower back, buttocks and legs.The court said that a long-term disability insurance company's decision to deny benefits must be rationally supportable which in turn requires that it be the "result of a deliberate, principled...

• Another $67,000,000 Embarassment for Lawyers

  Ben Glass | April 26, 2007 9:01 AM | 2 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  The Washington Post's Marc Fisher has an article on the front section of today's Metro section of a very disturbing tale of a lawyer (and judge, no less) who is making a mockery of the judicial process.According to Fisher's piece, Washington D.C. Lawyer and Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson took a pair of pants to a local dry cleaners for repair. When things didn't turn out as he wanted he...

• What's AOL Thinking About

  Ben Glass | March 09, 2007 5:39 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  AOL has got a place at their website where they repeat the same old tired stories designed to frighten people into tort reform. This crap comes around, usually in the form of spam email, several times a year. Why is AOL investing its resources in repeating this nonsense?Could it be that AOL has faced the civil justice system and gotten caught?Consider:Sevearl times in the recent past, the civil...

• Salmonella Peanut Butter Recall Spreads

  Ben Glass | March 02, 2007 5:45 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  Yesterday the Food and Drug Administration expanded the scope of its Salmonella warning regarding ConAgra's Sylvester, Georgia processing plant. Apparently bulk peanut butter was used in several types of ice cream toppings:Sonic Brand Ready-To-Use Peanut Butter Topping in 6 lb. 10.5 oz cans.Carvel Peanut Butter Topping in 6 lb. 10 oz. cansJ. Hungerford Smith Peanut Butter Dessert Topping in 6...

• Important Patient Safety Bill

  Ben Glass | February 16, 2007 9:28 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  What if your HMO doctor ordered a test by an outside radiologist who then reported the results back to the HMO doctor, and the doctor never read the results, resulting in your death? What if the doctors then pointed fingers at each other, forcing the patient's family to trial? This stuff goes on all the time in Virginia courts.This sad but true set of facts is being litigated right now in a...

• New York Advertising Rules Under Immediate Challenge

  Ben Glass | February 03, 2007 5:54 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  I'm all for effective, ethical marketing by attorneys but state regulation of attorney ads must be weighed against First Amendment protections. Generally, states cannot regulate "taste" and are limited to limiting advertising by attorneys (or any business) that is false or deceptive. If the state wants to restrict advertising, it generally must show that a particular marketing technique results...