- Jeremi Young | January 31, 2006 11:45 AM |
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Workplace InjuriesUnder the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), a federal law, workers are entitled to overtime pay unless they fall under specific exemptions. Computer professionals are often improperly treated as exempt. If you install, maintain, or supportcomputer hardware or software (but are not primarily engaged in software development or other independent, creative work (coding or architecture design)...
- Staff Writer | January 30, 2006 1:19 PM |
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Wrongful DeathThe family of an 18 year old recently inducted new fraternity member sued the fraternity and some its active members in a Texa court house early this morning. The new member died from alcohol poisoning during a party at an off campus frat house at the University of Texas at Austin. Khongsavay and Soukha Phoummarath, parents of Phanta "Jack" Phoummarath, named Lambda Phi Epsilon national...
- Robert Wolf | January 30, 2006 9:23 AM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsAn editor for a prestigious medical journal sounded pleased, yet exasperated in an e-mail to another scientist as they went over an editorial criticizing researchers for leaving out critical data from a study of the painkiller Vioxx."Thanks again with all the time you have spent on this Vioxx situation. The more we get into it, the messier it becomes," Dr. Gregory D. Curfman, executive editor of...
- Staff Writer | January 26, 2006 3:19 PM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsLate last week, Indianapolis-based Guidant lost its battle to keep secret certain documents that may sink its defense in its product liability litigation involving defective heart implantable devices. The New York Times and two Texas citizens won access to certain documents they allege prove that Guidant knew the dangers associated with certain heart defibrillators and pacemakers. In their...
- Jeremi Young | January 24, 2006 9:42 AM |
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Workplace InjuriesDue to a shortage of health care workers in the U.S., healthcare staffing companies have experienced tremendous opportunities and growth in recent years. Companies like MHA Group, the parent company of Merritt Hawkins & Associates as wells as Staff Care, Inc., and Martin Fletcher & Associates, employ hundreds of workers who attempt to entice physicians, nurses and other health care workers to...
- Robert Wolf | January 23, 2006 9:49 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeThe number of hospital patients who die from preventable errors may be far higher than previously thought, and this trend shows no sign of stopping, according to a new national review of Medicare records by a Denver-based health care ranking group. The findings would make medical mistakes the third-leading cause of death in the country, behind heart disease and cancer. A 1999 study by the...
- Staff Writer | January 21, 2006 9:35 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeIt's about time. Revamped package inserts are about to hit pharmacy shelves in the near future. In the first time in a quarter of a century, the FDA will change the requirements of the lengthy package inserts included in your prescription drugs. Pharmasicts, doctors and even patients welcome this change. Currently, many people rely on resources such the Physicians Desk Reference and on-line...
- Staff Writer | January 19, 2006 2:34 PM |
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Workplace InjuriesFirst Horizon Mortgage Corp. has been sued by several of its former loan officers. They contend that First Horizon Mortgage did not pay them overtime and violated the law. More specifically, seven loan officers for First Horizon in Johnson County, Kan., had filed suit in U.S. District Court Kansas City, Kan., in October claiming the company failed to pay them for overtime they worked. ...
- Robert Wolf | January 18, 2006 9:24 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsAn analysis of federal crash statistics by the American Automobile Association (AAA) Foundation for Traffic Safety found that approximately 31,000 people were killed in crashes involving teenage drivers between the ages of 15 and 17 from the years 1995 to 2004. "While we may think of this as being a teen driver problem, it really affects a much broader audience," said Robert Darbelnet, AAA...
- Clint Gilbert | January 18, 2006 8:28 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsRecently, the city of Mesquite reduced its speed limit on residential roads from 30 mph to 25 mph. The reduction required an amendment to existing state law, accomplished last year by state Rep. Elvira Reyna, R-Mesquite. Community support for the change was overwhelming, as the reduced speed limit came in response to the death on Haloween 2003 of a 10-year-old boy that was struck and killed by a...
- Jeremi Young | January 17, 2006 10:09 AM |
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FDA & Prescription DrugsSeptocaine, an anesthesia used in routine dental procedures, may be a dangerous drug permanent paresthesia (numbness) and dysethesia (persistent pain) in patients. These symptoms are mild in most patients and may fade with time. But in other patients the side effects are permanent and debilitatingThese problems typically occur when Septocaine is used for mandibular blocks, which involve...
- Staff Writer | January 17, 2006 8:11 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeAs reported in the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/16/politics/16nurses.html?th&emc=th.Does it surprise you that state inspectors often over look serious deficiencies in nursing homes. From a new report from the General Accountability Office, Congressional investigators report that state inspectors either miss serious problems or just do not report the severity of the problems...
- Robert Wolf | January 16, 2006 11:56 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeHospital chain Tenet Helathcare Corp, a publically-traded health care company, announced a deal to settle class-action lawsuits for $215 million, mostly regarding unnecessary surgeries occurring at one of its California hospitals. There are "bigger fish still to fry," said Ryan Beck analyst Robert Mains. "The securities litigation, in our view, was a relatively small item."The deal, which...
- Staff Writer | January 16, 2006 7:08 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsAs early as August 2006, cameras may be recording your traffic violations at the busiest Dallas intersections. But the question remains, is this leagl. Dallas council member Leo Chaney said, "If you travel all over America, everyone is utilizing this technology We're in the 21st century. It's an inevitability." Richardson and Frisco plan on utilizing the red light cameras and others are not...
- RLF Staff | January 13, 2006 1:06 PM |
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Workplace InjuriesRecently, a Pennsylvania judge approved a class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart, Inc. brought by employees who allege that Wal-Mart, Inc. pressured them into working off the clock.The Unpaid Overtime Class-Action lawsuit alleges that employees worked regularly through breaks and after hours without overtime pay. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay covered employees who...
- Staff Writer | January 12, 2006 3:04 PM |
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Wrongful DeathIf drug companies knew that drug addicts were buying every day over the counter cold medicines to extract the ingredients needed to make methamphetamine to get high, could you award monetary damages and send a message to the drug companies that they should have done something to prevent to it? Linda Green believes that people are sick and tired of drug companies not taking responsibility for...
- Staff Writer | January 12, 2006 2:31 PM |
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Wrongful DeathThe family of a six year-old boy who was killed when a Southwest jet skidded off a runway at Midway airport in Chicago plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the Dallas-based airline.Joshua Woods was riding in the family car when the jet crashed through a runway barrier on a snowy evening in early December. The airplane hit the car on central avenue. Joshua died of compression...
- Staff Writer | January 12, 2006 11:32 AM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsAccording to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 397 consumer products were recalled in fiscal year 2005. This was the most recalls in a decade. The Commission also set a record for the amount of fines levied against companies for failing to report product defects. Six different companies were fined a total of $8.8 million.Federal law requires manufacturers, distributors, retailers and...
- Staff Writer | January 02, 2006 10:45 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeThe Wisonsin Supreme Court ruled Friday that one of our clients can file a birth injury lawsuit claiming the Wisconsin doctor and hospital are responsible for denying the client's brain of oxygen in the moments before and after his birth, which led to the child developing cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy lawyer Jeremi Young represents the family. The defense argued the lawsuit was past the...