Trial Attorney Blog

A New Jersey jury recently awarded nearly $13 million to three acne drug users who developed severe inflammatory bowel disease after taking the medication. The drug, Accutane, is manufactured by Hoffman-La Roche.
The three plaintiffs are Florida residents who used the drug to treat adolescent acne. All three developed bowel disorders including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s Disease. The jury found that the drug manufacturer should have issued better warnings that the drug could cause bowel problems and that their failure to do so resulted in the plaintiffs’ injuries.
If you are someone you care about was seriously injured by a dangerous prescription drug, you should speak with a litigation attorney at Finch McCranie, LLP. We have won justice for Georgians since 1965 and recovered millions of dollars to help sick and injured people seek justice. For a free consultation, call us at 1-800-228-9159.

Escalator injuries are increasing at an alarming rate. Our Georgia injury lawyers frequently review cases in which persons have been injured by malfunctioning or improperly designed escalators. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported Sunday concerning this increase in injuries, especially among children.

Among the mechanisms of injuries reported to the state were the following:

A 17-year-old boy’s right hand was bleeding after it got stuck in an escalator at MARTA’s Lenox station in February. He had reached down to pick up a fare card that fell out of his pocket.

Dangerous toys containing harmful chemicals have long been a problem in the United States. The United States Congress recently passed a law banning the use of a plastic softening chemical known as phthalates in certain consumer products, including toys. The chemical is used to soften plastic – making it popular for rubber ducks, teething toys, and anything else that young children love to chew on. Exposure to phthalates has been shown to harm the development of reproductive organs and have been linked to cancer

The use of this chemical is already banned in much of the industrialized world and starting in January, the state of California. The Senators who sponsored the ban intended that it would go into effect 180 days after enactment. Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein sponsored an amendment to the law which required the Consumer Product Safety Commission to remove the affected toys and children’s products off of store shelves by Feb. 10, 2009.

Instead, the Bush administration is working to keep these harmful products on the market as long as possible. The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s general counsel issued an opinion allowing these products to remain on shelves as long as they were manufactured before Feb. 10, 2009. This important distinction gives toy manufacturers a way to continue selling these goods until they have dumped every last bit of their inventory.

Our attorneys sometimes represent people who have been injured by employees of the State of Georgia in automobile accidents or truck accidents. Cases against the State of Georgia or its employees are governed by the Georgia Tort Claims Act. For instance we recently learned that a state accident reconstruction unit is investigating a wreck, involving a Georgia State Patrol trooper, that killed a motorcyclist in Lumpkin County last month. According to the motor vehicle accident report the state trooper executed a U-turn in the path of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle driven by 57 year-old Donald Teague of Blairsville. Teague’s motorcycle struck the patrol car when it turned around in the road, according to the report and he died after he collided with the passenger-side door of the patrol car. Depending on the facts, the State of Georgia may be liable for the wrongful death of Teague.

Abuse of patients in medical or mental facilities is a major problem in the United States. Our attorneys frequently handle cases in which patients have suffered physical or sexual abuse at the hands of facility staff or other patients. These cases are extremely disturbing as the victims are usually some of the most vulnerable and helpless members of society.

A recent article in the Los Angeles times focused upon this issue. According to the article, Psychiatric Solutions Inc. was on its way to becoming the nation’s leading provider of private psychiatric care when it purchased Sierra Vista Hospital in Sacramento, Californis in 2005.

The company put its tested business formula into action: Staffing fell. Beds filled up. Profits soared . While the results made investors happy, for some patients, federal records revealed that for patients it proved dangerous and at times deadly.

Our Georgia attorneys often represent the drivers of motor vehicles who have been injured in collsions but sometimes the passengers are injured as a result of the negligence of the host driver. Just this week, we read that a Georgia man was arrested and charged in a September motorcycle crash that left a Panama City Beach woman dead. According to authorities, Storm P. Wood and a female passenger, Robin Arnett, were ejected from the motorcycle when Wood lost control of it. Arnett died from her injuries and Wood was taken to the hospital in critical condition. According to the authorities, tests determined that he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.187. The legal limit was 0.08. Wood has been taken into custody by Georgia authorities where he faces charges of felony DUI, manslaughter and felony driving with a suspended/revoked license.
Depending on the circumstances of the case, a guest passenger on a motorcycle or in a motor vehicle has a right to sue the operator of such a motor vehicle if they are injured as a result of the operator’s negligence. Under Georgia law, generally, a guest passenger who has no right of control and who does not assume control of the operation of the vehicle cannot have the negligence of the operator imputed to him or her.
If you have been injured while a guest passenger in a automobile or on a motorcycle being operated recklessly or negligently, you may very well have a cause of action against the operator of the vehicle who caused the accident and your injuries. Our trial lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have represented passengers who have been injured or the families of people who have been killed as a result automobile accidents caused by the operator of a motor vehicle who is doing so recklessly or negligently. The person who has been injured while a guest passenger would be well advised to consult the law firm of Finch McCranie, LLP before giving any statements to insurance adjusters or discussing the case with anyone.

Another prominent psychiatrist has been exposed for taking payments from drug manufacturers. According to the New York Times, Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin who served as the host of public radio’s popular “The Infinite Mind” program earned at least $1.3 million between 2000 and 2007 giving marketing lectures for drug makers.

Dr. Goodwin is the latest in a series of doctors and researchers whose ties to drug makers have been exposed by Senator Charles Grassley a Republican from Iowa. Senator Grassley has been asking some of the nation’s leading researchers and doctors to provide their conflict-of-interest disclosures. He is comparing those documents with records of actual payments from drug companies.

In October of this year, Senator Grassley revealed that Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff of Emory University Medical School here in Artlanta, earned more than $2.8 million in consulting arrangements with drug makers from 2000 to 2007. Dr. Nemeroff failed to report at least $1.2 million of that income to his university and violated federal research rules. After trhese revelations, the National Institutes of Health suspended a $9.3 million research grant to Emory and placed restrictions on other grants. Dr. Nemeroff has resigned his chairmanship of Emory’s department of psychiatry.

A Cobb County, Georgia policeman who was struck by another officer’s motorcycle has been awarded $750, 000 by a Fulton County Superior Court jury for head injuries that only emerged several months after the motorcycle accident. The winning patrolman was among several motorcycle officers from various agencies who were riding in “tight formation” in August 2005,when a MARTA officer hit him from behind. Apparently the plaintiff almost immediately returned to work following the accident; however, he began to have seizures approximately six months after the accident. A neurologist testified that the seizures had resulted from head injuries suffered in the accident which would require him to take anti-seizure medication. Following the four-day trial, the jury took about two hours before bringing back a verdict in favor of the patrolman.
If you have been injured as a result of a motorcycle accident, the trial lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have the experience in these cases to fully protect your rights.

Window blinds sold under the IKEA and Green Mountain Vista labels were the subject of a recall announced today by The Consumer Product Safety Commission. About 677,300 window blinds and shades sold in the United States were subject to the recall.

The recall was prompted by the death of a 1-year old girl from Greenwich, Conn., who choked to death when in April when she got caught in the inner cord of a set of IKEA Roman blinds which had been placed over her playpen. The agency also received a report of a 2-year-old girl from Bristol, Conn., who nearly died in June on the beaded-chain loop hanging from a set of Green Mountain Vista shades. The girl’s neck was deeply bruised, but she was saved by her older brother.

The recall includes about 670,000 IRIS and ALVINE Roman blinds, manufactured in India and distributed by IKEA Home Furnishings. They were sold at IKEA stores nationwide between July 2005 and June 2008. Another 4.8 million blinds were sold outside the country.

Our firm has handled several tragic wrongful death cases involving children who have died in fires caused by defective products such as a space heater or air purifier. Each year, approximately 500 children under age 14 are killed in house fires. Such fires are estimated to have injured many thousands more. What we have seen here in our practice is mirrored by the national experience. Indeed, the most common causes of burn injuries among children emanate from hair curlers, space heaters, ovens, ranges, gasoline, fireworks and other potentially dangerous products. Oftentimes these tragic cases are caused by misuse of the product or allowing a product to be accessed by a child who inadvertently uses it in an improper manner. In other cases, however, as discussed, innocent children can die because of defective products in the home. As an example, if there is an electrical circuit short in a space heater and a fire erupts in a mobile home and a child is asleep at the time, obviously, this can be a deadly combination which can result in terrible tragedy. Regrettably, we have handled cases exactly like this so we are familiar with just how tragic and difficult these cases can be for families who have to suffer through them.
Notwithstanding the availability of smoke alarms in today’s marketplace, regrettably, it is estimated that approximately 25% of homes in America today still do not have working smoke alarms. This can be the difference between life or death if a defective product is in the home. Therefore, we encourage all members of the public to make sure that they have a working smoke alarm in their home. Also, any product that has the potential for shortage that may run all night while family members are sleeping should be carefully maintained and all the instructions for the product should be followed so as to minimize the risk of serious injury or death emanating from a product capable of causing fire to the home.