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TrackBack May 01, 2004 Update: PPA litigation In 2000, after a study raised concerns of a possible connection with hemorrhagic stroke, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of phenylopropanolamine (PPA), a stimulant long widely used in over-the-counter decongestants like Alka-Seltzer Plus and Contac, as well as in appetite suppressants. Lawyers rushed to file suits blaming drugmakers for strokes and other ills suffered by persons who had used the once near-ubiquitous compound (see 10 Apr. Earlier this spring the Los Angeles Times ran a long piece summarizing (and uncritically endorsing) the plaintiffs' case (Kevin Sack and Alicia Mundy, "A Dose of Denial", 12 Mar. However, juries thus far have found that case considerably less persuasive: last month a Philadelphia jury returned a defense verdict in a case against Glaxo SmithKline over its Contac 12 hour medication (representing the plaintiff: the 13 senatorially well-connected Kline and Specter). In three trials so far, that leaves the score at 0-3 in favor of the defense. Posted by Walter Olson at 15 09:38 AM | 16 TrackBack April 30, 2004 Miss. Haley Barbour says the Magnolia State's famously pro-plaintiff litigation climate may have played a role in Toyota's decision last year to locate a new plant in Texas rather than northern Mississippi. Barbour "gave reporters and legislators copies of a letter written to him last week by Dennis C. Cuneo, a New York-based senior vice president of Toyota Motor North America Inc. Cuneo said he led the site selection for the Japanese auto maker's newest plants and was impressed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry's commitment to changing that state's civil justice system. Cuneo wrote Mississippi is 'desirable' for its infrastructure, pool of skilled labor, quality of life and proximity to other Toyota plants and suppliers. Barbour was promptly assailed by lawmaker Ed Blackmon, himself a 18 successful plaintiff's lawyer, who heads a judiciary committee in the lower house of the Mississippi legislature where he has helped to bottle up liability reform. Bill Would Ban Smoking in Car with Kids", Yahoo/Reuters, 28 Apr. Irish Minister for Health and Children Michel Martin, who pushed through a recent ban on smoking in pubs and most other public places in the Emerald Isle, has announced that he is "very tentatively" mulling a fat tax, according to a profile by Andrew Stuttaford, who calls Martin a number of rude names including "nosey, hectoring clown" ("Goodbye to All That", National Review Online, 30 Apr. A bill being discussed in Rhode Island's legislature and backed by state Attorney General Patrick Lynch, primarily aimed at increasing the penalties for school truancy, would also authorize courts to revoke or suspend the driver's license of high schoolers determined to be "wayward", a category that includes students found in possession of cigarettes. And Jacob Sullum catches the federal government's National Institute of Aging dispensing flagrant untruths about the relative hazards of smokeless tobacco ("Lies and the Health Nannies Who Tell Them", Reason "Hit and Run", 33 Mar. Simpson is one such defendant -- but critics charge (see 36 Jul. Posted by Walter Olson at 38 12:35 AM | 39 TrackBack April 29, 2004 "The fell attorney prowls for prey" Who wrote that line, and about which city? Posted by Walter Olson at 41 09:30 AM | 42 TrackBack Oz: a sued gardener's plight Even the 43 loser-pays principle wasn't enough to shield 78-year-old backyard gardener Vincenzo Tavernese of Hornsby, New South Wales, from a far-fetched claim by litigious neighbors claiming injury from the pesticides he used. The article drew responses in the form of 46 letters that appeared in the SMH (one of which asserts that defendant Tavernese had the right to seek a costs security order in the litigation requiring the plaintiffs to show an ability to pay his fees if unsuccessful); Posted by Walter Olson at 49 12:51 AM | 50 TrackBack Cochran's multistate presence Celebrity attorney Johnnie Cochran has been working hard to expand his Los Angeles-based law firm into a nationwide presence ("America's Law Firm", proclaims a banner on 51 its website), and it now claims offices in ten states. Last month, amid considerable fanfare, the Cochran firm announced that it plans to merge with the Las Vegas personal injury law firm of Mainor Eglet Cottle, which we have had occasion to mention on this site in its previous incarnation as Mainor Harris (see "Crumbs from the Table", 52 Feb. It happens that the case involving Mainor Harris that we discussed two years ago, regarding charges of malfeasance in dividing a settlement on behalf of a catastrophically injured client, is still pending on appeal, and makes quite a colorful story (Ed Vogel, "Lawyer accuses two others of lying to judge", Las Vegas Review-Journal, 55 Feb. As for the Cochran firm, its national footprint may be somewhat less impressive than you'd assume from its big Yellow Pages spreads, or at least so we gather from Evan Schaeffer's account last month ( 56 Mar. According to Bill Sims, a lawyer for Wyeth, the Beaumont judge refused to allow the company to introduce evidence that Cappel-Coffey had taken four other diet drugs in the intervening years, although all four of the other drugs warn of a risk of PPH. Wyeth has already set aside nearly $17 billion for fen-phen litigation. Glater, "Texas Jury Rules Against the Maker of Fen-Phen, a Diet Drug", New York Times, 59 Apr. For more on Beaumont, that very special jurisdiction, see 64 Jul. And for more on attorney John O'Quinn, a frequent source of material for this page, see 66 Feb. Posted by Walter Olson at 68 01:38 PM | 69 TrackBack Send Overlawyered a letter, go on TV Viewers of 70 Catherine Crier's show on Court TV yesterday (see 71 yesterday's entry) should follow these links to find out more about the stories we discussed: 72 lawsuit over unsolicited faxes results in unsolicited faxes to clients; Posted by Walter Olson at 85 12:02 AM | 86 TrackBack April 27, 2004 $3M for employee's road rage Truck driver Rickey Barron and the husband-and-wife Englands had a traffic altercation on Interstate 85; So the Englands sued the trucking companies that employed Barron. The trucking companies knew that Barron had speeding tickets and should've fired him. So, a driver's speeding tickets apparently makes a trucking company liable for a driver's criminal assault. A judge let this get to trial, and a Coweta County, Georgia jury decided to "send a message" and awarded $3M, two thirds of which are punitive damages against the trucking companies. Recent Entries 90 Update: judge OKs tire settlement 91 Update: PPA litigation 92 Miss. Howard) Search Search this site (entries since June 2003): Search 119 Search page (entries since June 2003) 120 Search 1999-June 2003 entries Archives 121 May 2004 122 April 2004 123 March 2004 124 February 2004 125 January 2004 126 December 2003 127 November 2003 128 October 2003 129 September 2003 130 August 2003 131 July 2003 132 June 2003 133 Archives 1999-June 2003 134 What happened to personal responsibility?
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