news.lp.findlaw.com/andrews/pl/med/20050223/20050223barnes.html
Andrews Logo Thomson Logo Lawyer Who Missed Court Date Because of Spam Blocker Won't Be Sanctioned By Jodine Mayberry Medical Devices Litigation Reporter A plaintiffs' attorney in a wrongful-death lawsuit, who missed a court da te because his firm's spam blocking software automatically sidetracked t he court's e-mail notice, has narrowly escaped being sanctioned for fail ing to appear at the scheduled status conference. Stesiak said that with the help of the court's system administrator, he d iscovered that his law firm's spam-blocker software set the Internet sec urity level too high, which blocked the e-mail notification from the cou rt. After the security level was reset, the notification came through. US Magistrate Judge Christopher A Nuechterlein accepted the explanatio n and concluded that sanctions, which could have included dismissal of t he case, were not warranted. Stesiak represents Henry Barnes and Cassie Boney, who filed suit against Baxter Healthcare Corp. in an Indiana state court, alleging that their mother Ruthie Barnes died Sept. The complaint also named a fictitious defendant, XYZ Corp. The complaint did not describe the manner of Barnes' death or name any sp ecific medical products. However, the Food and Drug Administration and Baxter announced Sept. The FDA announcement was posted less than two weeks after Barnes' death. The suit alleges strict liability, negligence, failure to warn, breach of warranty and wrongful death. It also seeks damages for loss of consorti um and funeral expenses. The defendants removed the case to the US District Court for the Northe rn District of Indiana on diversity-of-citizenship grounds because the p arties are citizens of different states. The plaintiffs are citizens of Indiana, Baxter is headquartered in Illinois and Medisystems is located in Washington. The plaintiffs then moved to remand to state court on the grounds that th ey intend to substitute a non-diverse party, Nephrology Inc. The court ruled that the Barnes family's intention of naming a non-divers e defendant in the future provides no grounds to remand at the current s tage of the case and denied the motion. Medisystems is represented by Dina M Cox of Lewis & Wagner in Ind ianapolis.
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