As reported here early earlier, Guidant has a problem with some of its defibrillators and has know about it for over three years. Now, it appears that it disclosed at least a part of what it knew to the FDA in February but the FDA did not act until June.…
The Supreme Court of South Dakota has ruled that in a civil action arising out of the decedent’s death by suicide the jury should have been instructed to “evaluate the effect of [the decedent’s] mental incapacity in judging [the decedent’s] contributory negligence.” Because the jury was instructed to use the…
Those of you who read the Tennessee Tort Law Letter know that I depise Tennessee’s limitations on the liability of governmental entities. I think a limb or life of a person should be worth the same regardless of whether the tortfeasor is a person, an entity, or a governmental entity.…
I know some of you may be sick of reading about the Texas Vioxx trial, but this piece – a Q & A with Mark Lanier with questions posted by readers – is different and very interesting. Note the resources Lanier poured into this trial.
The NYT has reported that Ford has recalled almost 4,000,000 trucks and SUVs, saying that a problem with the cruise control could cause the vehicle to catch fire. There have been almost 1200 reports of fire to date. Ford had earlier recalled almost 800,000 for a simliar concern. The model…
A new study reports that doctors should not give clot-busting drugs to patients who are going to receive angioplasty. Doing so increased the death rate by 40%. The results were so surprising that the study was stopped before it was complete.
Well, round two starts on Monday in New Jersey. This case appears stronger on causation that the Texas case, but now Merck has a good idea about what will be coming. Then again, so do the plaintiff’s lawyers. Here is a nice summary of the case.
What does the industry say about how a product should be manufactured? Look to this site as a resource for product safety research. The site also has links to information about problems with medical devices, product recalls, and patent data. Thanks to Bob Kraft for bringing this site to my…
Ms Matney, a MS patient residing in a nursing home, died from over exposure to the sun. Her daughter has filed suit against the nursing home. The Toledo Blade reports that Ms Matney was permitted to sunbathe on a day where the temperatures exceeded 93 degrees. Her body temperature rose…
McCarley v. West Quality Food Service, Inc., 960 S.W.2d 585 (Tenn. 1998) is one of my favorite blue chippers because it is a double-chipper. First, McCarley made it possible for a plaintiff to actually win a food poisoning case without having retained a sample of the product that caused the…