Sometimes you need data that you can only find from the federal government. Here is a link to a site that has more statistics than you can shake a stick at. Hundreds of federal agencies have statistics on this site on even more subjects.
Here is another site than can give you public information from state governments.
The tort reform movement, lacking in facts but fueled by greed and ignorance, will not die. It cannot, because there are too many lobbyists and tort reform special interest groups that need for it to be kept alive. The so-called reformers receive hundreds of millions of dollars per year to “keep hope alive” for the business and insurance industries. They can’t just let that money go away.
Here is an article that describes that current state and the direction of the movement.
The problems with Guidant’s defibrillators continue. On Saturday, Guidant issued another warning about five more of its defibrillators. These five are in addition to the seven defibrillator models that Guidant recalled earlier last week. Guidant says that doctors “should discontinue implants of these devices pending further notice.”
It appears that Guidant has begun to do the right thing. However, only time will tell if they did the right thing in a timely fashion. Now is the time to ask Howard Baker’s famous question: What did they know, and when did they know it?
I have written about these Guidant defects before, on May 24 (Guidant Decides Not to Warn About Manufacturing Defect in Defibrillator), June 12 (Guidant Class Action Suits Filed), and June 20 (Guidant Defibrillators Recalled).
They hooked-up on the Internet and then he allegedly cheated her out of $70,000. She’s mad, not going to take it anymore, and files suit.
I hope her lawyer is getting paid by the hour. I’m not saying she doesn’t have a valid case – she might. I’m just saying that if she does the defendant is going to have at least one year to spend what he has.
Our friends in the insurance defense bar have compiled a list of helpful links to websites to do sleuthing on the Internet.
If they are going to do it, don’t you think you might want to consider doing it yourself?
I must say that this isn’t the best such list I have seen, but there are some interesting links concerning the admissibility of digital photography.
Radio station has a contest. If you are the 10th caller during a given hour you get “100 Grand.” Woman wins, and they give her a “100 Grand” candy bar. Woman, disappointed and undoubtedly a little embarrassed because she told her family she had won $100,000, sued the radio station. Read the articlehere.
I don’t know how I feel about this. I would have to hear the announcments concerning the prize to try to see in what context they used the phrase “100 Grand.”
One thing is for sure – the station has gotten alot more than $100,000 worth of publicity out of this little stunt – which may well have been the intention all along.
The first Vioxx trial will occur next month in Texas. Mark Lanier is the lawyer for the plaintiff; his client is the widow of a 59 year old triathlete who died in his sleep. He had been taking Vioxx for about 6 months.
Mark has a great reputation. It should be a dang good trial.
Here is a fascinating article about what was going on at Merck a few years ago.
Here’s a clip to wet your whistle:
“The widely publicized study in March 2000 found that patients taking Vioxx were five times more likely to have heart attacks than individuals using the generic medicine naproxen. Merck insisted at the time that this was a result of naproxen’s cardioprotective properties and not any defect in Vioxx.
Aren’t you sick and tired of these jerks who attack your clients and your profession? I have been jerked around at Little League games, my kids’ basketball games, cocktail parties, church – it never stops.
Here is some ammo you can use to fight back – unless you think that the better course of action is to simply walk away.
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices is available, free of charge, online at the Federal Highway Administration website. The site not only has the latest 2003 edition, but goes back as far as the 1993 revisions. You should be able to find the right edition to address any pending or potential claim for a roadway that is dangerously unmarked. Compliance with the MUTCD is necessary, but not always sufficient. The MUTCD and the law still require reasonableness by a contractor or highway planner.
The MUTCD is incorporated by reference into the regulations of the Tennessee Department of Transportation. Therefore, violation of the MUTCD is negligence per se.
