March 10, 2010

By Russell Carter, Womack Publishing Service

A Gretna woman filed a $15 million lawsuit Thursday in Pittsylvania County Circuit Court on behalf of her 12-year-son who drowned in 2008 at Smith Mountain Lake State Park.

Dora Mae Henley is suing Sycamore Baptist Church and the Commonwealth of Virginia, along with lifeguards, chaperones and a park ranger.

Henley’s son, Marvin Strickland Jr., was at Smith Mountain Lake State Park with a youth group from Sycamore Baptist Church when he drowned Aug. 7, 2008.

Strickland was found in 6-7 feet of water around 20 feet from the shore.

The Virginia Conservation and Recreation Department, which investigated the drowning, estimated Strickland had been missing about 15 minutes before lifeguards began searching for the youth.

After Strickland was reported missing, lifeguards removed everyone from the water and began diving in the area the boy was last seen.

He was found 20-30 minutes later.

In addition to Sycamore Baptist Church, the lawsuit names Kathy Mohilan, director of youth programs for the church, as well as adult chaperones Lonnie Rowland, Cindy Rowland and Annie Rowland Jones.

Others named in the lawsuit include Anna Woodford, the head lifeguard at the park; lifeguards Joey Nance and Austin Wood; and park ranger Meredith Bennett.

According to the lawsuit, Strickland was among six children from Sycamore Baptist Church who went swimming at the state park.

“When taking the youth group, including Master Strickland, on the trip to the state park, the adult chaperones, and each of them individually, expressly or impliedly assumed duties to supervise and care for Master Strickland for the duration of the trip,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims the chaperones were responsible for Strickland’s care on the trip, lifeguards were responsible for watching the boy while he was in the park and the park ranger was responsible for making sure lifeguards were properly trained.

Henley, who is represented by the Roanoke law firm of Crandall & Katt, is seeking $15 million for sorrow and grief, loss of her son’s income and his funeral expenses.

The plaintiff also asked for $350,000 in punitive damages.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

By Katherine Sayre, www.al.com

 A Mobile County jury awarded $20 million this week to the family of a woman who plaintiffs’ lawyers said died after receiving improper anesthesia care.

The jury returned the wrongful death verdict against medical group Coastal Anesthesia, Dr. Randall Boudreaux and Don Ortego, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, court records show.

Paulett Pettaway Hall, a 32-year-old wife and mother of two, died Jan. 16, 2006, after receiving anesthesia prior to exploratory surgery, according to Cunningham Bounds, the law firm that represented Hall’s estate.

Hall, who had been suffering from severe abdominal pain, breathed bile from her stomach into her lungs, the lawyers stated in a news release. She died at Springhill Medical Center.

Coastal Anesthesia, Boudreaux and Ortego denied the claims in the lawsuit, according to court records.

Defense lawyer Wesley Pipes, speaking on behalf of his clients, said, “We were disappointed in the jury’s verdict, and we’re disappointed that they did not seem to understand the evidence we tried to present.”

Pipes declined further comment.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that Boudreaux and Ortego did not examine Hall’s abdomen or look at her medical records prior to the exploratory surgery, which would have identified her risk factors for breathing fluid into her lungs, according to the Cunningham Bounds news release.

Reported by: Ozarksfirst.com
Tuesday, Oct 6, 2009 @08:32pm

(Miami, OK) — More legal trouble for a truck driver from Willard.

Donald Creed pleaded not guilty in Oklahoma a few weeks ago to negligent homicide. He’s charged with ten misdemeanor counts for that crash on I-44 that killed ten people.

It was back in June when Creed was behind the wheel of his semi and slammed into a line of stopped cars on the Will Rogers Turnpike.

Now, according to the Associated Press, the victims’ families are suing him and his employer, Associated Wholesale Grocers.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol found no evidence that Creed tried to brake before hitting the cars.

By Derrick Nunnally and Robert Moran
Inquirer Staff Writers

The widow of Ambler executive Steven Altman has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia over the Aug. 8 airplane-helicopter crash that killed nine, including Altman, over the Hudson River in New York City.

The suit on behalf of Pamela Altman alleges that the helicopter tour company ran a reckless “bumper-car operation” and that its “bully” insurance companies had taken her to court trying to recover the cost of the lost helicopter.

Steven Altman, of the Altman Group in Fort Washington, was piloting the single-engine Piper that collided with the helicopter. The accident was captured on video and drew international attention.

Arthur Wolk, Pamela Altman’s attorney, said last night he also planned to sue the Federal Aviation Administration for the actions of the air-traffic controller directing Altman and the controller’s supervisor.

The Teterboro Airport controller had made a personal call after clearing Altman for takeoff and was on the phone until the plane and helicopter collided. His supervisor had left the building to run a personal errand. Both are on administrative leave.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigation remains open.

Wolk said the Altman family remained “totally devastated by this.”

Pamela Altman’s suit seeks more than $1.35 million in damages from the  Liberty Helicopter Inc. tour company, helicopter owner Meridian Consulting Corp., manufacturer American Eurocopter L.L.C., and insurance companies.

Her suit, filed Wednesday, claims that “lax management and operational attitude” by Liberty Helicopter and Meridian Consulting caused “a horrid history of accidents” over the Hudson and East Rivers before her husband’s fatal wreck and that the companies did little to prevent such accidents.

A message left by the Associated Press with Liberty Helicopters was not immediately returned, and a working phone number for Meridian could not be found.

Steven Altman, 60, was flying his brother, Daniel, 49, and nephew, Douglas, 16, to Ocean City, N.J. All were killed in the crash, as were the helicopter pilot and five Italian tourists.

Los Angeles Times
September 18, 2009 | 4:53 pm

An Orange County roller coaster remains closed after a cable broke and injured two riders this week, Knott’s Berry Farm officials said today.

When the Xcelerator roller coaster launched just before 4 p.m. Wednesday, a cable came loose and cut a 12-year-old boy in the leg, officials said. And a man was treated for back injuries after the malfunction, during which smoke and debris shot into the air and the ride’s cars rolled back into the boarding area, said Meghan Gardner, a spokeswoman for Knott’s Berry Farm.

The ride was shut down immediately and will remain closed while the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the Buena Park amusement park investigates, Gardner said.

Paramedics had to pull the man, who complained of back and neck injuries, from the ride, said Capt. George Casario of the Orange County Fire Authority. Both the man and the boy, who are not related, were taken to hospitals with mild to moderate injuries.

The coaster seats about 20 passengers, but was not full during the mishap, park officials said. The Xcelerator accelerates zero to 80 mph in 2.3 seconds. The ride opened in 2003 and is inspected by the park’s maintenance staff daily.

–Tony Barboza

By IAN URBINA and MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: September 22, 2009

WASHINGTON — Federal safety officials warned city transit systems nationwide on Tuesday about a dangerous flaw that may fool safety systems into indicating that a track is empty when it is actually occupied.

The warning was part of a federal investigation into the worst accident in Washington history, in which one train rear-ended another that was stopped, leaving nine people dead and more than 70 injured.

The safety officials said that while they had not determined the cause of that crash, on June 22, they had discovered that a malfunctioning piece of equipment mimicked an audio signal and tricked a sensor on the tracks into believing there was no stopped train that day.

It has been obvious for weeks that a main factor in the Washington crash was the failure of the control system to sense the stopped train, but just how that could have happened has been a mystery. While the National Transportation Safety Board did not reach a conclusion on Tuesday, and may not do so for several months, it has pointed out that a critical part of the sensing system was replaced days before the accident and that the subway’s managers did not respond aggressively to earlier system failures that did not result in death or injury.

The sensor that was tricked listens for tones in the range audible to the human ear, similar to those toward the upper end of a piano’s range, according to information released by the board. Electronic equipment unexpectedly generated the sound waves, which then traveled through the tracks to the sensor, safety officials said.

“Our findings so far indicate a pressing need to issue these recommendations to immediately address safety glitches we have found that could lead to another tragic accident,” said the board chairman, Deborah Hersman.

The safety board issued nine recommendations, including six that are deemed urgent, to Washington’s transit official officials; Alstom Signaling Inc., its track circuit manufacturer; the Federal Transit Administration; and the Federal Railroad Administration.

By ELIZABETH BANICKI

LOS ANGELES (CN) – Three ski patrolmen died at a volcanic vent at Mammoth Mountain ski resort, and two of their families say the United States is to blame for failing to warn about the fumarole and the poisonous gases that escape from it.

The three men died in April 2006 when they fell 21 feet into a volcanic fumarole in a snow collapse at Mammoth Ski Resort, according to an article in Mammoth Local, the online version of Mammoth Monthly magazine.

John McAndrews, 37, James Juarez, 35, and Walter Rosenthal, 58, died. The families of McAndrews and Juarez are plaintiffs in this Superior Court complaint.

McAndrews and Juarez were working with fencing around the well-known fumarole area, a giant vent in the mountain that was buried under snow. But the men did not know that steam spewing from the fumarole had created a cavern filled with poisonous gas beneath them, according to the magazine.

When McAndrews and Juarez fell through the snow into the cave, Rosenthal tried to help, but died in the process.

Poisonous volcanic gases can cause death in minutes. Other patrolmen tried to help, but were overcome by the gas.

The McAndrews and Juarez families say the federal government, which leases the property to the ski resort, negligently failed to protect the men.

“The United States and its employees have known since at least the early 1980s of a hazardous condition which is present at the ski area. Specifically, the Ski Area, as improved, is located on an inactive volcano,” the complaint states.

Each family seeks $10 million in damages for wrongful death, negligence, and premises liability. The United States is the only defendants.

The families are represented by Christian Juarez.

BY SCOTT FITZGERALD
LEE NEWSPAPERS
09/16/2009

MARION, Ill. — A 65-year-old Southern Illinois woman died days after she was burned in a fire in an operating room, a lawyer for her family says.

Attorney Robert Howerton of Marion says a state of Tennessee death certificate shows that Janice Diane McCall of Energy, Ill., died from thermal burns. Howerton said the death certificate has not been officially stamped and entered into a state ledger.

McCall was transferred to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., for treatment of the burns she suffered while she was a patient in the operating room at Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion on Sept. 2. She died six days later.

A news release issued by Heartland Regional on Tuesday said the accidental fire was immediately extinguished by operating room personnel. No other injuries were reported.

Marion Fire Chief Jack Reed said he visited with hospital administrators on Wednesday morning after he got word of the fire through news reports.

The chief said he and hospital administrators will “try to ascertain the origin of the fire and what fueled it.”
“It may have involved a hospital gown she had on. We don’t know what may have flashed the fire on or within the patient,” Reed said.

Reed said early reports indicate the fire lasted 10 to 15 seconds in a very small area. Flash fires are brief and not sustained, consuming whatever fuels them very quickly, Reed said.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which accredits 17,000 hospitals nationwide, estimates that 100 to 200 fires ignite each year in hospital operating rooms.

Calls to Heartland Regional on Tuesday and Wednesday seeking comment were not returned.

Howerton said the McCall family was grief stricken over Janice McCall’s death.

“She was the center post for that family,” Howerton said.

Scott Fitzgerald is a reporter at the Southern Illinoisan in Carbondale.

By DANIELLE JOHNSON
Updated 10:47 PM EDT, Tue, Sep 15, 2009

Lower Township, N.J. police have charged John Lawless, 37, with death by auto after he crashed into another driver head-on, on Route 9 Saturday night. Fredrick Shelton, 50, died at the scene. Police said Lawless has a history of drunken driving, according to the Press of Atlantic City.

Shelton, who was driving a 1996 Ford Escort, was traveling south on Route 9. He approached the intersection with Bennetts Crossing when a northbound 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible driven by Lawless collided with his car. The crash sent Shelton’s vehicle spinning into the intersection before it came to a stop facing northbound in the southbound lane, according to the paper.

Also in the car with Shelton was his wife, Sherri, 44, and 13-year old daughter, were both taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Investigators said Lawless had his Pa. license suspended in 2001 and has a history of drunken driving arrests.

“The bottom line here is this man should not have been operating a motor vehicle on any highway, in any state based on his suspended driving privileges and record of previous DWI arrests,” Lower Township Police Chief Edward Donohue told the paper.

Lawless is being treat at AtlantiCare Medical Center and is under guard by Lower Township police. He will be placed in Cape May County jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

By Thom Weidlich and David Glovin

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) — Merck & Co. lost a legal bid to dismiss 24 lawsuits claiming its osteoporosis drug Fosamax causes ‘jaw death’ in patients who took the medicine for fewer than three years.

U.S. District Judge John Keenan in New York, in a ruling released today, refused to dismiss the lawsuits, saying that whether there is a three- year threshold is a “genuine issue of fact for trial.” The plaintiffs claim Fosamax causes osteonecrosis of the jaw, or ONJ.

“This simply reflects what’s been known in the science for a while now, that there is no magic window where a patient can be automatically said to be safe from developing ONJ after beginning Fosamax,” Tim O’Brien, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, said of Keenan’s ruling in an interview.

The ruling comes in cases separate from one on trial before Keenan in Manhattan federal court. Jurors in that case are deliberating on whether Fosamax caused a Florida woman’s ONJ.

Keenan ruled that a plaintiffs’ expert, Robert Marx, can’t testify on the three-year issue because he previously said Fosamax doesn’t cause ONJ in patients who take the drug for less than that period. The judge said testimony by two other plaintiffs’ experts could be admitted because they never opined on the time limit.

Merck’s Response
“Judge Keenan did not rule that Fosamax causes jaw injury,” Casey Stavropoulos, a Merck spokeswoman, said in an interview. “He only ruled that plaintiffs may attempt to prove that Fosamax causes jaw injury in future cases. The court also ruled appropriately in prohibiting a large part of future testimony by plaintiffs expert Dr. Marx.”

Marx is chief of oral surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine in Florida. A call to his office wasn’t answered today.
Marx began to change his mind on the three-year threshold in early 2008, according to Keenan’s ruling.

“On balance, the court finds that the” plaintiffs “failed to show that Dr. Marx’s new opinion on the three-year issue is sufficiently reliable to be admitted,” Keenan wrote.

Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, faced about 900 Fosamax cases as of June 30, including lawsuits with multiple patients, the company said in an Aug. 3 regulatory filing.

There are as many as 1,200 plaintiffs in state and federal cases, Merck said. O’Brien, who represents about 400 plaintiffs, said the number is closer to 2,000. Plaintiffs in the 24 cases covered by today’s ruling submitted a profile form disclosing Fosamax use for fewer than three years, according to Keenan.

Fosamax Patients
Last month, the company estimated that about 25 percent of the Fosamax plaintiffs took the drug for fewer than three years. O’Brien said at that time it could be as many as 40 percent.

A federal jury started deliberating Sept. 2 in the case of Shirley Boles, 71, of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Boles’s is the first of three so-called bellwether cases that may point the way to out-of-court settlements. Boles took Fosamax for more than three years.
Sales of Fosamax last year, when the drug first faced U.S. generic competition, fell by half to $1.55 billion from $3.05 billion in 2007. Sales fell 44 percent to $261.3 million in this year’s first quarter, Merck reported in April.

The federal lawsuits are combined in In Re Fosamax Products Liability Litigation, MDL 1789, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporters on this story: Thom Weidlich in New York federal court at tweidlich@bloomberg.net; David Glovin in New York federal court at dglovin@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: September 9, 2009 14:44 EDT