New Legal News

The makers of OxyContin and the compnay that markets it had their day in court recently. Seems they messed up. They plead guilty to criminal charges against them, admitting they misled people, including the doctors, the government officials, and of course the patients themselves. They lied about how addictive the drug was/is. OxyContin is a potent, painkilling narcotic.

OxyContin was touted as being safer than other painkiller such as Vicodin or Percocet because OxyContin is “time released”. This ploy was to get medical doctors with little knowledge of pain management practices to subscribe the drug to even lesser informed patients.

The plan was effective and bt 1996 the sales hit one billion. Of course, the success meant that may were showing signs of addiction…

18.9 million was awarded to the wife of a late worker in texas. Gordon Rutherford was killed in an explosion at the Texas Industries  Inc. plant. The widow is accusing TXI  of reckless conduct in her husbands death. The Dallas jury  agreed with her after a 4 week trial.

Three other workers died in the resulting fire as well.

The counsel of the deceased  claimed that TXI of ignores basic safety rules by sending the welders into a very dangerous situation sans proper warning or properly maintained equipment.

Another recall for Hasbro Easy-Bake Oven’s. Little kids can get their hands stuck in the front opening of the oven and it is a burn risk. This recall decision is based on hundreds of reports, including a child getting her finger amputated, and still many have suffered second and third degree burns.

Hasbro issued a callback of the devices earlier this year, but sent out a kit to fix the problem as opposed to a real solution. I will assume this was their choice due to an effort of financial expediency. I question why hasbro didnt do thourough testing initially to determine the safety of a toy that is naturally marketed towards wee ones.

With hundreds of children injured by a product that was irresponsibly tested, i think someone should be held accountable.

A jury in Roanoke has awarded the parents of Justin Simmons 2,000,000. The settlement was against a lawnmower manufacturer, MTD.

The 4 year old was killed in 2004 by a riding lawnmower. The man who ran the boy over was named Orville Reedy. He accidentally reversed over the small boy. Reedy was dropped from the case when the Simmons found out that he had only 100,000 in insurance coverage. So they set their sights on the big money, the maker of a tool. MTD.

The simmons claimed its not money but accountability, stating that the manufacturer should have enabled a saftey device that is common on our riding mowers, one that turns off the blades upon reversing… fine, but if they did their homework, the lawn mower in question was 16 years old, and that wasnt an option in that time. Thus!! shouldnt the liable party be the person controling the mower?

Naturally MTD plans to appeal and I wish them luck

A wrongful death claim in the District of Columbia has netted the parents of 2 deceased children 1.2 million dollars. A man killed them via vehicle while fleeing police in 2004.

Police attempted to use undercover deceit to catch a suspected drug dealer, when they botched the sting, the dealer panicked and fled.

DC officials deny responsibility, claiming that they broke off pursuit prior to the incident.

The parents maintain that there was no reason to pursue the suspect, and even state one officer refused to give up the chase when ordered.

The real tragedy is this, those children were struck in a CROSSWALK, in arms reach of their father, the children were thrown 140 feet through the air, and died in their fathers sight! This disturbs me because as a father, my greatest fear is something liek this or, that i will lose my family to a drunken driver. The words to describe this feeling escapes me, but its a terrible and horrrendous thing to ponder.

When the police screwed up the bust and realized they werent getting him they shoudl have left it alone. Period. Be professional or go back to bed. Drugs? Hey drug dealers wouldnt exist if people didnt WANT the drugs. Go stop terrorism or soemthing!