Fifteen opioid settlements have earned lawyers contingency fees amounting to nearly $160 million in both Oklahoma and two Ohio counties. The news comes after a law review blog made known the details of the settlements, coupled with government officials’ emails.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, a dozen law firms received contingency fees over their lawsuit contracts. Still, the even higher expected amount was slashed by the federal judge overseeing the Street Case. This agreement was devised to release five major global drug distributors from the more than 2,000 consumer lawsuits that face them, both in state and federal courts.
Big pharma held accountable for the opioid pandemic gripping America
The drug manufacturers include Cardinal Health, McKesson Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, and Israel based Teva, a maker of generic medication.
Several plaintiffs were represented against the Ohio counties and Oklahoma drug distributors, with the ruling setting a milestone for ongoing opioid-related litigation across the country. The distributors targeted are not as prominent as more significant corporate players that have misled consumers with marketing gimmicks, which fueled the opioid epidemic. Evidence, however, points to their being key actors of evading regulation or assisting drug manufactories and outlets in circumventing opioid painkillers’ order limits.
The lawyers for the opioid victims argued that these distributors had flaunted state and federal laws by conspiring to desist from monitoring or reporting manufacturers or pharmacies. Distributors were portrayed as not only turning a blind eye to the extraordinary number of opioid orders but also motivating their sales teams to place more volumes on the market.
The utter disregard for public health and safety was decried by one of the attorneys as ‘jamming open the floodgates of death on an unsuspecting American public.’ No comment was forthcoming from drug companies, who had reiterated that theirs was to deliver medication approved by the FDA, and that doctors prescribed these drugs to their patients.
What this landmark ruling means for drug industry stakeholders
The deal saw the pharmaceutical distributors alongside manufacturer Teva pay a combination of cash payouts and addict treatment center donations. With over 400,000 casualties reported in the US opioid epidemic, drug market stakeholders can be brought to the stand following this $160 million landmark settlement.
While the two Ohio county settlements were being read, corporate lawyers for the defendants, other drug distribution companies, and pharmaceutical players were already pursuing another global deal. This would see them pay or donate over $48 billion to opioid treatments.
There are countless people who participate in sports across the country. This is a great way for people to stay in shape, learn about teamwork, and compete with others; however, some sports, such as football, leave people at risk of suffering head injuries. According to a study that was published recently, less than half of people who suffer a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) are able to recover fully within 14 days.
A New Study from Axis Sports Medicine
The study was conducted and published by Axis Sports Medicine, located in New Zealand. The results stand in stark opposition to the perception that people who suffer a mild TBI while playing sports are going to recover in a period of two weeks.
A team of medical professionals analyzed the recovery time for close to 600 individuals located in New Zealand. All of these individuals suffered a TBI related to sports. Around 75 percent of them were male and the median age was 20 years. Some individuals were even under the age of 12.
After eight weeks, 96 percent of the patients had recovered; however, just 45 percent of patients had recovered after two weeks. According to current guidelines from the Concussion in Sports Group, nearly everyone recovers by around ten days. The results of this research study appear to differ. The results of this study are going to be published in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.
Traumatic Brain Injuries Are Serious
Traumatic brain injuries are serious and deserve to be treated as such. Unlike other parts of the body, the neurons of the brain often do not regenerate after they are injured. This means that people who suffer a traumatic brain injury could be left with complications that last for the rest of their lives. In sports, concussions are among the most common head injuries that people sustain. Repeated concussions can even lead to long-term medical issues, including CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), which is a big issue in the NFL.
Therefore, it is critical for everyone who sustains a blow to the head to seek professional medical assistance. Everyone should make sure they are ready to return to sports safely following a concussion.
Not long ago, there were significant public health concerns related to vaping. As the world turns its focus on COVID-19, there is also a glimmer of good news that is coming out of the public health arena. It appears that other countries are learning from the major issues the United States faced with vaping. The outbreak of lung injuries associated with vaping had medical professionals across the country concerned. Numerous news reports are indicating that other countries are taking action.
Juul Sees Heavy Opposition
Juul, one of the most prolific manufacturers of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in the world has already been involved in its fair share of lawsuits. As the company tries to expand beyond the United States, where it has already been vilified, it is being mt with closed doors. There is a ferocious anti-vaping sentiment across the world and many countries are enacting stark restrictions and even bans on its products. As a result, the ambitious plans that Juul once planned are starting to collapse. The company has been removed from the Chinese market and India has banned its products as well. Other countries banning Juul include Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Singapore. Clearly, other countries are starting to take action.
Popular Among the Younger Generation
While other countries were taking action to limit these products, Juul was busy climbing through loopholes left open by the Federal government. Its products were vilified because of the manner in which they targeted the younger generation, trying to get them hooked on these products. With sweet flavors and flashy advertising, it didn’t take long for the younger generation to take advantage of Juul pods, using them to get high via THC, commonly found in marijuana.
The results were deadly. Close to 3,000 people were hospitalized with lung injuries related to vaping, leading to 68 deaths. While an additive known as Vitamin E acetate was found to be the culprit, the damage to Juul’s reputation has already been done.
More Work Must Be Done
Even though vaping has been pushed from the front page by COVID-19, the combination of vaping and this viral infection can be deadly. People should refrain from vaping as a whole; however, particularly during this time, when medical professionals already have their hands full dealing with this deadly virus.
Almost everyone strives to put safety first when they get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle; however, an accident can happen at any time and even the smallest accidents can lead to serious injuries. If you have been injured in a car accident, you may be entitled to damages if the accident was the fault of someone else.
When someone hears about injury damages stemming from a motor vehicle collision, they often think about medical costs, insurance bills, and even lost wages due to time missed from work; however, there is another category of damages that people should know. This is called pain and suffering.
The Definition of Pain and Suffering Damages
States will vary slightly in their definition of pain and suffering. In some cases, there might even be a cap. In the state of Washington, for example, pain and suffering are defined as an inconvenience, mental anguish, and emotional distress. This can even include probable emotional distress that may take place in the future.
The definition of pain and suffering is subjective and can be hard to quantify. While a medical bill has a number printed on it, as do the costs of car repairs, pain and suffering can be difficult to quantify.
Coming to a Fair Number for Pain and Suffering Damages
Because pain and suffering are both subjective, it is important to work with a legal professional to come up with a fair number. Often, this amount is going to be based on prior cases that might have had a similar outcome. Some of the factors that are going to play a role in the final number include the person’s age, his or her occupation, the person’s state of health before the collision, and the type of physical injuries that someone sustained.
In the end, it is critical for people not to settle for less than what they are owed. Too often, an insurance adjuster is going to tell someone that their pain and suffering award has already been set in stone. Instead, those who have been involved in a car accident should work with a legal professional who will fight to defend the rights of his or her client.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for people all over the world and this is a medical crisis that has left an economic one in its wake, marked by rising unemployment rates. This includes the state of Washington. Fortunately, in many parts of the country, unemployment benefits have been increased and extended for those who have had a hard time finding a job. Unfortunately, many people had their data compromised during a data breach that took place in December.
According to information that was published by the Washington State Auditor, a data breach at the end of 2020 could have compromised the information of as many as 1.6 million people in the state of Washington for applied for unemployment benefits in 2020.
The breach took place at a third-party server and could have exposed the personal information of people who work for the government as well. Anyone who applied for unemployment benefits between Jan 1, 2020, and Dec 10, 2020, including those who worked for the government during that time, could have had their information exposed.
This is not the first attack that has taken place at the Washington Employment Security Department. Last Spring, the department lost hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud cases as close to 400,000 people’s identities were stolen to apply for benefits fraudulently. This led to a tremendous amount of criticism on the part of the department.
Right now, law enforcement is still investigating the breach to determine what happened. The agency says that they have used this software program for 13 years and they believed the security measures in place to be appropriate. Unfortunately, this same agency has been a target of hackers in other parts of the world as well, such as New Zealand and Australia.
Right now, it is incumbent on everyone who might have had their information stolen to take steps to protect themselves. It is important to keep an eye on all financial accounts for any signs of fraudulent activity. Finally, anyone who believes they have been the victim of identity theft should report it to law enforcement immediately and reach out to a trained legal professional to assess all of their options.
There is a wide variance in the amount of money awarded to an injured plaintiff by a Texas legal system. Though many of the largest verdicts are against trucking companies, there are so many cases working their way through the system that multi-million damage awards occur in a number of different types of cases. We assembled a list of three of the largest verdicts awarded in the year 2019. Although these cases are in no way typical, they are instructive as to what Texas juries and judges find sympathetic, what they find reprehensible, and what they find the most worthy of compensation.
The first case was an 80 million dollar award dispersed by a jury in Hidalgo County to a truck driver who was injured while at work. The man was forced to work a shift by his employer after directly informing his employer that he had not rested for the minimum amount of time and could not safely or legally drive. Then the man was made to understand that his job was at risk, so he took the driving shift over his objections. While driving, he fell asleep at the wheel and was injured in an accident. The jury took 7 days to find his employer negligent in this injury.
The second case is 33 million dollars awarded to the family of a man killed in Dimmit County. The case was rather straightforward. The man was driving through Carrizo Springs when a cement truck suffered a sudden tire failure and veered into his car, killing him. The jury found the Goodyear Corporation, manufacturers of the tire that failed, to be 90% at fault for the accident. The company that owned the cement truck was judged to be only 10% at fault.
The third award was for 32 million dollars, and it came from a case of sexual assault against a fourteen-year-old in Denton County. The two boys that committed the assault were sued for a variety of crimes, and the jury agreed. The liability for the incident was split evenly between the two young men. Unlike the other cases, which were against large companies with contingency funds, insurance policies, and other methods of paying multimillion-dollar verdicts, it is unclear if the plaintiff will ever be able to retrieve even a substantial proportion of their payment.
In the past several decades, one of Japan’s first automobile safety innovators has become known as a mass producer of potentially dangerous airbags. At least thirty-four automobile, truck, and van manufacturers using Takata airbags were caught up in what became the world’s largest auto safety recall.
Takata: A History of Safety-Conscious Development and Trust Earned Over Time
Takata started in 1933 as a producer of parachute lifelines, then entered the seat belt market as it grew rapidly in the 1950s. They built Japan’s first crash-test facility for seat belt testing using real-world conditions. After bankruptcy, they continue as an auto and non-auto safety equipment provider.
A Messy and Confusing Blame and Recall Process
Takata became a worldwide leader in and dominant supplier of seat belt and airbag products. This dominance led to a high-stakes situation where both Takata and its dozens of major customers were exposed to the risk of recall if products were proven defective. In one case, Takata seat belt problems were initially blamed on external causes including mishandling by users. The U.S. government eventually determined that strong sunlight in southern U.S. regions was weakening the ABS plastic in buckle mechanisms.
Takata airbag problems were initially thought to be caused by environmental moisture effects on the propellant. Eventually, the discovery of both manufacturing and production documentation faults at their Mexican plant led to tens of millions of airbag and vehicle recalls from dozens of manufacturers and governments across the globe. There were at least 24 deaths and hundreds of injuries as of 2018.
Where Things Stand Today with Takata Airbags
Overcome by endless lawsuits and compensation demands, Takata filed for bankruptcy in 2017. It now operates as Joyson Safety Systems, a Michigan-based subsidiary of a Chinese firm.
Are Other Airbag Sources Trustworthy?
In the last decade, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has investigated problems with approximately 12.3 million ZF-TRW airbags for failure to deploy in accidents and related problems. In these cases, the problem may be with crash sensors rather than airbag inflation mechanisms. Generally, the complexity and demanding technologies involved in airbags have led to a number of problems and recalls of products made by multiple manufacturers.
If you watch television very long, chances are you will see dozens of ads for personal injury lawyers. They tout huge settlements and working hard for you — and, the fact is, the claims they make in their commercials are generally true. But how can you find the perfect personal injury lawyer to represent you in your case?
Make sure your lawyer’s expertise matches your claim.
Personal injury is an area of law that covers medical malpractice, car crash injuries, defective product claims, defamation, dog bites, and much more. No personal injury attorney can develop expertise in representing plaintiffs in every kind of personal injury claim, while you can be sure that insurance companies and well-financed businesses will retain defense counsel with extensive experience in shooting down your kind of claim.
Most attorneys will tell you the kinds of cases they take in their advertisements and on their websites. Don’t hesitate to ask your personal attorney for an introduction or use a local lawyer referral service.
Discuss fees before you sign with your lawyer.
Many but not all lawyers take personal injury claims on a contingency fee basis. A typical contingency fee is 33-1/3 percent. In that case, if the court awards you $300,000, your lawyer will charge $100,000 and you will receive $200,000.
Some personal injury attorneys charge considerably more than 33-1/3 percent for their contingency fee, and will also withhold “expenses” of trial, such as payments for private investigators and expert witnesses. You need to know all pertinent fees for your representation before you agree to allow any lawyer to represent you. If an attorney thinks there is no chance of winning, they should tell you and you should owe them nothing.
Once you have found your perfect law firm, there is one very important rule you must follow for them to give you perfect representation.
Let your lawyer review any settlement paperwork before you sign.
After you file suit, you should not receive any communications from the person you are suing or their insurance companies. These “ex parte” communications can be unlawful and even a cause for an attorney to be disbarred. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t be presented with an opportunity to settle out of court.
It is often better to settle rather than to go to court and take your chances with a judge and jury. However, if you are offered a settlement, be sure to have your attorney review it before you sign. When you are in a court case, the other side’s attorney never acts as your friend.
If you’ve been hurt due to the negligence of someone else, you don’t have to take it lying down. Instead, you can file a personal injury lawsuit to recover your losses and hold the other entity liable. When you do, you can be compensated for your realized and future losses in the following areas.
Compensation for Lost Wages
If the accident caused you to miss the opportunity to earn wages, you can be compensated. Not only can you be compensated for missed wages from the past, but you could also seek to recover future lost wages.
Diminished Earning Capacity Compensation
While some injuries may cause you to miss work, some injuries are so serious they completely change your professional earning capacity and trajectory. Whether an injury causes you to miss work or makes you less productive, you can hold the other party responsible for your lost capacity to earn wages.
Compensation for Medical Bills
According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average cost of a visit to the emergency room for an automobile accident is $3,300, while hospitalization can run you $57,000. And even if you have remarkable insurance, you could be left holding a significant stack of medical bills. Because of this, you may be able to recover losses for any type of past, present, and future medical bills you may incur associated with the personal injury event.
Pain and Suffering Damage Recovery
With personal injury cases, pain and suffering can be best explained as the mental anguish or emotional distress you endure because of an individual’s negligent act. Pain and suffering could be caused by:
- Physical limitations, such as the inability to play tennis, watch your child’s basketball game, or play with your children.
- Discomfort and physical pain
- Memory loss, anxiety, depression, insomnia, or other emotional disorders
- Loss of consortium with loved ones and family members
- Any other type of psychological or emotional trauma
Compensation for Wrongful Death
While there is no amount of money that may be able to bring a loved one back, you can receive wrongful death compensation for your loss. Wrongful death damages can include:
- The loss of support
- Any funeral and medical expenses
- The loss of consortium
Protect Your Rights with an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney
When it comes to protecting your rights and your family, there is no substitute for consulting with a personal injury attorney. In fact, if you’ve been injured because of someone else’s negligence, you should speak to an attorney prior to talking to the other individual’s insurance company. An experienced attorney will ensure the at-fault party is held liable and you are aptly compensated for your losses.
One of the ongoing stories of the consumer has been the epidemic of lung injuries among young people who use electronic cigarettes. Almost 2000 people have been hospitalized after using e-cigarettes, and over 30 have died. No brand of e-cigarette has been associated with more cases of lung injury and death than Juul.
Juul e-cigarettes packaged nicotine extracted from tobacco with fruit flavors attractive to teenagers. It turned out that the combination of nicotine and certain flavorings formed chemicals that are highly damaging to lung tissue.
Scientists found that as few as six puffs were sufficient to release chemicals that cause lung damage. The concentration of nicotine in Juul was responsible for most of its ill effects, but a combination of nicotine and menthol made the cell-killing effects much worse.
Juul contains up to 40 times as much nicotine as competing brands. It contains as much as 156 times the concentration of flavor chemicals, especially in its “Cool Mint”, “Classic Menthol”, “Cool Cucumber”, and “Fruit Medley” e-cigarettes. Its “Virginia Tobacco” e-cigarette is relatively safe.
It is hard to believe that executives at Juul were unaware that their products used vastly higher amounts of problematic chemical flavorings and nicotine than their competitors. And it has become common knowledge that the company knew their e-cigarettes were addictive as early as 2015.
Two Juul researchers told the Reuters News Agencies they cautioned the founders of Juul and its top company scientists about the potential for youth e-cigarette addiction. The executive leadership of Juul took their cautionary reporting seriously enough to discuss building safeguards into the product, such as a timer that kept the e-cigarette from being used for more than 30 minutes at a time, but not seriously enough to make any changes in product design.
Instead, Juul marketed its e-cigarettes as “less harmful than cigarettes” and did nothing to stop a 500 percent annual growth rate in sales. CEO Kevin Burns only stepped down after the Food and Drug Administration admonished the company not to make further unfounded claims about the safety of its products.
A survey in September of 2019 revealed that one out of every four high school students had used e-cigarettes in the last month. President Trump proposed a ban on flavored e-cigarettes, but no further regulatory action has been taken.
