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Kentucky Personal Injury News

Kentucky's Poppe Law Firm Files Accounting Malpractice Complaint Against Major Michigan Accounting Firm
The Poppe Law Firm, a personal injury and professional malpractice law firm located in Louisville, Kentucky, was asked to join two other major law firms in filing an accounting malpractice lawsuit against the Michigan accounting firm of Doeren Mayhew.
Hans Poppe Interviewed by WHAS 11 News about Plastic Surgery Medical Malpractice
WHAS 11 News Interviews Hans about Medical Malpractice
Balloon Valve May Replace Open Heart Surgery
Doctors are beginning to suggest that older, high-risk patients with smaller aortas would be better off receiving an implanted balloon valve than with open heart surgery. The balloon valve provides a less invasive option.
Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Linked to Sudden Hearing Loss?
The FDA has approved labeling changes to Cialis, Levitra, Viagra, and Revatio following ongoing studies that the drugs may cause sudden hearing loss.
Indiana Police Officer Killed When Semi Loses Wheels
A Shelbyville, Ind. Police Officer Was Killed on the shoulder of Interstate 74 when a passing semi lost its rear wheels.
Hans' Interview with WHAS 11 News on the McDonald's Trial
Hans Poppe discusses the McDonald's trial on WHAS 11 News.
Hans Poppe in the News about the McDonald's Verdict
Kentucky Officials Sue Oxycontin Makers
Kentucky Attorney General greg Stumbo and officials in Pike County are demanding millions in compensation from Purdue Phara, the makers of Oxycontin.
Unequal Nursing Home Treatment for African Americans
A new study in the September/October issue of Health Affairs shows that black Americans recieve a lower level of treatment in nursing homes across the country.
Pair Arrested for Illegal Surgeries
A California couple has been arrested for performing illegal and disfiguring cosmetic surgeries in their home.
Buyers of Condo-Hotel Units on Florida Keys Claim Securites Fraud
Twenty buyers in a Florida Keys condominium hotel complex say they were defrauded after spending thousands and receiving rooms that were dilapidated.
Painkiller Prescriptions up 90% from 1997-2005
Oxycontin prescriptions have jumped a shocking 90% over just 8 years.
Vioxx Ills Start Sooner Than Thought
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, Vioxx's heightened heart risks begin at 14 days, not at 18 months as Merck claims.
Nursing Home Residents at Risk for Peer Abuse
Nursing home patients may be at as great a risk of danger from abuse from their peers as they are from their caregivers.
Bowling Green Bus Accident Kills Driver, Injures 66
The driver and one passenger from Monday morning's bus crash into an overpass on I-65 are dead, 66 other passengers are injured.
Three Crashes Involving Eight Vehicles Snarls Sunday Traffic in Louisville.
Two Louisville Pedestrians Struck By a Car Early Sunday Morning
West Virginia Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Tort Reform
80% of Hospitalized Kids Get Drugs Only Approved for Adults
A study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine finds that four out of every five children in the hospital recieved drugs, including morphine, that have only been approved for use in adults.
Woman Sues Wal-Mart After Slipping on Wet Floor
An Iowa woman filed suit against giant retailer Wal-Mart after she slipped in a pool of vomit in a store aisle.
Doctors Busted in $30 Million Insurance Scam
California police arrest three doctors involved in nationwide insurance scam.
Jewish Hospital sues the Attorneys who filed the MRSA cases.
Jewish Hospital has sued Joe White and Michael O'Connell for filing 80+ lawsuits alleging the hospital failed to keep the hospital clean, leading to MRSA infections. This should be interesting.
Kentucky Ranks 33rd In Fairness of Litigation Poll
Kentucky moved up one spot from it's 2006 rankings in a Harris Poll that asks citizens how fair they believe the state's litigation process is.
Kentucky Man Dies From Falling Out Window While in Nursing Home
Dorothy Miller is a tough woman who's still crying. Her husband Bobby died July 29, eight days after he fell 15 feet out a second story window at King’s Daughters & Sons nursing home, breaking his ankle and pelvis. Dorothy says he got pneumonia in the hospital, but she believes the fall killed him.
State Farm CEO gets 82% Raise?
State Farm CEO Gets 82% Pay Raise
March 7, 2007

State Farm Insurance's chairman and CEO received an 82 percent raise after the company posted a record profit last year, a statement from the Bloomington-Ill.-based insurer said this week.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ed Rust Jr. got a $5.26 million raise. He earned $11.66 million in 2006 with a base salary of $1.77 million and results-based bonus of $9.89 million, the statement said. Rust made $6.4 million in 2005 and $5.5 million in 2004.
Injured Soldiers Can't Sue Government for Malpractice
For decades, our military members have been barred from suing for medical malpractice and other forms of negligence by the government. Whether it is a military doctor cutting off the wrong leg or a military gasoline station cutting a brake line, military personnel are not allowed to seek legal relief as other citizens can. The result is that they are victims of grotesque forms of negligence that have not been widely seen in the civilian world for more than a hundred years. In the civilian system, the threat of lawsuit serves a critical deterrence of negligence by the government, companies and others. A rational actor will avoid liability costs by taking measures to minimize accidents.
Kentucky Court of Appeals Hears Oral Argument on Important Kentucky Bad Faith Case
Hofmeister blamed Cincinnati Insurance Co., which insured the company that employed the driver who hit him, for his financial downfall. In 2002, a Scott County jury awarded Hofmeister $28 million after finding that the insurance company had acted in bad faith by delaying an insurance payment, then misrepresenting the amount of coverage that was available. A judge later reduced the award to $20 million.

During oral arguments yesterday, the Kentucky Court of Appeals was posed a question that's being closely watched by the insurance industry: Are the lawyers that insurance companies provide for their customers acting on behalf of the insurance company instead of just the customer?
New Study in Illinois Shows Jury Verdict Are NOT Driving Rising Malpractice Premiums
Americans for Insurance Reform says annual insurance industry numbers show that the amount of money paid for medical malpractice settlements, verdicts and legal defense has remained relatively flat for almost two decades, when adjusted for inflation and accounting for the growing number of doctors nationally.

According to the study — which based its findings on information from A.M. Best & Co., an insurance industry analyst firm — the total amount of money paid was almost $4.9 billion in 2005 nationally. The study calculated that to be a payout of $5,400 dollars per doctor, the lowest since 1981 when adjusted for inflation.
Another Firm in Trouble for Diet Drug Settlement
A law firm that negotiated a huge settlement with the makers of the diet drug fen-phen has been ordered to stand trial over whether it manipulated the deal in a way that increased the lawyers' share of the money.

State Supreme Court Justice Charles E. Ramos said Wednesday he was ordering a trial because of questions about whether the firm, Napoli Bern Ripka LLP, violated ethical rules in apportioning shares of the settlement money.
600 Lawyer Firm to Shut Down After Admitting it Promoted Tax Fraud
Jenkens & Gilchrist, once the largest law firm in Dallas, has admitted promoting fraudulent tax shelters and will pay the Internal Revenue Service $76 million and go out of business, the IRS and the U.S. attorney in New York announced Thursday.

Dallas-based Jenkens – which at its peak in 2001 had more than 600 lawyers, including 263 here – will cease operations as a law firm on Saturday, although it will continue as a legal entity while it wraps up its affairs.

Several clients sued the firm and have agreed to an $80 million dollar settlement.
CSX Railroad cited for 199 safety violations.
Days after two major CSX Corp. rail accidents in Kentucky, federal inspectors found 199 safety violations in the 23 states that the company serves, regulators said yesterday.

CSX failed to replace defective rails, didn't make track repairs where problems already were known, hauled tank cars with loose closures and without proper shipping papers, and did not properly perform or record brake tests, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
The inspectors found 3,518 defects, which the railroad administration defines as evidence of noncompliance with safety and hazardous-materials rules. Defects might not be imminent hazards but must be corrected.
Elder care abuse in Louisville
Specific case where son was arrested and charged with neglect of his mother.
Kentucky Comair Widows Push for Change in Loss of Consortium Law.
Kentucky law on the loss of consortium limits recovery to the period between injury and death. Forty-six other states allow the surving spouse to recovery for the period after the spouse dies. Two widows of the Lexington Comair crash are pushing for a change. Read their testimony given from the floor of the Kentucky legislature.
Louisville Rubbertown Residents Reach Settlement With Rubbertown Plant.
About $4 million of the money that Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc. would pay in the settlement would go to improve its plant's wastewater treatment -- believed to be the major source of odors -- and to build a buffer of berms and vegetation between the 35-year-old plant and the neighborhood.

The remaining $1.25 million would go into a settlement fund to compensate homeowners and to pay their lawyers.

In exchange, the plaintiffs -- owners in the roughly 300-home development in Rubbertown -- have tentatively agreed to release Hexion from claims for nuisance, trespass, property damage, personal injury and liability for punitive damages for the company's "alleged misconduct in the operation of its facility."
New Options (and Risks) in Home Care for the Elderly
With 4.2 million Americans currently over 85 — a number expected to grow to 5.9 million by 2014 and then accelerate with the baby boom generation — the exploding need for long-term care is remaking the home-care industry, driving more of it underground. Gray-market hiring, fraught with risks, is a solution that middle-class families are turning to as they face the crushing burden of indefinite home-care expenses. But it is hardly the only one, as businesses rush to meet the needs of these families, the fastest-growing segment of the marketplace, who are intent on keeping their loved ones out of nursing homes.
Louisville Based Kindred Pledges to Improve Care
Kindred Healthcare’s nursing homes have jointed the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes Campaign, a national quality initiative.
Tort Reform Doesn't Work in Florida.
Four years after the Legislature capped certain types of pain and suffering damages, Florida doctors still pay the highest malpractice insurance rates in the country.
Louisville Nursing Home Director Faces More Criminal Charges After Remains are Found.
Nathaniel Anderson, a former Louisville funeral director stripped of his state license, was arrested yesterday after police found human remains at his residence and at Anderson Funeral Service.
W.V. Supreme Court Limits Bad Faith Claims Against Insurers
Louisville Jury Determines U-Haul Dolly Defective and Awards $10 Million to Quadripalegic and her Family.
A jury in U.S. District Court in Louisville has said that a substantial cause of an accident was a U-Haul towing device, known as a tow dolly. All three passengers were injured, one passenger is now a parapalegic.

The jury awarded the Burkes $10.4 million
Louisville Medical Malpractice Defense Lawyer In the Hot Seat.
A local Louisville Medical Malpractice Defense Lawyer Has Been Referred to the Kentucky Bar Association For Allegedly Lying to the Court.
TN Judge Rejects Jury's Award of $29 Million Dollars in Punitve Damages Against a Nursing Home.
An elderly man died in 2005 after suffering from bed sores, an undiagnosed broken hip and other medical problems the family says were the result of understaffing at the Warren County nursing home.

However, the judge refused to accept punitive damage awards of $28.6 million against National Healthcare Corp., and $1 million against National Health, an affiliated company, leaving the family with $163,402 in punitive damages award against the nursing home.
Doctor With 100 Suits Against Him Sues His Own Lawyers.
The W.V. (formerly Kentucky) doctor, who has been sued over a 100 times (see our prior news article) has sued all three law firms that have represented him. All three have been dismissed.
Notre Dame Coach's Medical Malpractice Case Declared a Mistrial
judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis' medical malpractice lawsuit after a juror collapsed and several doctors -- including the two defendants -- rushed to his aid.
Rhode Island Considers Whether Lawyer Blogs are Speech or Advertisements
Interesting article discussing lawyer blogs in Rhode Island. Currently there are only three lawyers blogging there are no current plans to regulate their blogs as advertisments.
Giant Insurance Consulting Firm Explains Why Health Insurance Is So Expensive.
McKinsey & Co., a large insurance company consulting firm, found that the overriding cause of high U.S. health care costs is the failure of the intermediation system — payors, employers, and government — to provide sufficient incentives to patients and consumers to be value–conscious in their demand decisions, and to regulate the necessary incentives to promote rational use by providers and suppliers.
Semi-wreck on the Outer Loop
Fen-Phen lawyers Allegedly Misappropriated More Than Orginally Thought
Melbourne Mills Jr., William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham, the attorneys accused of misappropriating more than $64 million from Kentucky's fen-phen settlement, initially withheld another $27.7 million, which they turned over to their clients only after the Kentucky Bar Association began investigating the case, newly filed court records show
Auto insurers Play Hardball in Minor Crash Claims
If you are injured in a minor car crash, chances are good that you will be in the fight of your life to get the insurance company to pay all the medical costs you incur -- even if the accident was no fault of your own.

That's what CNN discovered in an 18-month investigation into minor-impact soft-tissue injury crashes around the country. Those are accidents in which there is little damage to the vehicle and the injuries to people are not easy to see by the naked eye or conventional medical tools like X-rays. Deny, delay, defend is the strategy adopted my most insurance companies.
First Louisiana Katrina Case to go to Trial Monday
Jury selection is set to start Monday for the trial of the first of several thousand lawsuits Louisiana homeowners filed against insurers who failed to meet customer expectations after Hurricane Katrina.

In their lawsuit against Allstate Indemnity Co., Lawrence Tomlinson and his wife, Elizabeth, accuse the Northbrook, Ill.-based company of bad faith for allegedly failing to properly or promptly adjust their claim. The couple also claims the company underpaid them for wind damage.
New Orleans Jury Awards Former Death-Row Inmate $14 Million
A Louisiana man spent eighteen years in jail for a murder he did not commit. He was only a week away from execution when a detective discovered a lab report proving someone else commited the crime.
Two Florida Nurses Arrested for Not Giving Residents Medicine.
http://www.news4jax.com/news/10957371/detail.html
Could saying "I'm Sorry" Keep People From Suing Doctors
After the University of Michigan health system changed its medical error policy on malpractice cases, legal fees per case were more than cut in half. The legal climate is slowly changing. Twenty-nine states now have laws that protect doctors from lawsuits when they say they're sorry.
Former nursing home administrator convicted of manslaughter for resident's death.
A former nursing home administrator was convicted of involuntary manslaughter following a trial where a nursing home resident died from being locked outside in the cold.
Wrongly Convcicted Louisville Man Settles for 3.9 Million
William Gregory was wrongly convicted of raping a woman and attempting to rape a second. He served seven years before finally being exonorated by DNA evidence. This is the first time a prisoner has been freed in Kentucky based on DNA evidence. He settled with the state for $700 following a lawsuit against the state for false testimony by the state's forensic expert. The settlement is the largest paid by Louisville's new Metro Government. The previous largest was just under $2 million to a young boy who suffered brain damage at the skate park.
New York Times Editorial on the vanishing lawsuit
This editorial uses an Alabama man's case that was dimissed as an example of the difficulties in bringing a lawsuit.
First lawsuit filed over New York's new Attorney Advertising Rules
A public interest advocacy group files a lawsuit alleging the new advertising rules in New York violate the First Amendment.
New Ethics Rules in Rochester NY limit the "Heavy Hitter" ads.
Rochester courts have changed the way lawyers advertise. No longer can they a use nicknames like "The Heavy Hitter" and "The Hammer."
Former Supreme Court Justice O'Connor to mediate 60 year-old Kentucky land dispute.
More than $30 million appears to be at stake in the highly unusual case, in which about 1,000 former landowners and heirs complain that the federal government wrongly benefited from the sale of oil, gas, coal and other mineral rights under the land of the old Camp Breckinridge. The camp sat astride Union, Webster and Henderson counties.
Lawyers don't get the respect they deserve.
Lawyers, especially trial lawyers, help people. Too often this is overlooked and, instead of being appreciated, lawyers become the punchline to bad jokes.
Former Enron lawyers to pay $18 million to settle potential legal malpractice claims.
Texas law firm Andrews Kurth will pay Enron's bankruptcy estate $18.5 million to settle potential malpractice claims stemming from legal advice the firm allegedly offered concerning the energy giant’s asset transactions.
Jury in MSD returns with mixed verdict
Jury found that MSD violated whistleblower statute, but awarded small damages.
State Farm finally agrees to pay Katrina victims
State Farm has finally agreed to pay Mississippi Katrina victims 50% of the value of their damaged structure.
Courier Journal Reports Blacks Underrepresented on Jefferson County Juries
According to Courier reporter Jason Riley, African Americans make up about 20% of the population; however, they only make up about 11-16% of the juries.
New evidence may help Comair victims' attorneys.
New evidence reveals several victims survived the initial crash and died of smoke inhalation.
Lexington Kentucky ComAir cockpit voice recorders reveal pilots violated "sterile cockpit" rule and flight Controller changes his story
ABC reported the two Comair pilots violated the "sterile cockpit" rule before taking off from Lexington, Ky. ABC also reports the controller has changed his original statement that he saw the plane go to the correct runway. He now admits he was communicating with two other planes and did not see where the Comair plane taxied to.
Local lawsuit against Vatican allowed to Proceed
A federal lawsuit filed by William F. McMurry against the Vatican alleging childhood sexual abuse will be allowed to proceed.
Campbellsville, Kentucky Jury Awards $900,000 in Bad Faith Case
Although it took ten years, a Campbellsville family has finally received justice. Two insurance companies were ordered to pay close to a million dollars for wrongfully refusing to settle with the family. This is known as "bad faith." The lawyers for the insurance company say they will appeal.
Courier Journal Article: Senior Judge Program Sparks Many Objections
Today's Courier Journal featured any interesting article by Andrew Wolfson about Kentucky's Senior Judge Program. The article focuses on the lack of a screening process like other states. The Senior Judge program allows former judges to work part time to help with the Kentucky court's growing caseload.
The article reports that the program is open to all retired or defeated judges whose age and years of government employment (regardless of whether it was judicial employment) adds up to 75. The Senior Judge program does seem to be a good financial deal for Kentucky (the whole program only costs $550,000 a year, compared to the $300,000 cost of creating a new judgeship). That being said, the Wolfson points out that the lack of screening allows judges who were removed from the bench by the voters to remain judges. This seems contrary to the voter's intent.
Wolfson uses as an example Judge Paula Fitzgerald who lost her re-election bid and routinely had the lowest ratings of all Jefferson County judges
Jury Awards $2.5 Million in Punitive Damages Against State Farm for Denying Katrina Claim
Judge determines State Farm wrongfully refused to pay a Katrina property damage claim. Jury then awards an additional $2.5 million in punitive damages.
Article on Kentucky Doctor

Kentucky's Poppe Law Firm Files Accounting Malpractice Complaint Against Major Michigan Accounting Firm

Detroit Accounting Firm Named in Lawsuit

Involving Alleged Ponzi Scheme

The Investment News reports that accounting firm of Doeren Mayhew & Company was named in a lawsuit filed in Oakland County, Michigan, in connection with a highly publicized multi-million dollar alleged ponzi scheme using partnerships, many purported to earn revenues from telephone usage in Las Vegas hotels. The central figure reported as the mastermind of such investments was Ed May who, along with other individuals and firms, is the subject of several investigations including by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Oakland Press also picked up on the story.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of investors jointly by three law firms: Sheldon Miller & Associates, a premier Detroit area litigation firm, Hans Poppe of the Poppe Law Firm, which focuses on professional negligence claims, inlcuding accounting malpractice claims, and Shepherd Smith & Edwards, LLP, a securities law firm that handles claims for investors nationwide.

The suit states allegations regarding Doeren Mayhew, including that the accounting firm was listed as the accounting firm of record for various partnership investments and that the firm and/or some of its agents and directors were involved with the ongoing business affairs of the partnerships and engaged into direct and indirect communications with investors which misled them regarding these investments.

The law firm of Shepherd, Smith & Edwards also represents a number of individuals and other investors claiming large losses, many in their retirement accounts, after investing into these partnerships. This law firm has also filed claims for misrepresentation and unsuitability in securities arbitrations against a former stockbroker who sold these and other investments to his clients.

The law firms currently seek additional information, documents and other potential evidence regarding these investments, as well as any written or oral communications which may have occurred with the parties to the lawsuit or arbitration claims. Persons are asked to contact Thomas Ruiz or Kirk Smith at 800-259-9010 or via e-mail to truiz@sselaw.com. All such calls and contact will be treated as confidential in nature.

Hans Poppe Interviewed by WHAS 11 News about Plastic Surgery Medical Malpractice

The high price of perfection

11:14 AM EST on Wednesday, November 28, 2007

? VIDEO: Nip and tuck regrets
? Federation of State Medical Boards

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – We live in a time when you can get liposuction during your lunch hour and go to parties for botox injections. Cosmetics surgery is so commonplace we may spend more time shopping for a car than looking into the credentials of our surgeons.

Everyone wants everyone for nothing and nothing less than perfection please.

But that quest for perfection highlighted in the headlines can sometimes have devastating results.

It did for Donda West, the mother of hip-hop star Kanye West. She died after surgery performed by Dr. Jan Adams, a non-board certified surgeon.

One woman's abdomen will never be normal again because the doctor who operated on her was not able to perform the type of surgery he told her he could, a tummy tuck. Her attorney, Hans Poppe, says that her settlement requires that she not speak publicly about her injuries. But she will never fully recover.

From terrible tummy tucks to lousy liposuction, Dr. Jerry O’Daniel now devotes 25 percent of his practice to reversing and reshaping cosmetic surgery mistakes.

O’Daniel would prefer patients not need his services to repair mistakes and he says you can avoid them. Everyone should insist on using a board-certified surgeon in the practice. They should ask to see pictures, talk to other patients and be aware that the length of the time you are under sedation increases your risks. Also, remember that when it comes to something as serious as surgery, it’s not a good idea to cut corners.

If you want to check out your doctor, Poppe says you have to go down to the Jefferson County courthouse and check out county by county, because doctors may move around. Information about the complaint against Dr. Jan Adams was found on the Medical Board of California’s website.

WHAS 11 News Interviews Hans about Medical Malpractice

Be sure to watch WHAS 11 News at 11:00 p.m., on Tuesday, November 27th when Kirby Adams interviews Hans about medical malpractice and plastic surgery. We'll post a link following the interview.

Balloon Valve May Replace Open Heart Surgery

Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Linked to Sudden Hearing Loss?

Hearing loss has been reported in few patients during clinical trials of Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra. No causal relationship has been demonstrated between the drug and sudden hearing loss, but the FDA believes there is a strong temporal relationship between the use of the drugs and sudden hearing loss. The FDA believes that this relationship is strong enough to warrant revisions to the product labeling.

Indiana Police Officer Killed When Semi Loses Wheels

The Shelbyville (Indiana) Police Department lost its’ first-ever officer in the line of duty last week. Twenty more minutes and 51-year-old Sgt. Gary Henderson would have clocked out of his 9-hour patrol duty.

The 29-year veteran of the police force had responded to a call for back-up on Interstate 74 after the first officer pulled over a suspected stolen car with a driver and passenger inside.

Passing Semi Lost Wheels and Tires at Highway Speed

Henderson was taking a picture of the suspect vehicle on the shoulder of the highway when a tractor-trailer drove by and lost two rear wheels and tires, which swept into the path of Henderson.

Shelbyville Police said two juveniles -- ages 13 and 14 - who sneaked out of the Gibault Group Home for Boys in - were inside their vehicle when Henderson was struck.

"Sgt. Henderson was a fine police officer," said Police Chief Bill Elliott. "He was a dedicated public servant and will be missed by everybody."

According to Elliott, the driver of the passing semi trailer was hauling 2,000 pounds of Styrofoam packing peanuts from Chicago to Kentucky. The driver told police he moved into the left lane when he saw the police cars on the right shoulder.

Truck Seemingly Had Passed Safety Inspection

The driver said he had no idea the two wheels had fallen off his rig. During vehicle pre-inspection earlier that day, the driver said didn't notice anything wrong except for a "power-block issue” he said was, “no big deal.”

Authorities said it is unlikely he will face charges but will investigate the trucking company's safety and maintenance records. The vehicle reportedly had passed its most recent safety inspection.

Henderson began his law enforcement career in Shelbyville as a parking enforcement officer and dispatcher in 1978. He later served as a narcotics officer, criminal detective and deputy police chief. "Everybody knew him and respected him,” Elliott said. “It's just a terrible loss."

Hans' Interview with WHAS 11 News on the McDonald's Trial

Louise Ogborn is represented by attorney Ann Oldfather in her $200 million dollar lawsuit against McDonalds. Recently, WHAS 11 News sat down with me to discuss what decisions the jury would have to make.

Hans Poppe in the News about the McDonald's Verdict

Louisville attorney analyzes Ogborn verdict

06:07 PM EDT on Friday, October 5, 2007

? VIDEO: Expert analysis

Is the McDonald’s verdict a significant decision? What does it say to people -- attorneys, corporations and employees --- across the country?

"It’s absolutely a success," says Louisville attorney Hans Poppe.

Poppe says that's the major point about today's ruling: that the Louise Ogborn who was strip searched and sexually assaulted, who tearfully told jurors about that day three years ago, is the same Louise Ogborn who was smiling today, pleased with the decision.

“Louise Ogborn was probably more vindicated by the fact she received an award and the jury said she was not responsible for what happened to her,” said Poppe.

The jury of eight women and four men also decided that Donna Summers suffered as well. Summers was the assistant manager at McDonald’s at the time of the incident. She was the one who strip searched Ogborn because the voice on the other end of the phone said it should be done.

“I think the biggest surprise is that the jury decided Donna Summers should be entitled to $1.1 million… and the jury believed that was McDonald’s fault.”

Poppe says the jury's award in this case proves they were reasonable and fair. The amount they awarded Ogborn certainly won't hurt McDonald’s, but Poppe says it will send a message.

“Today's jury award was likely the equivalent of four days of coffee sales nationwide, so this isn't an amount of money that will make McDonald’s financially hurt. It’s certainly not enough money to make them bankrupt,” Poppe said. “But I think it is enough money to make them pay attention.”

It may also make employees of McDonald’s and other corporations across the country pay attention. There have been dozens of hoax caller incidents nation-wide.

Poppe represented sex abuse victims who filed suit and won against the local Catholic archdiocese.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.

Kentucky Officials Sue Oxycontin Makers

Unequal Nursing Home Treatment for African Americans

Pair Arrested for Illegal Surgeries

Ha Nguyen and Zbigniew Makowski have been arrested on suspicion of practicing medicine without a license and child endangerment. The two were performing illegal surgeries from their own home, which was filled with drugs and syringes.

One woman recieved a tummy tuck and facelift which has left her with three-inch scars next to each ear and a fifteen inch scar across her stomach.

Nguyen, who has never been licensed in California as a physician performed the surgeries while Makowski transported the patients and helped to clean the wounds.

Nguyen was on welfare at the time of arrest, but was also earning at least $500 a day from the surgery practice.

Buyers of Condo-Hotel Units on Florida Keys Claim Securites Fraud

Like recent, new-home buyers, investors are feeling the financial pinch of a dormant housing market.

Suit Says Some Rooms Were Dilapidated

Twenty condominium buyers in a Florida Keys hotel claim the builder, Cay Clubs Resorts & Marinas of Clearwater, Fla. deceived them into believing their properties would appreciate after comprehensive renovations to a “world-class resort.” What buyers in the Sombrero Cay Club Project received, according to the suit, were dilapidated rooms with a new coat of paint.

'The plaintiffs were assured,' the suit says, 'prices would increase dramatically as [buyers] were contracting at a bargain price.' But one pair of buyers said a vacation rental firm declared their unit ``unrentable.'

Appraisers Accused of Inflating Prices

More importantly, the suit accuses appraisal companies working with Cay Clubs of inflated estimates of the units' value. This was done, the suit stated, by basing those calculations on Cheeca Lodge, an upscale resort 33 miles away.

Cay Clubs may face bankruptcy if it can't refinance $74 million in loans due this fall. It owes $10 million in late lease payments to buyers and has missed $1 million in loan payments this year, according to regulators. By promoting the Sombrero condominiums as profit-generating investments, the suit says, Cay Clubs violated state security laws. Security laws bar developers from selling real estate as if it gave buyers a stake in a cash-producing business. That makes condominium hotels – prime vacation spots - a target for this type of lawsuit in a deflated real estate market, according to Andrew Robins, a lawyer specializing in condominium hotels.

Plaintiff’s attorney Howard Behar said his clients want a judge to negate their sales contracts and refund money they've lost. The suit for unspecified damages lists 20 buyers in the Sombrero project who paid between $549,000 and $808,000 for units. Cay Clubs did agree to rent back the units for one year at 8 percent of the purchase price but buyers said payments were late. The plaintiffs 'did not intend to ever reside in the condominiums and only intended to sell their units' once the renovation finished, according to the suit.

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/218470.html

Painkiller Prescriptions up 90% from 1997-2005

Vioxx Ills Start Sooner Than Thought

Nursing Home Residents at Risk for Peer Abuse

Bowling Green Bus Accident Kills Driver, Injures 66

Three Crashes Involving Eight Vehicles Snarls Sunday Traffic in Louisville.

Crashes snarl downtown traffic on I-64, I-65
The Courier-Journal

Police and emergency crews responded at about noon today to three crashes involving at least eight vehicles where Interstates 64 and 65 meet in downtown Louisville.

A supervisor with MetroSafe Communications said there were no reported injuries, but that at least part of northbound I-65 was closed due to the wrecks. Parts of I-65 southbound in the area known as Spaghetti Junction were also affected by the crashes, the supervisor said.

Most of I-64 westbound near downtown already was closed today due to construction. All lanes on I-65 in both directions were cleared as of 1:30 p.m.

Two Louisville Pedestrians Struck By a Car Early Sunday Morning

The Courier-Journal

Two pedestrians were injured, one seriously, when they were struck by a vehicle early today on Preston Highway.

The incident happened at about 2:40 a.m. outside the Jambalaya club at 6201 Preston Highway, south of Indian Trail. Alicia Smiley, a spokeswoman for Louisville Metro Police, said the driver of the vehicle, Jose Miguel, had been involved in a fight with two other men before he struck them with his vehicle. She said all three man were taken to the hospital.

Miguel's age and residence were unknown. He was released from the hospital at about 3 p.m. Smiley said he was arrested, but she didn't have details about the charges he faces.

The extent of the injuries to the other two men were unknown this afternoon, but Smiley said the department's homicide unit was not involved in the case. The incident remains under investigation.

West Virginia Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Tort Reform

The West Virginia Supreme Court will hear a case in the fall that challenges a state tort reform law. The law requires the plaintiff to file a "certificate of merit" stating that other health professionals have reviewed the case and believe malpractice occurred.

The plaintiff had consulted 12 urologists in this case. 10 refused to sign a certificate of merit against another doctor. The remaining two wanted $40,000 before they would sign anything.

80% of Hospitalized Kids Get Drugs Only Approved for Adults

Woman Sues Wal-Mart After Slipping on Wet Floor

Two years and repeated surgeries later, June and James Medema of Blue Grass, Iowa, filed suit against retailer Wal-Mart May 22, alleging negligence led to June Medema suffering permanent injuries in a June 13, 2005, fall at the Wal-Mart Super Center in Davenport, Iowa.

Vomit Alleged As Causing Slip & Fall

Medema allegedly slipped in a pool of vomit. The suit does not specify how the store was negligent. The person who had become sick in the store has not been identified. The Medemas are asking for at least $5,000 in damages.

John Simley, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, declined comment. “We haven’t seen the suit and we can’t comment on something we haven’t seen,” he said.

In the spring of 2007, attorney Michael K. Bush took out a classified advertisement in a Davenport newspaper seeking witnesses to the incident. June Medema allegedly suffered serious neck and upper back injuries and is disabled from work Bush said.

9.400 Lawsuits Pending vs. Retailer

Wal-Mart employs 1.8 million people in 3,900 stores in the United States and 2,700 employees in other countries. The first store opened in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962. Founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and incorporated seven years later, Wal-Mart is now the world’s largest retail store.

The Medema’s suit is one of 9,400 pending against the retail giant in the U.S. court system. Wal-Mart ranks behind only the federal government as the most sued entity in the world. Suits include against Wal-Mart shoppers slipping on recently cleaned floors as well as sex discrimination claims from its employees.

Doctors Busted in $30 Million Insurance Scam

Three doctors were arrested Wednesday for insurance fraud. The doctors had performed hundreds of unnecessary procedures on patients and billed insurance companies over $30 million. The patients would receive money or low-cost cosmetic procedures in return for their participation in the scam.

Jewish Hospital sues the Attorneys who filed the MRSA cases.

Jewish Hospital has sued Joe White and Michael O'Connell for filing 80+ lawsuits alleging the hospital failed to keep the hospital clean, leading to MRSA infections.

Kentucky Ranks 33rd In Fairness of Litigation Poll

Kentucky moved up one spot from it's 2006 rankings in a Harris Poll that asks citizens how fair they believe the state's litigation process is.

Kentucky Man Dies From Falling Out Window While in Nursing Home

State Farm CEO gets 82% Raise?

Injured Soldiers Can't Sue Government for Malpractice

Kentucky Court of Appeals Hears Oral Argument on Important Kentucky Bad Faith Case

New Study in Illinois Shows Jury Verdict Are NOT Driving Rising Malpractice Premiums

Another Firm in Trouble for Diet Drug Settlement

600 Lawyer Firm to Shut Down After Admitting it Promoted Tax Fraud

CSX Railroad cited for 199 safety violations.

Elder care abuse in Louisville

Are you comforted by reports of children caring for their elderly parents at home? Are you relieved these dependent elders don’t have to endure the sterile, marginal care in a nursing home? Readers of the Hans Poppe Law Firm website should think again about these “home sweet home” scenarios. It could protect your loved one from and suffering behind the veil of personal family care.

Considering elder abuse is more likely to occur at the hands of a family member than outside the home by a nurse, nurse’s aide or nursing facility staffer, according to the National Center for Elder Abuse in Washington, D.C.

And the abuse is happening in Louisville.

Neglect case "hits home"

In January of this year, WAVE-TV in Louisville reported the arrest of Kenneth Kurz, who was charged with neglect of his mother. When investigating authorities arrived at the Kurz residence, they found Susanna Kurz lying in her own waste.

WAVE reported Pam Cherry of Louisville’s Adult Protective Services receives 180-200 calls a month regarding individuals who have been abused, neglected or exploited. “Our cases seem to go up every year as people learn about elder abuse,” Cherry said.

Watch for warning signals

The public can be tipped on elder abuse by being vigilant in their neighborhood. Simply getting to know your neighbors and their lifestyle habits is a safeguard. “Maybe the yard starts looking non-manicured and maybe that person had a beautiful yard before that,” Cherry said.

Amanda Frederick, Louisville Metro Police Detective, said that knowing your neighbors makes it more likely you’ll notice changes for the worse, say in a house’s appearance. Frederick said many times, it’s a family member who is the abuser.

“Many of them (abusers) are unemployed or on disability or have very irregular employment,” Frederick said. “A lot of our perpetrators are grown children who still live at home. You go home and you think about it, particularly ones where the family is familiar to your own or one of the victims actually looked like my grandmother – that was a real hard case for me, personally,” she added.

If you have noticed a suspicious change in the home or grounds of an elder in your neighborhood, it is time to take action. Your first telephone call should be to the Louisville Adult Protective Services hotline at 502.595-4803. The office is at 908 W. Broadway, #6W. To protect the civil rights of a family member, friend or neighbor, take charge and call the attorneys at the Poppe Law Firm at 502.895.3400.

Kentucky Comair Widows Push for Change in Loss of Consortium Law.

Sarah King Fortney:

When Comair Flight 5191 fell from the sky, it took a life of great potential in my husband, C.W. Fortney. C.W. was a father, a husband, a son, a friend and my hero. My life, as I knew it, was taken from me that August morning, never to return.

My reason for being here today goes deeper and is far greater than a desire to be compensated for the loss of my husband. I am here to request that our government recognize marriage as something more than a series of bank deposits. Insisting that the loss of a loved one can be compensated exclusively by that person’s earning potential trivializes the very form of emotional attachment that we claim marriage represents.

The State of Kentucky currently restricts damages in wrongful death and negligence cases such as mine to lost wages. Our current law says that you're only worth as much as your paycheck. Make no mistake, that's what it says. By limiting damages in cases such as these, our state is putting a clear and direct price tag on human emotions and human life.

Opponents of this bill will tell you that this is tort issue, that this is about frivolous lawsuits. They have lost their focus on families. This is a deliberate attempt on behalf of the Republican Senate leadership to confuse family values with greed. Don’t fall for it.

In the chamber behind me, our elected representatives are debating the definition of marriage. They’re publicly stating their opinion that marriage is the bedrock of society and defending the sanctity of marriage to further their own political agenda.

How can they on the one hand, glorify marriage as our most sacred institution while simultaneously denouncing the emotions on which that foundation is built? That is the height of hypocrisy.

Forty-six other states in our union have recognized the issue in front of you today, with no ill effect on their local economy. However, by remaining the smallest of minorities, Kentucky is turning its back on its citizens and providing a safe haven for inept and negligent businesses to thrive, a place where marriage certificates mean nothing more than tax breaks.

Let me say this: I'm not a lawyer. I'm not being advised by my lawyer on this issue. I am a widow. I am a single parent. I'm an advocate for anyone suffering because they were robbed of their spouse due to ineptitude and/or negligence.

Should that ever happen to you or your family. Should you ever be forced into that corner. Should you ever feel the pain that I've felt, I can only hope you won't be subjected to the same slap in the face from our government that I have.

Kathy Ryan:

When someone fails to adhere to a baseline standard of care, or sells a dangerous product, or creates a dangerous environment, or behaves in a in a reckless or criminal way and such behavior causes the death of someone, surely we can all agree, as we have agreed in the law for centuries, that the wrongdoer must be held accountable in some meaningful way to their innocent victim. We, if we are good parents, teach this basic principle of accountability to our children.

Kentucky has long had a statute that says, "Either a wife or husband may recover damages against a third person for loss of consortium, resulting from a negligent or wrongful act of such person." The courts have interpreted the loss of consortium statute as applying only in cases of personal injury. So if your spouse is negligently injured, your spouse has a cause of action for his injury and you also have a cause of action for the damage you suffer as the result of no longer having a healthy husband. But such is not the case if, instead of suffering only injury, your spouse is instead negligently killed. All that we ask in House Bill 403 is fairness and justice through the reasonable and continued opportunity to hold wrongdoers accountable for all of the damage which they cause. Compensation of the deceased person's estate does not compensate a widow or widower for the destruction of their marriage - the unique hardships, pain and grief caused the surviving spouse by the undeserving death of their life partner.

Passing HB 403 will not be a windfall for anyone. It will merely provide innocent citizens an opportunity, difficult as it is to exercise in practice, to force a wrongdoer to value marriage and family in our society. And it will avoid what are otherwise vastly unfair results for spouses of victims who happen not to be the primary wage-earner in a marriage. Those of us who have suffered the immediate death of our spouse have damages separate and distinct to us that do not include, nor overlap with, the loss of our spouses' "power to earn money," funeral expenses, or pain and suffering. Surely we can universally recognize that, as human beings, the best things in life mean little when you have no one with whom to share them. There is much more to the shared life that a marriage is, and we all know it. Jurors know it too, and their life experience guides them in balancing the results.

Kentucky is far behind the trend in this area. We are one of only four states in the Union that has not recognized the right of a spouse to recover for the lost services, love and affection of a person wrongfully killed. Forty-six other states took this step long ago. It is past time for Kentucky to do the same.

To that end, and only because I mistakenly thought that maybe, just maybe with the publicity of Comair 5191 and the second degree of separation effect that it had on many citizens of this commonwealth, that we could prevail over the powerful forces which would predictably oppose us. We thought that all we were doing was handing a golden opportunity to the legislature to fix a horrid, unjustifiable inconsistency in current case law. The House of Representatives understood this and overwhelmingly passed House Bill 403 on a vote of 93 in favor, only seven opposed.

But in the Senate our efforts have been met with charges of greed and the response from Senate leadership that our bill does not fit into their tort reform agenda, therefore it will not be pushed onto the Senate floor for a vote. It is most unfortunate that we have been personally attacked in this way and have had to encounter a severe lack of empathy for human victims in favor of sympathy for commercial enterprise. It has, to say the least, been a disappointment to face people who don't seem capable of understanding what it means to have your world ended just because your husband had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It has also been very hurtful to face people who have no understanding of the value of trial attorneys who, in my humble opinion, are some of the only remaining heroes of our society, willing to risk and invest personally in the causes of innocent victims who would otherwise be powerless to achieve any accountability for those who have negligently or criminally harmed them.

House Bill 403 is about valuing humanity, as fostered in marriage and family, over the interests of commercial enterprise. We ask the Senate leadership to immediately reconsider its position and permit House Bill 403 to come to the Senate floor for a vote right away.

Louisville Rubbertown Residents Reach Settlement With Rubbertown Plant.

New Options (and Risks) in Home Care for the Elderly

Louisville Based Kindred Pledges to Improve Care

Tort Reform Doesn't Work in Florida.

Louisville Nursing Home Director Faces More Criminal Charges After Remains are Found.

W.V. Supreme Court Limits Bad Faith Claims Against Insurers

Louisville Jury Determines U-Haul Dolly Defective and Awards $10 Million to Quadripalegic and her Family.

Louisville Medical Malpractice Defense Lawyer In the Hot Seat.

TN Judge Rejects Jury's Award of $29 Million Dollars in Punitve Damages Against a Nursing Home.

Doctor With 100 Suits Against Him Sues His Own Lawyers.

Notre Dame Coach's Medical Malpractice Case Declared a Mistrial

Rhode Island Considers Whether Lawyer Blogs are Speech or Advertisements

Giant Insurance Consulting Firm Explains Why Health Insurance Is So Expensive.

Semi-wreck on the Outer Loop

Fen-Phen lawyers Allegedly Misappropriated More Than Orginally Thought

Auto insurers Play Hardball in Minor Crash Claims

First Louisiana Katrina Case to go to Trial Monday

New Orleans Jury Awards Former Death-Row Inmate $14 Million

Two Florida Nurses Arrested for Not Giving Residents Medicine.

Could saying "I'm Sorry" Keep People From Suing Doctors

Former nursing home administrator convicted of manslaughter for resident's death.

Wrongly Convcicted Louisville Man Settles for 3.9 Million

New York Times Editorial on the vanishing lawsuit

Editorial Observer
They Say We Have Too Many Lawsuits? Tell It to Jack Cline

By ADAM COHEN
Published: January 14, 2007
Birmingham, Ala.

Jack Cline is in a hospital here fighting for his life, stricken by leukemia that he says he got from exposure to benzene at his factory job. In most states, he would be able to sue the companies that made the benzene. But Alabama’s all-Republican, wildly pro-business Supreme Court threw out his case.

In a ruling that would have done Kafka proud, the court held that there was never a valid time for Mr. Cline to sue. If he had sued when he was exposed to the benzene, it would have been too early. Alabama law requires people exposed to dangerous chemicals to wait until a “manifest” injury develops. But when his leukemia developed years later, it was too late. Alabama’s statute of limitations requires that suits be brought within two years of exposure.

Mr. Cline, who says God has kept him alive so he can challenge the unfairness of Alabama’s law, told his lawyer, Robert Palmer, to keep fighting. Mr. Palmer started a statewide petition drive, wrote a flurry of op-ed pieces and asked the court to reconsider. In an extraordinary move, it reopened the case and heard new arguments last spring.

Big business and its allies are loudly promoting “tort reform” by arguing that America is drowning in frivolous lawsuits. They are winning the public relations battle. Everyone knows the story of the woman who sued McDonald’s because she was burned by hot coffee. But few people know of the Jack Clines — and there are many of them — who have been denied their day in court.

Corporate America — with its large contributions to political and judicial candidates, and its top-dollar lobbyists — has had remarkable success persuading legislatures and courts to erode the bedrock principle of civil law: when people are injured, they are entitled to sue for damages.

At the top of industry’s list of tactics is immunity — the rather brazen notion that companies should be shielded from lawsuits no matter how negligently or dishonestly they act. Gun makers and dealers, notoriously, persuaded Congress in 2005 to give them immunity when their guns are used to maim and kill.

Industries are also winning immunity at the state level, and attracting far less attention. Pharmaceutical companies pushed through a law in Michigan protecting them when their drugs injure or kill people, as long as the drugs were approved by the Food and Drug Administration. There is no reason F.D.A. approval, a deeply flawed process, should be a shield.

When corporations do end up in court, they have lowered the stakes substantially by undermining punitive damages, which have long been one of the main ways that society deters people from unreasonably putting others at risk. The United States Supreme Court struck a major blow against punitive damages a decade ago, ruling that it was unconstitutional for a jury to award $2 million in punitive damages against an auto dealer that knowingly sold a damaged, repainted BMW as new.

Lower federal court judges, many of whom have been screened by the Bush administration for pro-business sympathies, and state court judges, many of whose campaigns were bankrolled by big business, are eagerly joining in. So are state legislatures. Last month Ohio’s legislature voted to cap punitive damages in many cases against paint companies — which have been accused of selling lead-based paint that causes retardation in children — at a paltry $5,000.

Perhaps the most insidious tactic for slamming the courthouse door on injured people is the stealth use of “pre-emption.” When federal and state laws conflict, the federal law pre-empts, or invalidates, the state law. The Bush administration is taking advantage of this principle by issuing weak regulations in a wide range of areas to wipe out stronger state-law protections. When people try to sue, they may find that their legal rights have been swept away. Among the areas the administration has focused on are automobile roof crushes and mattress flammability.

These incursions on the right to sue, taken together, are a serious assault on justice. In the most extreme cases, they may also be unconstitutional. Mr. Cline’s lawyer, Mr. Palmer, argued that preventing him from ever suing denied him his rights under the Alabama Constitution to seek a legal remedy for his injuries.

Mr. Palmer was encouraged when the Alabama Supreme Court reopened the case. He also saw it as a good sign when it scheduled oral arguments for a special public session on a law school campus, an indication it considered the case particularly significant. The arguments went well. “Questions asked by several justices indicated they were troubled by the legal Catch-22,” The Birmingham News reported.

The court ruled this month. It affirmed the dismissal of Mr. Cline’s case by a 5-to-4 vote. If Mr. Cline wanted to challenge the unfairness of the rules, it said, he would have to take it up with the State Legislature — a body every bit as pro-business as the Alabama Supreme Court.

Mr. Palmer intends to take the case to the United States Supreme Court. In the meantime, Mr. Cline can take some small comfort in the close vote. Four Alabama justices, at least, would not accept a legal system that told people like him that “no matter when” they “file the action, it is either too soon or too late.”

First lawsuit filed over New York's new Attorney Advertising Rules

Feb. 1, 2007

New Lawyer Advertising Rules in New York Violate Free Speech, Impede Internet Communications and Nonprofit Legal Services

Public Citizen Lawsuit Seeks Injunction Against Unconstitutional Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. – New rules governing lawyer advertising set to go into effect in New York violate free speech and would impose anti-consumer restrictions on lawyers’ advertising and Internet communications, according to a lawsuit filed today by Public Citizen and a New York law firm.

The lawsuit seeks to prevent enforcement of New York's attorney advertising rules that are scheduled to take effect on Feb. 1. The new guidelines are part of a revision of the rules contained in New York's Code of Professional Responsibility for lawyers, which is designed to protect consumers by prohibiting false and misleading lawyer advertisements. The rules were released on Jan. 4 by the presiding justices of the four divisions of New York's appellate courts.

The lawsuit contends that the rules’ broad language unconstitutionally prohibits truthful communication of information about legal services to New York consumers. There is also no exception for solicitation of potential clients for pro bono representation, and thus the rules would apply to brochures and other materials released by nonprofit legal groups that provide no-fee legal services on civil justice issues.

According to the lawsuit, a 30-day waiting period in the rules on communications to individuals and their families who have been involved in potential incidents of personal injury or wrongful death would prevent civil justice groups from adequately defending citizens’ rights. For example, the waiting period would prevent nonprofit legal organizations from contacting individuals at political demonstrations who have been physically harmed by police officers to inform them about their rights and the availability of pro bono legal representation.

“The right to engage in truthful legal advertising is not only a matter of free speech, but it also encourages competition in the marketplace for legal services,” said Greg Beck, an attorney for Public Citizen. “It’s also important for educating citizens about their rights and making it easier for consumers to find the appropriate legal representation.”

The new rules would extend to communication on the Internet, including Web sites and e-mails. They would require law practices and nonprofit organizations to label e-mailed solicitations “ATTORNEY ADVERTISING” and save copies of the e-mail for a year, even if the e-mail offers free legal representation. Law firms would also have to label their Web sites as advertising and save a copy of the Web site at least every 90 days.

“While other states have debated limits on lawyers’ advertising, the New York rules go further than any other state in imposing burdensome restrictions on legal free speech,” said Beck. “New York has also taken the lead in interfering with and regulating legal Internet communications.”

Public Citizen represents its members and attorney James L. Alexander.

To read more about this issue, visit the Consumer Law & Policy Blog, co-sponsored by Public Citizen’s Consumer Justice Project.

New Ethics Rules in Rochester NY limit the "Heavy Hitter" ads.

New ethics rules for lawyers: Tone down ads

Nicknames out, disclaimers in starting today

Michael Zeigler
Staff writer

Post Comment

(February 1, 2007) — Eugene F. Pigott Jr. used to wince when he saw lawyers tout themselves in television commercials as "The Heavy Hitters" or loudly proclaim they could deliver "every single dime" to accident victims.

"People don't need a circus monkey telling them, 'I can do a better job than the last circus monkey you might have seen,'" said Pigott, associate judge of the state Court of Appeals, New York's highest court.

So last summer Pigott, then presiding justice of the Rochester-based Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, joined the top judges of the other three appellate divisions to propose new ethical rules to protect consumers from lawyers' ads that are misleading, inappropriate or overly aggressive.

A revised set of the rules takes effect today.

Although they're less sweeping and restrictive than the original proposal, they'll still change the way lawyers advertise in broadcast and print media and on the Internet.

Nicknames are out, such as the moniker of "The Hammer" used by former Rochester personal-injury lawyer James J. Shapiro, who was suspended in 2004 for ethical violations.

Ads are prohibited if they show lawyers in situations unrelated to their professional competence — such as ones broadcast by the Syracuse firm of Alexander & Catalano, who portrayed their name partners as baseball players tagged "The Heavy Hitters."

Ads must include disclaimers that prior results, such as multimillion-dollar verdicts or settlements, don't guarantee results in future cases.

Although actors can be used if the ads disclose that the actors are being paid, ads can't include testimonials from clients whose cases are pending.

Lawyers can use pop-up ads on their own Web pages, but not on other Web sites.

Rochester lawyer Michael R. Wolford, who led an effort to monitor lawyers' ads in 2005 as president of the Monroe County Bar Association, said he hopes the new rules will restore dignity to lawyers' ads.
"I don't want to build up anyone's hopes or expectations that this will change the climate significantly, but it's a step in the right direction," Wolford said. "Hopefully, the most offensive ads will be dropped."

But the new rules will face an immediate challenge.

Lawyer James Alexander of Alexander & Catalano said his firm would join with the Public Citizen Litigation Group of Washington, D.C., and the New York Civil Liberties Union to claim in a lawsuit that the rules impinge on lawyers' First Amendment rights.

"We still feel that some of these rules are vague and contradictory and difficult to enforce," said Alexander, whose firm advertises heavily in Rochester.

"We believe it has to be decided whether this violates our free speech right. We do intend to file a lawsuit in federal court very shortly to get a determination that everyone can live with and (that) will be the final word," Alexander said.

In the meantime, he said his firm has changed its advertising to abide by the rules and omit references to "The Heavy Hitters."

Lawyers across the nation have been allowed to advertise since 1977, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned restrictions on lawyers' ads in newspapers. Follow-up decisions opened advertising for lawyers on the airwaves, in the Yellow Pages and in cyberspace.

Every state regulates its own lawyers ads.

In New York, the Lawyers' Code of Professional Responsibility restricts ads that are false, deceptive or misleading. Alleged violations of the code are referred to the Appellate Division and its Attorney Grievance Committee.

But last year, court administrators and the legal community cooperated in an unprecedented effort to change the Code of Responsibility to rein in ads that administrators believed have discredited the legal profession.

In a large part, the new rules are a legacy of Shapiro, whose take-no-prisoners TV ads in the 1990s featured explosions, falling bodies and car crashes.

A frequent target of disciplinary rules, Shapiro called himself "The Hammer" and promised to make those who injured his clients pay "every dime I can."

In a 1996 ruling, the Appellate Division said Shapiro's ads were "offensive and degrading to the legal profession" but found they were "constitutionally protected hyperbole."

Eight years later, however, the court suspended Shapiro for one year after finding he "grossly exaggerated and falsely depicted his skill" and improperly solicited business from a comatose accident victim.

Shapiro, who admitted that he had never tried a case in court and frequently farmed out his work to other lawyers, sold his business, lives in Florida and hasn't sought to be reinstated.

Thomas G. Smith, president-elect of the Monroe County Bar Association, formerly represented Shapiro. Although Smith said the new rules were needed, he said he believed that Shapiro bluntly stated what some other lawyers imply.

"Frankly, every law firm's brochure says that they obtain optimal results," Smith said. "He just said it in a crasser way."

As a counterbalance, the new rules will allow lawyers limited puffery: They can advertise if they've been evaluated by bona fide peer-reviews, such as the annual Best Lawyers in America publication.

Stephen G. Schwarz, managing partner of the Rochester personal-injury firm of Faraci Lange, said he longs for the days when lawyers' ads were banned.

"Speaking personally," he said, "it would have been better if the genie had never gotten out of the bottle and the Supreme Court hadn't opened this up."

MZEIGLER@DemocratandChronicle

Former Supreme Court Justice O'Connor to mediate 60 year-old Kentucky land dispute.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

O'Connor may mediate dispute
Kentucky land case could mean millions

By Jim Adams
jadams@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has told a federal court that she is willing to mediate a decades-old dispute over the government's taking of nearly 36,000 acres in Western Kentucky for an Army training camp during World War II.

More than $30 million appears to be at stake in the highly unusual case, in which about 1,000 former landowners and heirs complain that the federal government wrongly benefited from the sale of oil, gas, coal and other mineral rights under the land of the old Camp Breckinridge. The camp sat astride Union, Webster and Henderson counties.

The dispute was aired most recently in a class-action suit before Judge Susan G. Braden of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. To encourage a settlement, Braden proposed in December that Fred J. Fielding, who was counsel to President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1986, serve as mediator.

But on Jan. 9, President Bush announced that Fielding was returning to the White House as his general counsel.

Braden then asked O'Connor to consider mediating the case and, according to an order Braden entered last Friday, the recently retired justice agreed to do so.

Multiple legal issues remain unresolved, and Braden's order proposes that O'Connor serve as mediator "for a term of 120 days to ascertain whether a settlement may be achieved."

Asked about the 120-day time period, William T. Griggs of Morganfield -- whose family's 250-acre Union County farm was taken by the government and has since been mined for coal -- said: "That sounds like a long time, but I understand that it takes a long time, there's a lot to do there. … When you've waited 60-some years, you get kind of impatient."

Griggs was 18 when his family's property was taken for about $70 an acre, or roughly $17,500.

Asked what she thinks of O'Connor's role in the case, Ruby Higginson of Evansville, Ind. -- who was a high schooler in the 1940s when her family's 803-acre farm was taken for about $67,000 -- said, "I just know that she is a very outstanding individual and we are happy that we have progressed this far."

Attorney Mark Stephen Pitt of Louisville, who represents plaintiffs in the case, said, "Justice O'Connor's willingness to become involved demonstrates the importance of this case and the unusual nature of the case, and the need that it be resolved, if possible, sooner rather than later."

The Justice Department would not comment on the judge's proposal that O'Connor serve as mediator. She could not be reached yesterday.

Braden has given both sides until Feb. 15 to consent or object to O'Connor's appointment. Pitt said the plaintiffs intend to file their consent soon.

Early in World War II, the government decided the farmland immediately east of Morganfield was prime real estate for an Army training site. So between 1942 and 1944, it initiated six condemnation actions in U.S. District Court, taking the property of hundreds of landowners.

The government paid them about $3.1 million for 35,849 acres, and Camp Breckinridge eventually held as many as 45,000 soldiers at a time.

By the 1950s, if not earlier, the government became aware of substantial oil, gas and coal reserves beneath the property -- and by the 1960s was selling off the mineral rights and the land itself.

The former landowners complained that the government sold the land in blocks too large for average individuals to buy. Such an action, they claim, violated verbal understandings at the time of the sales that the former owners would have the option of buying back their farms, should the government ever sell the property.

In addition, they argue that it was unfair for the government to profit as it did from more than $30 million in the sale of mineral rights.

The first legal action, in the mid-1960s in federal court, was dismissed. In 1968, the former landowners formed the Breckinridge Land Committee, which still meets on the third Friday of each month in the county courthouse annex in Morganfield. It began lobbying for Congress to intervene. In 1993, the Senate referred the case to the Court of Federal Claims.

Braden, who took the case over in 2003, held in 2005 that the contracts under which the government acquired the property were based on a mutual mistake -- "that no coal, gas, oil or other mineral deposits existed under the condemned properties" worth extracting. As a result, the government was "unjustly enriched," and the "available remedy" is restitution, she wrote.

Braden's report in December set out about $34 million that the government "received from the sale, lease or easement of coal, oil, gas and other mineral rights that were previously the property of the plaintiffs in this case." In addition, she wrote, the government sold surface rights to 31,963 acres between 1956 and 1968 for just under $6 million.

"It is a tragedy that the original claimants in this case apparently are now dead, without a final resolution of this matter," she wrote.

Reporter Jim Adams can be reached at (502) 582-4199.

Lawyers don't get the respect they deserve.

ARCHIVES

Lawyers don't get respect they deserve

It's become fashionable to knock lawyers.

People who couldn't tell a funny joke to save their lives can recite insulting wisecracks about the legal profession.

The fact lawyers are held in such a low esteem came to mind the other day when Democratic hopeful John Edwards announced his intention to seek his party's nomination for the presidency.

Before serving a term in the U.S. Senate, Edwards was a personal injury trial attorney and specialized in corporate negligence and medical malpractice claims. He ended up making a fortune through his success as a trial lawyer.

And that, more than his inexperience serving in an executive political capacity, may be the biggest handicap he has to overcome.

His detractors will make up disparaging stories about him dragging people with fake bandages into court and then having them get out of their casts and wheelchairs to dance around celebrating over huge settlements. The fact he was defending the rights of innocent victims will be downplayed.

Unless it's in the context of a television program, lawyers today do not get any respect. For some reason the public revels in watching lawyers protect the justice system on TV but takes a dim view of lawyers in the real world.

When the subject of lawyers is mentioned, eyes roll and complaints of red tape and high legal fees are often raised.

To some, being a lawyer ranks on the same level as being an embezzler, pickpocket or corrupt politician.

“They chase ambulances, looking for lawsuits to pry money from people and companies,” is a charge leveled quite frequently.

It's not uncommon to hear comments like, “Lawyers and their litigation are ruining this country.”

Or — “Leave it to a lawyer to take something simple that can be settled out of court with common sense and make it a complicated issue that costs everyone money.”

A few years ago a neighbor of mine complained after a nearby house had been sold.

“I heard a lawyer bought the place,” he said. “Just what we don't need, a lawyer moving into the block.”

I mistakenly thought he was joking.

OK, there are greedy lawyers. And there are attorneys around who do not always have the best interest of their clients at heart. However, every profession has its share of people who don't measure up under close scrutiny.

Those who chase ambulances and try to exploit situations unfairly are the exception rather than the rule.

Take a moment to evaluate the people you know who are lawyers. I think it's safe to say we are all familiar with lawyers who work tirelessly around the clock to serve their clients.

Most of the attorneys I know will go out of their way to encourage settlements in cases before they go to court. With the exception of divorce cases, where too often emotion pushes things into a win-at-all cost mentality, the lawyers I know are reasonable and practical.

The process alone of becoming a lawyer, forging through law school and having to pass stringent state bar exams, is enough to discourage all but the most dedicated.

Many go into the law profession to defend people without enormous wealth, giving them a chance to compete on equal footing against the rich, famous and powerful in a court of law.

Certainly it's true we live in a society that has become needlessly controlled by litigation. But that's not the fault of lawyers. Blame people who are too often greedy, self-centered and caught up in the ruthless nature of the corporate world for having a need to hire lawyers.

For the most part, lawyers abide by a high code of ethics and steer their clients to play by the rules.

What could be more honorable than that?

- David Maril, an Enterprise copy editor, can be reached at dmaril@enterprisenews.com.

Former Enron lawyers to pay $18 million to settle potential legal malpractice claims.

Enron Law Firm to Pay $18M

Houston (Jan. 23, 2007) - Texas law firm Andrews Kurth will pay Enron's estate $18.5 million to settle
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"We have continuously denied wrongdoing and culpability with respect to our work for Enron," Andrews Kurth managing partner Howard Ayres said in a statement. "We felt, though, after the passage of five years, that it was expedient to enter into the settlement to put this matter behind us."

While the estate never officially sued the law firm for allegedly signing off on improper deals, a court-appointed bankruptcy examiner has written in reports that the firm may have committed malpractice in approving 28 transactions that involved asset transactions allegedly disguised as sales. Classifying the transactions in such a manner could have allowed Enron to falsely boost its cash flow.

Last year, another Houston-based law firm -- Vinson & Elkins -- settled bankruptcy-related litigation for $30 million. The bankruptcy examiner had alleged that Vinson & Elkins may have committed malpractice by failing to respond to red flags about Enron’s accounting practices.

Both law firms neither admitted, nor denied, wrongdoing or liability in agreeing to the settlements.

A federal bankruptcy judge must approve Andrews Kurth’s deal.

— WebCPA staff

Jury in MSD returns with mixed verdict

Both sides claim victory in MSD suit By Joseph Gerth jgerth@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal A federal court jury found Wednesday night that the Metropolitan Sewer District had violated state whistleblower law when it fired two employees after one of them complained about political interference on a sewer project. But the jury’s decision to award little in damages left both sides claiming victory. Former inspector Ron Barber will get $35,000 for lost wages. But but former environmental engineer Sarah Lynn Cunningham wasn’t awarded anything. The two also had asked for punitive damages, but the jury didn’t agree. The jury also rejected Cunningham’s claim that MSD violated her constitutional right to free speech. She had complained to the state attorney general’s office more than two years ago about what she believed were improprieties on a sewer project in the Valley Village area. She claimed that Louisville Metro Council member Bob Henderson, his aide, Larry Mattingly, and former MSD board member Bill Gray interfered on the project and tried to reward political supporters with free fill dirt from the project. Henderson and Mattingly have denied wrongdoing. Gray died in November. Barber said he was just glad to get the story out and hopes that others who still work at MSD and testified in the seven-day trial don’t face reprisals. “I’m tickled. I wanted it out so people don’t have to work under this kind of pressure.” Cunningham said money wasn’t important. “They said what MSD was doing was wrong. I hope this will prevent this from happening to other people.” MSD Executive Director Bud Schardein said he felt “like a kid on Christmas morning. … I’m glad it’s over with so I … can concentrate on sewers and drainage.” He said the jury found that there was a “technical” violation of the state whistle-blower law. Schardein said his one regret is that he spent thousands of dollars of rate-payers’ money to defend “people at MSD who did nothing wrong.” Reporter Joseph Gerth can be reached at (502) 582-4702.

State Farm finally agrees to pay Katrina victims

State Farm agrees to pay up for Katrina in Mississippi
Updated 1/23/2007 11:54 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | Subscribe to stories like this

By Kathy Chu, USA TODAY
State Farm has agreed to pay thousands of Mississippi homeowners hit by Hurricane Katrina likely hundreds of millions of dollars in a landmark settlement that's expected to reverberate across the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.
The company agreed to a deal under which it will reopen thousands of homeowners' claims and is likely to pay as much as $500 million, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood announced Tuesday. There's no cap on the payout. The insurer will have to pay at least $50 million under the deal negotiated with the Scruggs law firm, which represents the majority of Mississippi homeowners who sued State Farm.

In a related development, State Farm will settle more than 600 individual Mississippi homeowners' Katrina claims for roughly $80 million, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations who didn't want to be named because the settlement is confidential.

The settlement applies only to Mississippi homeowners — not to the thousands in Louisiana who are suing State Farm and other insurers, arguing that wind and rain ravaged their homes. Homeowners' policies cover wind and rain damage, but not flood damage, which is covered by federal flood insurance.

Homeowners could begin receiving insurance checks within a few weeks, after the class-action settlement is approved, as expected, by U.S. District Court Judge L.T. Senter Jr. As part of the agreement with State Farm in Mississippi, Hood agreed to drop a criminal probe against the insurer related to its claims-handling process.

Phil Supple, a spokesman for State Farm, the USA's largest home insurer, said its goal has always been to "reach a just, speedy and efficient resolution to these matters." A settlement "is in the best interest of our policyholders," Supple added.

About 35,000 Mississippi homeowners are eligible to have their claims reopened. For about 1,000 Mississippi residents whose homes were reduced to slabs by Katrina, State Farm will offer at least 50% of the homeowner's insurance on the property structure. The average house in Mississippi costs about $200,000, Hood estimates. Thousands more will receive lower amounts.

Homeowners who don't want to settle with State Farm can still sue the insurer. But the deal "gives a new opportunity for thousands of people to recover their insured losses through a quick process," says Zach Scruggs, an attorney who, with his father, Richard Scruggs, negotiated with State Farm.

State Farm is fighting hundreds of other Katrina-related lawsuits along the Gulf Coast, including in Louisiana. Attorneys in those cases said they hoped the Mississippi development would cause State Farm and other insurers to settle quickly.

"State Farm knows where to find me," says Madro Bandaries, who represents dozens of Louisiana homeowners disputing State Farm's payouts after Katrina. "They cannot, in my estimation, go to Mississippi and do one thing and then not go to Louisiana."

Courier Journal Reports Blacks Underrepresented on Jefferson County Juries

Study: Blacks underrepresented on juries
By Jason Riley
jriley@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

Two-thirds of the defendants on trial in Jefferson County courts over the last four months were black, while about 16 percent of the jurors also were black, according to a study released Tuesday.

And the number of black jurors who sat on civil trials was 11 percent, according to the study by the Commission on Racial Fairness.

By comparison, African Americans make up about 20 percent of the total population in Jefferson County, and the commission had hoped to get a similar result for jury representation.

In early October, the 22-member commission asked local judges to begin monitoring the number of blacks on jury panels and track how and why they are being removed.

The results were announced Tuesday afternoon. The commission was set to discuss them.

The surveys results come more than a year after a Courier-Journal series found that Jefferson County residents who live in low-income, mostly black areas are less likely to sit on juries.

The commission study found that of the 28 criminal cases followed since late September, 48 jurors were black and 249 were white. Of the 10 civil cases studied, 12 jurors were black and 86 were white.

The commission had hoped to learn whether there is a problem with racial diversity in the courts and where it is oc