South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers

On Sept. 9, 1999, claimant’s decedent Joseph Gilio, 29, a laborer, worked at a state-commissioned work project that was located near Front Street, in Hempstead. Gilio was helping co-workers who were guiding a large metal panel into a trench that had been created to hold concrete sewer basins. The trenches’ walls needed to be supported by some type of sheeting, to prevent dirt from falling back into the trenches. The sheeting’s size dictated that it had to be lifted and guided into the hole by a crane. Gilio was holding and guiding a panel that was being lifted by a crane. The crane touched an overhead high-voltage electric line, and Gilio was electrocuted.Gilio’s widow, Charlene Gilio, acting as administratrix of her husband’s estate, sued the state of New York. The estate alleged that the state violated the labor law.The estate’s counsel claimed that the project’s managers should not have allowed work to be performed beneath high-voltage power lines. He also claimed that the crane’s operator and its spotter–who was signaling the operator–were negligent in their failure to avoid the power line. He contended that the work site was not properly safeguarded and that, as such, it violated Labor Law § 241(6). He also contended that the site violated the general safety standards established by Labor Law § 200.

Defense counsel contended that the crane’s operator, who was employed by the same subcontractor that employed Gilio, was responsible for the accident.

Gilio suffered electrocution. A co-worker contended that about 20 seconds elapsed before Gilio was knocked off of the metal sheet and onto the ground. Another co-worker contended that Gilio yelled for about another minute before eventually dying. Gilio died Sept. 9, 1999, at age 29. He was survived by his wife and a son who was born in early 2000.

Gilio’s son was born with Wiskott-Aldrich disease, an immune-deficiency disease, but the child’s physician testified that newly available treatments could extend the child’s life expectancy to age 40 or beyond.

Gilio’s widow testified that Gilio used to perform extensive repair work around the home and that he landscaped the property’s grounds.

Gilio’s estate sought recovery of wrongful-death damages that included Gilio’s past and future loss of earnings, benefits and retirement income; Gilio’s son’s past and future loss of parental guidance; the estate’s loss of household services; and damages for about 90 seconds of conscious pain and suffering experienced by Gilio.

Defense counsel disputed the amount that the estate sought for lost wages and loss of household services. The defense’s medical expert also opined that the likelihood of a patient similar to Gilio’s child reaching the age of 20 is less than 10%. Defense counsel claimed that, based on the child’s limited mental and physical abilities, he is not entitled to any damages for loss of parental guidance.

Judge Alton Waldon Jr. found that the state had final supervision and control of the job site and the work performed. He determined that the estate’s damages totaled $6,468,507.

The state Supreme Court says it will review a case in which a woman says bars and restaurants should be held legally accountable if they allow intoxicated customers to drive.State law says restaurants, bars and others who hold permits to sell alcohol must not sell the drinks to an obviously intoxicated person. But the law says nothing about holding the businesses liable if the person drives drunk, except in the case of underage drinkers. 

Theresa Hall of Durham sued a Mexican restaurant after she was seriously injured and her husband was killed in a 1997 car accident caused by a man who had been drinking for hours and who registered a point-20, more than twice the legal limit. 

A jury that heard her lawsuit said the restaurant should pay more than a million dollars for allowing the man to continue drinking and then drive away. 

The verdict was overturned by a Superior Court judge, and that decision was upheld by the state Court of Appeals.

Walt Disney World has settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the family of a 4-year-old boy who died after going on one of its rides, court records show.However, neither an attorney representing Daudi Bamuwamye’s parents nor Disney would elaborate on the terms. The court file shows a joint motion for dismissal against Disney filed Jan. 11, and approved that day.

The file says the parties settled the dispute in mediation on Oct. 26, but does not include specifics.

Bamuwamye, the son of a United Nations worker from Uganda, died after riding “Mission: Space” on June 13, 2005. An autopsy determined the Pennsylvania boy died of a heart condition linked to natural causes.

The condition is an abnormal thickening of the heart that can throw contractions out of coordination. People who have it are at risk for sudden death throughout their lives, especially in stressful situations, a medical examiner said.

The suit alleged Disney did not properly warn the public of hazards associated with the ride and should have done more to help when Bamuwamye became unconscious after riding.

“Mission: Space,” which opened in 2003, simulates a trip to Mars and spins riders in a centrifuge that subjects them to twice the normal force of gravity. The ride has motion sickness bags and signs warning people with heart, back and neck problems.

A 49-year-old woman from Germany also became ill and died in April after riding the attraction. She died from bleeding of the brain and had severe, long-standing high blood pressure, according to a medical examiner’s report.

Disney has since opened a tamer version of the ride, which does not have a spinning centrifuge.

In 2005, a 16-year-old British girl suffered cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated shortly after she rode “The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror” at Disney-MGM. She remained in critical condition months later and had to be flown home by air ambulance.

Fumes from a leaking propane tank exploded inside a convenience store near a ski resort, shattering the building into a pile of debris and killing at least four people, authorities said.At least five other people were seriously hurt at the Flat Top Little General Store, where scarcely anything remained after the explosion Tuesday except twisted metal and a sign showing the price of gasoline.

The blast was felt at least a mile (more than a kilometer) away at a store selling skiing gear.

“I thought we got struck by lightning. The whole building shook. The power went off,” said Ben Monast, manager of the Ski Shop.

Authorities said the explosion happened just as a fire truck was pulling into the station in response to a reported gas leak. The fatalities included a paramedic and a retired firefighter who also was a building inspector.

State Fire Marshal Sterling Lewis said an above-ground tank of propane was being worked on at the time of the blast. The gas apparently drifted into the business and exploded.

“It is our initial thought that the fumes entered into the building and had to have an ignition point,” Lewis said.

The propane tank and the store’s underground gasoline tanks did not explode, he said.

“Imagine putting off an explosion in your home and when you walked up to your home, the only thing you have left is toothpicks,” Lewis said.

Gov. Joe Manchin met privately with victims’ families at the Ghent Volunteer Fire Department. The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Chemical Safety Board said it was sending a team to assess the site. The board makes safety recommendations to industry, labor groups and regulatory agencies.

The victims’ names were not immediately released.

The gas station was about 70 miles (115 kilometers) southeast of Charleston.

An elderly former nursing home resident has filed a lawsuit over the alleged abuse and neglect she experienced during her two-month stay.

In the lawsuit, Rose Capriotti claims that during the time she was staying at the Prairie Manor Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, she fell hitting her head, and suffered bedsores.

The nursing home, Prairie Manor and its operator, Care Centers Inc, were named as defendants in the case.

The Lawsuit

According to the lawsuit Capriotti was first admitted to the home on March 23, 2006. In less than a week, staff at the nursing home sat Capriotti upright despite the fact that her balance was impaired by the stroke. Capriotti fell over and hit her head, said Capriotti’s attorney, Susan Novosad.

The staff first documented the bedsores on May 5, said Novosad. The family was unaware of the sores until May 15 when Capriotti was admitted to the hospital, Novosad added.

The lawsuit seeks at least $50,000 in damages. It claims that the staff at prairie Manor broke the law by failing to prevent the formation of bedsores, and also claims that the home did not properly evaluate, assess, or care for Capriotti.

“(Bedsores) don’t just go from zero to stage four,” said Novosad. “The only way (the staff) could not be aware is that no one evaluated her.”

“Pressure sores develop over a period of time, and there would be evidence of a pressure sore’s existence prior to the time it was at its most severe staging,” said Novosad.

Makers of the drug Lucentis have issued a warning that the drug used to treat age-related blindness has been linked with an increased incidence of stroke.

The makers, Genentech, sent a letter to a group of 1,500 eye specialists warning that early results of a recent trial indicated that it could help cause strokes.

“We want to be open and honest with the physician community, but this is consistent with what we’ve seen,” said a Genentech spokeswoman.

The letter adds to the growing controversy surrounding the risks and benefits of the drug, which is designed to be safer than a similar drug, Avastin, and is formulated to be more effective in the eyes.

The drug is meant to treat age-related macular degeneration, which affects as many as 1.4 million Americans. It occurs when blood vessels in the retina leak or get damaged.

The Trial

The test compared two doses of Lucentis: the recommended dose (0.5 milligrams), and a lower dose (0.3 milligrams). It found that people taking the higher dose were four times more likely to have a stroke (1.2 percent versus 0.3 percent). There was no difference in heart attack rates between the two groups of patients.

The trial found that people who had previously suffered strokes were at greatest risk of having one, but the study authors noted that it is hard to assess the real risks with this drug because most of the people who take it are elderly and elderly people tend to have more strokes than the general population.

People were not excluded from the test due to cardiovascular risk.

A couple who contended that a hormone-replacement drug caused the woman’s breast cancer was awarded $1.5 million Monday in a jury verdict against drug maker Wyeth.The jury also found that Wyeth acted with malice or reckless disregard, prompting a hearing set to start Tuesday on possible punitive damages.

The Philadelphia jury awarded $1 million in compensatory damages to plaintiff Mary Daniel and $500,000 to her husband, Tom, a courtroom clerk said.

Mary Daniel, 60, of Hot Springs, Ark., developed breast cancer after taking the Wyeth drug Prempro - a combination of estrogen and progestin - every other day for about 16 months to relieve hot flashes.

Daniel had two surgeries and underwent chemotherapy and radiation following her July 2001 diagnosis. She has since been cancer-free.

Her lawyer said Wyeth knew of research indicating a link between Prempro and cancer, but put profits ahead of patients.

“Wyeth has known for decades that postmenopausal drugs cause breast cancer but the company deliberately failed to do studies to understand or quantify that risk,” lawyer Zoe Littlepage said. “Wyeth protected their bottom dollar instead of protecting the patients.”

At its height, Wyeth sold $2 billion a year in drugs that treat menopausal symptoms, including Premarin and Prempro. But many women stopped taking them after the federal Women’s Health Initiative study in July 2002 found higher rates of breast cancer and heart problems in women who took estrogen-progestin pills.

Wyeth spokesman Christopher Garland declined comment after Monday’s verdict, citing a request by the trial judge.

In closing arguments, Wyeth denied any malice and noted that doctors still prescribe Prempro for some women. Lawyer Peter Grossi suggested that Daniel’s breast cancer was caused by other risk factors, including the density of her breasts and a family history of cancer.

The jury deliberated for about two days following a three-week trial.

Daniel’s lawsuit is the third of about 4,500 against Wyeth to reach a jury.

Wyeth won its first trial in Arkansas in August, and a mistrial was declared in the second trial in Philadelphia in October.

Other suits are pending in the courts.

Psychiatrist Marc Sadowsky recalled being shocked when a drug-company salesman challenged him two years ago to explain why he prescribed more of one type of antidepressant than another.”He knew more about my prescribing practices than I did,” he said.

Sadowsky will testify next week in defense of a New Hampshire law — the first in the nation — that bans the commercial use of information on what drugs physicians prescribe.

IMS Health and Verispan, two companies that collect prescription data from pharmacies and sell it to drug makers, researchers and investment firms, are challenging the law.

The case begins on Monday in U.S. District Court in Concord. Its outcome could set a precedent for states such as Nebraska, Nevada and Missouri, which have introduced similar bills. New York is expected to do so this year.

The New Hampshire law aims to protect the privacy of doctors, end inappropriate marketing of drugs to physicians and cut swelling health care costs, said Richard Head, New Hampshire’s senior assistant attorney general.

“The New Hampshire Legislature concluded that the practice causes doctors to prescribe more-expensive drugs when a less-expensive clinically equivalent drug would otherwise be prescribed,” he said.

Under an exemption in the law, organizations can use the information as long as they do not profit from it, Head said.

The law’s critics contend that IMS and other data mining companies provide crucial information to national research databases.

“What the law doesn’t take into account is that they can’t use the data if it’s not collected,” said Charles Arlinghaus, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center of Public Policy, an independent think tank.

IMS and Verispan, which is a joint venture of Quintiles Transnational Corp. and McKesson Corp., say the law violates First Amendment free-speech protections.

“When the government decides it doesn’t want information published that is in the hands of private entities, it has to show it has a compelling reason,” said attorney Thomas Julin at Hunton & Williams, which represents IMS in the case.

HIGH STAKES

For the pharmaceuticals industry, which last year generated U.S. sales of roughly $272 billion, the stakes are high.

“Ending the collection of prescribing data will hamper pharmaceutical companies’ ability to provide current information about drugs to physicians who need it most,” said Ken Johnson, senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Some states, including California, have already considered and rejected such laws.

Supporters of New Hampshire’s law include the American Association of Retired Persons, the National Women’s Health Alliance, the American Federation of Labor, and the New Hampshire Medical Society, the state’s top medical body.

“We just feel that physicians should be able to decide on their own what the right medicines are,” said Palmer Jones, the New Hampshire Medical Society’s executive vice president.

Some doctors don’t want the information restricted.

“I recognize that pharmaceutical sales representatives are attempting to make a profit for their employers, but they often have excellent information, including specific testing information, that I might not otherwise learn about,” said Thomas Wharton, a cardiologist in Exeter, New Hampshire, who will testify on behalf of IMS in a deposition.

Ernst Berndt, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics professor, said such data can help researchers and government agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which uses the data. But Berndt says it should be free.

The Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention said New Hampshire’s law would have no effect on its research because it uses its own surveys.

A Wyoming nursing home’s staff scalded a vegetative resident in a shower then failed to notify the man’s doctor and family of his burns until two days later, his mother alleges in a federal lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Keith Allen Brown, 35, sustained severe burns from 135-degree water after nursing assistants at the Westview Health Care Center in Sheridan left him unattended in a shower.

Brown received minimal and inadequate treatment from staff members until two days after the incident, when a licensed practical nurse informed Brown’s doctor of his injuries after noting signs of pain, the complaint says.

Brown’s mother and legal guardian, Bobbie, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming. She names Westview Health Care Center and its owner, Tennessee-based Life Care Centers of America, as the defendants.

According to the complaint, Brown has been in a persistent vegetative state since a sustaining a traumatic brain injury in a 1997 automobile accident. He began living at Westview in January 1998.

Brown’s mother alleges that her son was awake but with minimal awareness during his stay at Westview. Brown has the capacity to suffer pain, “as manifested by symptoms of restlessness, wincing and clenching of teeth,” the complaint says.

When certified nursing assistants at Westview attempted to shower Brown in the morning of Sept. 18, 2004, they left him unattended and failed to monitor the water temperature, according to the complaint.

A mixing valve designed to prevent excessively hot water failed, and Brown suffered first-, second- and third-degree burns to his to his scalp, neck, shoulders, back and ear, the lawsuit says.

After the incident the nursing assistants allegedly returned Brown to his bed without reporting what had happened to anyone and without providing any treatment.

A licensed practical nurse noted redness and weeping blisters on Brown’s back, neck, scalp and ear three hours later and alerted the on-call registered nurse, the complaint says.

Without examining Brown, the registered nurse allegedly ordered that an antibacterial cream be applied and the wounds be dressed.

Prior to the incident, Brown’s physician had issued standing orders to use the cream for small first-degree burns. He had given no such orders for larger, more severe wounds, according to the complaint.

Brown’s mother alleges that the Westview staff did not notify her or her son’s physician of the burns until Sept. 20, 2004, after a nurse determined that Brown was showing pain symptoms.

During the two days following the scalding, Brown did not receive any medication or treatment to manage his pain, causing him to suffer needlessly, his mother says.

She alleges that Westview staff negligently failed to provide adequate supervision during the shower, monitor the water temperature properly, detect Brown’s injuries, treat them adequately and report the injuries in a timely manner.

In addition the facility failed to provide a shower that operated safely, the lawsuit says.

According to the complaint, Brown has suffered permanent injuries and scarring due to the incident.

As of press time Westview and Life Care Centers had not responded to the complaint.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson.

A 63-year-old man died Wednesday after a heavy metal ball fell from the top of a flagpole and struck him on the head.He was Eugene White of Oak Grove. He and his wife are co-owners of Flag Source, an Anoka company that installs and repairs flagpoles.

“It shouldn’t have fallen off, and of all the areas to hit, it shouldn’t have hit him,” said Joan White, the victim’s wife.

Authorities said White was working under the pole when the ball fell Wednesday afternoon. The flagpole, outside Perkins restaurant on University and Snelling Avenues, is about 70 feet high. The ball on top weighs more than 10 pounds and is bigger than a bowling ball.

“This is about as bizarre an incident as I can remember,” said St. Paul police spokesman Tom Walsh.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether White was wearing a hard hat. He died at Regions Hospital a few hours after the incident.

James Honerman, a spokesman for Minnesota OSHA, said Wednesday afternoon that his agency is investigating.