South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers

 A 27-year-old man who fell through the ice while walking home in the dark survived the frigid plunge thanks to a neighbor who skidded across the pond in a canoe.Rescuers and neighbors could hear Jason Dubois’ cries for help but could not initially see him in the dark at 2 a.m. Sunday as he was treading water in Whitman’s Pond in Weymouth.

“It was very disturbing. He was saying, ‘I’m going down. Don’t let me die.’ It was really scary,” neighbor John Volta said. “I just grabbed the canoe and went off like on a skateboard out to him and then the ice started to crack, so I just pushed it as far as I could and then the fireman came up beside me.”

Volta was treated for hypothermia and released from a local hospital.

Authorities say they were lucky to have the canoe to help the rescue. A fire station a half-mile from the pond has an ice boat, but the station was closed because of budget constraints.

“The ice boat out of station (No.) 3 was donated from a mother of a son who drowned in that pond. It’s named after her. And that boat never left the barn,” Weymouth Fire Capt. Mike Crowley said.

The way some Georgians see it, if they’re going to get thrown through the windshield of a pickup truck, that’s nobody’s business but their own.That kind of thinking helps explain why Georgia is the only state the only state that specifically exempts adults in pickups from having to wear seat belts.

The fight over seat belts is waged just about every year in the Georgia Legislature. But there’s hope that this year could be different. No fewer than three House bills to require seat belts in pickups are pending, and the Senate has adopted its own measure.

“This is the year it should pass,” said Sen. Don Thomas, a physician from the carpet-mill town of Dalton who sponsored one of the bills. “It’s embarrassing. Instead of making our state look tough, it makes us look foolish.”

There’s little doubt that the laws could prevent many deaths and hundreds of injuries each year. The could also save millions in medical costs, and help the state secure more federal highway money.

There are no known lobbyists lined up against the effort. And insurance companies, safety groups and auto associations lined up in favor of such legislation. But attempts to pass tougher seat belt laws here have been blocked for years by lawmakers - particularly those from rural areas - who argue that wearing seat belts is a matter of personal freedom.

“I’m a free-spirited guy. I believe that people should wear their seat belts. I just don’t believe the government should tell you to,” said Sen. Jeff Mullis, a Republican from the small town of Chickamauga. “That’s how I usually vote on these issues - anti-Big Brother.”

Phil Burrell, a 34-year-old pickup truck driver who lives in Sylvester, population 6,000, said, “We got enough laws on the books for law enforcement to enforce, and the seat belt law is another way to tack on something.” He said he would abide by such a law if it passed, but he is not sure it would make him safer.

“When the Good Lord calls me home,” he said, “a seat belt ain’t gonna stop it.”

Indiana used to be aligned with Georgia on the pickup seat belts question. But that state enacted a law last year requiring seat belts in trucks after lawmakers agreed also to block police from using checkpoints to enforce seat belt compliance.

New Hampshire still has no seat belt requirement for adults.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belts in pickups help reduce deaths by 60 percent, and about seven in 10 people who died in crashes involving pickups were not wearing a seat belt.

In Georgia alone, the American Automobile Association estimates that at least 20 lives could be saved and 400 serious injuries prevented every year if the state required seat belts in pickup trucks.

The federal government has long tied highway money to seat belt restrictions. Georgia missed out on $20.7 million that was available under a 2005 federal highway law because it failed to change its law. And AAA estimates the state could save $17 million in medical costs over 10 years by changing the seat belt law.

Ultimately, Georgia’s changing demographics could decide the issue. As metropolitan Atlanta continues to swell with people from other states, rural resistance to seat belt laws could be diluted.

“It may be a reflection of a state that doesn’t want to admit, ultimately, that it’s not what it once was,” said Char Miller, director of urban studies at Trinity University in San Antonio. “This is a last gasp. And I don’t imagine it will last very long.”

On March 28, 2006, plaintiffs Kent Peterson, 43, an airplane engine mechanic, and his wife, Tamara Peterson, 41, a bakery manager, were driving on Highway 105 near Brenham, when a pickup driving by Gary Wayne Gibbs crossed the center line and hit their car head-on.Gibbs was acting in the course and scope of his employment as an area manager with one or more of the following: Cequel III Communications; Universal Cable Holdings, LLC; Cebridge Connections Equipment Sales, LLC; and Cebridge General, LLC.

The Petersons sued Gibbs for crossing the center line and for driving in the rain with cruise control despite also being blind in one eye. The plaintiffs sued Cequel III, Universal Cable, Cebridge Connections and Cebridge General under respondeat superior. The plaintiffs alleged negligence and gross negligence.

The defendants stipulated that Gibbs’ employer was Universal Cable.

After voir dire, in exchange for nonsuit of the gross negligence claim, the defendants stipulated to Gibbs’ negligence.

Both the Petersons sustained multiple leg and arm fractures and lacerations. The wife suffered a stroke on her third day in the hospital. She claimed the stroke was the result of the seat belt dissecting her carotid artery. She claimed that the stroke left her with physical disabilities and cognitive deficits, and that she will never work again.

Both plaintiffs underwent multiple operations. Mr. Peterson underwent fusion of his wrist and said that he will not be able to return to the same kind of job, but will be able to work in some capacity.

Mr. Peterson claimed past medical bills of $148,735; future medical bills of $50,000; past wage loss of $87,641; and future wage loss of $639,337. He also claimed loss of consortium of $1 million in the past and $4 million in the future; loss of household services of $16,615 in the past and $396,330 in the future; physical impairment of $500,000 in the past and $2 million in the future; pain and suffering of $500,000 in the past and $1 million in the future; and disfigurement of $100,000 in the past and $200,000 in the future. He sought a total of $10,638,658.

Mrs. Peterson claimed past medical bills of $1,084,975; future medical bills of $5,944,455; past lost wages of $42,547; and future lost wages of $427,535. She also claimed physical impairment of $3 million in the past and $7 million in the future; pain and suffering of $2 million in the past and $3 million in the future; and disfigurement of $500,000 in the past and $1 million in the future. She sought a total of $23,999,512.

The Petersons’ attorney said that the defendants did not dispute the medical bills, Mrs. Peterson’s wage loss, or Mr. Peterson’s loss of household services, but he also reported that the defense argued that all damages combined should be $1 million to $3 million.

The jury rendered a plaintiffs’ verdict, awarding damages of $29,391,378.

The judgment will be against Universal Cable, according to plaintiffs’ counsel.

Kent Peterson

$148,735 Personal Injury: Past Medical Cost

$50,000 Personal Injury: Future Medical Cost

$500,000 Personal Injury: Past Loss Of Consortium

$2,000,000 Personal Injury: Future Loss Of Consortium

$125,000 Personal Injury: Past Physical Impairment

$1,500,000 Personal Injury: Future Physical Impairment

$87,641 Personal Injury: Past Lost Earnings Capability

$350,000 Personal Injury: FutureLostEarningsCapability

$150,000 Personal Injury: Past Pain And Suffering

$500,000 Personal Injury: Future Pain And Suffering

$7,000 Personal Injury: Past Disfigurement

$5,000 Personal Injury: Future Disfigurement

$16,615 Personal Injury: past loss of household services

$396,330 Personal Injury: future loss of household services

Tamara Peterson

$1,084,975 Personal Injury: Past Medical Cost

$7,000,000 Personal Injury: Future Medical Cost

$1,000,000 Personal Injury: Past Physical Impairment

$7,000,000 Personal Injury: Future Physical Impairment

$42,547 Personal Injury: Past Lost Earnings Capability

$427,535 Personal Injury: FutureLostEarningsCapability

$2,000,000 Personal Injury: Past Pain And Suffering

$3,500,000 Personal Injury: Future Pain And Suffering

$500,000 Personal Injury: Past Disfigurement

$1,000,000 Personal Injury: Future Disfigurement

Five people filed a lawsuit Thursday against the manufacturer of a batch of pre-filled syringes that were contaminated with bacteria, claiming they became seriously ill and were hospitalized.In December, doctors traced numerous infections to heparin-filled syringes used during home treatment for cancer and other ailments. About 40 people in Illinois and Texas became sick, including 20 outpatients from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

The syringes are used to flush catheters and intravenous lines.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday against syringe maker and distributor Sierra Pre-Filled of Angier, N.C., by plaintiffs Richard Farr, Tony Johnson, Jeffrey Marlin, Patricia Masterson and Milda Praninskas, who were all Illinois residents and patients at Rush.

Monetary damages the plaintiffs were seeking had not yet been determined, David Rapaport, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said Thursday.

All of the patients were hospitalized because of the bacteria, he said. The shortest length was for five days and the longest for nine days.

Dushyant Patel, president of Angier, N.C.-based Sierra Pre-Filled, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he did not know about the new lawsuits and couldn’t comment.

Another woman, Katie Abrams, filed in December what Rapaport said he believes was the first lawsuit involving the tainted syringes. Rapaport also represents Abrams.

Rapaport said more lawsuits are likely because his office has heard from several patients since the first case was filed.

On Jan. 18, the Food and Drug Administration and the company recalled all lots and sizes of the heparin and saline pre-filled syringes because the bacteria Serratia marcescens had been located in them. The recall noted that the bacterial infection could lead to serious injury or death.

Consumers who have the recalled syringes should stop using the product immediately, the FDA said. The product was distributed to Florida, Texas, Illinois, Colorado and Pennsylvania.

A previous recall of a single lot of the syringes was made in December.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed Merck & Co and Schering-Plough Corp for documents and information to see whether the companies hid the results of a study on their cholesterol drug Vytorin.

The move, announced on Saturday, came one day after U.S. regulators said they would review the study, called Enhance, which showed Vytorin worked no better than a generic in preventing the build-up of arterial plaque.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was not advising doctors to stop prescribing Vytorin, but shares of the two companies fell on Friday as news of the review unnerved investors.

The two stocks have fallen more than 20 percent since the results of the study were released on January 14, triggering a debate over Vytorin’s value.

Cuomo said the investigation would review the marketing of Vytorin and also the sale of the companies’ stocks to investors before the study’s negative results were disclosed.

“We will investigate and, when appropriate, hold accountable drug companies for engaging in irresponsible and deceptive conduct and any deceitful marketing of prescription drugs,” Cuomo said in a statement on Saturday.

“Drug companies are on notice that concealing critical information about life-saving prescription drugs, profiting at the expense of patients’ health, and wasting taxpayer dollars, is simply unacceptable.”

Vytorin combines the widely used generic Zocor with a newer cholesterol-fighting pill called Zetia. The Enhance study examined Vytorin against Zocor alone in patients with a rare genetic predisposition to dangerously high cholesterol levels.

Vytorin failed to halt the clogging of neck arteries better than Zocor alone, but did a better job of reducing “bad” LDL cholesterol.

“We are aware of the subpoena and will cooperate with the attorney general’s office. The company stands behind our products as we have done nothing wrong,” said Schering-Plough spokeswoman Rosemarie Yancosek.

Those sentiments were echoed by Merck.

“We’ve received the subpoenas and will cooperate fully. Merck stands behind the safety and efficacy profiles of both Zetia and Vytorin,” Merck spokesman Chris Garland wrote in an e-mail. “We acted with integrity and good faith in connection with the clinical trial.”

Merck and Schering-Plough sell Vytorin and Zetia in a joint venture, and the products have combined annual sales of about $5 billion.

The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen is seeking heightened warnings on Botox and a similar injectable over the risk of death and serious injury caused by spread of the drugs to vital organs.

According to the group, 16 deaths are associated with use of Botox and Myobloc, a similar drug made by Solstice Neurosciences. Four of those deaths occurred in children, and all but one were associated with medical use of the products.

Medical Use

Botox is a popular cosmetic wrinkle treatment, but it is also approved to treat a painful neck condition known as cervical dystonia. When injected into areas of the neck, Botox can relieve sometimes-disabling pain. The same is true of Myobloc.

However, injections of Botox and Myobloc to the condition are made extremely close to the esophagus, where the drugs may cause partial paralysis and lead to complications such as aspiration pneumonia, said Public Citizen.

“Nobody should die from the medical use of Botox. The fact that they are shows that patients don’t have a clue about these problems,” said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of health research for the group.

Petition Filed

Public Citizen filed a petition with the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, asking the agency to require the manufacturers of the two products to strengthen their warning labels to detail the risks.

A taxicab driver was hospitalized Monday morning after his cab plummeted about 35 feet off an expressway, landing on a busy street below. It happened about 7 a.m. as the taxi was traveling east on State Road 112, also known as the Airport Expressway, approaching southbound Interstate 95.According to Miami fire-rescue spokesman Lt. Ignatius Carroll Jr., the driver was traveling at a high rate of speed when he “loses control and basically pinballs on the expressway, knocking from guardrail to guardrail before he eventually came off of the expressway about 35 feet onto 36th Street.”

The driver was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center with serious injuries, but he was expected to survive. Witnesses said there were no passengers in the cab at the time. Carroll said it was amazing the driver survived the fall. “It’s also amazing that he did not strike any other vehicles” either on the expressway or on 36th Street, Carroll said.

A new study has shown that men have thinner skulls than women and it may make them more prone to head injury. Researchers at Ford Motor Company and Tianjin University of Science and Technology studied 3,000 people for skull thickness and shape. They found that skull thickness was on average 6.5 millimeters in men and 7.1 millimeters in women.

Skull thickness, as one might expect, improves the outcome for anyone suffering a head injury, but studies have also demonstrated that skull shape can also have an effect. However, the detailed relationship between skull thickness and shape and how well a person tolerates a head injury have not been settled with most studies simply extrapolating from smaller to larger skull and thickness to predict the likely effects of an impact.

The research is being done in order to create more protective head gear. The data was collected by using head scans of the study’s participants.

Actress Amy Yasbeck, the widow of ‘Three’s Company’ star John Ritter, is suing two doctors who treated her husband before his death in April 2003, the Los Angeles Times is reporting.

According to the lawsuit, Ritter’s family is blaming a doctor who read the results of the actor’s body scan in 2001 and another who diagnosed him the night he died.

“You can’t treat my kid’s dad for something and kill him in the process,” his widow says.

Yasbeck wants more than $67 million in damages, due to Ritter’s potential earning power on the hit show he starred in at the time of his death — ‘8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.’

“I think the money will show how angry the jury will be about what happened to John and what could happen to them,” Yasbeck says of the lawsuit.

Lawyers for the doctors claim there was no wrong doing on the part of their clients.

“I really, really believe that for whatever reason, John Ritter’s time was up,” Stephen C. Fraser, one of the doctor’s attorneys says.

Ritter’s family has already received $14 million in settlements, including over $9 million from the hospital where he died.

Dannon Co. is being targeted in a proposed class action lawsuit over claims it misled the public about the health benefits of its “probiotic” yogurts.

Company Boasts Benefits, Charges More

According to the consumer fraud lawsuit, Dannon mounted a huge marketing campaign to convince consumers that its Activia, Activia Lite and DanActive brand yogurts were scientifically proven to have benefits over other yogurts and then charged 30 percent more.

The packaging of Activia boasts the benefits of “bifidus regularis,” an ingredient the company claims “helps naturally regulate your digestive system,” and the dairy drink DanActive is touted for its ability “to strengthen the body’s defenses when consumed daily.”

Attempt to Boost Sales

Dannon knew such claims were unsubstantiated, the lawsuit contends. The company is accused of launching the massive campaign to help boost sales of its products in the U.S.

The “probiotic” products are expected to make up about 40 percent of the company’s total sales in the U.S. this year, said Dannon’s chief executive officer Juan Carlo Dalto in a statement to Reuters.

The Lawsuit

Attorneys filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in a Los Angeles federal court. The suit seeks to reimburse consumers who purchased DanActive, Activia, or Activia Lite. It also asks that Dannon be required to launch “a corrective advertising campaign.”