02 October

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Should Hospitals Limit the Number of Patients Nurses Can Help?

in Accidents, Injuries, Premises Liability

The medical community is divided over a November ballot measure that would make Massachusetts only the second state with such staffing requirements. Voters this fall could make Massachusetts only the second state in the country to limit the number of patients that hospital nurses can help at one time. Question 1 would create legal ratios based on the type of patients that nurses are dealing with. Nurses aiding women during birth and up to two hours after, for instance, would be limited to one patient. If they're working with children, they could see four patients at once. In the psychiatric ward, nurses could...

27 September

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Estate Recovers Nothing for Mistaken Brain Surgery

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Injuries, Wrongful Death

The case of a woman who died after undergoing mistaken brain surgery involves apparent errors by her doctors and her lawyers, according to a Michigan Supreme Court justice who agreed with a decision to overturn the $20 million award. Because the lawyers pursued a negligence cause of action barred by collateral estoppel, the estate of Bimla Nayyar will receive nothing, according to the concurring opinion by Michigan Chief Justice Stephen Markman. Nayyar was supposed to receive treatment for a dislocated jaw, but doctors operated on her brain because of a mix-up involving X-rays. The Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn conceded negligence. “This case...

25 September

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New Law Defines Negligence in Workers’ Compensation Cases

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Construction Workers', Injuries

Personal injury cases often turn on whether one party was negligent. However, at law, negligence can have several different meanings. In some personal injury cases, the specific issue in the case comes down to whether the defendant was “grossly negligent,” or merely just “negligent.” One such situation is presented in a recent Florida court of appeals case, Villalta v. Cornn International, LLC. In the case, Villalta was working for a sub-contractor on a larger project. Because it was a large project, there were several other sub-contractors working alongside the company Villalta worked for. One day while on the job, Villalta fell...

20 September

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Father Lost Infant Son to Drunk Driver Change Could Save Countless Lives

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Accidents, Car Accidents, Wrongful Death

Marcus Kowal, a former mixed martial arts fighter, is co-founder of the Liam’s Life Foundation. Sept. 12 marks two years since the funeral of my 15-month-old son, Liam. He had been in a stroller, being pushed through a pedestrian crosswalk in suburban Los Angeles by my sister-in-law, who was 15 years old at the time. She had done everything right: pressed the button, waited for the lights to change and then started walking. Other cars stopped, but one didn’t. Police later estimated that the car was going 35 to 40 mph as it smashed into Liam and my sister-in-law. The car was driven...

19 September

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Ride Sharing vs. Traditional Taxis: How do Injury Insurance Claims Compare?

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Car Accidents, Injuries

Ridesharing companies like Lyft and Uber are aggressively expanding to new marketsthroughout the United States. These companies are directly competing with traditional taxi companies. The taxi companies, however, are fighting back with a strong public relations campaign painting the ride-sharing companies as a danger to the community as a whole, and the passenger in particular. Incredibly, the taxi companies claim that a passenger injured in a Lyft or Uber car during a car accident may very well find himself or herself without insurance coverage to pay medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. This claim is usually accompanied by a stern “buyer...

17 September

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Law Firm Can’t Toss Woman’s $25M Fraud Suit

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Injuries

A Manhattan federal judge refused Friday to toss a $25 million fraud suit targeting Weitz & Luxenberg brought by a woman who says the plaintiffs firm took on her 20-year-old breast implant injury case against Bristol-Myers Squibb but allowed it to be dismissed without telling her. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein set up a briefing schedule that would allow counsel for Beverly J. Ezra to amend her claims against the law firm, the $99 billion pharmaceutical giant and its Medical Engineering Corp. subsidiary, already named as defendants in a related case. The judge indicated he was inclined to let Bristol-Myers out of the case after...

12 September

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Two more crashes, four more deaths. Why are churches still using unsafe vans?

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Accidents, Car Accidents

Decades of government advisories weren't enough to save four people from being thrown from a 15-passenger church van that flipped on a Missouri highway this month. Three teenagers died. They were among eleven teens and two adults from Faith Chapel Assembly of God near Kansas City traveling to Arkansas when they crashed in southwestern Missouri. The driver and all other passengers were injured. The tragedy is all too familiar for families mourning the deaths of more than 600 people in 15-passenger van rollovers since 2001. That figure represents deaths in crashes where a van was the only vehicle involved. A Courier Journal investigation of early-model vans published in May found that regulators have largely...

11 September

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More U.S. Kids Dying From Injuries

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Car Accidents, Wrongful Death

Murder, suicide, car crashes, and addiction have all contributed to a spike in deaths among U.S. children and teens in recent years, a government study suggests. The death rate for youth aged 10 to 19 rose 12 percent between 2013 and 2016, eroding a previous decline stretching back to 1999, according to the study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Injuries accounted for 70 percent of deaths in this age group in 2016, far outpacing fatalities from natural causes like cancer and heart disease. “The most surprising result is that the rise cannot be pinpointed to one cause,” said...

06 September

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Is the Legal Doctrine of ‘Res Ipsa Loquitur’ Losing Its Voice?

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Injuries

The Anglo-American legal doctrine of res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself) began with an 1863 English case when a pedestrian was struck by a barrel of flour falling while being lowered from the upper floors of a warehouse that was entirely occupied by the defendant. The plaintiff could not present evidence of precisely how the defendant was negligent. Nevertheless, the plaintiff won his lawsuit under a presumption of negligence when the defendant failed to provide an explanation for the event (Byrne v. Boadle) Moving forward to 2015, U.S. courts are reluctant to dispense with a plaintiff proving precisely how...

04 September

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Could Social Media Impact Your Personal Injury Claim?

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Injuries

The use of social media is becoming more and more common. In fact, as of January 2014, 74 percent of adults who used the internet also used social media sites, a Pew Research Center report found. (Since that time, it is estimated that that number has grown.) As social media provides a forum for individuals to share their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and photos, it makes sense that some people who have been injured in an accident turn to social media to share details. However, social media effects on a personal injury claim can be negative, and using social media while in the...

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