Jury says U-Haul must pay $84 million to injured man -- chicagotribune.com
Do you think a verdict like this will cause U-Haul to be a safer company? Or do you think U-Haul will just ignore the jury's message and continue conducting business as usual?
Please give us your thoughts.
60 minutes had a chilling expose a few weeks ago on the Bayer drug Trasylol.
The broadcast told the story of Joseph Radone. Mr. Radone had heart surgery. The risk asociated with the surgery was around five percent. Mr. Radone would be home in a week.
After the surgery, the doctors told the family about "complications" that had occurred. The doctors told the Joe's wife and daugther that Traysol was responsible for the complications.
Only ten days after the surgery, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study on Trasylol. According to to the study, there was an "association" between Trasylol and kidney failure and Traysol increased the risk of death in patients given the drug.
As far back as the 1980s, German researchers were concerned with the drug. In 1992, in one small study, almost 75% of patients given Trasylol had kidney problems afterwards.
After the New England Journal of Medicine study came out, the FDA held and advisory meeting to determine the accuracy of the study.
At the hearing, Bayer representatives hid previous studies from the FDA.
In 2007, a Canadian study was stopped because too many patients in the study were dying.
After the Canadian study, German authorities banned Trasylol and Bayer temporarily stopped selling the drug.
After 19 operations including having his eyes sewn shut, removing his gall bladder, and having his legs amputated, Joe Randone died.
What do you think about the 60 minutes story? Bayer's conduct? Whether the Randone family should be allowed to file a lawsuit against Bayer?
Do you think the 1000s of other patients and families who were harmed by Trasylol should obtain some sort of justice from Bayer for the effects of its drug?
We welcome your comments.
Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a shady group run by rich business and insurance interests, has apparently been dissolved by the Texas Secretary of State.
This group spent literally millions of dollars in an effort to shut the courthouse doors to widows, young children, the elderly, single mothers, and those who are seriously injured by corporate or insurance company wrongdoing.
Although certain wrongdoers will be sorry that the Texas Secretary of State dissolved the group, Texans interested in access to justice will no doubt rejoice at this news.
The insurance companies and big business have flooded many states with millions of dollars in an effort to shut the courthouse doors to average citizens. For example, Ohio has recently limited the discretion of jurors to render damage awards in civil lawsuits, creating a completely arbitrary "damage" cap.
The limits resulted from a flood of millions of dollars from big business and insurance companies.
The net result is that the courthouse doors are being slammed shut for average citizens.
You can read about the problems with the Ohio Supreme Court decision by clicking on the link below:
www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article
In Texas, groups like "Texans for Lawsuit Reform" and their ilk, run by mega-wealthy businessmen and backed by millions of dollars of special interest and insurance company money, have tried to shut the courthouse doors to Texans. A lot of their money comes from out of state business interests.
John Grisham's latest book is called "The Appeal." The book starts with a jury verdict against a large chemical company. The jury finds that a powerful chemical company has intentionally and illegally polluted the drinking water in a small Mississippi town, causing "cancer clusters."
The chemical company is concerned that the verdict will encourage other cancer victims in the area to sue.
So the company appeals the verdict and then seeks to elect a no-name lawyer to the Mississippi Supreme Court by essentially buying a judicial election using a shady political consulting company and lots and lots of corporate money.
Anyone interested in the civil justice system should read this book. Although fictional, in many ways it rings true. The book casts a bright and critical light on what is often a seedy underworld of people and companies intent on undermining civil justice in whatever way they can.
And it makes quite a statement about the problems of electing judges.
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