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  July 8, 2013

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Maximizing Personal Injury Case Value

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Case Selection: How to Pick Winners and Avoid Losers

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Future Medicals and the MSP Act: The Treacherous Descent Towards Final Rules

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Dealing with Treating Providers and Experts (yours and theirs) on Traumatic Brain Injury Cases

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Laws/Cases


 

 

BP to Ask Court to Reject Costly View of Oil Spill Deal

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BP has billions of dollars in the balance as it asks a U.S. appeals court to reject a claims administrator’s interpretation of the company’s partial settlement over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The company contends the administrator, Patrick Juneau, is approving millions of dollars in “fictitious” payments for business losses based on what BP believes is a flawed interpretation of the agreement reached with victims’ lawyers in 2012. These interpretations have already prompted the company to add hundreds of millions of dollars to the estimated $7.8 billion cost of the settlement and may force it to pay billions of dollars more than expected, BP said in court papers. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans is scheduled today to hear BP’s arguments seeking to reverse a lower-court ruling and rein in Juneau.
Margaret Cronin Fisk & Allen Johnson Jr, Bloomberg 07/08/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: Bloomberg    

 

Products


 

 

Head Rest Problem Prompts Chrysler Recall

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Chrysler Group LLC has announced it will recall 840,000 vehicles across the globe due to flaws in the active-restraint head rests. The recall covers 2011-2013 Chrysler Sebring, Chrysler 200, Dodge Avenger and Jeep Liberty vehicles, as well as 2011-2012 Dodge Nitro SUVs. The company said the microcomputer in the headrests may have faulty components, causing it to not function properly in the event of a crash.
Bernie Woodall, Chicago Tribune 07/08/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: Chicago Tribune    

 

Issues


 

 

Louisiana Sinkhole Forces Wrenching Choice on Longtime Neighbors

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Neighbors in the swampy Assumption Parish community are packing up decades’ worth of belongings, chased from waterfront homes that were supposed to be retirement nests by a gas-emitting, 22-acre sinkhole less than a mile away. The sinkhole, discovered Aug. 3, resulted from a collapsed underground salt dome cavern about 40 miles south of Baton Rouge. After oil and natural gas came oozing up and acres of the swampland liquefied into muck, the community’s 350 residents were advised to evacuate. Texas Brine Co., the operator of the salt dome, is negotiating buyouts of residents who have not joined lawsuits filed against the company. Texas Brine spokesman Sonny Cranch said 92 buyout offers have been made, with 44 accepted so far.
Associated Press, The Washington Post 07/08/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: The Washington Post    

 

U.S. System for Flagging Hazardous Chemicals is Widely Flawed

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A 27-year-old U.S. program intended to warn the public of the presence of hazardous chemicals is flawed in many states due to scant oversight and lax reporting by plant owners, a Reuters examination finds. Under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, private and public facilities must issue an inventory listing potentially hazardous chemicals stored on their properties. The inventory, known as a Tier II report, is filled with state, county and local emergency-management officials. The information is then supposed to be made publicly available, to help first responders and nearby residents plan for emergencies. But facilities across the country often misidentify these chemicals or their location, and sometimes fail to report the existence of the substances altogether. And except for a handful of states, neither federal nor local authorities are auditing the reports for errors.
M.B. Pell, Ryan McNeill and Selam Gebrekidan, Reuters, Yahoo News 07/08/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: Yahoo News    

 

FDA Considering Changes to Generic Drug Labels

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A recent notice filed by the Obama administration reveals that the Food and Drug Administration is working on a rule that could result in warning label changes on generic drugs. Under current FDA rules, generic drug makers are not allow to make public any potential changes to product warning labels (unlike brand-name drug manufacturers) without FDA action. The proposed changes would seemingly place brand-name and generic drug makers on equal footing in regards to warning labels, which may open the door to lawsuits from victims who suffered adverse affects from generic drugs.
Jon Healey, LA Times 07/08/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: LA Times    

 

Insurance


 

 

Schools Seeking to Arm Employees Hit Hurdle on Insurance

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As more schools consider arming their employees, some districts are encountering a daunting economic hurdle: insurance carriers threatening to raise their premiums or revoke coverage entirely. During legislative sessions this year, seven states enacted laws permitting teachers or administrators to carry guns in schools. Three of the measures — in Kansas, South Dakota and Tennessee — took effect last week. But already, EMC Insurance Companies, the liability insurance provider for about 90 percent of Kansas school districts, has sent a letter to its agents saying that schools permitting employees to carry concealed handguns would be declined coverage.
STEVEN YACCINO, The New York Times 07/08/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: The New York Times    

 

Wrongful Death


 

 

Suit: Man Not Treated Due to Lack Of Insurance

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A Brookline woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, claiming hospital physicians failed to treat her husband because he didn't have health insurance. The man, who suffered from recurring diverticulitis, was rushed to the emergency room in December 2011 with a fistula in his colon but all he was given was pain medication. He should have had surgery, the suit says, but notes in his medical records about his lack of insurance prevented the surgery from occurring in time to prevent his death.
Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 07/03/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette    

 

Trial in Priest Abuse & Suicide Begins Monday

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A civil trial in a wrongful death lawsuit against a Kansas City priest and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is scheduled to begin this week. The lawsuit centers around the suicide of a 14-year-old boy in 1983 who allegedly killed himself after being sexually abused by a local priest. The lawsuit also names the diocese as a defendant, saying church officials knew the priest was molesting boys but hid that knowledge from authorities.
Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star 07/08/2013   Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn Icon

Read Article: Kansas City Star    


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