Blog - CGWC

Now, there is a complex statutory scheme of caps or limits on the damages that may be awarded to victims of medical negligence. Even if a jury decides that a victim is entitled to millions, the jury's decision MUST be reduced under this unjust law. The jury does not decide, because the legislators have already decided, without hearing any evidence, the maximum amount that a medical negligence victim can receive. Billionaire car rental companies have been given similar protections with limits on the amount that can be awarded to a victim injured by one of the millions of rented vehicles they place on public roads every year for profit.

But what is the true motivation of those who preach at the pulpit of lawsuit reform? Should their intentions be judged by their words or by their actions? Should we consider what special interests they represent in judging whether their beliefs are in good faith?

As governor of Texas, President George W. Bush was an avid "tort reform" supporter, and the Texas civil justice system was left in shreds following his tenure. Yet, when one of his daughters was involved in an automobile accident, he raced to court to sue Enterprise whose rented vehicle had collided with a Bush family car. U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, has repeatedly supported caps on civil damages and other "tort reform" measures. Yet, when his wife was injured by the negligence of her chiropractor, Senator Santorum supported her in her malpractice lawsuit, testifying at trial that she should be compensated for her pain and suffering. Sterling Cornelius, a big nursery businessman in Texas who vocally supported lawsuit reform in Texas, including punitive damage caps, sued Dupont when their Benlate product damaged his company's crop and nursery. He sued for $ 100 million, including over $ 70 million in punitive damages.

Florida State Representative Mark Flanagan, also a supporter of laws limiting the rights of Florida citizens in civil courts and who called Florida "the most litigious society in the world", sued a daycare center and the manufacturer of a jungle gym when his daughter fell from the playset and broke her leg. Former Representative Tom Delay, an outspoken advocate for tort reform law to favor businesses for many years, sued a product manufacture in 1990 for the wrongful death of his father, seeking actual and punitive damages.

Frank Cornelius, an Indiana political lobbyist helped his clients pass a cap on damages in medical malpractice lawsuits and a law eliminating all pain and suffering damages in that state. Ironically, many years later, he was confined to a wheelchair after several medical disasters and sought damages in Indiana's civil justice system. Although his medical expenses and lost earnings were in the millions, his claim was capped to $ 500,000 by the law he helped to enact. He has since said that he "rues that accomplishment."

And, of course, there are the multitudes of million dollar lawsuits that major multinational corporations bring against one another for breach of contract, false advertising, unfair trade practices, and the like. As when the makers of Equal sued the makers of Splenda for false advertising and unfair trade practices, seeking $ 200 million in damages. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum. And when the makers of Mylanta sued the makers of Tums for false advertising. So, it's okay for businesses to sue for unlimited sums of money. Somehow, these companies have never seen fit to spend millions of dollars lobbying legislatures to cap damages on their own civil claims. Only on yours.

There is a reason our founding fathers established our civil justice system so that our fates would be decided by a jury of our peers after hearing the evidence. It is because the people who hear evidence case by case, not legislators, lobbyists or politicians, do justice best. The right to jury trial is the bedrock of our system of government. At CGWC, we continue to fight these unjust laws and to challenge them as unconstitutional infringements on the rights of Florida citizens to a trial by jury and access to civil courts. The "jury is still out" on whether many of these laws will be upheld by Florida appeals courts. It is an uphill battle, once such a law is passed by the legislature, but we are hopeful that these unjust laws will be struck down by our judiciary. We hope the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enacted in 1791, will be respected in full and that "the right to trial by jury shall be preserved."

Accidents happen, despite the best efforts of many drivers. Try your best to remain safe on the road:

If you or a family members are involved in an automobile, truck, pedestrian, bicycle, or motorcycle accident, contact CGWC for a free consultation about your legal rights.

According to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy prescription errors cause 7,000 patient deaths annually and 3% of the 5 billion prescriptions filled each year are incorrect. Common prescription mistakes include filling prescriptions with wrong counts, wrong dosages, wrong medicines, and for wrong patient names.

Before taking any medication, patients should carefully review the label, as well as the contents, to see if there are any glaring errors. Certainly, patients can and should rely on their pharmacists to accurately fill their prescriptions, but it doesn't hurt to take that extra step to try to protect yourself in today's world of mega-everthing stores, including pharmacies, pressuring pharmacists to express their work in large volumes. Total prescriptions in America were expected to reach 4 billion in 2004, so today the numbers are probably even higher.

While perhaps it is time for American consumers to demand small family owned personal service in some service professions, like drugstores and eye care, the direction of the U.S. economy's business model seems to be heading full steam in the opposite direction. So, take as many precautions as you can. If you or a family member are injured by a prescription error, call CGWC for legal advice and a free consultation. Recently, a jury in Polk County awarded $ 25.8 million to the family of a lady killed by a prescription error.

Mattel is the world's largest toy company. A couple of weeks ago, Mattel announced the recall of about a million Chinese made toys due to the use of dangerous lead paint in their manufacturing process in China. Mattel has now announced the recall of 19 million more toys due to dangerous product defects. Of those, 436, 000 are die case cars of "Sarge" from the movie, Cars. Those toys are likewise covered with lead paint. The other 18.2 million toys are being recalled due to the potential for ingestion by children of tiny powerful magnets. Accidental ingestion of these magnets can cause serious intestinal injury or death. These toys were NOT made in China but were designed defectively right here in America by Mattel. They include such popular toys at Polly Pocket figures, Doggie Day care, Batman, and Barbie.

There have been a series of product recalls this past several months, often involving Chinese distributed products, such as contaminated pet food, defective tires, and tainted toothpaste. Some say these recalls demonstrate that the Consumer Products Safety Commission needs greater funding and more authority to protect American families from dangerous and defective products often shipped to American wholesalers and retailers from other countries in the new global economy. CGWC says this is another reason all Americans should reject insist that the right to jury trial be preserved. Often, only the threat of being held to account in a court of law by a civil or criminal jury provides the incentive to multibillion dollar corporations to clean up their act. These companies are legally liable for these dangerous products under Florida law, as well as under the law of most states, even if the defects or flaws were the fault of their foreign suppliers. And rightly so. They should have rigorous testing and inspection of any foreign supplied products. And there is no excuse for millions of dangerous products to find their way to the playrooms of American children.

Be a smart consumer and understand these dangers. Just because a product is on a shelf in a store doesn't guarantee it is safe and free from unsafe design flaws or product defects. This includes toys. You can check with government sources like the CPSC for product defects and recalls. You can also check with other nonprofit organizations such as World Against Toys Causing Harm (W.A.T.C.H.) which regularly lists the most dangerous toys on the market. You can also check with the Federation Of State Public Interest Research Groups which regularly lists stories on dangerous toys. They also have a separate Toy Safety website.

The number of workers electrocuted on the job in America rises every year. Many electrocution injuries are fatal, and the others result in severe burn injuries that leave the workers totally or partially disabled and scarred for life. Contact with overhead power lines is a common mechanism of injury, accounting for about two fifths of all fatal electrocution injuries.

The attorneys at CGWC are experienced in handling electrocution and burn injuries, having handled such injury claims caused by defective manlift devices, having inadequate insulation or other protection from electrocution, defective electrical appliances, and negligence of employers who failed to take adequate precautions, such as grounding equipment and de-energizing power lines, during work expected to bring workers in the vicinity of overhead power lines or other power sources.

Police are this moment searching for a man in West Virginia who is missing from a nursing home. He walked off the grounds at approximately 11 p.m. on Sunday. Often, nursing home residents, like this 80 year old gentleman, suffer from dementia, poor judgment, poor safety awareness, and feelings of loneliness and isolation. As a result, and many times as a result of a lack of social stimulation or psychological evaluation in conjunction with these other reasons, residents will attempt to elope from their nursing homes and, in the process, get injured in falls, motor vehicle-pedestrian accidents, exposure to the elements, and other accidents off premises.

The attorneys at CGWC have extensive experience in litigating nursing home elopement cases. Elopements are not only preventable. They simply shouldn't happen if the nursing home is protecting the facility and its patients as if the facility were a home. There are extremely cost-effective ways of preventing emotionally, mentally, and physically vulnerable nursing home patients from eloping off premises where they are at risk of serious injury or death. For example, door alarms, security alarm bracelets, locator bracelets, bed alarms, and chair alarms are cheap ways to protect these vulnerable senior citizens. Nursing homes all over the country use door alarms to assure that residents don't leave the grounds without a staff member being made aware. Particular patients at risk of elopement based upon psychological profile or past history of such behavior can be cheaply protected with an ankle or arm bracelet that sounds an alarm when they leave the premises. Bed and chair alarms can cost-effectively notify staff members when a patient has attempted to leave his or her room and place themselve at risk of falling or injuring themselves in or out of the facility.

Of course, this technology alone is not enough. The staff must respond to the alarms, consistently supervise and monitor patients, assure the patients receive adequate social and mental stimulation and physical activity, and obtain psychological evaluations when needed to obtain additional doctors' orders or advice to minimize the risk of elopement and injury or death. For information and access to consumer assistance with nursing home care and protecting elderly parents entering nursing homes, consult with the Coalition to Protect America's Elders, Consumer Health Choices, Advancing Excellence In America's Nursing Homes, and other consumer organizations for senior citizens and nursing home residents.

On Friday, Ford Motor Company announced a recall of about 3.6 million passenger cars, trucks, vans and suv's due to defects in cruise control switches that has led to previous recalls related to fires. Ford says it was responding to safety concerns of its customers and questions about the speed control deactivation switch in the vehicles. Ford had previously recalled 6 million vehicles in 2005 due to fires linked to the cruise control systems.

In today's global economy, it is incumbent upon American companies to demand that their overseas business partners live up to the safety and quality standards expected by Americans who buy their products. With toys or their component parts often manufactured in places like China, American businesses are obliged to assure that their products reach the American consumer in a reasonably safe condition free of any defect. This is why the law of most states makes distributors of a products in America, including both wholesale and retail outlets, legally responsible to the ultimate consumer for any injuries or deaths caused by unreasonably dangerous and defective products. Other countries don't afford the legal rights and remedies our great system of justice assures its citizens in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. And other countries don't possess our tradition of expecting businesses to act ethically, morally, and with the safety of our consumer citizens paramount. So, we as Americans expect and demand that the companies who sell us products will inspect and test those products, even if they are manufactured wholly or partly overseas, and guarantee their safety. The consuming public has a right to rely on businesses to sell only products that are safe for use by the men, women and children in America who are targets of multi-million dollar marketing and advertising campaigns and who eventually pay hard earned money for those products.

Mattel has recalled almost 1 million toys because they were covered in unreasonably dangerous and toxic lead paint. Mattel says a Chinese contractor is to blame. According to Mattel spokespersons, they intercepted more than 2/3 of the toys, but about 300,000 of them may have been purchased by unsuspecting consumers. According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, the applicable date codes are 109-7LF to 187-7LF which should appear on the product or its packaging. Toys recalled included the Elmo Tub Sub, the Dora the Explorer Backpack, and the Giggle Gabber.

In the past year, China has been the source of many dangerous and defective products reaching the U.S. including pet food, tires, and lead paint on the Thomas & Friends toys. American businesses can force these Chinese businesses to exercise better quality control and provide safe products. They should, and to do so, American companies must adequately test, inspect, and examine all overseas products or component parts for safety and quality.

More than 93,000 Floridians suffer traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year. In the past many victims have encountered difficulty getting the care they need for TBI. The Florida Department of Health, in cooperation with the Brain Injury Association of Florida and the WellFlorida Council, conducted a study to identify the obstacles to care of TBI, including lack of access to specialized services, rehabilitation, therapy, and lack of coordination among services. The Florida Department of Health's Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program is using this study to develop a plan that addresses these barriers to proper care of TBI.

Brain injury can result from all types of accidents, including motor vehicle accidents, motorcycle accidents, injuries from defective products, construction site accidents, and fall accidents. Given the limited public services available for TBI victims, it is important for them and their families to explore the legal liability of others who may be wholly or partly responsible for their injuries and losses.