Articles Posted in California

Last December, Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals agreed to stop selling Darvocet in the U.S. after the evidence of cardiac injuries from Darvocet reached critical mass. Darvocet lawsuits are now being filed in massive numbers. Yesterday, in San Francisco, Plaintiffs’ Darvocet lawyers argued that all of the federal Darvocet cases should be centralized in an MDL which is sort of, but not really, a class action lawsuit.

These are the main points made in Darvocet lawsuits:

• Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals concealed their knowledge of Darvocet’s risks from plaintiffs, the medical community, the FDA, and the American people.

Another post about a sad case that has evolved into a lawsuit that has very little chance of success or even making it to a jury. A California man filed a lawsuit against the city of San Francisco after his mother was found dead and floating in a suitcase in the San Francisco Bay last year. The wrongful death lawsuit claims should have done more to prevent the woman’s death. After the tragedy, woman’s boyfriend was charged with murder and awaits trial.

The crux of the lawsuit appears to be that the woman kept coming to the emergency room with injuries that reeked of domestic violence but never followed up with an investigation.

Why do I think this lawsuit fails? I don’t think police have an obligation to investigate a crime that the victim does not report. Every wrongful death lawyer in California agrees with me: no attorney has taken the case.

In this tough legal economy, 4,364 applicants took the February California bar examination. Approximately 42% of the applicants passed the exam.

California has a tough bar. The pass rate has floated between 33 and 40 percent for the last 10 years.

The key to passing the California bar? Not having failed it before. The pass rate for the California bar was 53% for those taking the bar for the first time. Another leading indicator? Go to an accredited law school. Only 27% of those at non-ABA accredited law schools pass the exam which makes you question the wisdom of having law schools in California that are not ABA accredited.

I wrote on Sunday about the awful motorcycle accident in California that killed six people this weekend.

I predicted the hit and run driver who fled the scene would be found. But 72 hours later, no one has been taken into custody. How could that be? Apparently, there is one problem that we would not have in Maryland: the proximity to safe haven in Mexico. It is now being reported that authorities plan to meet today with Mexican officials to look over border surveillance video to see if a 4-door Gold Honda Civic with California plates crossed over.

Hopefully, that haven will not be so safe but it certainly complicates the efforts of law enforcement officers. If we find him, the driver will likely face felony hit and run and gross vehicular manslaughter charges in California.

In granting summary judgment in a defective beer bottle case (where the injuries seemed insignificant), a Maryland court provides a review of the res ipsa loquitur doctrine in California, including a review of what is usually the biggest battle ground in making a res ipsa case: whether the defendant had exclusive control.

You can find the opinion here.

A San Mateo County jury ordered the California department of transportation to pay a 17 year-old girl injured in a pedestrian accident $12 million. As is the case in too many pedestrian accident cases, the plaintiff’s injuries were catastrophic: she sustained a brain injury that put her in a permanent vegetative state. No matter what the facts are, it is just an unbelievable tragedy that happens far too often.

Plaintiff’s attorneys’ case rested on the premise that uncontrolled intersections with designated crosswalks are more dangerous than unmarked crosswalks because they give pedestrians a false sense of confidence that they can cross.

These pedestrian cases against state entities are tough and few accident lawyers are willing to take them. Plaintiff’s lawyers in this case deserve a lot of credit.