Two units of Johnson & Johnson were ordered to pay $16.6 million to the family of a Chicago-area woman who died after using a Duragesic pain-patch. This is the 4th consecutive pain pump verdict against Johnson & Johnson in the pain pump litigation. Last month, a Florida jury awarded $13 million to the family of a woman who died after using a similar patch.
If you have a Duragesic pain patch case, call our attorneys at 800-553-8082.
Yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that a wrongful death lawsuit against the city Park Ridge can move forward because the city is not immune from a lawsuit. An Illinois trial court had granted the city’s motion for summary judgment.
This wrongful death case is gathering attention because of it bizarre facts. A 15-year-old boy’s father called 911 and reported that his son was unconscious and needed resuscitation. Paramedics arrived 5 minutes later but did not treat the patient. We have no idea why. The father called back at about eight hours later. When the paramedics arrived, the boy was in cardiac arrest. Tragically, hospital records showed that he died at the hospital from overdosing on cocaine and opiates.
Bizarre facts. The lawyer for the city of Park Ridge says he cannot talk about the case until it comes out in court. Please.
Chicago lawyer Louis Cairo has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a Cook County nursing home, alleging that the nursing home employees were woefully ill-equipped, causing the death of a 67-year-old man. The lawsuit alleges that staff members at Hampton Plaza Health Care Centre on 9777 Greenwood Avenue did not have the necessary training or equipment to adequately respond to a fire. The Plaintiff’s nursing home lawyer said that residents were awakened not by smoke alarms, but by people banging on doors to alert others of the fire. This is not exactly a sign of effective smoke detectors.
If you substitute the word “nursing home” for “restaurant” in this story, it would make me skeptical as to whether the restaurant was negligent, as opposed to a plaintiffs’ lawyer trying to manufacture a case because he has a death case (probably a high profile death case, as many fire deaths can be). Because it is a nursing home, I find myself nodding along, “Yes, they didn’t have fire detectors. That sounds about right.” I don’t think I’m alone. That is a sad commentary on nursing home care in this country.
In litigation that is a byproduct of the Ford Explorer rollover lawsuits, Ford Explorer owners will be “compensated” in a settlement because of the loss of value of the Explorer because of the perceived rollover danger. This settlement covers about 800,000 people who purchased Explorers in California, Connecticut, Illinois and Texas.
Unfortunately, the only people who will get a significant recovery will be the lawyers who brought these claims. Explorer owners will only be eligible for vouchers for $300 to purchase new vehicles Ford or Lincoln Mercury vehicles (or $500 off the Ford Explorer). Practically, the car dealers will just negotiate a higher sales price on the car the sale of the car, reducing the list price less than they otherwise would.
Accordingly, this settlement is worthless to everyone except for the lawyers bringing these claims. The frustrating thing about this is that 800,000 people see this settlement and think, “Geez, what a scam, the only people that really profit from this are the lawyers.” For personal injury victims and their lawyers, this does not help when one of these 800,000 people shows up on a jury.
Lawsuit Information Center Blog