2008 April Archive

Darryl Green was in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Last June, the blind athlete from Philadelphia was trying to cross U.S. 1 northbound in St. Johns County, Florida when he was struck and killed by a driver who then took off.

Green, 24, had come to Florida for a goalball tournament at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine.  He was with teammates from the Delaware County Blind Sports Organization’s Venom team at the school when he decided to return to his hotel to use the bathroom.

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High speed chases where law enforcement tries to apprehend suspects through residential neighborhoods for something material like a stolen car rarely make sense, especially when an innocent person is killed.

This story brings a new dimension to the frightening prospect of a police chase.  

Clay County deputies on Thursday began a high speed pursuit after they thought they could catch up with a trio allegedly trying to steal a pickup truck from the parking lot of the Lowe’s Home Improvement store in Orange Park.

When someone asked them what they were doing, they took off in their Pontiac Grand Am.

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Thousands of Floridians who have been injured by cigarettes will be eligible to share in a $600 million trust fund set up to compensate smokers for illness.

A Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge ruled Friday that Engle Trust Fund set up by tobacco companies will be distributed to thousands, including clients of Farah and Farah and Wilner Block. The distribution will be equally divided rather than based on the severity of illness. Judge David C. Miller said individual trials would take too much time. 

Smokers must have been diagnosed with a smoking-related illnesses before November 21, 1996. A previous jury ruling established those injuries include lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema.

Friday’s ruling was the latest moving the Engle case one step closer to resolving the 14 years of litigation. Miami Beach pediatrician Howard Engle headed a class-action lawsuit filed in 1994 against Big Tobacco. It appeared to be over in 2000 when a jury ruled in a landmark $145 billion against R. J. Reynolds, Philip Morris and three other major tobacco firms.

But that verdict was overturned in 2006. Smokers would have to file individual cases while at the same time the justices let stand the jury’s findings that cigarettes are unreasonably dangerous, that cigarettes cause numerous damages, that nicotine is addictive, that Big Tobacco acted negligently and that tobacco companies intentionally concealed information about the impact of cigarettes on smokers’ health.  

Knowing they would be on the hook for some damages, the tobacco companies put up $700 million to benefit smokers. That has turned to $800 million with interest. On Friday the judge ruled that Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt, the attorneys who brought the Engle case, should receive more than $200 million for their work over the 15 years.

Farah and Farah has joined forces to fight Big Tobacco and bring this litigation to an end.  Norwood “Woody” Wilner was the first attorney in the country to bring a successful case against the tobacco companies and to set much of the precedent that allowed for later favorable rulings.

June 16th is the deadline for the Engle Trust Fund applications to be into our firms.  Please visit our Web site http://tobaccoflorida.com/ to fill out your application including your name, address and the date of the smoking-related illness. 

We are committed to help smokers and their survivors access to this fund. You can learn more about the history of the Engle case from the tobacco litigation page on our web site or call our downtown Jacksonville offices to consult with an experienced tobacco litigation attorney before the deadline passes.

You might soon be seeing trucks from Mexico traveling on U.S. roads.

Under NAFTA, the Bush Administration has opened the borders to trucks from that country.

 72 Mexico- domiciled trucks are now in the U.S.  under a pilot project and 45 other carriers have been notified they passed a pre- authorization safety audit.

Big rigs on our roads are scary enough for driver of passenger cars and result in 5,000 deaths every year.

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They look like small two-seater jeeps. The Yamaha Rhino are the latest fun vehicle blamed for serious injuries called by rollovers.

In March, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a voluntary recall of 2008 Rhino Side-by-Side vehicles because of a risk of brake failure that affects about 7,800 vehicles.  

But brakes are not their only problem.

In a rollover in the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV), victims are suffering devastating and debilitating injuries such as the loss of the lower limbs and serious head injuries.

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Baxter International attributes four deaths to use of its blood thinner heparin. The Food and Drug Administration says the death toll may be upward of 103 (though all may not be due strictly to heparin) and the number is rising.

That disparity doesn’t disturb the chairman and chief executive of Baxter International, Robert L. Parkinson, Jr. who spoke to investors about Baxter’s first quarter earnings today.

Parkinson says Baxter does not expect a rash of lawsuits to be filed despite the deaths and allergic reactions attributed to heparin, used in heart surgery, dialysis and outpatient procedures. At least a dozen lawsuits have already been filed.   Read the rest »

John Stossel reported for 20/20 recently on the Kinoki pads. They are supposed to be taped to the bottom of your foot where overnight they draw out toxins which turn the pads dark.  

ABC News ordered some and says they are similar to ones made by Avon that calls them “detoxifying patches”.    Among those who tried them, a chiropractor, an actress, a boxing trainer.  He said he felt no effect nor did an administrative assistant.

A specialist in environmental medicine says that some people may be feeling the placebo effect, causing people to think they felt better.   The majority of the pads did not test for medals but a trace of lead was found on five pads.

Unfortunately it was Stossel delivering this report. ABC would probably rather we forget his 2000 report on organic produce. He had a clear bias against organics as people who’ve seen his interview outtakes will testify. He reported the conventional produce did not have any pesticides, hormones, antibiotics etc. Problem was the test was never conducted.   He falsified his report.

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A Jacksonville area teen is dead after he drove the car he allegedly stole into a home.  It happened across from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in the St. Nicholas area of Jacksonville.

It was chaos at the scene. The car could not be easily backed out because part of the house collapsed. And family of the teen killed rushed across police tape to get to the scene.

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No doubt sometime in your future you might consider buying a car.

Whether new or used there is important information out there to help make you an informed consumer and therefore safer on the roads.

Something to consider - a car that has a bad record for safety may not be due to the car. It may be due to the fact that unsafe, young and inexperienced drivers gravitate toward them. 

Case-in-point,  the Nissan 350z. It has a death rate about double of other sports cars because when it is involved in an accident they are usually pretty serious according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

In putting out its list of the 20 Most Dangerous Cars, the IIHS, which represents the interests of the insurance industry, considered side-impact protection, stability control and rollover risk.   

#1 on the list is a car that Tiger Woods represents as a spokesman.  The Buick Rendezvous is the least safe vehicle largely because it lacks side-impact protection which can lead to deadly head injuries.

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People who rely on sound to make their way across the street, depend on the sound of a car’s motor to gauge the safety of a street.

But the National Federation of the Blind fears that the nearly silent hybrids may be too quiet for the blind.

Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida along with Rep. Ed Towns of New York, have drafted a bill that would make hybrids noisier. Called the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, the bill requires the Secretary of Transportation to begin two years of study so industry can determine how to make a noise in hybrids so blind pedestrians can hear them.

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