All Topics

• Court to Hear Katrina Insurance Appeal

  Mike Simon | July 10, 2007 8:32 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on whether Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. should be forced to cover storm surge damage to the home of Paul and Julie Leonard resulting from Hurricane Katrina. Oral arguments will be heard on August 6th. U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. ruled in 2006 that the Leonards could not collect damages from a Katrina storm surge because...

• Fen-Phen User Wins $75K Jury Award

  Mike Simon | July 09, 2007 8:24 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  Virginia Cavender has been awarded $75,000 from a federal court jury in St. Louis for claims that pharmaceutical giant Wyeth's diet drug Fen-Phen caused damage to her heart valves. The jury needed less than seven hours to deliberate her claims of failure to warn and breach of implied warranty.Cavender says that she used Wyeth's Pondimin (fenfluramine) and the generic phentermine for a period of...

• Texas Woman Says Avandia Killed Her Husband

  Mike Simon | July 07, 2007 8:19 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  Peggie Stanford has filed a wrongful death suit against GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of diabetes drug Avandia, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Stanford claims her 60-year-old husband, Larry, had been using an Avandia variant when he died of a heart attack earlier this year. Stanford suffered the fatal heart attack the same day that the New England Journal of Medicine...

• U.S. Attorney: No Charges in E. coli Outbreak Tied to Spinach

  Mike Simon | July 06, 2007 8:28 AM | 1 CommentWest Virginia, WV

  Federal prosecutors have decided not to file criminal charges with regard to the 2006 nationwide E. coli outbreak, which was traced to fresh spinach from California. The companies being held accountable for the outbreak still face numerous civil lawsuits from consumers claiming to have gotten sick from the tainted crop, however.The outbreak, which caused three deaths and approximately 200...

• Coal Company Ordered to Pay Wheeling-Pitt $219 Million

  Mike Simon | July 06, 2007 8:10 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  After a month-long trial, a Brooke County Circuit Court jury has ordered Massey Energy and a subsidiary to pay more than $219 million in damages to Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation. Wheeling-Pitt sued Massey subsidiary Central West Virginia Energy Co. in April 2005, claiming it failed to deliver 104,000 tons of metallurgical grade coal per month as required under a contract signed in 2002...

• Wyeth Must Face Fen-Phen Negligence, Warranty Claims

  Mike Simon | June 21, 2007 8:30 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber has upheld Virginia Cavender's claims of design-defect, breach-of-warranty, and negligence against pharmaceutical company Wyeth. Cavender, who took the weight loss combination drug fen-phen, claims that it caused heart damage in the form of "moderately severe aortic regurgitation."Judge Webber denied Wyeth's motion for partial summary judgment, ruling that...

• Family Sues Over Tainted Peanut Butter

  Mike Simon | June 21, 2007 8:23 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  The family of 11-year-old Krystina Brugh has filed a federal lawsuit against ConAgra Foods, Inc., claiming that the food maker's tainted peanut butter is to blame for their daughter's kidney failure. ConAgra, who produces Peter Pan and Great Value brand peanut butter, recalled all of its peanut butter after government investigators traced a salmonella outbreak to its products. ConAgra is facing...

• Thousands in US Claiming Vaccine-Autism Link Get Their Day in Court

  Mike Simon | June 19, 2007 10:50 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  Nearly 5,000 families with an autistic child have filed claims against the U.S. government, alleging that their children's autism resulted from childhood vaccinations. The first test case began in a hearing last Monday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and was presided over by three special masters. Should the courts find in favor of the families, they will receive vindication and monetary...

• Vioxx Plaintiff Has Choice of $1.6 Million or New Trial

  Mike Simon | June 15, 2007 10:53 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  Retired FBI agent Gerald Barnett, who claims that the painkiller Vioxx caused his 2002 heart attack, must choose between $1.6 million and a retrial of his claims, a federal judge ruled. Last September a jury awarded Barnett $1 million in punitive damages and $50 million in compensatory damages, but U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon ordered a retrial on damages, ruling that $50 million in...

• Judge Approves $64 Million Settlement Over Drug Paxil

  Mike Simon | June 06, 2007 3:28 PM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  A judge in Madison County, Illinois granted final approval in late May for a settlement in a class action deal, in which parents, who purchased GlaxoSmithKline PLC's Paxil or Paxil CR for their children may seek reimbursement for their purchase of the antidepressant.The suit alleged that GlaxoSmithKline misled consumers by failing to disclose information about negative side effects, such as...