Cook Medical must pay $1.2 million to compensate a man who was implanted with a Cook Celect IVC filter, said a Texas jury Thursday. Following a three-week trial, the jury of 12 ruled Cook must pay for injuries following a Celect filter's implantation in Jeff Pavlock on March 3 , 2015.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not too late to acquire entity cases (state, county, city, union, private insurers, etc.) There are an estimated 10,000 entity cases and less than 1% have been signed. Mass Tort Nexus has the data for every county in the country, along with an index score to arm you with the information to write accurate complaints and customize them in great detail.
Researchers say a flaw they've found in a breathalyzer widely used by law enforcement could affect the test results and put thousands of DUI convictions in question. ZDNet reports the source code used in the Draeger Alcotest 9510 breathalyzer can produce incorrect results. Defense attorneys have long believed the breathalyzer could be faulty, and a Washington attorney hired a software engineer and a security researcher to investigate the suspected flaw. The video below, courtesy of ZDNet, explains the problem and the legal threats Draeger made over revealing the research. You can read more about the story here.
Michael Cohen, attorney for Donald Trump
Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels, with whom President Donald Trump is alleged to have had an affair, is broadening his case against Trump. Avenatti has released a report detailing the business affairs of Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen. As you may recall, Cohen facilitated the payment of $130,000 to Daniels to purchase her silence regarding her involvement with Trump. In this podcast from The New Yorker, Adam Davidson talks with Dorothy Wickenden about Avenatti's aggressive push beyond the hush money scandal to questions about Cohen selling access to the president.
Following today's confirmation hearing for Ryan Bounds, President Trump's nominee for a seat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Alliance For Justice President Nan Aron released the following statement:
"At his Senate confirmation hearing today, Ryan Bounds tried to downplay offensive writings in his record and his decision not to disclose them to Oregon's judicial selection committee. In fact, the chairman of Oregon's committee has stated that Bounds 'misled' them about the existence of any controversial writings. A majority of Oregon's committee members have stated unequivocally that they would not have voted to recommend Bounds's nomination for the federal bench had they known about these 'deeply troubling writings,' which disparaged LGBTQ people, sexual assault survivors, people of color, and workers. This nondisclosure of hateful material is also the reason why Oregon's home-state senators withheld their approval of Bounds's nomination. The decision of Senate GOP leadership to force this hearing to go forward over all these objections is more evidence that Republicans and the Trump Administration will stop at nothing to pursue their court-packing goals."
The full text of the letter from the chairman of Oregon's Federal Judicial Selection Advisory Committee, regarding Ryan Bounds's failure to disclose his writings, appears at S2537 of the Congressional Record, here: congress.gov.
Former US Attorney Preet Bharara tells CNN's Anderson Cooper that it's odd for Trump attorney Michael Cohen to accept almost half a million dollars from a company linked to a Russian oligarch. Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels, made the allegations that Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of Renova Group, routed the money to Essential Consultants, LLC, the company that paid hush money to Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged affair with President Donald Trump. Investigators for Robert Mueller have questioned Vekselberg about the payment. Vekselberg is on a list of Russians being sanctioned by the US for activities including election interference.
Attorneys from Legal Services of Greater Miami, Florida Justice Institute, and the ACLU of Florida’s Greater Miami Chapter have filed a lawsuit on behalf of a group of homeless individuals encamped at NW 71st Street and NW 36th Avenue, challenging Miami-Dade County efforts to forcibly evict their encampment under threat of arrest.
The lawsuit argues that a threat by Miami-Dade County to jail people beginning this week who have been forced to live in the encampment for years due to the county’s onerous residence restrictions for people with past sexual offenses is unlawful, contending that the individuals have nowhere else to go.
The county has prohibited these individuals from living within 2,500 feet of a school, which in practice prohibits them from living in almost every residential unit in the county. The county’s restrictions go far beyond the state’s residence restrictions. In order to work and live, these individuals have resorted to living in tents or in their vehicles at this encampment in an industrial area of unincorporated Miami-Dade County that lies in one of the few areas of the county not excluded by the residence restriction. Recently, the Miami-Dade Police Department and other officials had begun to instruct people living in the current encampment to vacate and move to the intersection of Krome and SW 88th Street, which is more than a mile from the nearest bus stop, running water, electricity, or a restroom.
“This encampment is obviously not an acceptable housing situation for anyone, but to further violate our client’s constitutional rights to solve a problem that the county created in the first place is cruel,” said Jeffrey Hearne, Director of Litigation at Legal Services of Greater Miami.
“Since the housing ban lasts for life, many of these people are elderly, infirm, or incapacitated,” said Valerie Jonas, cooperating counsel with the ACLU of Florida. “If the hundreds of individuals are banished to the border of the Everglades, they will be forced to live out their lives on the literal margins of society without any cover from the elements. The county created this problem by restricting areas in which our clients can and cannot live, and the county can solve this problem now by repealing the residence restriction.”
“The county’s decision to evict and arrest those living at the encampment shows that the county has no intention of eradicating homelessness or ensuring public safety,” stated ACLU of Florida legal director Nancy Abudu. “Instead, it is simply shifting the problem to another location and ignoring the reality of the unsafe, unsanitary conditions in which so many people are living. This lawsuit is an effort to halt the county’s unlawful actions.”
Advocates for the plaintiffs in the case are seeking an emergency injunction from the court preventing the county from taking any action to close the encampment.
A copy of the lawsuit filed today is available here: https://www.aclufl.org/sites/default/files/complaint_dec_action.pdf
A copy of the emergency motion for temporary injunction is available here: https://www.aclufl.org/sites/default/files/emergency_motion_for_temporary_injunction.pdf
A map showing the impact of the residence restriction in Miami-Dade County is available here: https://www.aclufl.org/en/file/2643
In separate litigation -- Doe v. Miami-Dade County -- the ACLU, ACLU of Florida, Legal Services of Greater Miami, and attorney Val Jonas contend that the county’s residence restriction for certain former offenders cannot be constitutionally applied to those whose offense occurred before the county enacted the residence restrictions. Trial in that case is set for October 2018. More information on that case is available here: https://www.aclufl.org/sites/default/files/90-second_amended_complaint.pdf
National Trial Lawyers member Brent Goudarzi of Goudarzi & Young, LLP in Gilmer, Texas reached a $26 million settlement for a client who suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury in a traffic accident. According to Goudarzi, Jonathan Cunningham, a foreman for Troy Construction, was operating a Chevrolet pickup truck, transporting another Troy Construction employee to a job site. Mr. Cunningham failed to stop at a red light and entered an intersection, traveling 36 mph. In the intersection, he struck a 1993 Nissan pickup operated by 30-year-old house painter, Jose Lara Sanchez. Mr. Lara’s pickup truck was pushed against a light pole and he was ejected.
Mr. Lara was transported by ambulance to a local emergency room, with a Glasgow Coma Score of 3 and from there, airlifted to a second hospital for more comprehensive evaluation and care. CT scan revealed a fracture of the right temporal bone and right-sided epidural hematoma, with underlying subarachnoid hemorrhage. Mr. Lara underwent an emergent right triple craniotomy. Two days later, Mr. Lara underwent endovascular repair of a traumatic transection of the descending thoracic aorta. For the next three weeks, Mr. Lara was weaned off sedation and managed for rib fractures, scapula fracture, left acetabular fracture, bilateral pulmonary contusions and pneumonia. He was discharged to a skilled nursing facility, where he went aggressive physical, occupational and speech therapies for five months before being discharged home to his family. Mr. Lara continued to receive physical and speech therapies through outpatient rehabilitation. Altogether, he incurred $1.3 million in medical expenses.
While the plaintiffs alleged the need for lifetime medical care and the inability to return to any level of employment, the defendants alleged that a short course of appropriate outpatient therapy at an accredited rehabilitation facility would provide Mr. Lara with independence, including the potential to return to driving and return to working. This allegation was supported by surveillance video conducted over the course of multiple days, which showed Mr. Lara walking unassisted and unsupervised outside of his home, engaging in family outings, communicating with neighbors and even assisting with automotive maintenance.
The defendants also claimed contributory negligence on the part of Mr. Lara for the alleged failure to use a seatbelt, which caused his ejection and the right temporal bone fracture, hematoma and hemorrhage and most, if not all, of his residual physical symptoms, which were primarily left-sided (and controlled by the right side of the brain). Had Mr. Lara not been ejected, defendants alleged, he would have sustained no brain injury.
NTL
On February 1, 2018, Safe & Sound and LISC Milwaukee hosted the 69th Annual Crime Prevention Awards Luncheon at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee. Attorney and National Trial Lawyers member Michael Hupy was in attendance and received the Salvation Army Chaplaincy Program Outstanding Individual Award, the Salvation Army of Milwaukee County was the Community Action sponsor of the event. The Crime Prevention Awards recognize private citizens and law enforcement professionals who, through their special contributions to crime prevention, make the local community a better place to live and to work. The co-hosted event emphasized the power of positive impact and exists to ensure that people’s efforts don’t go unnoticed.
As winner of the Salvation Army Chaplaincy Program Outstanding Individual Award, Attorney Hupy has proven his longtime dedication and love for his community, as a worker in many areas of crime prevention. To seek justice and awareness for gun violence and pedestrian safety in the community, Attorney Hupy has personally offered monetary rewards to assist police with their search for perpetrators. In 2016, he gave a $25,000 reward to the person who helped police solve the death of 5-year-old Laylah Petersen. He has pending rewards of $25,000 and $50,000 to help solve a shooting involving a 7-year-old boy sleeping in his bedroom and a 9-year-old who was killed from a bullet flying into her house, respectively.
“Your remarkable commitment to ending childhood violence is making a tremendous impact in your community. The Milwaukee area is lucky to have you as a longtime advocate,” said Senator Tammy Baldwin in a letter.
Attorney Hupy has received many awards and accolades over the years, including winning the Shepherd Express “Top Local Activist,” being named a COA parent of the year and several law-related accomplishments. He is also on the committee for “MilWALKee Walks,” a pedestrian-focused organization. He has personally urged police officers to be more diligent when it comes to ticketing drivers for not yielding to pedestrians. The firm runs “Yield to Pedestrians” public service announcements in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa.
The Wisconsin Law Journal held its annual “Leaders in the Law” event at the Pfister Hotel on February 15, 2018. National Trial Lawyers member Todd Korb, partner at Hupy and Abraham, S.C., was among the 25 lawyers who were honored this year. Attorneys James Shilobrit, Thomas Perlberg, Timothy Schelwat and Evan Claditis also attended.
Each year, The Wisconsin Law Journal receives a large number of applications and has the task of placing them into 25 slots. Leaders in the Law celebrates exemplary figures in the legal community for what they have done for their clients and the profession. These honorees have a responsibility to remain benchmarks for their peers, so they can continue to raise the standards in the legal community.
Attorney Korb was selected for a number of reasons, among those being a superb trial lawyer with a high level of skill. Attorney Korb has received millions of dollars in settlements for his clients, since joining the firm in 2007.
In addition, Attorney Korb has received other accomplishments, including the handling of one of Hupy and Abraham’s most famous trial, Curtis Harris’ police brutality case. The case left Harris a quadriplegic and settled for $3 million.
The tempest surrounding a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels took another wild turn when Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the president didn't know the details of the payoff. Giuliani also says Trump reimbursed lawyer Michael Cohen for the $130,000 payment that Cohen claimed he made through a home equity loan, according to CNN. Now, the president is confirming the repayment in a Tweet:
Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
In this video from CNN, analyst and author Jeffrey Toobin says the Trump legal is shifting its story on the payoff: