Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorney Blog - Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP

It is always exciting when we get to report on the cases we win for our clients. This February, we won a wrongful death settlement for a man who lost his wife of 46 years to a cancer that spread to her lungs after her dermatologist failed to biopsy a suspicious lesion that accompanied a recurrence of melanoma in 1998. Cancer is unpredictable, and it is impossible for doctors to know how to respond, but according to experts retained by Pomerantz, Perlberger, & Lewis were prepared to testify that the doctor's inaction, and that of a surgeon who also treated her, reduced her chance of survival, robbing the husband of possibly many golden years with his loving wife.

We were prepared to go to trial with this medical malpractice case, but achieved settlement just days before the trial was due to begin. The $ 650,000 settlement is a very high one considering the nature of the case, including the patient's age and other factors that affect the liability in the case. Read more about the settlement here.

If you have lost someone you love prematurely as a result of a doctor's poor judgment, contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Pomerantz, Perlberger, & Lewis, LLP today for a free consultation.

In the continuing investigation into the car crash that killed Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed, a British Intelligence officer testified anonymously that the British intelligence service MI6 communicated no evidence of the crash between London and Paris headquarters on the night of the crash. This evidence works against the conspiracy claims of Dodi's father Mohamed Al Fayed, who claims that MI6 was monitoring the couple's communications, and that the executor of the plot was photographer James Andanson, allegedly a British agent.

It does not take a conspiracy to cause death on the highways, but this does not mean that no one is responsible. If you have lost a loved one as a result of a fatal car accident, contact the experienced auto accident lawyers at Pomerantz, Perlberger, & Lewis today for a free initial consulation.

In a whistleblower case filed in 1995 under the False Claims Act, two employees alleged that their employer, General Tool Company, submitted fraudulent claims to the Navy. According to the employees, General Tool Company had fitted more than 50 destroyers with substandard generators. Under the False Claims Act, the employees may be eligible to receive as much as 30% of the sum recovered by the government.

However, the Supreme Court began considering whether the two men would be eligible for recovery under the act, since General Tool Company did not submit invoices to the Navy, but to the shipyards Bath Iron Works and Ingalls Shipbuilding, where the destroyers were built. In December 2006, an appeals court ruled that the suit could go forward, since the False Claims Act allows claims made to other parties if "the claim will be paid with government money."

But Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia, as well as Chief Justice John Roberts seem eager to limit the breadth of the law, saying that since government funding permeates most sectors of society, the law could theoretically cover anything, unless it's limited.

What these justices forget is that the law is already limited by its proportional award framework. Claims will only be filed under the law if the government is being defrauded of significant sums of money, and if that is the case, then it needs to be addressed no matter how many subcontractors may intervene between the source of the money and the source of the fraud. Allowing companies to use a subcontractor as a shield against whistleblower suits would simply encourage them to collude with subcontractors to perpetrate fraud.

If you know that your employer is submitting false claims to the government, we are prepared to help you expose their wrongdoing. Contact the experienced qui tam lawyers at Pomerants Perlberger & Lewis, LLP today for a free initial consultation.

On Monday, a jury unanimously rejected a $21 million Personal Injury lawsuit by a US District Judge against an Encino shopping center. The suit alleged that the escalator on which the judge was riding on August 12, 2005, malfunctioned, causing him to fall, injuring his knees, back, and shoulder.

The attorney for the judge asked the jury to award damages for medical bills, lost earnings, impaired future earnings, and pain and suffering. However, the jury took under two hours to come to the unanimous verdict against the judge. Defense attorneys praised the verdict as representing the evidence, saying "the jury was able to see the evidence accurately without concern that the plaintiff happened to be a respected judge."

The case shows again why it is important to find an experienced and skilled personal injury lawyer for your premises liability case. If you or someone you love has been injured in a slip and fall accident in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, contact the law firm of Pomerantz, Perlberger, & Lewis, LLP today to set up your initial consultation.

According to a study published in the journal Thorax, people with sleep apnea, in which their sleep is disrupted by breathing difficulties, suffer double the risk of being in an auto accident. Studying the records of nearly 1600 clients of the Insurance Corporation of British Colubia, researchers from the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and the University of British Columbia, were surprised not only by the frequency of crashes suffered by apnea sufferers, but also by the severity. Even patients with mild sleep apnea had an increased risk of suffering a serious injury accident.

In sleep apnea, a person stops breathing for ten seconds, causing his or her brain an oxygen shortage, which causes him or her to wake up to resume breathing ten or more times an hour. One known side effect of sleep apnea is daytime drowsiness, but self-reported drowsiness did not correlate with higher accident rates, leading researchers to conclude that sufferers may not be aware they are at increased risk of accidents.

Treatments for sleep apnea exist, and this new evidence suggests that sufferers should have the treatment to protect not only themselves, but other drivers on the road. If you or someone you love has been injured in a car accident in Philadelphia, Penssylvania, contact the experienced auto accident attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis to schedule an initial consultation.

A Florida motorcyclist’s leg was completely severed when he struck a guardrail after traveling at a very high rate of speed and crashing. Joshua Holinger, 26, was injured in the crash while riding a 2004 Honda. He passed several vehicles and lost control of the motorcycle and began to slide on the roadway. He was ejected from the motorcycle and his right leg struck a guardrail post and was severed. Holinger was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center in serious condition.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a motorcycle accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the experienced motorcycle accident lawyers at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule an initial consultation.

In Cottonwood, Minnesota this week, a school bus and several other vehicles crashed killing four of the students and forcing many motorists to rush the injured to nearby hospitals. The bus and a van collided and then the bus hit a pickup truck and tipped over on its side. At least 14 people were hurt in the collision.

As motorists approached the wreck site, rescue workers asked them to help get injured children to hospitals. The bus driver was handing kids out of the bus doors as fast as he could, and the other children were terrified and screaming. The children were ages kindergarten through twelfth grade, and there were approximately 28 children on the bus at the time of the accident.

At the time this blog was posted, the names and ages of the children who were killed were not available for release.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a vehicle accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the experienced accident attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A civil lawsuit filed recently against the Comcast Corporation and several of its subsidiaries by a New Jersey worker could have lasting repercussions on the multi-billion dollar company and change the way they conduct business statewide, the plaintiff's attorney says.

Attorney Matt Jarve, who is representing Pennsville, NJ resident Joseph Callahan and his wife, Kim, in the suit, said he believes that if the suit is successful, Comcast would have to essentially rewrite the books for its safety standards.

"This is cutting edge stuff. My legal team's research has found there is no precedent in New Jersey for this type of suit," said Jarve. "It could have a resounding impact on the way this type of work is completed, making it safer across the board for the workforce."

Callahan, 48, of Riviera Drive in Pennsville, suffered from a traumatic brain injury, blood clots and a shoulder injury that would later require surgery after falling from a ladder on Aug. 16, 2005 while working on the cable lines on a utility pole. Comcast cable lines are required to be 19 feet or higher to clear any type of vehicle, and must be above all Verizon lines, according to the suit. It is unclear how high Callahan was when he fell.

Though he says he is lucky to be alive, Callahan claims that the quality of that life has dropped considerably since the accident. Jarve says he will attempt to prove in court that the accident was the result of alleged carelessness, recklessness and negligence on the part of Comcast.

The suit alleges that OSHA requirements and industry standards to protect workers require a secure and stable platform for the type of work being performed by Callahan, and that a bucket truck with a lift or comparable equipment should have been utilized. Callahan was using a ladder at the time of the accident.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured while working in Pennsylvania, please contact a Pennsylvania Personal Injury Attorney at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

Attorneys for Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center have filed an appeal in the Brock Higham medical malpractice lawsuit. Now 24-year-old Brock Higham will have to wait to see if he will still be awarded millions of dollars that a Bonneville county jury said he deserves. The jury decision was handed down in May, but the hospital feels their verdict was not in harmony with the facts of the case and stand by their claim that they did not cause Higham's injuries.

Statement from EIRMC: "The hospital defended Brock Higham's lawsuit again us not because we lack sympathy for his circumstances, but because we provided good care to Brock four years ago, and we did not cause his injuries."

At the trial of Higham vs. Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, jury members listened to testimony from the Higham family and medical personnel before coming back with a verdict in favor of Brock Higham.

The jury determined EIRMC did breach its standard of care when back in 2002 Higham went into EIRMC for a same-day wrist operation and left with permanent brain damage.
The hospital, to this day, does not believe they were responsible saying, "We believe the testimony and medical evidence do not support the claims made by the opposing lawyers. We believe the appellate court will correct the situation and determine that the conduct of the nursing personnel met the standards required."

After the verdict was read, the Higham family pleaded with the hospital administration to not appeal the jury decision saying, "We would also like to make a plea to Doug Crabtree and Lou Fatkin to not appeal this jury decision. This could delay Brock's owed money for two more years. Brock is in need of vital therapies that are not available in our area. The window of opportunity for Brock's Recovery is closing, and time is of the essence."

After hearing of the appeal, the Higham family said they would prefer to have Brock make a statement, but at this time is he is too upset to do so.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in Philadelphia, please contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis, serving clients in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A jury has awarded a Florida woman $2.4 million after a doctor left gauze in her following a C-section. Eleven days after giving birth to her daughter on 9-11-01 at Memorial West Hospital, she had to go back to the operating room to remove something that had been causing her tremendous pain.

Her gynecologist, Dr. Joseph Becerra, accidentally left a gauze lap pad inside her. It the days it festered inside her body, it caused a huge abscess to rupture, spreading puss insider her abdomen and pelvis.

It was eight days after the birth of her daughter before an x-ray revealed a special marker inside her abdomen. It was a blue strip attached to the pad designed to alert x-ray techs that something foreign may have been left in a patient following an operation. At the time, doctors did not know how large the item inside her actually was. The 12 X 12 inch pad did not show on the x-ray. It took doctors another three days to send her back to the operating room to get the pad removed. Becerra is no longer employed.

If you or a loved one has suffered due to medical malpractice in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the medical malpractice attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A South Dakota woman whose legs were amputated because of problems following knee-replacement surgery will get a new trial in her malpractice lawsuit against two doctors and their clinic.

The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled that Adeline Papke is entitled to a new trial because the judge in her first trial gave the jury an improper instruction that probably influenced the jury's decision to rule against her.

The judge's instructions to the jury said a doctor is not necessarily negligent because of an error in judgment. The Supreme Court says that reference to an error in judgment does not explain the standard of care at issue in malpractice lawsuits.

The ruling gives Papke another trial in her lawsuit against Dr. Thomas Harbert, Dr. Mark Harlow and their clinic, Aberdeen Orthopedics and Sports Medicine.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in Philadelphia, please contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis, serving clients in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A lawsuit has been filed against a gun shop that sold a killer his gun alleging that the sale was illegal. Carolyn Tuft, an injured survivor of gunman Sulejman Talovic’s shooting spree at a Utah mall last year, has filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages for her own injuries and the death of her fifteen-year-old daughter, Kirsten Hinckley.

The lawsuit names Rocky Mountain Enterprises, Inc., a Nevada corporation doing business as Sportsman’s Fast Cash. Licensed firearms dealer, Westley Hill sold the shooter a shotgun on November 13, 2006. Hill has pleaded guilty to failing to indicate on a form whether Talovic showed a second form of identification, required because he is an illegal alien from Bosnia. Hill was sentenced to a year on probation and a $500.00 fine.

Talovic killed Hinckley and four others and wounded Tuft and three others before he was fatally shot by police on the February 12, 2007 shooting in Salt Lake City.

If your loved one suffered a wrongful death in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the experienced wrongful death attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today for an initial consultation.

A civil lawsuit filed recently against the Comcast Corporation and several of its subsidiaries by a New Jersey worker could have lasting repercussions on the multi-billion dollar company and change the way they conduct business statewide, the plaintiff's attorney says.

Attorney Matt Jarve, who is representing Pennsville, NJ resident Joseph Callahan and his wife, Kim, in the suit, said he believes that if the suit is successful, Comcast would have to essentially rewrite the books for its safety standards.

"This is cutting edge stuff. My legal team's research has found there is no precedent in New Jersey for this type of suit," said Jarve. "It could have a resounding impact on the way this type of work is completed, making it safer across the board for the workforce."

Callahan, 48, of Riviera Drive in Pennsville, suffered from a traumatic brain injury, blood clots and a shoulder injury that would later require surgery after falling from a ladder on Aug. 16, 2005 while working on the cable lines on a utility pole. Comcast cable lines are required to be 19 feet or higher to clear any type of vehicle, and must be above all Verizon lines, according to the suit. It is unclear how high Callahan was when he fell.

Though he says he is lucky to be alive, Callahan claims that the quality of that life has dropped considerably since the accident. Jarve says he will attempt to prove in court that the accident was the result of alleged carelessness, recklessness and negligence on the part of Comcast.

The suit alleges that OSHA requirements and industry standards to protect workers require a secure and stable platform for the type of work being performed by Callahan, and that a bucket truck with a lift or comparable equipment should have been utilized. Callahan was using a ladder at the time of the accident.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured while working in Pennsylvania, please contact a Pennsylvania Personal Injury Attorney at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A Bridgeport, Connecticut Superior Court jury has awarded over $16 million to the family of a 49-year-old man who died of a heart attack over 12 years ago. The jury made the award to the estate and widow of Gary Carlson, a truck driver who died in 1994. The case was against Stamford Medical Group and Dr. Robert Goldsmith. The widow and estate accused the Stamford Medical Group of failing to diagnose and treat his cardiac disease.

This award was one of the largest wrongful death verdicts in Connecticut history. Carlson had been working three jobs to support his family at the time of this failed diagnosis.

If you or a loved one has been victim of medical malpractice in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the medical malpractice attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

According to Florida law, adult children over 25 years of age cannot file lawsuits for the wrongful death of their parent caused by medical malpractice. Only spouses and adult children under 25 can seek damages caused by medical malpractice. Even Florida trial attorneys are outraged by this law and have sought to fight it for years but to no avail.

In 2000, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision; however, Justice Barbara Pariente claimed that the age restriction was unjustified and likened the decision to limiting the rights of survivors with blue eyes over brown. Pariente asked the legislature to reconsider the decision, but her request was ignored.

Trial attorneys have found one possible way to get around the law, but it’s not easy. In order to pursue a medical malpractice claim on behalf of adult children older than 25, the attorneys must first prove the conduct of the healthcare professional was so outrageous that "it goes beyond all bounds of decency." There is only one case on record where the outrageous conduct argument was used successfully. That case involved siblings suing after their mother died during routine eye surgery and was eventually settled out of court.

How can the value of someone's life be measured by the age of her children? How can a court tell a 26-year-old man that his father’s death due to medical malpractice is not legally worth fighting for?

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in Pennsylvania, please contact a Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A woman claiming her breast implants were damaged in an on-the-job car accident is only getting compensation enough to replace one of the two implants, according to a state appellate judge’s ruling recently.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals issued the decision in a workers’ compensation claim filed by Penny Rumple Richardson who claims the 2001 accident caused rippling and a decrease in the size of her breast implants. Not surprisingly, this case was the first of its kind heard by the judges.

Greensboro plastic surgeon Dr. David Bowers testified that the woman’s right implant had ruptured and the left implant showed signs of rippling, so he replaced both of her implants. But he later testified that the left implant most likely had rippling because it was under-filled.

Judges ruled that Richardson would be compensated for the one ruptured implant and that it be covered under workers’ compensation because they are a “prosthetic device that functions as part of the body.”

If you have been injured on the job and feel you may be entitled to Workers’ Compensation benefits, please contact the experienced Workers’ Compensation lawyers at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania today to schedule your initial consultation.

It took a Wetzel County, West Virginia jury a mere 45 minutes to return a $4 million wrongful death verdict against a physician, Dr. Anandhi Murthy who treated Elizabeth Karpacs when she went to Wetzel County Hospital in June of 2001 complaining of abdominal symptoms. Her surviving children won the verdict, the second multi-million dollar verdict against this doctor in one year.

Murthy treated the woman with only fluids and antibiotics, but she really needed surgery to correct the life-threatening ischemic bowel condition from which she suffered. The doctor left her that evening and she died the following morning.

Attorney Christopher J. Regan, also of Bordas & Bordas, tried the case with Brown. The verdict included awards of $1 million to each of Karpacs' three surviving children, as well as another million for the deceased's estate.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

According to a recent article in Injury Prevention, traumatic brain injuries caused by skiing and snowboarding are on the rise. People under the age of 35 are three times more likely to incur these fatal and catastrophic injuries than older skiers. Males are 2.2 times more likely to incur a brain injury than females.

While brain injuries make up only a small percentage of the injuries caused by winter sports, they are the largest portion of fatal and catastrophic injuries incurred while skiing and snowboarding. The reason is that skiers and snowboarders are taking more risks on the slopes. Higher speeds and more jumping and acrobatics are contributing to the rise in brain injuries.

Colliding with other skiers and crashing into hard surfaces cause the most injuries as do impacts with trees, impacts with ski lifts, and lift accidents. Skier to skier collisions may not sound so bad, but when they happen at high speeds, the impact can be deadly.

If you’ve never gone skiing you might be surprised at how hard that snow can be. The snow on ski slopes gets packed down into a solid surface as more and more people pass over it. Thawing and refreezing can turn powder into rock-hard ice.
Ways to Prevent Injuries

Wearing a helmet may help protect your brain while skiing and snowboarding. Helmets can reduce the risk of serious brain injury anywhere from 22 to 50% according to reports.

One suggestion to be safer on the slopes is to stick to hills that are within your skill range and always be aware of your surroundings. Also, check to make sure that all of your equipment is in good working condition before you get on the lift. This includes boots and bindings.

Skiers have a duty to ski within their ability to maintain control and to watch out for skiers below them. Skiers and snowboarders can be held responsible when they cause accidents due to recklessness.

When you get up on that mountain, you accept certain inherent risks of winter sports. Ski areas cannot be held liable for these basic risks, but they can be held responsible when they are negligent.

If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed in a winter sports accident through no fault of your own, you may have a premises liability case on your hands. Please contact the Philadelphia firm of Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation with one of our experienced premises liability lawyers.

The maker of the defective Kugel Mesh Hernia patch will now have to face even more lawsuits over faulty hernia patches. Earlier this month, a federal court charged with hearing all claims related to the Kugel Mesh Hernia patch ruled the proceedings would be expanded to include claims against any of Davol Inc’s defective mesh patches, even those not involved in the original Kugel Mesh Hernia Patch recall.

When it was first introduced, the Kugel Mesh Hernia Patch was heralded as an innovation in hernia treatment. Unfortunately, by 2005, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) was receiving more and more reports of failure with the Kugel patch. The reports were so alarming that the FDA issued a Class I recall of the Bard Composix Kugel Mesh X-Large patch. Apparently, the recoil ring that opened the patch could break. When the ring broke, patients experienced bowel perforations and other serious problems. A Class I recall means that the recalled product poses a serious danger to patients still using it.

The FDA warned doctors to quite using the patch. The FDA also warned patients who received the patch to seek medical attention if they experienced unexplained fever, persistent abdominal pain, or tenderness to the incision site. By February 2007, the Kugel Patch recall had been expanded twice to several other sizes of the device.
The defective Kugel Mesh Hernia Patch spawned so many lawsuits against Davol and Bard, that last fall, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation of the United States Courts consolidated all federal cases regarding the defective Kugel Mesh Hernia Patch and transferred them to the District of Rhode Island for all pretrial proceedings.

If you or a loved one has been harmed by a defective medical device in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the product liability attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A $10 million lawsuit by the family of a Bosnian concentration camp survivor who was shot and killed by a San Jose police officer is scheduled to begin this week.

The suit filed by the family of Zaim Bojcic is set to begin in February 2008 in federal court in San Jose, where a jury will consider a civil rights and wrongful death claims brought by Bojcic's estate against the San Jose Police Department.

Bojcic was shot and killed in September of 2004 at a Starbucks after police say he threw a chair and tried to kick and punch a police officer. After the incident, the district attorney's office presented the case to a grand jury, which declined to bring criminal charges against the officer.

If you feel a loved one has suffered a wrongful death in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the experienced wrongful death attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.