Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorney Blog | Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP

Christmas came a little early for many current and former Wal-Mart employees. On December 23, Wal-Mart agreed to settle 63 wage- and hour-abuse class action lawsuits filed by their employees. In the process, they probably saved billions of dollars by avoiding a jury trial.

For years, Wal-Mart has been stealing time and money from their employees. They had denied workers rest breaks and meal breaks, they failed to pay proper overtime wages, and they shortchanged employees on hours. Many employees had a few minutes cut from each pay-period's work hours. This "time-shaving" reportedly saved Wal-Mart millions of dollars on their payroll.

As part of the settlement, Wal-Mart must abide by new accountability standards to ensure that future employees don't suffer from the same abusive practices that the company has committed in the past. They will be forced to use electric monitoring systems to prove that they are adhering to wage laws.

Wal-Mart will pay their employees somewhere between $352 million and $640 million, depending on how many employees file claims.

If you live in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area and have been the victim of workplace abuse, please contact the law office of Pomerantz, Perlberger, & Lewis, LLP today to schedule an initial consultation.

Three workers suffered severe burns in a corn dust explosion at a silo in Phoenix, Arizona. The workers were loading the corn dust into a pit at the time of the accident. They were flown by helicopter to a local hospital burn unit and treated for second-and-third-degree burns to their faces, arms, and hands.

The explosion was powerful enough to tear steel anchoring rods from their concrete moorings. Currently, investigators are not sure what caused the incident.

Due to the dangerous nature of the work, construction accidents are an all-too-common occurrence in our country. Frequently, these accidents lead to serious, often life-threatening injuries.

If you have been injured in a construction accident, you are entitled to receive workers' compensation to cover your medical expenses and lost wages. Unfortunately, many insurance companies will try to low-ball you on your claim. In order to ensure that you receive a proper settlement, it is important to hire an experienced workers' compensation attorney who can skillfully stand up to the insurance company for you.

If you have been involved in a construction accident or have a workers' compensation claim in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, please contact the law office of Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis, L.L.P. today to schedule a consultation.

The California Supreme Court is allowing a personal injury lawsuit to proceed against a woman who rescued her friend from an auto accident.

In 2004, Alexandra Van Horn was a passenger in a car that crashed into a pole. Lisa Torti was in a car nearby which stopped to offer assistance. Torti believed the wrecked car was about to explode, and pulled Van Horn out in an attempt to save her life.

Van Horn was paralyzed in the accident. She is suing Torti for negligence, claiming that Torti pulled her out of the car "like a rag doll." She insists that Torti's rescue was responsible for her paralysis.

The California Supreme Court ruled that the state's Good Samaritan Law only applies in situations where a person is administering emergency medical care. They ruled that Torti's rescue does not fall under these conditions.

The court ruling was unanimous. The justices stated that a person is not obligated to come to the aid of another in need, and if such aid is offered, it must be done with the utmost care to prevent other injuries.

Van Horn's lawsuit will now be able to go to court. It is uncertain whether a jury will find Torti guilty of negligence for her Good Samaritan actions.

If you have a personal injury claim in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, please contact the law office of Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis, L.L.P. today to schedule a consultation.

The abundance of winter weather across the country has taken its toll on drivers. Driving conditions everywhere have become increasingly hazardous over the past few weeks, as the first wave of blizzards and ice storms hit many regions of the nation.

In many states, the Department of Transportation has urged drivers to stay off the road as visibility and slick roads have made safe driving nearly impossible. Many parts of the country have witnessed a serious increase in auto accidents as a result of these poor road conditions.

Early winter storms are typically the most dangerous. Many drivers have not experienced these road conditions since early last spring, resulting in many cars skidding off the road as drivers struggle to regain their winter driving skills.

When you are involved in an auto accident caused by another person's negligence, it is important to consult an experienced personal injury lawyer who can help you receive compensation for bodily injuries and damage to your vehicle. Frequently, insurance companies will try to low-ball you on a settlement after an accident. Hiring an attorney will help prevent these insurance companies from bullying you around in your time of need.

If you have been injured in an auto accident in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, please contact the law office of Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis, LLP today to schedule a consultation.

Heather Grow, an Ohio woman, was awarded $20 million dollars in her medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctors who delivered her baby in 1997. Her baby was stuck in her birth canal for 13 hours before a Caesarean section was finally performed.

Grow's lawsuit claimed that the doctors were negligent in their decision to try and push her baby through the birth canal, especially since they were aware of the fact that she had a narrow pelvic arch.

The baby's head was compressed while stuck in the birth canal, causing brain injuries. Grow's daughter has restricted use of her arms and legs, and suffers from vision problems and mild retardation.

The doctors deny all wrongdoing in the birth of Grow's baby, and insist that they "did everything medically possible to facilitate a healthy delivery." Unfortunately, "everything medically possible" did not include performing a Caesarean section until it was too late to prevent major damage to the baby.

If you have a medical malpractice claim in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, please contact the law office of Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis, LLP today to schedule a consultation with one of their litigation experts.

Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) has issued a recall for yet another product. They were recently forced to recall their Complete MoisturePlus contact lens solution after it was found to be contaminated. Users of the product had been developing serious eye infections. In severe cases, the contact lens solution had caused permanent eye injuries.

The new recall is for AMO's Healon D Ophthalmic Viscosurgical Device (OVD), a syringe used in various eye surgery procedures. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), eye surgeons found that many of their patients developed an inflammation when the Healon D OVD was used in surgery.

This is a Class I recall, reserved by the FDA for only the most serious cases. A Class I recall implies that the product presents a strong likelihood of serious injury or death.

The Healon D OVD is used as a surgical aid in cataract surgery, corneal transplant surgery, and glaucoma filtration surgery. The contaminated Healon OVD syringes placed patients in danger of developing Toxic Anterior Segment Syndrome (TASS), a condition that causes permanent eye problems in victims.

If you have developed an infection after a recent eye surgery procedure, contact your ophthalmologist immediately to make sure that he didn't use the Healon D OVD syringe in your surgery. You should also contact an experienced product liability attorney to see if you are eligible to receive compensation for your damages.

If you live in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area and have suffered an injury due to the AMO Healon D OVD, please contact the law offices of Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis, LLP today to schedule a consultation.

More than 225 product liability lawsuits have been filed against Medtronic following their 2007 voluntary recall of their Sprint Fidelis lead. The product is used with heart defibrillators to administer treatment.

Medtronic's Sprint Fidelis leads were recalled because they had a tendency to fracture. The fractured leads would either deliver unnecessary shocks to patients or fail to administer a shock when required. As a result, patients have been experiencing excruciating pain from needless shocks, or suffering from heart conditions that could have been prevented by a properly-functioning defibrillator.

The FDA has designed software to help detect fractures in Sprint Fidelis leads. This software, called the Lead Integrity Alert, sounds a warning signal when your lead has fractured. The warning will repeat at regular intervals until the defibrillator is reset. If you have a Medtronic lead hooked up to your defibrillator, you should consult your doctor immediately to make sure the lead hasn't fractured.

Plaintiffs in the pharmaceutical injury lawsuits against Medtronic are alleging that the company is guilty of manufacturing a defective product, and that it falsely marketed the product as safe.

If you live in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area and have suffered an injury from a Medtronic Sprint Fidelis lead, please contact the law offices of Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis, LLP today to schedule a consultation.