A South Carolina judge has ruled that countersuits by a South Carolina gun dealer against Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and New York City over tactics used against out-of-state gun dealers, accusing Mr. Bloomberg and the city of, among other charges, conspiracy, fraud and defamation by speaking ill of them in the press, can go ahead. The ruling allows Mr. Bloomberg to be sued in his private capacity and thus be potentially personally liable for damages. The judge also ordered that Mayor Bloomberg sit for a deposition in New York.
The countersuit was filed in response to city lawsuits against gun dealers in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia alleging that the dealers sold firearms to people whom they knew were likely to quickly resell them to criminals, resulting in the firearms ending up in criminals’ hands in New York. (more…)
Not long after Medtronic pulled a flawed Sprint Fidelis leads off the market because of an apparent tendency to break, there are concerns that similar leads sold by St. Jude Medical may in rare cases puncture holes in patients’ hearts. Both cases concern wires, known as leads, that monitor the heart and transmit an electrical jolt to restore normal heartbeats. (more…)
Downing an “energy drink” (ie. Red Bull, Full Throttle, Amp and Rush) may boost blood pressure and heart rate as well as energy, posing a particularly significant risk to patients with heart disease, high blood pressure, or in those who consume energy drinks often. This finding was based upon a small study of healthy adults who drank two cans a day of a popular energy drink presented by researchers at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2007 earlier this month. The increases did not reach dangerous levels in the healthy volunteers. (more…)
Exposure to the chemical known as diacetyl, which adds the buttery flavor to popcorn, has been tied to hundreds of cases of workers whose lungs have been damaged or destroyed. When it is heated diacetyl becomes a vapor and when it is inhaled over a long period of time, it can cause various problematic symptoms. Exposure to this chemical can cause one to experience difficulty breathing and exhaling, and one’s lungs can become and scarred. The severe form of the disease is called “bronchiolitis obliterans,” also known as “popcorn workers’ lung,” which can be lethal. In fact, in July of 2005, a jury awarded a worker 2.7 million dollars as a result of his development of bronchiolitis obliterans, due to his long term exposure to diacetyl. (more…)
Health officials in New York City earlier this year linked three cases of hepatitis C to an anesthesiologist who administered intravenous pain medication. Although they are still investigating the exact cause, officials are notifying 4,500 patients who received treatment from the doctor from December 2003 to May 2007 that they should get tested for the disease, according to a report in The New York Times (11/17/07). The officials would not name the doctor. (more…)
On September 27, 2007, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about the risk of potentially fatal overdoses with Fentora, a narcotic painkiller manufactured by Cephalon. The action came less than two weeks after the company sent a letter to doctors notifying them of three drug-related deaths.
Cephalon has just recently agreed to settle the U.S. Justice Department investigation of its allegedly illegal off-label marketing of Fentora (fentanyl buccal) and Actiq outside the indications on their labels. (more…)
Earlier this week, 628 people were sent letters by the New York State Health Department urging them to get tested for hepatitis B and C and HIV, all blood borne diseases, because they had received epidural injections from Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, who used re-used syringes, from January 1, 2000 to January 15, 2005. Even though the victims would have had no way of knowing that they had been exposed to the diseases until now, it may be too late for them to sue the doctor. (more…)
The government’s use of investigators or informants posing as underage victims to ensnare sexual predators has been upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in United States v. Gagliardi, 064541-cr, ruling that 18 U.S.C. §2422(b) is not unconstitutionally vague and does not require that the victim be an actual minor. The United States Supreme Court is also considering a constitutional challenge to a federal statute by an individual who used an Internet chat room for an unsavory purpose; exchanging child pornography. United States v. Williams, No. 06-6944, argued October 30, 2007. (more…)
It has become commonplace for attorneys and others sending faxes and e-mails to include at the end of such communications standard language stating that the contents thereof are confidential and priviledged. Such standard language should provide no comfort, however, for senders and receivers of e-mails that use an employer’s server. A decision by Hon. Charles E. Ramos of the Supreme Court, New York County, holds that a pro forma notice at the end of an e-mail message did not inure the attorney-client priviledge to the e-mail when an employer’s e-mail server is used. (more…)
An interesting discussion contrasting the technology, data storage characteristics and the discovery process of e-mails with instant messages (IM) appears in an article by attorneys Michael B. de Leeuw and Eric A. Hirsch in the “E-Discovery” special section of the November 5, 2007 New York Law Journal. IM is quickly becoming the medium of choice for informal communication in the workplace, offering far greater efficiency, speed and immediacy than e-mail. (more…)
