Lawsuit Information Center

March 25, 2011

Mississippi High Court on Experts and Collateral Sources

The Mississippi Supreme Court reversed a directed verdict for a hospital in a nursing medical malpractice action in which the plaintiff suffered IV infiltration – leakage of fluid from an IV into the patient’s tissues from an IV line – and burn injuries.

The directed verdict from the trial court struck Plaintiffs’ expert from testifying as to the standard of care even though the expert had already been accepted as an expert on the nursing care given by the hospital. Had the expert been permitted to testify, she would have testified as to the standard of care for IV infiltrations and that the hospital breached that standard.

The Mississippi high court also make a good call for plaintiffs on the question of the collateral source set off when the amount of the liens/bills have been reduced.

March 14, 2011

New York Car Accident Verdicts

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The average car/truck/motorcycle accident verdict in New York is $837,020, which is stunningly high compared to most other jurisdictions.

Why is this? Are New York jurors just that much more generous than, say, jurors in Maryland?

The answer is that New York’s no-fault accident law requires that plaintiffs suffer a “serious injury” before a lawsuit can be brought against the at-fault driver. While there is some question that having a magical threshold that needs to be crossed is going to be fraught with great flaws, there is no question that this New York scheme, as desultory as the justice it might bring, keeps minor personal injury car accident cases out of court.

What’s my point? My point is that this completely distorts average car accident verdicts in New York. I read Metro Verdicts Monthly and Mealey’s which provide a lot of individual verdicts in car accident cases in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. It is amazing how many jury verdicts there are for $10,000 when, if you look at the case, is really not such a bad result. New York has none of these cases deflating their average.

March 9, 2011

Topamax Lawsuit

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Topamax, also known by its generic name topiramate, is an antiepileptic medication developed by Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. It was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1996. Initially, Topamax was primarily used for the treatment of epilepsy and seizures, as it demonstrated efficacy in reducing the frequency and severity of seizures in patients.

Topamax works by affecting neurotransmitters in the brain, particularly gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate. GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that reduces brain activity, while glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter that increases brain activity. By modulating the balance between these neurotransmitters, Topamax helps to prevent excessive electrical activity in the brain, reducing the likelihood of seizures.

Topamax Birth Injury Lawsuits

February 24, 2011

Average Jury Verdict in Florida

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Florida Personal Injury Settlement Statistics

According to a not-so-recently published Jury Verdict Research study, the average verdict in a personal injury lawsuit in Florida is $1,732,150. Huge and almost invariably uncollectable verdicts, because of caps on a defendant’s ability to pay, and overturned verdicts inflate the average to a number that is really no longer meaningful. The better measure, the median verdict, was $149,411.

The breakdown of the injuries relative to the verdicts in the study was interesting:

February 21, 2011

Tennessee Verdicts

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

California Family Sues Roblox and Google in Gaming Addiction Lawsuit

January 28, 2025: In a new video game addiction lawsuit filed in Fresno County Superior Court, a California family alleges that Roblox Corporation and Google knowingly designed and distributed addictive gaming products that harmed their 11-year-old child. The complaint claims that Roblox employs patented addictive design features such as operant conditioning systems, loot boxes, and microtransactions, which exploit the vulnerabilities of young users. Filed as part of the growing wave of video game lawsuits, this new suit highlights accusations that major tech companies prioritize profits over the health of minors. The family contends that Roblox and Google failed to warn parents of the inherent risks of gaming addiction while actively marketing Roblox as an educational and creative platform. So it should come as no surprise that the child allegedly developed compulsive gaming habits, experienced withdrawal symptoms, and suffered cognitive and social harms. There is no video game class action lawsuit for personal injury claims, so these gaming addiction lawsuits are filed individually against video game companies.

Lawsuit Alleges Addiction Caused “Severe Psychological Harm”

February 14, 2011

Certificate of Merit Requirements in Malpractice Cases

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals decided an interesting medical malpractice case addressing the bar plaintiffs’ malpractice lawyers must clear when presenting a certificate of merit that will survive summary judgment.

November 26, 2010

Obama Gets Stitches from Basketball Injury

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

President Obama got 12 stitches after being elbowed in the lip during a basketball game. Who elbows the President of the United States? What an idiot! (Unless, of course, the President tried to drive the lane. In which case, he had it coming.)
I’m bringing a class action against the person who fouled President Obama. I have estimated his time is worth $10 million an hour to the American people. These stitches cost us 45 minutes!

November 5, 2010

Unnecessary Heart Stents

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

If you Google “unnecessary heart stents” most of the searches come up discussing the stent debacle at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Maryland. But Maryland might just be the tipping point. The same health care system with the same financial incentives for doctors for using heart stents exists throughout the country. I suspect unnecessary stent medical malpractice lawsuits will be the next wave of malpractice lawsuits. In many jurisdictions, although I suspect not in Maryland when all is said and done, there will be a great case for punitive damages.

Stent lawsuits in jurisdictions with punitive damages involving a hospital systematically providing unnecessary heart stents may be big cases. Punitive damage claims against individual doctors are typically of limited utility because the doctors have limited assets – relatively speaking – and the insurance policies do not cover intentional torts. Obviously, hospitals have more insurance and deeper pockets.

September 9, 2010

Average New York Car Accident Verdicts

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A recent Jury Verdict Research (JVR) study found that the average verdict in a New York motor vehicle accident case is $837,020. The median verdict is $150,000. This data does not include defense verdicts which, if considered in the data, would obviously reduce the average award.

To be sure, $837,020 is a lot of money for the average car accident case. But you have to keep in mind that in New York because of the threshold level of injury requirement, juries are more likely to hear a serious injury case than a jury would in, say, for example, Maryland.

Rear-end accidents accounted for 21% of the successful verdicts in the study. Pedestrian lawsuits were 17% of the verdicts and intersection accidents made up 15%.

August 11, 2010

Average Jury Verdict in Pennsylvania

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The average verdict in a Pennsylvania personal injury lawsuit where the jury awards damages is $749,973, according to a recent Jury Verdict Research study. The median jury verdict Pennsylvania paints a little different picture: $36,400.