Happy Belated New Year!

It’s been extremely busy for us, so unfortuantely it means I am behind on blogging. We have been getting a lot of calls from former clients who take and/or used to take Reglan for GERD or acid reflux. Unfortunately, the FDA has previously issued a black box warning for this drug because it can cause a disease called Tardive Dyskinesia.

Tardive Dyskinesia is characterized by repetitive, involuntary, purposeless movements such as grimacing, tongue protrusion, lip smacking, puckering and pursing, and rapid eye blinking. Rapid movements of the arms, legs, and trunk may also occur. Impaired movements of the fingers may appear as though the patient is playing an invisible guitar or piano.

If you or family member has taken reglan or one of its generic alternatives and suffers from Tardive Dyskinesia contact us at 713-529-1177 for a free consultation.

Well, it’s finally here…the first trial against the chemical companies supplying the former Hayes Sammons Pesticide Plant has begun. The Monitor has a full story. There is a gag order in place so I can’t comment on the trial at this time.

Yes, it’s been a while since posting, but that’s a good thing–we’ve been swamped. We’re about to start the big pesticide trial, but I’m taking a breather for an hour to pass along this safety information:

Something that caught my attention yesterday though about the dangers of using your cell phone and driving. It’s frightening and a wake-up call to all of us. I know I’ve been guilty of doing this, but now I’m trying to be better. It’s a long story but worth the read. Kudos to Exxon (a company that I usually don’t kudo) for doing something about it:

In 2004, Exxon Mobil started asking the same question after it became concerned about the safety of its 90,000 workers and 100,000 contract workers, who drove up to 1.5 million miles each day, said Michael Henderek, the company’s safety executive at the time. The company wanted to know what a ban would do to the bottom line.
“Exxon Mobil is a corporation in which 50 percent of employees are engineers,” said Mr. Henderek. “It’s driven by data.”

The company determined that research equating the dangers of behind-the-wheel multitasking with drunken driving was reliable. So in early 2004, Exxon Mobil ran a pilot project, restricting some employees from using the phone while driving. It found no loss in productivity, and quickly imposed a ban for all workers and contractors.
“To not act was irresponsible,” Mr. Henderek said. “The risk to employees was much greater than any marginal benefit of the productivity you get.”

Exxon Mobil was particularly concerned about its big fuel trucks.

“The last thing you want to have,” Mr. Henderek said, “is an incident between the fuel fleet and the community.”

Our firm filed a new Zicam lawsuit today with 117 plaintiffs against Matrixx Initiatives for their permanent loss of smell from using Zicam Cold Remedy. The Arizona Republic has a story here and the WSJ MarketWatch has a story here.

The Houston Chronicle interviewed one of our Zicam clients here. The story highlights the safety issues and dangers of losing your sense of smell permanently. We represent many others like Mr. Ehler who need their sense of smell at the workplace such as chefs, firefighters, nurses, and refinery workers.

We were interviewed last night on Fox News Houston regarding yesterday’s announcement of Zicam’s dangers and permanent loss of smell. Here is the full story.

The U.S. FDA has just come out with an advisory warning people not to use Zicam products containing zinc as they are linked to permanent loss of smell. Read the full advisory here.

We represent over 100 people who have permanent loss of smell and taste from using Zicam. This advisory confirms what our clients and Thomas & Wan have always known–these are dangerous products that must be taken off the market. Even to this day, Matrixx refuses to put a warning on the products that they can cause permanent loss of smell and taste. We are currently in litigation in Arizona state court over several of these cases.

Well, this is a first. I got pulled over yesterday for making an illegal turn right in front of the courthouse. Always a great way to start trial. Anyway, my DL and insurance were in the back of the truck with our trial boxes. So, I go back there, and the officer gives me a strange look and says, “I’m going to let you go this time…it looks like you got bird poop all over the back of your suit.” Pepito saves the day! Now I know why I love animals so much. They are always looking out for us dumb humans.

We spend a lot of time in McAllen and looking at medical records from McAllen healthcare providers. It is always interesting to see that injuries, quite frequently occur not from the primary illness but from a test or procedure gone awry. This eye-opening article from the New Yorker may explain this phenomenon.

The Dallas Morning News has a good story on getting to the real issues in high health care costs, and it’s not so-called greedy lawyers…it’s the insurance companies. Damage caps do not work–they only punish children, retired people and low-income people. They don’t work, period.