Personal Injury Roundup No. 60 (12/11/09)

Reform, Legislation, Policy

• GAO issues report on FDA drug oversight.  (AP/Google news)
• Betcha didn’t know that the pending health care bills would require chain restaurants and vending machines to post nutritional information. (USA Today)
• FDA widens radiation overdose in LA-area hospitals. (LA Times, PopTort)
• Regulation of direct-to-consumer drug advertising? (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• CPSC releases report on Chinese drywall.  (Mass Tort Defense)
  

New Lawsuits

• Estate of woman killed by driver talking on cell phone sues driver’s phone service providers. (NY Times, Injured).  Russell Jackson responds. 
• Family of father and son killed on NY highway last summer by drunk, wrong-way driver sue driver’s estate.  (NY Post)
• Parents of high school senior who committed suicide after “sexting” incident sue school for negligence.  (eSchoolnews)

Trials, Settlements and Other Ends

• Judge Weinstein dismisses pre-paid cell phone class action. (Jackson)
• NY judge dismisses action as frivolous where doctor sued opposing expert in prior med mal cases – and also sanctions the plaintiff and his counsel. (Turkewitz)

Appeals

• Seventh Circuit affirms dismissal of negligence claim against Wal-Mart for selling bullets to customer who committed suicide.  (Day on Torts)
• Wisconsin Supreme Court decides issue of first impression and holds that victim of intentional tort does not have duty to mitigate. (Wis Law Journal)

Miscellaneous

• Searle Civil Justice Institute issues preliminary report entitled “State Consumer Protection Acts:  An Empirical Investigation of Private Litigation.”   
• Don’t friend the judge in Florida.  (ABA Journal)

Thanks to Russell Jackson for material this week.

–SBS