All Topics

• Sleep Drugs - Attorneys Slow to Take Cases

  Robert Blanchard | March 27, 2007 11:51 AM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  Despite the recent FDA warning about Sleep Aid medications like Ambien and Lunesta causing hypnotic and potentially dangerous sleep walking behavior, attorneys have been slow to take on these cases. An ongoing theme of the calls to the lawyers' offices invariably involve someone driving while in this hypnotic state. When arrested, the hapless driver is charged with driving under the influence,...

• Handling the Analytical Juror

  Robert Blanchard | February 14, 2007 4:01 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  Different jurors have differing ways of analyzing the information that you present to them. I often urge lawyers to present evidence in ways that covers the concerns of the whole jury. To do this, some experts recommend that the personality type of the jurors be considered.Learning to identify and categorize jurors according to personality type is an incredibly valuable skill in jury...

• Police Officer Flipped Vehicle Due to Hydroplaning

  Shannon Weidemann | February 10, 2007 2:27 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  An officer of the Pensacola Police Force flipped his police cruiser while driving on Interstate 10 on January 27th. It had rained most of the day resulting in standing water on the road. Officer Young was driving 45 miles an hour, which is the speed limit, when he hit a patch of water. His car hydroplaned, ran into the concrete barrier, and flipped over. He suffered minor injuries. There...

• Women Killed Car Traveling the Wrong Direction

  Shannon Weidemann | February 07, 2007 2:14 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  A woman from Panama City was killed while driving in the eastbound lane of U.S. Highway 98 in an accident on Friday.Baheejah T. Jackson, age 26, was traveling westbound in the eastbound lane when he hit the car being driven by Ruth J. Lakey, age 76, head on. Lakey's car was then hit another time by a car driven by Russell Mann, age 69. Lakey was pronounced dead at Sacred Heart. Mann was...

• Vaccine Makers Exempt from the Law

  Robert Blanchard | February 05, 2007 10:03 AM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  As the debate heats up over the HPV vaccination for young girls (pushed heavily by Merck), it should be mentioned that the normal tort laws for injuries from the product do not apply to vaccines. They can injure and kill and there is no liability. There is a federal compensation system, however, and the whole scheme is designed to promote vaccinations. That's ok as long as vaccinations are...

• Strokes Caused by Medications

  Robert Blanchard | January 31, 2007 11:00 AM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  The suits against the makers of Vioxx, Celebrex, PPA and Ortho Evra all include claims that the medication could cause strokes. Strokes a re complicated injuries and can be very severe. The difficulty in proving such claims arises from the variety of other factoors that can lead to a stroke. Some understanding of the different knds of strokes is helpful. Strokes that involve a bleeding in the...

• Antidepressant Suicide - Prosac Paxil Effexor

  Robert Blanchard | January 25, 2007 12:49 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  According to a new study, for suicidal patients who had taken antidepressants, fluoxetine (Prosac) was associated with the lowest risk for causing suicidal tendencies, as opposed to venlafaxine (Effexor) which had the highest risk, as published in the December issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. The aim of this study was to investigate, in a nationwide series of suicidal subjects, how...

• Speaking to a Jury

  Robert Blanchard | January 22, 2007 2:23 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  All trial lawyers should avoid overly complex, technical, and boring explanations to a jury. Not only do jurors become confused, bored, and tune you out when you do, but technical jargon strips your arguments of the personal connections necessary to be persuasive. Even if a juror knows what a subdural hematoma is--and many do not--use of technical jargon makes jurors think of impersonal...

• Johnson & Johnson Vice President Blows Whistle on Ortho Evra

  Staff Writer | December 27, 2006 11:31 AM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  The Associated Press reported a new relevation in the ongoing pharmaceutical safety scandal which Johnson and Johnson has been facing in the past year or two. Former vice president and medical doctor Joel Lippman says he tried many times to bring problems with popular drugs such as the ortho evra patch to light, and claims he was fired for bringing attention to the safety of these drug products

• Doctors Need to Be Aware of Possible Condition

  Robert Blanchard | November 29, 2006 12:42 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  With the rise in obesity, there is also expected to be a rise in obesity related medical conditions. Many such conditions only require long term management, but some require instant identification and appropriate medical intervention. Such is the case with the condition known as Pseudotumor Cerebris. Overweight women of childbearing age are at risk and the condition causes and increase in...