The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

A van carrying 14 Montgomery church members lost control on I-85 and overturned near Tuskegee, Alabama. The driver of the van lost control when one of the rear tires blew out. All 14 passengers survived the auto accident but 10 of the 14 members suffered injuries. According to Alabama State Troopers, 7 passengers were taken to Baptist South Hospital by ambulance and 3 passengers were airlifted to the hospital.

Auto accidents happen at any time for a variety of reasons, such as:

• Defective tires
• Defective parts
• Hazardous roads
• Improperly marked construction areas
• Narrow shoulders
• Distracted drivers
• Drunk drivers
• Inexperienced drivers
  

No matter the reason, auto accidents can cause serious personal injury or wrongful death to the driver, passengers or pedestrians. Whether your injury leaves you with a permanent disability or simply causes you to lose a few days of work, it is still an unexpected stressful and costly situation. You deserve compensation for your injuries and damage to your property if the accident was caused by a negligent driver or defective vehicle.

For more information about auto accidents or to schedule an evaluation of your auto accident case in Tuskegee, Alabama with an experienced auto accident lawyer, please contact the Cochran Firm today.

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In most cases involving doctors that have committed medical malpractice or caused the wrongful death of patients in California, the doctor is put on probation and required to take additional medical classes. During this probation time, however, the doctor is allowed to continue treating patients and these patients are unaware of the crimes the doctor has committed.

In some of these cases, the doctors treat hundreds of patients as more and more disciplinary actions are given to the doctor for repeated negligence. The Medical Board of California does not take more drastic measures to discipline these doctors nor does the Board revoke their medical licenses because the doctors have a legal right to retain their medical licenses. Depriving these doctors of their licenses can get into constitutional issues, according to the Medical Board of California.

All doctors who have committed any type of medical malpractice or have caused the wrongful death of a patient should be held liable and this information should be made public for all current and future patients to see.

The San Jose medical malpractice attorneys at the Cochran Firm are committed to making sure that justice prevails for their clients. If you have been the victim of medical malpractice in San Jose, California, please contact the Cochran Firm immediately for help with your case.

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A recent explosion caused a fire at the Kilgore Flares Co. causing six people to suffer personal injuries near Memphis, Tennessee. Three of the six people were listed in critical condition. The cause of the explosion is still unknown. Authorities have ruled out terrorism, however.

Kilgore Flares Co. manufactures and supplies red decoy flares to the military designed to act as a decoy for the threat of guided missiles. During the explosion, sparks and debris were thrown through the air by the fire and ignited the clothing of the three critically injured people. These three victims were airlifted to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee where their personal injuries are being treated. The additional three victims are in good condition and were taken to West Tennessee Health Care.

Unfortunately, work related accidents do happen and can cause the personal injury or wrongful death of employees. It is the responsibility of the employer to make sure that the working conditions of every employee are safe and hazard free. The employer is at fault for any injuries suffered if an employee is harmed while performing his or her job.

If you have suffered a personal injury or if you have lost a loved one due to an accident on the job in Memphis, Tennessee, please contact the Memphis personal injury lawyers at the Cochran Firm today to schedule a consultation about your personal injury case.

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A woman was hit and killed by a car in a pedestrian accident on August 11, 2010. She remained unidentified for several weeks while news sources searched for her identity by displaying a sketch of her face on television. A local news viewer identified the victim as a 52-year-old doctor from Sacramento, California and helped authorities contact her family in California. The doctor was about to start her new position at Darnall Army Medical Center.

The law states that pedestrians have the right of way and vehicles must yield to all pedestrians in the road. Sometimes, negligent drivers disobey crossing signals or do not pay attention to their surroundings. A driver may be distracted by a cell phone or may be lost and looking for street signs rather than looking at crosswalks or paying attention to traffic signals.

Whatever the reason for the cause of a pedestrian accident, the pedestrian may be entitled to compensation for any personal injuries sustained in the accident. When a motor vehicle and a pedestrian try to occupy the same space, the motor vehicle will usually win, which can result in the wrongful death of the pedestrian. Unfortunately, this recent pedestrian accident resulted in the wrongful death of a Sacramento, California doctor.

If you have lost a loved one due to someone else’s negligence, or if you have been the victim of a pedestrian accident in Sacramento, California, please don’t hesitate to contact the experienced Sacramento pedestrian accident attorneys at the Cochran Firm. You may be entitled to compensation for your injuries and loss.

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Truck accidents happen very quickly and for many reasons. A truck accident can be the fault of the truck driver, the truck manufacturer, the government who maintains the roads, or the fault of another driver. In the case of one recent truck accident in Los Angeles, the person at fault was a 36-year-old man who was driving a van.

Authorities do not yet know why the 36-year-old man veered off the road and hit a parked car. The parked car was pushed forward hitting a 50-year-old truck driver and throwing him onto the bed of his broken down truck that he was having towed. The 50-year-old man was airlifted to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The 36-year-old driver of the van suffered minor personal injuries. This Los Angeles truck accident was caused by the negligent actions of the 36-year-old and resulted in the truck driver’s wrongful death.

If you have suffered personal injuries or lost a loved one in a truck accident in Los Angeles due to the negligent behavior of someone else, please contact the Los Angeles truck accident attorneys at the Cochran Firm to schedule an evaluation of your case. You are entitled to compensation for your injuries and loss.

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A 2001 lawsuit filed against the Ford Motor Company was finally settled in Jackson, Mississippi recently. A jury declared that the Ford Explorer being driven by baseball player Brian Cole caused his death due to the unsafe nature of the vehicle and the defective safety belts. An award of $131 million dollars was given to the family of Brian Cole for the actual damages sustained and a dollar amount for punitive damages has not yet been established.

According to reports, Brian Cole and his cousin, Ryan Cole, were driving home to Meridian, Mississippi from spring training in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Both passengers were wearing their seat-belts when the SUV rollover accident occurred. Brian Cole was thrown from the vehicle and, upon arriving at Jackson Memorial Hospital, was pronounced dead from his injuries

SUV rollovers are a common auto accident that can cause serious personal injury or wrongful death. SUV rollover accidents occur because of the high center of gravity and the narrow body of the vehicles. The style of SUVs makes them prone to rolling over in cases where the driver has to turn sharply or swerve to try and avoid an oncoming vehicle or object in the road. In the case of Brian Cole, his seatbelt was defective and he was thrown from the vehicle. He may have survived the auto accident if his seatbelt had functioned properly.

If you or someone you love has been in an SUV rollover accident in Jackson, Mississippi, please contact the Cochran Firm's experienced Jackson, Mississippi SUV rollover accident attorneys today to schedule a consultation about your case.

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A jury found that Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was liable for a 51-year-old woman’s personal injuries because they should have known that the prescription drug meant to help with shoulder pain was dangerous to consumers. The victim in this dangerous drug case suffered burns to her eyes, mucus membranes, and skin after taking the dangerous drug Sulindac. The woman was awarded $21 million dollars for her injuries, pain and suffering, and because the dangerous drug blinded and scared her.

Two weeks after starting to take Sulindac, the woman noticed irritation around her eyes and that her face was showing red spots. She was admitted to a hospital where she was diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). This dangerous drug literally burned her body inside and out.

Prescription drugs are meant to help improve our quality of life. Some pharmaceutical companies ignore certain effects of their drugs and put them on the market even though they know the drug is potentially harmful. Pharmaceutical companies can be held liable for manufacturing and distributing dangerous drugs.

If you have suffered from taking a dangerous drug in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, please contact the Philadelphia dangerous drug attorneys at the Cochran Firm today to schedule a consultation about your case.

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Armed robbery is defined as robbing a person or place of business with a deadly weapon such as a knife or gun. The robber uses the weapon to intimidate his or her victim by threatening them with it.

The situation becomes aggravated robbery when the robber uses force and violence to complete the robbery, which can include using the weapon being brandished.

In Alabama, aggravated robbery is considered a first-degree felony and is punishable with prison time from 5 to 99 years or life in prison. A fine may also accompany the prison time but is not to exceed $10,000.

If you are faced with an armed robbery or aggravated robbery charge in Huntsville, Alabama, you will need a skilled and experienced attorney on your side to make sure your rights are protected and justice is served. The sentencing for aggravated robbery can be as severe as a murder charge. It is important to have the right criminal defense attorney on your side.

The Huntsville criminal defense attorneys at the Cochran Firm will meet with you in a confidential case evaluation to discuss your charges, your rights, and the legal steps you must take in order to protect your rights.

If you have been charged with an armed robbery or aggravated robbery charge in Huntsville, Alabama, please contact the Cochran Firm today.

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Whether you're meeting friends after work or having a party at your house, you quite often have an opportunity to drink. Drinking to excess and then driving, however, can result in anything from a minor fender bender to jail time to death. Texas DUI law prohibits anyone over the age of 21 from driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit of .08 percent, the nationwide standard. Drivers under the age of 21 are prohibited from driving with a BAC of .02 percent, and commercial drivers from driving with a BAC of .04 percent.

If you are arrested with a DUI in Houston, Texas and it is your first conviction, you are facing the following sentencing:

• Between 72 and 180 days in jail
• Between 180 days to 2 years in jail if a child under the age of 15 was in the vehicle
• Suspended driver license between 90 to 365 days
• A fine up to $2,000
• A fine up to $10,000 if a child under the age of 15 was in the vehicle
• A DUI surcharge of $1,000 per year for 3 years
• A DUI surcharge of $2,000 per year for 3 years if your BAC was .16 or higher
  

Sentencing for repeat convictions will cost you more jail time and higher fines. You have rights under the law if you have been convicted of a DUI in Houston, Texas. Please contact the experienced Houston DUI lawyers at the Cochran Firm for legal representation in your DUI case. You deserve to have your rights protected.

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A Las Vegas plaintiff was awarded $500 million for punitive damages received after he contracted hepatitis C from an endoscopy center that was reusing needles and medicine vials. This amount is believed to be the largest amount a Nevada jury has awarded to a victim in the history of Nevada.

This medical malpractice lawsuit is the first in a line of 250 lawsuits where residents contracted hepatitis C from two endoscopy centers in Las Vegas. Law officials shut down the two centers in 2008 because of their unsafe medical practices. Two pharmaceutical companies have been targeted in the case because they manufactured and distributed a generic anesthesia medication that the two clinics used. The two pharmaceutical companies are Baxter Healthcare Corp. and Teva Pharmaceutical Ltd.

In this first medical malpractice lawsuit against the two companies, the jury found that both Baxter Healthcare Corp. and Teva Pharmaceutical Ltd. were responsible for the plaintiff’s infection because they manufactured single dose needles and vials that were reused on multiple patients. The jury declared that the two companies endangered patients.

If you or someone you love has been injured due to the negligence of a medical professional in Las Vegas, please contact the Cochran Firm today to discuss your medical malpractice case with our Las Vegas medical malpractice attorneys.

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A double-decker bus crashed into a railroad bridge that did not provide the height needed for the bus to safely pass under. The bus fell on its side after hitting the bridge killing 4 passengers. At least 17 passengers were sent to a local hospital following the bus accident in New York.

Reports of the bus accident indicate that the 59-year-old driver took the wrong exit off the highway and found himself on an unfamiliar road without a place to pull over or turn around. Officials are unsure how the driver missed the warning signs and flashing lights indicating that the clearance under the bridge was only 10 feet, 9 inches. The bus driver was not under the influence of alcohol or any controlled substance.

This New York bus accident may have several possible causes. The driver could be at fault if he was driving while distracted or driving while exhausted. Government entities that maintain the roads may be at fault if the roads were inadequately marked or if the warning signs for the bridge’s clearance were not readily visible. An experienced New York bus accident lawyer has the knowledge and resources to figure out who was at fault, especially if a wrongful death occurred.

No matter what party or parties were at fault, you are entitled to compensation if you or a loved one was involved in a bus accident and suffered a personal injury. Please contact the Cochran Firm today to schedule an evaluation of your case in New York, New York.

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On September 13, 2010, the opening arguments began in a Dothan Federal Courthouse in a police brutality trail brought forth by a woman who claims that one police officer used excessive force against her while another officer was present and failed to intervene.

According to the plaintiff, she was restrained face down in a Southeast Alabama Medical Center gurney and one of the police officers used a TASER gun on her three times consecutively. She claims the second police officer stood nearby and did nothing to prevent the excessive brutality.

The officers claim that the woman was unrestrained at the time the first officer used the TASER gun and only used it twice after repeatedly warning her to calm down. They claim she kept attempting to kick and bite the police officers.

Both officers are being charged with:

• Excessive force
• Assault and battery

Police officers are responsible for keeping us safe. Sometimes, however, police officers use excessive force or needlessly use their TASER guns causing personal injury and wrongful death to those they are meant to protect.

If you have been a victim of police brutality in Dothan, Alabama, do not hesitate to contact the Dothan personal injury attorneys at the Cochran Firm.

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A 49-year-old woman from Rocky Mount, North Carolina was visiting her daughter at the University of North Carolina where she fell off a bunk bed and suffered a fatal head injury. After this woman’s wrongful death near Raleigh, North Carolina, the demand for safety rails on the university’s bunk beds has soared.

UNC usually receives roughly 30 requests a year for safety rails, but has recently provided over 300 of its students with safety rails. Due to the surging demand for the safety rails, UNC has order 800 additional rails. The university is now considering supplying safety rails for all of the bunk beds on campus. This would require that the university order 8,500 safety rails that would cost about $250,000.

University campuses are responsible for making sure all students and their visiting parents are safe. This means that the entire premises of each campus have the proper safety measures in place, including safety rails on bunk beds, to prevent the personal injury or wrongful death of anyone on campus.

Losing a loved one unexpectedly is devastating especially if the death could have been prevented. If you have lost a loved one due to a wrongful death in Raleigh, North Carolina, please contact the Cochran Firm to speak with one of our experienced Raleigh wrongful death attorneys about your case.

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A 42-year-old man drove his vehicle onto the train tracks and stopped. A passenger Amtrak train immediately hit the vehicle causing a train accident in New Orleans. Amazingly, the man was not killed. However, police officers did have good reason to arrest the man for a DUI because the driver had a strong odor of alcohol, displayed slurred speech and his eyes were glassy and bloodshot

The man was arrested and sent to University Hospital in New Orleans to have his blood alcohol level (BAC) checked. The man’s BAC level was reported as 0.18 percent. The legal BAC limit to drive is 0.08 percent. Charges include:

• Driving while intoxicated
• Disobeying the train crossing signal
• Driving without liability insurance

The train accident did not result in the personal injury of anyone on the train. The man, however, suffered a head wound.

The New Orleans train accident attorneys at the Cochran Firm have experience helping victims of train accidents get the compensation they are entitled to. Possible compensation includes:

• Pain and suffering
• Lost wages
• Wrongful death
• Prescriptions
• Physical therapy
• Hospital bills
• At home care
• Other medical bills
  

Train accidents can occur for several reasons other than people stopping their vehicles on the tracks. Trains to collide with each other on occasion and they can hit a defect in a rail that sends cars off the tracks completely. Whether trains collide with each other or a vehicle, they can result in serious injuries and death.

If you or a loved one has suffered a injuries due to a train accident in New Orleans, please contact the Cochran Firm for a case evaluation.

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Drivers can be easily distracted by their cell phones while driving. An auto accident can occur quickly if a driver’s attention is taken off the road for even a split second. For this reason, Washington, D.C. has put several laws in place limiting the usage of cell phones by drivers.

In Washington, D.C., drivers of all ages are prohibited from using handheld cell phones while driving. Experienced drivers are allowed to use hands-free devices with their cell phones while driving so both hands are available to control the vehicle. Police officers can cite a driver for using a handheld cell phone even if no other traffic violation has taken place.

Washington, D.C. does not ban all drivers from using hands-free cell phones while driving. However, Washington, D.C. does prohibit school bus drivers from using a cell phone in any manner while passengers are present and prohibits inexperienced drivers from all cell phone use.

All drivers are prohibited from text messaging while driving. Text messaging while driving is a leading cause of SUV rollover accidents, truck accidents, and auto accidents in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. cell phone laws are in place to keep all drivers and pedestrians safe. If you or someone you love has been in an auto accident due to a distracted driver, please contact the Cochran Firm today to get the help you need with your auto accident case.

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Lucy Thomas' mother died at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers, Florida after receiving hip replacement surgery. The hospital staff declared that Thomas’ mother died of stress caused by the surgery and a heart attack. Thomas is certain that her mother died due to the injection of an undiluted heart medicine and that the hospital staff is guilty of medical malpractice.

Thomas’ mother’s body was embalmed and prepared for her funeral in Alabama. Unfortunately, any evidence of an overdose may have been destroyed during the embalming process. Thomas’ mother’s body was returned to Fort Myers from Alabama for an autopsy to discover if medical malpractice caused Thomas’ mother’s wrongful death.

If a jury finds Lee Memorial Hospital guilty of medical malpractice, then they are in turn guilty of lying and having committed fraud. Thomas has rejected any settlement offers and her lawyer is seeking an undisclosed amount from the jury.

When a hospital or hospital staff acts in a negligent manner and causes a patient to suffer a personal injury or wrongful death, the hospital is guilty of committing medical malpractice. It is illegal for the hospital to try to cover up the negligent behavior.

If you live in the Mobile, Alabama area and are in need of legal assistance with your medical malpractice case, please contact the Cochran Firm immediately.

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If you are pulled over for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) in Detroit, the police officer must have reasonable suspicion before he can request that you submit to field sobriety tests. Field sobriety tests are meant to determine if your blood alcohol content (BAC) is above the legal limit. If the officer does not have reasonable suspicion to conduct a field sobriety test or to conduct a DUI investigation, your arrest may be illegal.

Michigan courts require that several factors be present in order to give the officer reasonable suspicion. The smell of alcohol alone is not enough to warrant a DUI arrest. Possible factors for reasonable suspicion include:

• The smell of alcohol
• Slurred speech
• Bloodshot, watery eyes
• Staggered walk
• Flushed face
  

These combined factors along with a traffic violation will provide the arresting officer with legal reasonable suspicion and will warrant your arrest. Officers may exaggerate or lie in their police reports about what gave them reasonable suspicion.

If you have been pulled over for the suspicion of a DUI in Detroit, Michigan, you will want the skilled Detroit DUI attorneys at the Cochran Firm on your side. You have rights under the law and your DUI arrest may be illegal. Please contact the Cochran Firm today to schedule a case evaluation.

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Minneapolis has tried in recent years to lower the amount of pedestrian accidents and pedestrian deaths that occur every year. Drivers tend to get upset easily with people who are walking or riding their bikes because they feel as though pedestrians get in their way. Many pedestrian accidents happen because drivers are not yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks and because drivers sometimes drive while distracted.

A safe crosswalk law was recently passed in Minnesota requiring all drivers to stop for pedestrians crossing in crosswalks and on the road. Unfortunately, this law has done little to reduce the amount of pedestrian accidents that happen each year. Minneapolis police officers seldom stop drivers for failing to follow the crosswalk law and yield to pedestrians. The next course of action Minneapolis will take is educating drivers of the dangers of causing pedestrian accidents.

As a pedestrian, you rule the road and vehicles must yield as you cross the road. In some cases, drivers become frustrated and give into road rage. In doing so, they can quickly cause pedestrian accidents that may lead to personal injury or wrongful death.

Please contact the Cochran Firm if you have been involved in a pedestrian accident in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Cochran Firm's Minneapolis pedestrian accident attorneys are here to help you get the compensation you deserve for your injuries.

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Dolores "Dee" Howorth, a 74-year-old woman, died 27 days after being admitted to a nursing home in Chicago, Illinois. It is reported that she died of dehydration. She was restrained in a wheelchair with a lap belt and the nursing home staff neglected to document her declining health or keep her adequately hydrated, which led to acute renal failure and Howorth's wrongful death.

Howorth's family is suing ManorCare Health Services-Hinsdale for nursing home abuse and the wrongful death of Dolores Howorth. The family believes that Howorth was unnecessarily restrained physically and chemically for the convenience of the nursing home staff. They also believe that Howorth's quality of life deteriorated when she was admitted into their facility.

We want our beloved family members to have the best of care in their later years. This is why we do our best to choose nursing homes that will meet our loved one’s needs and make sure they are safe and healthy. When a nursing home neglects to properly take care of our loved ones, they are committing nursing home abuse.

If you live in the Chicago, Illinois area and have a nursing home abuse lawsuit, please contact the Chicago nursing home abuse lawyers at the Cochran Firm for help. Our experienced lawyers will protect your rights and the rights of your loved one.

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A 28-year-old motorcyclist was beaten by three Dallas, Texas police officers in early September 2010 following a chase. The police officers are facing criminal charges for their roles in the police brutality incident. Some of the confrontation was caught by a dashboard camera in one of the police vehicles before an officer moved the camera to avoid filming the beating.

The 28-year-old-man suffered personal injuries from being beaten with the officers’ fists and batons. All three officers are faced with felony charges and two of the officers face misdemeanor charges. The charges include:

• Tampering with or fabricating physical evidence
• Assault and official oppression
  

There is no evidence that this police brutality incident was the cause of any racial prejudice. Dallas police are investigating the incident and internal affairs investigations are being conducted on two of the three officers. The third officer, who was still on probation as a new member of the department, was fired.

Naturally, the police officers involved in the Dallas police brutality incident do not represent the Dallas police force philosophy of treating citizens with fairness and compassion. And, while police brutality cases are rare, they still happen. If you have been the victim of police brutality, please contact the Cochran Firm today. You have rights and the Dallas police brutality lawyers at the Cochran Firm are committed to protecting those rights.

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Rashad Jeanty, a former linebacker with the Cincinnati Bengals, fractured his left fibula on January 9, 2010, in a playoff game against the New York Jets. The Bengals medical staff informed Jeanty that he did not need surgery for his injury. Jeanty visited the Miami Dolphins as a restricted free agent and was informed that he required major surgery in order to stabilize his leg. The Dolphins were uninterested in Jeanty due to his injury.

Jeanty underwent the surgery for his leg and was thought to be placed on the reserve list for the Bengals. However, due to his injury, the Bengals cut him from the roster even though Jeanty was an extremely valuable player for the team and had won the Ed Block Courage award in 2008.

The Bengals medical staff misdiagnosed Jeanty’s injury and did not get him the medical attention he needed to properly recover from the fracture. The misdiagnoses cost him potential employment in the form a place on the Miami Dolphins roster.

Medical malpractice is the misdiagnoses or mistreatment of an injury or health condition by a medical professional. The Bengals medical staff had a duty and a responsibility to correctly diagnose Jeanty and to get him further medical attention for his injury.

If you live in the Miami, Florida area and believe you have been the victim of medical malpractice, please contact the experienced Miami medical malpractice attorneys at the Cochran Firm today to schedule an evaluation of your case.

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A family of 5 died in a fatal auto accident caused by a Louisiana man who was driving at 98 mph, according to a crash data recorder. The Louisiana man crashed into the family’s minivan killing the two parents, a 12-year-old daughter, and two foster children who were 5 and 6 years old.

The Louisiana man claimed he was driving at a safe speed when the auto accident occurred. He was given a prison sentence of 15 years for the manslaughter of the five victims. The Louisiana man suffered a spinal injury and a traumatic brain injury.

Losing a loved one unexpectedly in an auto accident can bring your entire world to a halt. You may not know what your next legal steps should be and grief can make it difficult to make these decisions. An experienced Metairie auto accident lawyer at the Cochran Firm will guide you through the legal process and help you claim compensation for:

• Pain and suffering
• Medical bills
• Loss of companionship
• Lost wages
• And more
  

If you lost a loved one in a fatal auto accident in Metairie, Louisiana, please contact the Cochran Firm to schedule a confidential consultation with an experienced auto accident attorney.

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The more than $23 million verdict comes after a 14-year fight by a family. The family, especially its two children, suffered serious health effects after toxic exposure caused by misapplication of Creal-O, a then-legal indoor pesticide. The family moved into an apartment complex in February 1994. Later that year, the complex fired its professional pest control service and began using its own personnel to apply pesticide. Not long after this change, first their son (aged 5 months) and then their daughter (aged 3 years) were hospitalized for seizures. The family moved out of the complex when their lease expired in January 1995, and in 1996 they filed a lawsuit naming the complex, its pest control service, and the pesticide manufacturer. The case against the pest control service and the pesticide manufacturer were dropped. After a four-week trial that included at least one jury controversy, a verdict was passed down in favor of the family. The jury awarded $500,000 each to the parents, $16 million to the daughter, and $6.5 million to the son. The mother says the two children "haven't been the same since the first seizure." The daughter, now 20, is severely developmentally disabled. Her mother describes the girl's condition: "she can't dress herself, undress herself, brush her teeth, brush her hair, shower herself--basically everything but feeding has to be done by somebody else." The 5-month old, now 17, is academically and socially delayed.

This lawsuit should give pause to people advocating the use of banned pesticides like propoxur against bed bugs. Bed bugs seem to be resistant to many pesticides, although the EPA is still testing the effectiveness of approved pesticides against the resistant bed begs, samples of which are hard to obtain. Propoxur, though, is very effective at killing them. Unfortunately, in these cases, pest control comes at a potentially high cost. According to EPA formulas, the levels of propoxur needed to control bed bugs would also pose serious risk to children. Furthermore, even if propoxur is effective in the short-term, it is unlikely to work for long. Bed bugs will likely develop a resistance within a short time, while the victims of toxic exposure to the chemicals would have to live with the consequences for a lifetime.

Unfortunately, the EPA ban is not stopping some desperate people from misusing pesticides. Some businesses, pest control services, and even individuals desperate to control bed bug infestations have been found using pesticides in unapproved applications, putting people at serious risk.

If you or your family has suffered toxic exposure due to an unapproved use of pesticides for bed bug control, the personal injury lawyers of The Cochran Firm may be able to help. Please call or email us today for a free case evaluation.

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Birmingham, Alabama roads have become increasingly safer since 2008 due to the Take Back Our Highways campaign started by Governor Bob Riley. The numbers of fatalities that have been a result of auto accidents and motorcycle accidents have decreased all over the state of Alabama. This is due, in large part, to the fact that law enforcement has engaged in more intelligent means of targeting dangerous drivers.

The Department of Public Safety has reported a steady decline of fatalities over the past couple of years. In 2008, 828 deaths were reported. The report also indicates that, for the first 3 quarters of 2010, there have been fewer than 375 fatalities. This decline in loss of life can also be attributed to drivers getting the message of the importance of driving safely.

Speeding, changing lanes abruptly, and driving while distracted are three of the most common causes of auto accidents. Accidents involving both automobiles and motorcycles in Birmingham, Alabama generally occur because drivers do not give motorcyclists adequate room on the road. Other issues than can lead to serious injuries or death include:

• Driving under the influence
• Driving without corrective lenses
• Driving unsafely in bad weather conditions
• Driving while sleep deprived
• Driving while distracted
• Not giving enough room between the vehicle and the motorcycle
• Changing lanes too closely in front of a motorcycle
  

A motor vehicle accident can result in serious personal injury or wrongful death. If you or someone you love has been in a motor vehicle accident in Birmingham, Alabama, please contact the Cochran Firm today to schedule a consultation with a Birmingham auto accident attorney. You have rights and we will help you protect those rights.

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Due to the increased interest and concern about what goes into cleaning products, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner stated in a letter to Earthjustice that he has decided to begin requiring the disclosure of all ingredients that go into household and commercial cleaning products.

This is the beginning of enforcing a 40-year-old state law, which calls for manufacturers to reveal everything that goes into some of the most common under-the-sink products. This may be the only law of its kind in the country.

Responding to fears about what these cleaners do to the health of consumers and the environmental harm they may cause, environmental and health advocates sued several manufacturers of cleansers last year to try to get information about what they put into them under the 1971 New York law, but the suit was unsuccessful. The New York DEC demand that companies release their ingredients only affects that state, but health and environmental advocates hope it spurs a broad change in what chemicals are put into products.

Studies have linked chemicals in some cleansers to asthma, hormone changes, and antibiotic resistance, among other things.

Industry groups unveiled their own list of ingredients this year, and claim that potential health dangers are “off-base.” They say that research is flawed and that the products are safe if used correctly. Environmental advocates applaud the list of ingredients, but say that the list was too vague.

Defective products injure and kill thousands of people every year in this country. If you or a loved one has become sick because of a chemical in a cleaning product, please contact the experienced defective product attorneys at the Cochran Firm for an initial case consultation. We serve clients nationwide.

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