Saturday, March 01, 2003

Bayer Walks a Fine Line.  Bayer Corporation, which is defending itself in a Corpus Christi, Texas courtroom in the first lawsuit to go to trial over Baycol, apparently sent a letter to over 2,000 Corpus Christi residents asking them to "keep an open mind to the efforts that Bayer made to give fair redress to this [plaintiff]" as reported by the Dallas Morning News.  The plaintiff's lawyer accuses Bayer of jury tampering. 11:37:25 PM     Ford Settles Following Discovery Snafu.  Ford recently settled a lawsuit over the safety of its fifteen passenger vans.  If this settlement was promoted by the failure to produce documents, it is disappointing to read.  The plaintiff asked for certain testing on the type of van involved in the case and Ford did not produce some that it deemed to be "not relevant because they pertained to a rudimentary model of the van."  I certainly do not know all of the facts but I am always disappointed when a blow is suffered for reasons that do not go to the merits of the case. 11:14:33 PM     Ephedra Under Fire.  Following the death of Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect, Steve Becher, the FDA turned its attention to Ephedra , the herb commonly used for weight loss and body building purposes.  Because Ephedra is an herb, it can be sold over the counter with less scrutiny from the FDA than medications.  A little over a week later the FDA followed up with a recommendation that the labels on Ephedra should warn that it can cause heart attacks, strokes, or death.  Class action lawsuits are sure to follow from this one.  Meanwhile, Mrs. Belcher plans to get the ball rolling with her own suit. 11:05:50 PM     Anticipated Reactions to Smallpox Vaccines.  Of over seven thousand persons now vaccinated against smallpox only eight have developed serious reactions - five military personnel and five healthcare workers.  Although reported in the Products Liability subsite of findlaw.com, there is no indication yet that any lawsuits will result from these side effects.  It would be a crying shame if they did considering the fact that many Americans, including myself, would line up for one right now if we only had access to them. 10:51:22 PM

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