All Topics

• 4-Car Accident, 2 Injured

  Christina Cole | December 30, 2006 6:03 PM | 0 CommentsCharlotte, NC

  Two people involved in a four-car crash on Tuesday are on the road to recovery. The accident happened on N.C. 24-27 near Newt Road.Sylvia Hitch Burke, 71, hit three cars causing approximately 23,000 in damages after veering left over the center line in her 1994 Buick. Burke was traveling west when she crossed over and hit Raymond Alan Frick in his 1995 Ford pick-up. She hit the truck in the back...

• Apex Environmental Quality Lawsuit Filed

  Staff Writer | October 09, 2006 5:25 PM | 0 CommentsCharlotte, NC

  What is believed to be the first lawsuit against Environmental Quality in the wake of the chemical fire at the Apex, NC plant was filed Friday before the plaintiffs even returned to their home. The hazardous waste plant caught on fire Thursday night and forced over half of the cities residents to evacuate."To look out and see flames in my backyard, it scared me to death. It was repeated, boom,...

• Thousands Evacuated in Apex Chemical Fire

  Staff Writer | October 06, 2006 10:42 AM | 0 CommentsCharlotte, NC

  More than 16,000 people who live in Apex, NC have been evacuated from their homes after a chemical fire caused explosions and blew poisonous gasses (including chlorine) and black smoke over much of the town. The incident occurred at an EQ Industrial Services hazardous waste plant. There have already been reports of over 100 nursing home residents and around 10 emergency responders being taken to...

• 5 Years Later, Trial Lawyers Care

  Staff Writer | September 11, 2006 1:34 PM | 0 CommentsCharlotte, NC

  Ten days after the attacks of 9-11, Congress created the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. That same day, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), through then president Leo V. Boyle, wrote Congress with the promise to provide "free legal services to any family wishing to pursue justice through the fund established by this unprecedented, humanitarian legislation." The program...

• FDA Issues Guidelines to Prevent Hospital Bed Entrapment

  Staff Writer | August 03, 2006 9:40 AM | 0 CommentsCharlotte, NC

  Earlier this year the Food and Drug Administration issued long overdue guidance to the healthcare industry to reduce the risk of hospital bed entrapment. The FDA has identified over 400 deaths from this serious problem since 1985, although there is reason to believe this figure underestimates the true number of deaths. View the FDA press release here. While these numbers appear small, we...

• Soaring Profits for State's Largest Malpractice Insurer

  Staff Writer | June 23, 2006 9:45 AM | 0 CommentsCharlotte, NC

  North Carolina's largest medical malpractice insurer saw its 2005 profits from premiums increase by 224 percent, according to a recent article. During the same year the combined pay for the top two executives at the company approached $1.5 Million. Meanwhile, the premiums Medical Mutual has charged its physician-insureds have risen by a combined average of about 45 percent over the last five...

• N.C. Workplace Fatalities Continue at Last Year's Pace

  Staff Writer | June 14, 2006 9:24 AM | 0 CommentsCharlotte, NC

  According to a report from the North Carolina Department of Labor, called the Occupational Fatality Investigation Review, there have been 48 on-the-job deaths in the state during the 2006 fiscal year, which ends in September. In 2005, there were 72 workers who were killed while on the job in North Carolina, and there were 90 fatal work injuries in 2004. The report details all fatal work...

• Expert Witness Vindicated by North Carolina Appeals Court

  Staff Writer | June 07, 2006 4:27 PM | 0 CommentsCharlotte, NC

  The North Carolina Court of Appeals has reinstated the medical license of a Miami, Florida neurosurgeon who had been disciplined by the North Carolina Medical Board for his testimony on behalf of the plaintiffs in a medical malpractice case. The court's decision reversed the findings of the Board and the Wake County trial court, both of which had decided that Dr. Gary Lustgarten's North...

• One of the Worst Car Accidents in North Carolina History

  Staff Writer | June 06, 2006 2:43 PM | 0 CommentsCharlotte, NC

  Thirty-four peope were injured last week in a series of accidents during rush hour along I-40 between Mebane and Hillsborough. The combination of sun and a blinding rainstorm made driving conditions virtually impossible. Traffic slowed to around 45 mph, but that couldn't prevent the mayhem.According to herald-sun.com:Eighty-two vehicles were involved in 44 collisions and 34 people were hurt, the...

• Support the Traumatic Brain Injury Act of 2006

  Staff Writer | June 06, 2006 9:27 AM | 0 CommentsCharlotte, NC

  Tampa injury lawyer Bob Carroll, a fellow InjuryBoard blogger, brought my attention to a letter from Susan Connors, President of the Brain Injury Association of America. Susan asks readers to support the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Act of 2006 by contacting their representatives and asking them to become co-sponsors of the act. She also requests readers send the Congressional Brain Injury Task...