Before becoming LegalReader's Editor-in-Chief, Jay W. Belle Isle worked as a freelance copywriter with clients on four continents. Jay has a degree in Business Administration from Cleary University and a Juris Doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Jay has also worked as a contracts administrator for a DOD contractor specializing in vehicle armor.
A Los Angeles jury took just 3.5 hours to deliver a $9.2M Zimmer Durom Cup hip implant award. The award is the first plaintiff’s victory in the hundreds of pending suits against the company for failure to warn and negligent design of a defective product. The trial lasted three weeks. Plaintiff, Gary K., developed complications
Larry Lennox-Choate III and his husband, Daniel Lennox-Choate, were spending some time in a Manhattan bodega recently when an unidentified 40-ish man “screamed anti-gay obscenities” at them and punched Daniel in the face. What happened next is proof positive you should never judge a book by its cover. The married West Point grads surprised their
Judge J. Kevin Chason in Georgia’s Decatur County Superior Court is my new hero! He told Fiat Chrysler to suck it regarding their request for a new trial in the tragic fire death of little Remi Walden. In his opinion, the evidence against Fiat was “overwhelming.” The judge also ordered the Walden $150M award reduced
7/27/2015 Yet another drug has been linked to the painful and sometimes fatal skin condition Stevens Johnson Syndrome. This time, it’s the fluoroquinolone family, also known as quinolones. These are some of the most prescribed antibiotics in the country and the star of the group is on the hot seat. Cipro may cause Stevens Johnson
7/26/2015 Morcellator. It’s a world that leaves a funny (as in “Eeww!”) feeling in your mouth. That’s nothing compared to what the medical instrument leaves in your body. Morcellation (shudders) can spread previously undiagnosed malignant cancer cells throughout the patients’ pelvic and abdominal cavities, which shortens the patients’ life expectancy. The first morecellator cancer suit
7/23/2015 First, it was Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS), potentially fatal rash, now Zithromax may cause life threatening liver and kidney damage. Zithromax (azithromycin), often called Z-pak or Zmax, is a widely used antibiotic for the treatment of bacterial infections such as pneumonia, ear infections, skin infections and tonsillitis. It’s popular due to the relatively short
7/22/2015 Chris Umson, the director of Google’s driverless car program, blogged earlier about the first Google self-driving car injury accident. This one, like many others, involved the Google car being rear-ended. Also like the others, it was not the driverless car’s fault. The biggest difference was that this accident produced minor injuries. The driverless car,
7/20/2015 What can “Brown” do for you? Apparently, consistently discriminate against you in the workplace if you have religious obligations that conflict with its appearance policy. However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is of the opinion that UPS (the aforementioned “Brown”) is violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In fact,
7/20/2015 Last Thursday, the EEOC ruled that LGBTQ employees are protected against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission based its ruling on current federal law. This rights the wrong that 28 states and the federal government have no such laws in place. In 2012, the EEOC ruled that workplace
7/13/2015 The newest generation of anti-coagulants may free patients from the dietary restrictions and regular blood test required by Warfarin, but they present great risks for bleeding events. Unlike Warfarin, these drugs do not have an antidote to stop these life-threatening events. Until, possibly, now. Portola, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer have teamed up to create