Vested Interest - Tort Briefs - April 2004 Issue

Bridgestone-Firestone Settlement Approved

A judge approved a $149 million settlement of 30 class-action lawsuits filed on behalf of owners of Bridgestone-Firestone tires. The settlement comes more than three years after the 2000 recall of 14.4 million potentially defective Firestone tires. At least 271 U.S. traffic deaths have been blamed on the tires, most of which were sold with the Ford Explorer. However, the settlement involved only plaintiffs who had not suffered any injuries or property damage. The settlement calls for Bridgestone-Firestone North American Tire to pay an estimated $70 million to replace tires, $41 million to manufacture better tires and $15.5 million on consumer education. The company also has paid $3.5 million to notify owners of the settlement. (ATLA Law News Digest – March 18, 2003)

Suit Takes Aim at Gun Maker’s Role

Just months before he was gunned down by the D.C. sniper, 72-year-old Pascal Charlot had a painful conversation with his wife about what would happen if he died. Just minutes after fixing his wife dinner and going out for a walk on October 3, 2002, Pascal Charlot was shot dead. It was the fifth killing that day, and police soon linked it to a then-unknown sniper terrorizing the Washington area. Three of Charlot’s four grown children are now suing the gun’s manufacturer, Bushmaster Firearms, based in Windham, Maine, with the help of a Washington law firm and the nation’s leading gun control experts. "Violence has to stop somewhere," said Charles-August Charlot, Pascal Charlot’s cousin, who grew up with him in Haiti and lived a few miles from his Northwest Washington home. "If holding the manufacturers of guns responsible is a way to stop it, I am for it." (ATLA Law News Digest – March 18, 2003)

Popcorn Worker Awarded in Lung Damage Lawsuit

A factory worker, who claimed his lungs were ruined as a result of mixing flavoring oils used in microwave popcorn, has been awarded $20 million by a jury. The thirty-two year-old man was the first of 30 former workers at the Gilster-Mary Lee plant in Jasper, southwest Missouri, to have his suit heard against the makers of the butter flavoring: International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. and its subsidiary Bush Boake Allen Inc. Following a morning of closing arguments, the jury deliberated for a little more than three hours before returning the verdict. (ATLA Law News Digest – March 18, 2003)

HIPAA Preempted Maryland Medical Privacy Statute

As a matter of first impression, the District Court for the District of Maryland held, in Law v. Zuckerman, that the Maryland medical information privacy statute, which mandated that a healthcare provider shall disclose patient records without authorization from a patient in a medical malpractice action, was not more stringent than the requirements of HIPAA. Thus, for purposes of a medical malpractice action, HIPAA preempted Maryland state law and governed all ex parte communications between defense counsel and the patient’s treating physician. (ATLA Law News Digest – March 25, 2004)