Finch McCranie, LLP

New Product Safety Law

Last month, consumer, public interest and scientific groups applauded President Bush for signing product safety reform legislation into law that will overhaul the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, was passed overwhelmingly by Congress. The new law will make consumer products safer by requiring that toys and infant products be tested before they are sold, and by banning lead and other harmful chemicals in toys, by creating a comprehensive publicly accessible consumer complaint database, give the CPSC the
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FDA Discloses Drugs Under Investigation

Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration began posting a list of prescription drugs under investigation for potential safety problems.The first list is a bare-bones compilation naming 20 medications and the potential issue for each. It provides no indication of how widespread or serious the problems might be, leading some consumer advocates to question its usefulness, and prompting industry worries that skittish patients might stop taking a useful medication if they see it listed.
Food and Drug Administration officials said they are trying to walk a
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Georgia Hospitals Perform Poorly

A new website, The Hospital Compare Web, run by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, shows 80 U.S. hospitals listed as top performers in the mortality rates for patients admitted with heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia. No Georgia hospitals were among the best performers. Nine Georgia hospitals rated worse than national norms on death rates for pneumonia or heart failure. The number of poorly performing hospitals in Georgia was higher than any state other than California.
Mortality rates for hospitals across the
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Drugmaker/Doctor Conflict of Interest

Last week, Stanford University announced that it will severely restrict industry financing of doctors’ continuing education at its medical school. The school’s new policy stems from concern about the influence drug companies may have on medical education.
Most doctors in the United States must take annual refresher courses that drug makers have long paid for. While the industry says its money is intended solely to keep doctors up to date, critics charge that companies agree to support only classes that promote their products.
Stanford will
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Byetta deaths

Four more patients have died of pancreatitis after taking the diabetes prescription medication Byetta. The deaths were announced by Eli Lilly & Co. and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. the companies manufacturing the drug. Several weeks ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced two two additional deaths.
While no definite relationship between Byetta and the additional deaths has been proved, according to the companies, they may have to add tougher warnings to prescribing instructions.
Byetta, which has been available in the U.S. since June 2005, is
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Children Cough Medicines Subject To Review

The Food and Drug Administration has announced plans to revise standards for over-the-counter cough and cold medications for children. The FDA said it will change the criteria that have allowed the products to remain on drugstore shelves . This could result in removal of the products from the market.
The FDA action is in response to increasing concerns that the remedies are ineffective and could be unsafe. Specifically, the action is in response to a petition filed in March 2007 by a group of pediatricians
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Spanair JK5022: Abogados especializados en casos de Litigacion Internacional de choques aereosdente aereo

Para representar a las familias de las personas que perdieron la vida en el accidente aereo Spanair JK5022, nuestro bufete juridico esta trabajando con abogados especializados en casos de Litigacion Internacional de choques aereos, ya estan invesigando esta tragedia. Si perdimos familiars en este accidente, estos serian los abogados elegidos para representar a nuestras familias.
Para una consulta gratis, favor de enviar su correo electronico precionando aqui (haga clic aqui).
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Spanair Flight JK5022: To assist the families of persons who died in the airplane

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Preventable Medical Errors Cost $1.47 Billion

In the July 28 issue of Health Services Research, the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) reported that a recently completed study indicates that employers pay out $1.47 billion each year to cover costs for surgical patients incurred from preventable medical errors. The report analyzed data from a nationwide sample of more than 161,00 adult patients who underwent surgery in 2001 and 2002 and were insured by plans provided through their places of employment.
The study focused on 14 preventable errors which included
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Another High Speed Police Chase Case In Clayton County, Georgia:

It was reported by the news media on Friday, August 15, 2008 that an innocent motorist was killed on 8/14 when inadvertently caught up in a high speed police chase in Clayton County, Georgia. While the media reports are sketchy, it appears that the fleeing suspect was speeding and driving in an erratic manner. The police began to chase the driver and during the chase, the suspect struck an innocent motorist who was on a motorcycle. As a result, the motorcyclist was killed.
We do
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Loss Of Chance of Survival Recoveries

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a $328,135 jury award to a widow and her son based on her husband’s lost chance of recovery resulting from a doctor’s negligence in not treating his stomach cancer. This ruling based upon the theory of “loss of chance” damages is being applauded by plaintiffs’lawyers.
The court held that the family could recover even though the victim had less than a 50-percent chance of survival when he first sought treatment. The “loss of chance” doctrine eases the burden for
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Closing Arguments: Speak From The Heart

As stated above, it is most important that counsel appear to be completely sincere in everything he says and does. The best way to do this is to speak from the heart and tell the jury exactly what you think. If the jury senses that counsel is speaking candidly in a forthright manner about the issues in the case, the jury is more likely to have confidence in what is being said.
If you speak from the heart, by definition, you are being yourself. If
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Closing Arguments: Use Demonstrative and Trial Exhibits

Every good trial lawyer knows that a jury remembers best that which they both hear and see. Accordingly, demonstrative exhibits should always be used during closing argument. Sometimes demonstrative exhibits are necessary in order to emphasize a point about liability. Sometimes they are used to emphasize principles of law.
Effective demonstratives can also be used to discuss damages. A good closing argument might use demonstratives in all of these areas. In short, a well prepared demonstrative exhibit will assist counsel in making his point while
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Closing Arguments: Use the Rules Governing The Case

In giving a closing argument, it is essential that counsel use the legal language of the case. The court will be instructing the jury on various principles of law that could be absolutely crucial in the jury’s determination of the facts. Thus, when discussing a case with the jury, counsel should use the language of the case. Counsel should use and explain terms such as “preponderance of the evidence,” “proximate cause,” “breach of duty,” “failure to exercise ordinary care,” “negligence,” and “damages.” If, for example,
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Closing Arguments: Give Your Remarks A Structure

As discussed above, one should not rely upon the inspiration of the moment to deliver a closing argument. A winning summation is usually the result of meticulous, painstaking preparation done well in advance of the actual delivery of the remarks. In order to insure that such preparation is not wasted, obviously, it is necessary that counsel utilize a structure in preparing his/her outline of the legal and factual issues counsel wishes to discuss with the jury.

The following elements should be present in your remarks: 1) an interesting introduction to the summation; 2) a discussion of what happened; 3) a discussion of the law and the burden of proof and why; 4) a discussion of damages; and 5) an appropriate peroration or conclusion.

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Closing Arguments:Discuss the Case, Do not Give a Speech

In order to communicate with sincerity, there must be a body language and eye contact that flows naturally when discussing a case with the jury. The word discussion is important because one should never read to a jury or give them a speech. It is difficult to develop a personal rapport with the jury if one is speaking at someone as opposed to talking with them. While there should be an element of formality to the summation consistent with the seriousness of the cause of
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Closing Arguments: Be Yourself

Another fundamental of a sound closing argument is being as natural as you can be. You should never try to imitate someone else’s style or manner. You can only be yourself. The jury is always watching you very closely. Are you sincere? Are you believable? Are you trustworthy? Everything you do must communicate to the jury that you believe to the core of your being in the justness of your client’s cause. If you subliminally communicate such a belief in everything that you do in
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Closing Arguments : STAY ON MESSAGE

It is a very effective form of communication to stay on message and repeat consistently a unified theme. In the opening statement, a theme of the case or theory of the case should have been developed.
The trial lawyer should harken back to his opening statement during summation and use some of the same language in discussing the issues. This so-called “echo effect” is very important in driving home a point. The Republicans are masters at staying on message and repeating their message constantly and
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CLOSING ARGUMENT: Practical Pointers For A Successful Result

What follows are excerpts from an article one of our lawyers wrote about Closing Arguments. We have previously posted Trial Techniques articles about effective cross-examination. As this article is broken ito separate parts, we will post the various subsections and suggestions in separate posts over the next several weeks. We hope this will be helpful to you if you are a practicing atorney and ,if a potential client, will give you insight into what a Trial lawyer should do to effectively represent your interests:
The
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Demonstrating The Intangible Value Of Life

In a wrongful death case, a jury will be instructed that they should return a verdict for the “full value of the life of the decedent.” This means not only any economic damages caused by a premature and wrongful death, but also “non-economic damages.” How is this calculated and how should jury be instructed to reach such an award? Interestingly enough, the jury will be instructed that they should rely upon their “enlightened conscious” in making such determinations.
If a 28-year old is killed
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Economic Damages In A Wrongful Death Case

As stated in earlier blogs, in Georgia, the measure of damages for a wrongful death is “the full value of the life of the decedent.” One component of the full value of the life of the decedent is the loss of earnings and loss of income. If a 28-year old dies while earning $40,000.00 per year and he/she will work until age 70 (which is another 42 years) one simple way to calculate the loss of wages would be 42 years times $40,000.00 per
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