Miami Beach Injury Law News - Personal Injury, Product Liability & Life on the Beach

TMZ is reporting that TI and wife Tameka "Tiny" Cottle may have been sippin on Sizzurp when they were arrested last night for felony drug possession by Los Angeles police.  Here in Miami Beach, we all remember that T.I. and Tiny just got married here in Miami Beach on July 30th. 

TI and his bride Tiny succeeded in having a secret wedding ceremony at the Miami Beach Courthouse, away from the prying paparazzi.  For a couple that reportedly had been together for 7 years, after one month's time as husband-and-wife, it sure seems like a horrible honeymoon story to be busted on felony charges.  Wouldn't wish that on anyone, right?  Especially when Grammy-winning rapper T.I. is one of the stars of the no. 1 movie in the country right now (Takers).   

So, what's Sizzrup? 

TMZ has pictures of T.I.'s car at the site of the bust.  TMZ points out the styro cups.  And that's a clue to Sizzrup here.  It's a beverage made from any number of  Sizzrup recipes easily found on the web:  take a Jolly Rancher, traditionally put it in a Styrofoam glass along with the fruit-flavored soda of your choice and (here's the key ingredient) some Promethazine w/Codeine syrup. 

Promethazine is sold only with a doctor's prescription, under a number of names:  Pentazine®,Phenadoz®, Phenergan®, Promacot®, and Promethegan®.  Promethazine combined with codeine is available (again by prescription only) as Pentazine® VC (Codeine, Phenylephrine, Promethazine), Pentazine® with Codeine (containing Codeine, Promethazine), Phenergan® VC with Codeine (Codeine, Phenylephrine, Promethazine), Phenergan® with Codeine (Codeine, Promethazine), and Prometh with Codeine (Codeine, Guaifenesin, Promethazine).

Promethazine seems like a good thing, at first glance.  It's supposed to help relieve allergy symptoms.  However, it's got a long and scary list of side effects (serious stuff like seizures and not breathing) and an overdose can be deadly. 

Promethazine is another Popular Prescription Drug that can kill people.

So, here's the question:  assuming arguendo that T.I. and Tiny were drinking some Sizzrup when they were arrested, sure it's a criminal case and they'll have to deal with prosecutors and the accompanying media frenzy.  But their case is a bit different than Paris Hilton's recent felony bust for cocaine.  Sizzrup, again assuming that TMZ knows its stuff, is the use of a prescription drug for other than its intended use. 

Sure, T.I. and Tiny aren't being reported to be sick or injured.  That's good.  But think about Anna Nicole Smith.  And consider the death of actor Chris Penn, which has been tied to injesting a combination of Promethazine and codeine - as well as the death of Underground Kingz rapper Pimp C in 2007 whose death purported was directly connected to Sizzrup. 

Misuse of Prescription Drugs Creates a Huge Danger in this Country, When are the Drug Companies Going to Take Responsibilty for Their Products?

Sure, drugs get warning labels.  Sure, everyone is supposed to know that they are assuming a big risk (death) when they take drugs outside of a doctor's oversight and guidance.  However, prescription drugs are right there on TV being sold alongside cars and computers. 

This in the face of the reality that the number of prescription drug overdoses presenting at Emergency Rooms across the country is rising to epidemic proportions.

Drug companies are making gazillions of dollars selling this stuff, and isn't it about time that they started being a bit more responsible for their products?  Like when they're known to be a part of a fun party drink called Sizzrup, with recipes available online?????

Lindsay Lohan is free again, released from UCLA Rehab after serving 13 days in jail and 23 days in rehab.  And, the tabloids are right there with her:  this morning, they're reporting what LiLo drank her first day after being released from care (a Rockstar energy drink).   In fact, CNN found it newsworthy coverage to report on the number of news reports on Lindsay Lohan's first day out ("Lindsay Lohan caught on camera post-rehab.")

The bigger newstory, of course, is the UCLA Determination that Lindsay Lohan's problems stem from Adderall

Lindsay Lohan was supposed to spend three months at the UCLA treatment facilities - instead, she spent three weeks.  UCLA released her after deciding that Lindsay doesn't suffer from bipolar disorder or some strange personality glitch but instead, she's been taking a pill that was making her crazy.  No pill, no problem. 

And that pill is Adderall.  Something that people all over this country take everyday because of its purported miracle effects:  lose weight!  do better work! live a better life!

Misdiagnosed, and Adderall can bring on a psychosis.  It makes you crazy.  UCLA is right about that.  Whether or not the rehab is right about Lindsay Lohan, well, time will tell.  Let's hope so -- Lindsay Lohan has great talent and luckily, lives and works in a community that will allow her a second chance.

Duty of Doctors Prescribing Adderall

If Lindsay Lohan was misdiagnosed, if Lindsay Lohan relied on a doctor's advice and under a doctor's care she was taking these pills, then Lindsay Lohan may be able to legally look to that doctor for damages caused by his error in diagnosis. 

The same is true for anyone harmed by a doctor's misdiagnosis -- it's a medical negligence case.  Straight-forward medical malpractice. 

Duties of Drug Companies Profiting From Adderall

However, Charlotte Hilton Andersen of the Huffington Post, reporting on the Lindsay Lohan - Adderal story, cites "[p]rescriptions of the drug are up 3100% over the past several years which only increases the black-market viability," and that it's estimated that  "25% of college students take Adderall or Ritalin for non-medical purposes." 

That's a lot of Adderall pills floating around our communities.  One has to wonder if there isn't a legal responsibility for the drug manufacturer to warn about the dangers of misuse of its products, or to do more to prevent kids from popping its ADHD meds for other reasons. 

That's the essence of products liability law, and maybe someone needs to think about the duties of the Adderall drug companies here as well as what shoes LiLo is wearing today. 

Eggs carrying salmonella were shipped out of an Iowa plant and at first, it was thought only a limited number of communities were impacted.  Today, the salmonella egg recall was expanded to 17 states and almost 400,000,000 eggs  -- and who knows how much farther its impact may reach. 

Florida Eggs -- Should Miami Beach Worry About Salmonella Eggs?

These infected eggs have been poisoning people around the country since May, and it doesn't look like either the egg producer, Wright Country Egg of Galt, Iowa, or the CDC (Center for Disease Control) have got things under control. 

It's Only After Reported Cases Occur that a Recall Is Announced

According to media coverage, the discovery of how extensive the potential salmonella egg danger is occurring as people get sick.  Reported cases of salmonella poisoning spike, and then officials start checking into what's going on. 

The update today, extending the recall to 17 states all across the country, is based upon illness reports in these states.  Talk about closing the barn door after the horse is gone. 

This morning, the recall reported that 380,000,000 eggs tainted with Salmonella Enteritidis have been distributed to wholesalers, distribution centers and food service companies in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Oklahoma, Oregon, Minnisota, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

How to Know if You've Been Poisoned with Salmonella Eggs - The Signs of Salmonella bacterium infection

So, how to tell if you - or a loved one - have been sickened by a salmonella egg?  Symptoms present 12 hours to 3 days after injection, last up to a week, and include:

• fever
• abdominal cramps
• diarrhea (which can be severe enough to require hospitalization).

Should you avoid eggs in Florida?  The CDC would say nope -- it's not on the recall list.  What do you think?

Here we go again.  Ana Veciana-Suarez’ article in the Miami Herald over the weekend entitled “Why take responsibility when you can sue?” once again uses misinformation and public misconception as an unfair basis for indicting our nation’s tort system.

Every trial lawyer worth his salt knows to spend a great deal of time during the jury selection process weeding out those jurors who have preconceived (negative) sentiments about the way our legal system compensates victims of negligence with money damages.  Even toady, 15 years later, we trial lawyers float the McDonald’s coffee cup case balloon – with all of its inherent misconceptions – as a way of finding out who amongst the prospective jury panel will be unable to give our clients a fair day in court.  The questions and answers during jury selection (known as “voir dire” which literally means “to speak the truth”) typically go something like this:

Q.  Who here has heard of the McDonald’s coffee cup case where a woman was awarded millions of dollars after she spilt hot McDonald’s coffee of herself?

(several hands go up)

Q.  Okay, prospective juror number 1, what are your thoughts about that case?

A.  It just goes to show you that our judicial system is broken, gone amok, and that all Plaintiffs are lying, cheating, opportunists.  You spill coffee on yourself, then it’s your fault and I don’t care what happened before or after that.

The problem is I have never heard one prospective juror get the facts of the case right.  This is understandable in light of how the media wrongly reported – and continues – to wrongly discuss the case.  See Ana Veciana-Suarez’ editorial.

Here are the facts of the infamous McDonald’s coffee cup case.  I’m using bullet points to highlight key aspects of the case, but you can see a more through article by Wall Street Journal writer Andrea Gerlin (September 1, 1994) here.

• Stella Liebeck, a 79 year old former department store clerk who had never brought a lawsuit before in her life, bought a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s drive-though;

• While removing the lid in order to add sugar and cream, she spilt scalding hot coffee on her groin, inner thighs and buttocks and sustained third-degree burns (the worst kind) in her private parts area;

• She spent 7 days in the hospital undergoing multiple skin graft procedures, and the jury was shown graphic photographs of her injuries (something the public never saw).  Two years of medical treatment followed;

• She offered to settle with McDonald’s for $20,000 to compensate her for medical bills (which were $11,000) and pain and suffering;

• At a court ordered mediation, the mediator - a retired judge - recommended that McDonald’s settle for $225,000, believing that would be a likely jury verdict at trial.  McDonald’s rejected that recommendation;

• In the decade before Ms. Liebeck’s incident, McDonald’s had received over 700 reports of coffee burns ranging from mild to third-degree, and had settled multiple similar claims of scalding injuries;

• McDonald’s argued that Ms. Liebeck’s age may have been what caused her horrific burns since older skin is thinner and more vulnerable to injury;

• A McDonald’s executive testified that the company knew it coffee sometimes caused serious burns, that McDonald’s had specifically decided not to warn customers about the possibility of severe burns, and that the company never consulted any burn experts before implementing it’s hot coffee policy (this is company who at the time sold 1 billion cups of coffee per year);

• The prestigious Shriner’s Burn Institute in Cincinnati had published warning to the franchise food industry prior to the Liebeck incident suggesting that its members were causing serious burn injuries by serving beverages above 130 degrees;

• McDonald’s required franchisees to keep coffee hotter than what was recommend by Shriner’s Burn Institute for two reasons: one, they believed coffee tasted better at 180-190 degrees; and two, their main coffee purchasers drank their coffee about 15 minutes after purchase, when they arrived at their place of employment;

• The jury awarded Ms. Liebeck compensatory damages of $200,000 which was reduced to $160,000 because they found Ms. Leibeck was 20% responsible for her own injuries.  They also awarded her $2.7 million in punitive damages based on what they felt was willful, reckless, malicious and wanton conduct on the part of McDonald’s;

• After the jury verdict, the judge reduced the punitive damages award to $480,000 using powers properly invested in him to correct any perceived wrongs;

• Following the judge’s reduction of the jury award, the parties then settled for a sum which was much less than the judge’s reduced award. 

So you see, that multi-million award evaporated just like McDonald’s overly hot coffee. Yes, frivolous cases are bad.  However, the vast majority - I would say 99.9% - of frivolous cases get bounced out of the system if not by juries, then by judges.  Stella Liebeck’s McDonald’s coffee cup case was NOT frivolous.  It was a case of “callous disregard for the safety of people” (according to one of the actual jurors) by the largest fast food seller in the world.  In the end, after examining all the facts, justice was served.

Some recent product recalls to be aware of:

• Campbell Soup Supply Company is recalling approximately 15,000,000 pounds of SpaghettiOs with Meatballs canned products due to possible under-processing, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

• Also, McDonald's recently recalled 12 million of its “Shrek Forever After 3D” collectable drinking glasses popular with kids due to the potential of Cadmium poisoning.  Cadmium is highly toxic; exposure can cause flu like symptoms including chills, fever, and muscle ache sometimes referred to as “the cadmium blues.”  Good movie, bad product.

• And several tires of note have recently been recalled:

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