Category: Politics

AIG – Arrogant, Ignorant, and Grossly Immoral

We have all read the headlines over the past months worthy of making an individual sick. Constantly we are told of how drastically irresponsible some insurance and financial institutions have been with the bailout money they have received from the Federal Government. At the top of that list sits AIG.

You may remember this, from an article in the Washington Post, dated October 8th, 2008:

Only one day after it was revealed that AIG had sprung for a $440,000 spa vacation shortly after getting an $84 billion government-loan bailout comes this report: The government is loaning AIG another $38 billion.

If that wasn’t enough to make you gag, wait until you hear this. While spending exorbitant amounts of taxpayer dollars on pedicures and vacations, AIG has been simultaneously dragging a suffering family through the mud for over a decade. After a fatal fire killed two Brooklyn firefighters in a, “fireproof,” building insured by AIG, the families of Lt. Joseph Cavalieri and Christopher Bopp were awarded several million dollars in damages by a unanimous jury decision.

AIG however, has continued to refuse to pay. By exploiting the appeals system of the courts, AIG has dodged payment for over 10 years.

“How do you possibly appeal something like this?” Mother of Christopher Bopp, Deloris Bopp recalled saying when she first heard of the appeal. Indeed, it seems hard to find grounds on which to appeal when the jury only needed an hour to award the families with $10 million dollars.

As the appeal was moving forward, the wheels began to fall off the oversized AIG corporate machine. When Ms. Bopp found out that AIG would be receiving $85 billion in bailout money, she became furious, and rightfully so.

How can a company pay millions of dollars in bonuses and all expenses paid vacations for its employees, while denying payment of the $10 million dollars that is rightfully owed to the victims under their policy? Easy: by taking massive amounts of taxpayer’s dollars and ignoring all moral responsibility to the public.

Both Parties Agree: Corporate Civil Justice Myths are Bogus

Recently released data from the Bush Administration’s Department of Justice has confirmed what politicians on both sides of the aisle already knew: Corporate attacks on the validity of the civil justice systems are unwarranted and false.

As part of an ongoing lobbying campaign, the Chamber of Commerce has continuously hassled politicians trying to get them to, “pull in the reigns of greedy trial lawyers who exploit our courts.” They however have been surprised to find out that Democratic President Barack Obama and Former Republican President George W. Bush both agreed that their tales of, “jackpot justice,” practiced by, “opportunist attorney’s,” were bogus.

Recently, the Chamber of commerce, through its political action committee, The Institute for Legal Reform, had pressed President Obama to reform the legal system to benefit corporate interests and make it more difficult for citizens to sue (See our December 23rd article for more information.) Fortunately for President Obama, he only had to look as far as former President George W. Bush for some data on the chamber’s claims.

The Department of Justice, under the Bush Administration, released a study confirming that the Chamber of Commerce’s claims were drastically over exaggerated. The study supplements a recent American Association for Justice study, which discovered the following facts:

Tort Cases make up only 6 percent of civil filings in state courts.

Tort cases represent less than one percent of civil filings in federal court

Manufacturing companies ranked “fear of litigation” as their lowest concern, well behind material costs, energy prices, foreign competition, and taxes.

Median legal expenses of individuals who incurred them were not exorbitant, and usually ranged between $5,000 and $4,000.

Although it is rare, both parties in Washington can agree that the Chamber of Commerce’s claims are not to, “protect the legal system from greedy attorneys,” but instead to bolster corporate image and interest at the expense of the people and the legal system established to protect them.

New Jersey Health Care Audits Go Too Far

The New Jersey State Board has found another way to cut the budget – to sell short its employees. State workers are appalled at a recent audit released by the state in order to crack down on what it calls, unqualified dependents, who are receiving health care through the state.

According to some employees, letters were sent asking them to gather copies of birth certificates, marriage or civil union licenses, and 2007 income tax returns. They were told to send the information to a post office box in Illinois.

Union leaders say workers were asked for extremely invasive, personal information with little or no advance notice. The letters warned that failure to provide the information Feb. 20 would result in terminated benefits.

The current economic turmoil requires compromise and spending cuts for all Americans, however denying state employees and their families their rights to basic health care is not the answer.

Contact an Attorney in New Jersey

Supreme Court Overrules Public Safety

A Supreme Court ruling last year has begun to show its true colors, as many federal cases against Medical Technology Corporations will go unheard. In February of 2008, the high court decided to restrict the legal options for patients who claim they have been injured by a defective device. If the Food and Drug Administration has approved the device after, “rigorous review,” than a suit cannot be filed under state laws.

This unjust ruling will prevent many individuals who have been subject to hard due to faulty design from collecting the compensation they need to maintain a reasonable quality of life.

Devices that are not properly engineered can have catastrophic effects when implanted in a patient. Janet Moore, of the Star Tribune, provides us with an example:

“Make it stop,” Liz Fossum remembers thinking.

For about an hour early that November morning two years ago, Fossum’s implanted defibrillator repeatedly shocked her heart — 54 times all told. It felt like a horse was kicking her in the chest.

The 68-year-old grandmother from Golden Valley now knows that part of her heart device, an insulated wire made by Medtronic Inc., had been recalled by federal regulators because a small number had malfunctioned, occasionally causing unnecessary shocks.

Unfortunately for people like Ms. Fossum, there is little she can now do under the new law. Several Hundred cases had been filed against Sprint Fidelis, all of which were subsequently dismissed as a result of the Supreme Court decision. Obviously, all those affected by the faulty product were outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision to protect corporate interests over the interests of the public.

This new decision has left consumers without any means to remedy the harmful situation they were put in by a lack of vigilance on the part of the FDA. Henry Waxman, a Representative from California, believes that the Supreme Court puts too much faith in the FDA testing process. He stated that, “The Supreme Court assumed that FDA approval ensures medical devices are safe, but many recent stories of patients harmed by faulty devices have proven those assumptions false.”

Waxman along with New Jersey Representative Frank Pallone plan to introduce legislation that would circumvent the Supreme Court ruling and protect Americans from dangerous medical devices. Until that time however, citizens must remain vigilant. If you are in need of or considering the possible use of a medical device, please research all companies and available options fully. Until the government decides to protect consumers again, self-education is the best defense.

If you have been subject to a faulty medical device, please contact an attorney immediately. There are several possible options, which may allow you the compensation you deserve.

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Cigarette Companies and Their Red Handed Researchers

In 2006, a study by Dr. Claudia I. Henshke of the Weill Medical College at Cornell University shocked the medical professional world by reporting that the widespread use of CT scans could help prevent 80% of lung cancer deaths. The study was published in the renowned New England Journal of Medicine, and sent shock waves of hope through the medical profession. Unfortunately, the good news would be tainted by the discovery of a crippling conflict of interest: The study was funded almost entirely by the cigarette industry.

After Ms. Henshke reported her study to the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, an investigation revealed a long string of deceivingly named non-profit funding, leading all the way back to big tobacco. After its startling discovery, the council wrote to the Journal, explaining its concern over the validity of Ms. Henshke’s findings.

The study failed to disclose that Dr. Henshke’s work had been underwritten in part by a $3.6 million grant from the parent company of the Liggett Group, a cigarette maker, something the journal editors said they had been unaware of.

The council’s criticism was received quickly by the Journal, who quickly moved into damage control mode. A letter in response from the Journal stated, “When we published Dr. Henschke’s article in 2006 it was not routine NEJM editorial policy to publish details about… funding. Since that time our thinking on this issue has evolved.” The journal now asks authors to disclose all royalties related to their research, and it publishes the information with the studies. The letter was signed by Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen, the journal’s editor in chief, as well as Corinne Broderick, executive vice president of the medical society.

The New England Journal of Medicine has taken the proper steps to remedy this immoral conflict of interest. Unfortunately, not every journal has taken the hint. When reading a medical study that might effect your decision making process, remember to read the fine print. Don’t let your well being be effected by corporate influence on greedy doctors.

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Medical Research Continues to Lose Integrity

Senator Charles E. Grassley has raised some serious concern over a recent article published in the Elsevier Medical Journal. The Senator has asked the publisher to investigate an article written on hormone replacement therapy, believing that it was improperly “ghostwritten” by a drug company promoting their products. The article was part of an editor’s choice section in Elsevier’s Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

In an article signed by Dr. John Eden of Australia, Senator Grassley has found unethical promotions lacking scientific evidence. At the heart of the controversy is the drug company Wyeth. Mr. Grassley, a member of the Senate Finance Committee who is investigating drug company influence on doctors, contends that Wyeth commissioned the articles and had them ghostwritten by a medical writing firm. Only after the articles were conceived and under way did the firm line up doctors to put their names on them, Mr. Grassley contends.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Drug companies have been forcing their will on medical research results for decades now, and the influence of corporate profit is on the rise. By 2006, Drug companies were spending nearly twice as much on advertising and marketing as they were on the research and testing needed to ensure the safety of a new product.

Mr. Grassley’s investigation shows how results of this corporate policy can be catastrophic. A landmark federal study has linked Wyeth’s Prempro hormone product to breast cancer in women. What does the expert testimony sponsored by Wyeth say about that taxpayer funded study? Dr. Eden’s controversial article states that, “there was no definitive evidence that the [Wyeth] hormones caused breast cancer.”

It seems the Wyeth Corporation and Dr. Eden have forgotten the meaning of the Hippocratic oath.

Contact a Medical Malpractice Attorney in PA

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The Secret Relationship of Medical Researchers and Pharmaceutical Companies

Finally, congress is investigating the giant pharmaceutical company’s corrupt research practices.  In the drug business, promoting health and safety should be priority number one.  Unfortunately, it is merely a distant second.  In the pharmaceutical industry, making money supersedes science. Some even go as far as claiming that drug makers have become a billion dollar empire not because of research and science, but rather from slick marketing and deceit.  This claim has some validity since the drug companies spend almost twice as much on the marketing of their drugs then on the development of their drugs.

 Some also argue that many drugs are over-prescribed, and that drug companies’ huge profits are often spent developing and advertising expensive designer drugs (such as Viagra) instead of life-saving medications. But now, even the effectiveness of the drugs is being called in to question by the on going congressional inquiry.  Presently, Congress is learning that the drug makers have paid millions of dollars in cash and other benefits to the very doctors who are supposed to be independently testing these drugs.  Rarely will such a doctor bite the hand that feeds them.  Even more insidious, the drug companies employ thousands of foreign-born chemists who are in the US on a work visa.  Their career allows them and their family the right to live and work in the U.S.  This demands allegiance to their employer and many suspect that end result of their research reflects this allegiance.

Perhaps the most alarming discovery of the investigation however points towards the work of Dr. Joseph Beiderman.  Dr Beiderman, one of the world’s most renowned child psychologists at the Harvard Medical School, apparently failed to report to Harvard University that he had received at least $1.4 million in personal income from drug companies.  It was also found that Dr. Biederman had asked a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary to provide him with almost $1 million to start a research center to, “move forward the commercial goals of J.& J.” As a front-runner in the field of psychology, Biederman was responsible for introducing a new era of using powerful, risky, and expensive antipsychotic medicines in young people. 

Hopefully, the present congressional investigation will lead to reforms for the pharmaceutical industry.  One reform would be to break the financial relationship and dependence of the medical profession to drug makers.  Others would be to hold drug makers accountable in a court of law for false advertising and marketing of drugs that harm patients.  The recent vioxx civil trials, which resulted in huge verdicts against the drug makers, is just one example of how effective this system works.  After a few juries heard the truth about this drug maker, and awarded appropriate damages, the vioxx maker quickly settled all the claims against it.  That result sent a strong message to the drug makers that they will be held accountable for deceit in the pursuit of profits.  Hopefully, congress will enact stricter and further reforms as well.  This will allow all of us to have confidence that the medicine we pay for and use has been fairly and legitimately tested by independent doctors and are benefiting our long term health. 

Insurance Company “frivolous defense” Tactics Add to American Economic Woes

For years, the insurance companies and their paid lobbyists have spent millions of dollars on public relations campaigns to make the phrase “frivolous lawsuit” a part of our vocabulary.As a result of the insurance industry’s systematic public relations campaign, potential jurors view every personal injury lawsuit as “frivolous”; the injured people who file a lawsuit– “cheats or scammers”; and the trial lawyers who represent them – “greedy” or “ambulance chasers.”Never before has our country seen an industry spend so much money so effectively to destroy a right that was guaranteed by our Founding Fathers. That is the right to have our civil disputes decided fairly and justly by a jury of our peers.As a result, statistics show that most lawsuits get dismissed and, for those that are not, the injured men, woman and children leave the courtroom without adequate compensation to care for the injuries inflicted upon them by wrongdoers. The insurance company lawyers do not need facts or evidence to win, they merely have to say, “here’s another frivolous lawsuit” and jurors respond as though they have been conditioned to respond by the insurance companies.

But, you never hear about “frivolous defenses.”Each year, there are hundreds of thousands of claims that are wrongfully denied. Despite the economic hardships every American is facing, insurance companies continue to use tactics that highlight their true colors.These tactics range from the denial of reasonable claims, creating confusing, all the way to delaying claims until the customer dies.

The tactics insurance companies use against consumers include:

·Denying Claims: Some of the nation’s biggest insurance companies – Allstate, AIG, and State Farm among others – have systematically denied valid claims in an attempt to boost their bottom lines. These companies have rewarded employees who successfully denied claims, replaced employees who would not, and when all else failed, engaged in outright fraud to avoid paying claims.

·Delaying until Death: Many insurance companies routinely delay claims, even going as far as to lock paperwork in safes, knowing full well that many policyholders will simply give up. In the words of one regulator, “the bottom line is that insurance companies make money when they don’t pay claims… They’ll do anything to avoid paying, because if they wait long enough, they know the policyholders will die.”

·Confusing Consumers: Insurance contracts are some of the densest and incomprehensible contracts a consumer is ever likely to see. More than half of all states have enacted “plain English” laws for consumer contracts, yet many Americans still do not fully understand the risks they are subject to.

·Discriminating By Credit Score: Insurance companies are increasingly using credit reports to dictate the premiums you pay, or whether you can even get insurance in the first place. The practice penalizes senior citizens with little credit, those who responsibly pay bills every month with cash or check, or those who have suffered financial crisis through no fault of their own.

·Abandoning the Sick: Health insurers looking to cut costs have taken to retroactively canceling, or rescinding, the policies of people whose conditions have become expensive to treat. Some insurance companies have even offered bonuses to employees who meet “cancellation goals” – cancer patients in the middle of chemotherapy have even been targeted.

·Canceling for a Call: Many people are rightly reluctant to make small claims on their home insurance for fear their insurance company will raise their premiums. But few realize that insurance companies often refuse to renew a policy just for making a phone call. Often, an insurance company will count an inquiry over the phone as the same as a claim, and then they will do everything in their power to drop you.

The insurance industry is a multi billion-dollar industry – with more money than most countries.With insurance companies not holding up their side of the deal, expect even the most miniscule claim to be a painful and aggravating process.In order to improve your bargaining power, you should always consider hiring legal representation to help you with your insurance claims.

Contact a personal injury attorney in PA

Are your tires expired? The following information may save your life.

Aged tires have been linked to hundreds of vehicle deaths across the country.

You may be thinking, “My tires are brand new…this doesn’t apply to me.”

Unfortunately, that may not be the case.  Those “brand new” tires may have sat on the shelf for up to 10 years before they were put on your car.

However, for each year a tire sits on a shelf, it becomes less elastic and prone to tread separation on the road.  Tire experts claim that any tire over six years of age is expired and should not be sold to consumers. I always recommend these winter tires reviewed by carbibles. They are great.

A recent ABC investigative report shows the seriousness of this issue.  Major tire retailers such as Sears were caught selling tires up to 15 years old.  When questioned on the dangers of these tires, investigative reporters were assured they were safe and sent on their way.

This same report shows a professional driver attempting to control a vehicle with old tires after the tread separates from the wheel.  Not surprisingly, this condition resulted in a crash every single time.

Clearly, your “brand new” tires may be an accident waiting to happen.

How to Check the Age of a Tire Manufactured after 2000


To find the age of a tire made before the year 2000, you must first locate the “DOT” number on the sidewall.


In this picture, the last 4 digits represent the week the car was manufactured and the year.  So in this case, the last two digits are 00, which means the tire was manufactured in the year 2000.

How to Check the Age of a Tire Manufactured Before 2000
In the case of a tire manufactured before the year 2000, you will find only 3 digits at the end of the DOT number.  These three digets stand for the week and year that the tire was made.

In this case, the tire was made on the 40th week of the year 1998.

These numbers will only apply to the years 1990-1999, as tire age regulations did not exist before this time.
I was sold expired tires as new.  What should I do?

First and foremost, if your tires are still intact, I would ask the store to replace them as soon as possible.  Driving on these tires can be deadly and immediate action must be taken.

However, if you or a loved one has been injured as a result of aged tires, you may have a case against the manufacturer.  For further information or a free legal consultation, call (856) 833-0600 in NJ or (215) 567-2380 in PA.  You can also fill out the form on the left side of the page for immediate help.