Philadelphia Injury Lawyers Blog

On March 4, 2009, there was a tangible shift in the playing field between consumers and big business. Consumers have always faced a steep uphill climb when fighting corporate America and defective products. This month, the Supreme Court of the United States thankfully offered a rope to make that climb a little easier when it allowed injured persons to sue for injuries caused by defective drugs.

Continue reading "Consumer's Victory Against Defective Drug" »

Last month, ailing U.S. automakers and their workers accepted huge concessions in return for a $17.4 billion federal rescue package meant to buy them time to survive. As part of the package, GM received $9.4 billion and Chrysler $4 billion. In the interim, Ford opened the door to receiving additional aid. Upon receipt of the bailout, GM's CEO, Rick Wagoner, admitted that the automobile maker has significant work to do and that federal loans were a blue print to the company's continued success. However, looking back at the automobile manufacturer’s attitudes toward product safety it is hard to imagine how they can be saved from themselves.

Continue reading "SAFER AUTOMOBILES MIGHT ACTUALLY SELL BETTER" »

In 1998, the American Law Institute (ALI) issued the Third Restatement of Torts which contained several changes to product liability. These changes of the Third Restatement do not represent Pennsylvania jurisprudence. Some of these changes are a drastic departure from existing law and do not reflect a consensus of other jurisdictions and is certainly a step in the wrong direction.

Continue reading "Restatement (Third) of Torts - Not So Fast " »

If you have been litigating long enough, it has undoubtedly happened to you: Your opponent’s deposition day has finally arrived, and after you have gone through the introductions and instructions on the record, you ask about 20 minutes of background questions. You can tell the witness has been adequately prepared by his attorney, and you move into a line of questioning regarding some bank statements that were produced. The witness, a small business owner in a dispute with a vendor, seems to effortlessly answer all of your questions.

A few days earlier, you received some bank records via your subpoena, and you are not sure your opponent has reviewed them with his client. As you pull them out of your file, you see your opponent and the witness start to fidget, and you think you might be on to something. The next line of questioning goes like this:

Continue reading "Private Attorney-Client Conferences During Depositions " »

In addition to managing our law firm, Michael Shaffer also serves on the Board of the Trustees of the Bala House Montessori School in Bala Cynwyd, PA. Michael has three children, Sophie 8 years old and Sam and David, twins who are quickly approaching 5. All three of his children have attended this terrific school and Michael is proud to be on the Board of its Trustees.

Continue reading "Bala House Montessori School - Ground Breaking Ceremony" »

In this time of national economic crisis, the Bush administration and Congress are implementing a legislative package aimed at resolving the country’s current financial problems. However, the banks are seeking not only money from the taxpayers, but immunity from lawsuits concerning their unscrupulous lending practices.

It was a hard pill to swallow; $700B to bailout the huge companies that got themselves in this mess. However, when you hear about companies like AIG taking $400,000 junkets after receiving Federal assistance, it just makes your blood boil. However, the chickens need to come home to roost eventually and certainly the banks are beginning to run for cover. Seeing the vulnerability of their position, they are beginning to ask for immunity from lawsuits brought by defrauded investors and shareholders. Congress should do everything to prevent immunity to these lending institutions of investors and shareholders. At Shaffer & Gaier, we have represented consumers who were taken advantage of by these businesses.

November 4, 2008 was an historic day in America. No matter what your political affiliation, we can all be inspired by the record turnout and the astounding participation in the Democratic process.

The lawyers at Shaffer & Gaier were proud to be poll watchers to ensure that every person, Democrat, Republican or Independent had a clear path to the voting place. All of our attorneys, watched the polling places to ensure our citizens’ rights were not infringed upon and they could exercise their right to vote.

No one can doubt the difficult economic times that we all face. Businesses are also faced with belt tightening that affects both consumers and employees.

Countless studies have shown that when companies face difficult economic obstacles, one of the first measures to be cut is safety. Unfortunately, companies often believe that since safety is not a money producing venture, it can take a back seat to their employees and consumers well being. At Shaffer & Gaier, we have handled several cases where products did not go through the vigorous testing they should have done because the companies were trying to save money toward their bottom line. When these defective products caused injury, it was clear that if the companies had gone through their normal paces, the defects of the products would have been avoided. In addition, we have also had experiences with construction accidents where construction companies have placed their workers at risk by failing to adhere to basic safety protocols because they were trying to add to their profit. Certainly, in these difficult economic times these dangers rise to consumers and workers.

The change and developments of the United States Supreme Court has taken with regard to unsafe drugs and medical devices are quite simply frightening. Is there really anyone left in America who still thinks that just because a medication is approved for sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is safe and without product defects? If so, then the drugs like Vioxx would never be recalled by the FDA. These drugs made it through the FDA’s incredibly lame screening process to hurt thousands of innocent people.

The pharmaceutical industry, and its giant lobbying group, has tried to prohibit lawsuits against drug manufacturers because the drugs that are approved meet the seal of approval by the FDA. Due to the huge problems that these drug manufacturers have had, and the confidential documents that they never disclosed to the FDA concerning negative research, it is frightening that these companies could be immune from liability. Too often, clients contact our office with questions about defective medical devices and/or defective drugs and I am faced with explaining to them the difficult and confusing decisions by the United States Supreme Court that, in effect, takes away their rights.

The government is finally poised to prevent hospitals from profiting from their preventable mistakes. Starting last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will deny payments to hospitals for the additional costs associated with treating patients for certain types of preventable hospital acquired infections and medical errors. These very preventable problems are caused by unconscionable care including bed sores, surgical error such as objects left in patients during surgery and in-hospital falls.

Too often, clients are faced with mounting medical bills that are only amplified by medical mistakes. One of the most tragic cases we ever had was a bed sore case where a patient was allowed to develop a bed sore that was literally larger than his fist. This individual had heart surgery and due to the nurses’ negligence in turning the patient, he was allowed to develop a huge bedsore on his buttocks. This made his recovery that much more difficult. We were happy to be able to secure a substantial settlement on his behalf.

Many people argue over whether there is too much government regulation concerning our everyday lives. However, we certainly could agree that when it comes to caring for our loved ones, the laws in the book should at least be followed.

In a report released just last week, Federal investigators have found that more than 90% of nursing homes were cited for violations of Federal health and safety standards last year. Most troubling, the for-profit nursing homes were more likely to have problems than any other types of nursing homes Federal investigators found. These problems included infected bed sores, medication mix-up, poor nutrition and abuse and neglect of patients. Inspectors received over 37,000 complaints about the conditions in nursing homes last year and they substantiated almost 40% of them. About 20% of the complaints verified by Federal and State authorities involved nursing home abuse or neglect of patients.

It’s often said that the greatness of a country is determined how it cares for people who can’t care for themselves. Certainly, the elderly fall within this category and no one can contest that these people deserve the best care possible. It is clear from this study that many elderly are not receiving the best care available and that they deserve.

Our firm has handled many nursing home cases throughout the years. We employ a full time nurse/paralegal to review these type of cases. She has over a decade of experience in the nursing field reviewing and evaluating our cases. Please contact us at Shaffer & Gaier, LLC if one of your loved ones has not received appropriate care at a nursing home.