Lake Charles Personal Injury Law Blog

There are probably many Lake Charles residents who have turned to Chantix in their effort to quit smoking. When it made its debut, this medication was warmly received -- had we finally found "The Pill" that could help people stop the dangerous habit of lighting up once and for all?

Unfortunately, in the last few years some concern has developed over whether Chantix is a dangerous drug. There is some evidence that it may contribute to an increased risk for heart attack and stroke (and some evidence that it does not) and perhaps more alarmingly, it has been claimed that Chantix leads to greater risk of suicide among its users.

Many Lake Charles residents are skittish about driving around 18-wheelers, and for good reason. These vehicles are big, heavy and often traveling very fast. If the driver follows all safety procedures and listens to his or her common sense, there should be no reason for there to be an 18-wheeler accident or for innocent motorists to be injured. Sadly, though, that does not always happen.

One important safety regulation pertaining to over-the-road truckers is that they have to keep a logbook of their travels. This is because truckers are not allowed to travel more than a certain amount over a specified period of time, a regulation that is imposed in the interest of reducing fatigue and drowsiness. Prosecutors claim that one trucker did not follow this rule, though, and caused a multi-vehicle accident as a result.

For some, the drug Depakote was a lifesaver. As a mood-stabilizer, it was a great boon to people who were suffering from bipolar disorder and epilepsy. However, Depakote's maker, Abbott Laboratories, over-promoted the drug and told healthcare professionals it could be prescribed for uses for which there was no scientific evidence that it helped. Thus, what was in some circumstances a helpful medication became a dangerous drug.

This story is a good example for Louisiana readers as to how a drug itself can be beneficial in certain circumstances, but can be harmful if misused --and if that misuse is promoted by the maker, how penalties can result.

Bayer AG will pay out about $110 million to settle 500 claims that its Yasmin and Yaz contraceptives sometimes caused fatal blood clots. That works out to an estimated $220,000 per case brought over these dangerous drugs.

Yasmin and Yaz once accounted for $1.58 billion in sales, making them the company's second-best seller behind a multiple sclerosis drug. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ordered Bayer and other makers of contraceptives that use a certain type of synthetic hormone to increase the strength of their warnings about the risk of blood clots. Some studies have found that Yasmin and Yaz made it three times more likely that a user would develop potentially fatal blood clots. About 50 deaths across the U.S. have been blamed as Yasmin and Yaz.

Three people have died after a yachting accident during a race off the coast of California. Although this type of maritime accident is of a different nature than those that usually occur off the coast of Louisiana, there are some similarities between the two, at least in a legal sense.

The accident seems to have occurred when the 37-foot yacht Aegean collided with a larger vessel in the waters off the coast of where California and Mexico meet. Debris from the Aegean has been found in a busy shipping lane. Race organizers and sailors have said even though visibility has been clear and the weather has been good lately, it is still possible for a larger ship to strike a yacht the size of the Aegean and not be aware of the collision.

Even though the particular benzene case we are going to write about in this post is happening in Texas, it's worth reading about because it carries an important reminder for Lake Charles residents regarding settling a case and when and why that may or may not be a good idea.

This case's facts are similar to many other chemical exposure cases we've discussed in the past. In this case, a Texas man filed a personal injury claim against Texaco and several other companies which once owned a chemical plant where he worked. He alleges that he was exposed through the late 1970s to the hazardous chemical benzene, which is known to cause many types of fatal cancers and other health problems.

Running out of gas or getting a flat tire is usually no more than a serious nuisance. But, for one Lake Charles man, changing a flat tire near Moss Bluff proved to be fatal.

The 44-year-old man was a passenger in a car when the tire went flat on U.S. 171. He was trying to get the spare tire out of the trunk when he and the car were hit by a 25-year old woman, who is also from Lake Charles. The man was pronounced dead at the scene of this fatal car accident.

With summer just around the corner, many Louisiana residents are applying for watercraft permits and breaking out the fishing tackle in anticipation of a season full of boating on our waterways. However, as a recent maritime accident proves, what should be a fun and relaxing activity can sometimes turn into anything but.

Two men were killed last weekend when their speedboat crashed and burst into flames. The men, a 65-year-old father and his 39-year-old son, died instantly.