Boy scouts will go door to door on Saturday, March 26th to collect non-perishable canned foods.

Here is a link to the Utah Food Bank’s web-site for more information.  https://www.utahfoodbank.org/scouting

Check out our TV commercial on YouTube!    http://www.youtube.com/embed/M47y-6DiamQ

She flipped her turn signals on and looked to her right to pull over. There was a car there so she would have to wait until they passed to move over. Her car was still slowing down so she turned on the emergency flashers.

She thought she was safely stopping and moving to the right hand lane, when she felt and heard a boom. A force like nothing she had ever experienced blew into the rear end of the car. She was snapped back into her seat belt. Fear grabbed her then and wouldn’t let go.

Adrenaline, a mother’s adrenaline kicked in. Her daughter, her daughter in the back seat was all she could think about. Fear and fire grabbed her attention. Why was there fire? The back seat, fire everywhere on the right side of the car. The flames were around her little girl. Her child was on fire.

Her daughter was in the back middle seat. She was in a booster seat with her seat belt on. Her clothes were on fire and she was screaming for her mother to help her. She reached from the front to the back seat, through the flames and heat to unsnap the seat belt. The belt was searing hot, but she didn’t know that until later when the burns on her hands were treated.

She pulled her six-year old daughter out of her booster seat into the front seat and out of the car. Her daughter was on fire, her skin was melting and falling off as she carried her to safety and put out the flames. The pain for her daughter was indescribable. She tries not to remember that night. If we go to trial, she will have to remember it all and live it again.

The following days were the longest ever as the University of Utah Hospital’s Burn Center worked to save the child’s life. Later they worked to graft skin and attempt to make her look more like the child she had once been but would never be again.

The sweet voice her child once had is now a raspy whisper. Her voice and lungs damaged from the heat, fire and inhaled flames. Her child arms are covered in thick, unsightly burn scars. Her hands don’t move freely-scar tissue makes her fingers look webbed. It’s hard for her to hold a pencil much less use a key board. What does the future hold for this child?

A plastic safety valve failed in the gas tank when the car was rear-ended by another car on the freeway. Gas fumes escaped and ignited the back seat of the car.

Siegfried and Jensen lawyers are working to assure this child financial freedom from on-going medical care and all future surgeries. This child’s future job choices are now so limited. Wouldn’t it be fair to provide the child with a lifetime annuity to help ease her burden when she is older? Her life has already been so difficult.

There wasn’t too much wrong with her life at age 14. She and her friend walked close together on the sidewalk kicking leaves and laughing talking about boys in their school.

She remembers her friend turning to look behind them. She remembers noise, loud and close. Then there was a sensation of being pushed-pushed by something heavy. Then her world was blinded by heaviness and pain. Her first single scream had people  running to see what had happened.

She was screaming in pain on the sidewalk and couldn’t move. She looked at her leg and  saw only meat and blood. Her screams continued. She wasn’t sure when she stopped screaming. Maybe it was later in the hospital after she was sedated. The paramedics took care of her and kept her alive and safe until she could be transported to Primary Medical Center. She remembers the sound of the helicopter, knowing it would took her to safety and away from this place where she had lost a limb. There was no way to save her left leg. There was no leg to save. 

I first met her early on when she was at physical rehab, learning to use the prosthetic. It was tough watching her struggle for balance, struggling to use the treadmill. Her left hip trying to do all the work to compensate for a leg that wasn’t there. 

She has made a brave recovery. We have watched her go through all the stages that physical therapists see when people lose limbs and have to start over.

The carelessness of a commercial trucking company took away so much. We are working to get her a fair settlement that will help her for the rest of her life.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the greediest of them all?

$14.8 billion in pharmaceutical settlements have been paid out in the last five years!  Over half of those settlements were with just four drug makers: Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Merck.

They do the same bad things over and over. The FDA exacts hefty fines, but the dollar amounts are mere trifles to Big Pharma.

It’s cheaper to pay the fine and continue dishonest business.

Even with millions or even billions owed in settlements, there’s just too much money in it for them to stop. No self-correcting behavior is required or expected. Top management calls the shots. Management want share-holder return at any cost.

Even if the cost is in human lives.

Now, most of these are life-saving drugs. We know that. But wrapped up in that $300 billion spemt annually  are plenty of bad drugs, dangerous drugs and more than enough deceit in their marketing.

Off label marketing is the number one reason these companies are fined by the FDA. Another common violation these drug companies commit is over-charging state government health care programs These companies are injuring us and taking our tax money from Medicaid & Medicare. We talked about this previously with Zyprexa.

Other common reasons for fines include: overcharging public health departments, kickbacks, falsified clinical trial findings, illegal promotions and anti-trust violations.

Kick-backs to doctors is another disturbing reality. But it happens all the time. Doctors are human and many of them take the money and look the other way. It’s all about the money. Big money, billions of dollars worth of money.

$300 Billion dollars is spent annually in the US alone for prescription drugs. Big Pharma is addicted to their profits and just can’t stop. The FDA needs our support to make them.

What did they know and when did they know it?

Just because these drugs; Darvon & Darvocet have been around since the late 1950’s doesn’t mean they’re safe. Because they aren’t.

The consumer safety watchdog group, Public Citizen’s Health Research Group have been lobbying the FDA for years. Their efforts first began in 1978 when they urged the FDA to ban the drugs Darvon & Darvocet on the basis of dangerous side effects to the heart.

Darvon and Darvocet have been banned from use by the Food & Drug Administration. The FDA finally issued a recall in November 2010. Many believe this recall was long overdue.

The drug has been suspected as the reason behind thousands of deaths in the U.S. Many more deaths are suspected as a result of these drugs.

There are ten million Americans using Darvon, Darvocet or generic pain killers all using propoxyphene.  A recent test requested by the FDA demonstrated that the drug alters the heart’s electrical activity. The drugs cause sometimes fatal heart rhythm abnormalities. This drug can harm the heart and has serious side effects. 

There are higher than expected fatality rates in propoxyphene overdoses compared with other painkillers. The FDA has been slow to take action and watch-dog groups are asking the question, why have they been so slow to take action with American lives at stake?

Doctors wrote 23 million prescriptions for propoxyphene-containing drugs last year. A total of 26 different studies over the years have shown that Darvon & Darvocet have offered little more pain relief than just using over the counter acetaminophen (Tylenol).

Folks are urged to contact their doctors if they are taking these pain medications. Do not stop taking the drug immediately; rather ask your doctor to help you switch to other less dangerous methods of pain control.  If you quit this drug suddenly, the risk of withdrawal is serious.

In a news release, Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s health research group, said, “Due to FDA negligence, at least 1,000 to 2,000 or more people in the U.S. have died from using propoxyphene since the time the U.K. ban was announced.”  The drug was banned in Britain in 2005.

In a public statement, the US FDA said, “The drug’s effectiveness in reducing pain is no longer enough to outweigh the drug’s serious potential heart risks.”

We ask ourselves how long the manufacturer has known the drugs were dangerous, and deadly to the American public. Is this another example of a major pharmaceutical company placing profits above people?

If you believe that you or a love one may have been injured as a result of using these drugs, please call us to talk about it. There is no cost for this and we may able to help you receive compensation as a result of having used Darvon, Darvocet or a similar painkiller containing propoxyphene.  Remember, this drug is toxic to your heart.

Call your doctor first, and then call us at:  1 (866) 883-5350

Doctors were also charged with saving the life of her unborn child. She was 71/2 months pregnant with her third child when this terrible car accident occurred. There were complications to her surgeries because of her late term pregnancy. Any surgeries, medications and pain relief-the risk to her baby had to be considered.

Nothing could take away her courage in overcoming her injuries and the risk to her unborn child. She did not want to lose her baby.

I read the surgeons report on what was repaired and the equipment used to rebuild her face. At least forty plates were used to rebuild her forehead, not to mention her cheek bones and jaw. The medical team at University Hospital had their work cut out for them. You can only imagine the full cost of her medical bills. They saved her baby and rebuilt her face to look more normal.

She knew that she would never look the same. She simply dismissed any notions of self-pity. She had an attitude of grace that the accident hurt her but left her young sons uninjured. Her face structure was different, but what never changed was her gorgeous, bright, optimistic smile. Nothing could take that away.

We watched her face a difficult recovery with grace and humor. Family and neighbors gave their all to help this young family. The husband was beside himself with worry. Their two young children needed looking after while their mother was in the hospital. Even after leaving the hospital it was difficult for her to care for her family and new baby until she got stronger.

She showed such tenderness towards her children, she was so concerned for their feelings towards her. She looked different and she didn’t want them to be afraid. The hospital provided her with dolls to help explain her massive facial injuries to her children

She is an exceptional wife and wonderful mother to three young children. It was such a pleasure to meet her after spending so much time reading through her file.

It was our privilege to help this family and lift the burden of dealing with her hospital bills and the car insurance company. We wanted both her and her husband to concentrate on her healing and their young family-not on the legal issues surrounding this horrific collision.

We were able to provide this family with fair compensation for her injuries and recovery-for that we are grateful.

Merry Christmas!

Foreign manufacturers have been able to escape responsibility for defective products. There is no accountability for foreign products hurting American citizens.

The majority of defective foreign products are causing injury to children.  Our children are defenseless against overseas manufacturers, particularly those in China where the vast number of “bad” products are manufactured.

Please support the passing of H.R. 4678, the Foreign Manufacturer Legal Accountability Act. It will soon be in front of Congress. This Act will provide American consumers greater protection from foreign manufacturers.

Our country buys products from countries with safety standards that are far less strict than here in our country.

Many foreign products have caused death,  and severe injury to Americans. There is no legal recourse for your injury. You cannot sue for your injury as there is no way to legally “serve” a foreign manufacturer. They take our money and injure us needlessly.

American manufacturers are held to a higher standard of safety. These safety standards are also community standards for keeping children and adults safe.

Foreign manufactures have no such standards. The get to take our money and ”run”  from the very problems they created.  Americans seek fairness, and the avoidance of responsibility hurts Americans. This is another problem caused by the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs.

We don’t expect people to stop buying products “Made in China” for example, but we do insist that foreign manufacturers export  products that are safe enough to be sold in our country.

There is a lot of hype about the McDonalds’ scalding coffee case. No one is in favor of frivolous cases of outlandish results; however, it is important to understand some points that were not reported in most of the stories about the case. McDonalds coffee was not only hot, it was scalding — capable of almost instantaneous destruction of skin, flesh and muscle.

Here’s the whole story. Stella Liebeck of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was in the passenger seat of her grandson’s car when she was severely burned by McDonalds’ coffee in February 1992. Liebeck, 79 at the time, ordered coffee that was served in a styrofoam cup at the drive through window of a local McDonalds.

After receiving the order, the grandson pulled his car forward and stopped momentarily so that Liebeck could add cream and sugar to her coffee. (Critics of civil justice, who have pounced on this case, often charge that Liebeck was driving the car or that the vehicle was in motion when she spilled the coffee; neither is true.) Liebeck placed the cup between her knees and attempted to remove the plastic lid from the cup. As she removed the lid, the entire contents of the cup spilled into her lap.

The sweatpants Liebeck was wearing absorbed the coffee and held it next to her skin. A vascular surgeon determined that Liebeck suffered full thickness burns (or third-degree burns) over 6 percent of her body, including her inner thighs, perineum, buttocks, and genital and groin areas. She was hospitalized for eight days, during which time she underwent skin grafting. Liebeck, who also underwent debridement treatments, sought to settle her claim for $20,000, but McDonalds refused.

During discovery, McDonalds produced documents showing more than 700 claims by people burned by its coffee between 1982 and 1992. Some claims involved third-degree burns substantially similar to Liebeck’s. This history documented McDonalds’ knowledge about the extent and nature of this hazard.

McDonalds’ witness also said during discovery that, based on a consultants advice, it held its coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit to maintain optimum taste. He admitted that he had not evaluated the safety ramifications at this temperature. Other establishments sell coffee at substantially lower temperatures, and coffee served at home is generally 135 to 140 degrees. Further, McDonalds’ quality assurance manager testified that the company actively enforces a requirement that coffee be held in the pot at 185 degrees, plus or minus five degrees.

He also testified that a burn hazard exists with any food substance served at 140 degrees or above, and that McDonalds coffee, at the temperature at which it was poured into Styrofoam cups, was not fit for consumption because it would burn the mouth and throat. The quality assurance manager admitted that burns would occur, but testified that McDonalds had no intention of reducing the “holding temperature” of its coffee.

Plaintiff’s expert, a scholar in thermodynamics applied to human skin burns, testified that liquids, at 180 degrees, will cause a full thickness burn to human skin in two to seven seconds.

Other testimony showed that as the temperature decreases toward 155 degrees, the extent of the burn relative to that temperature decreases exponentially. Thus, if Liebeck’s spill had involved coffee at 155 degrees, the liquid would have cooled and given her time to avoid a serious burn. McDonalds asserted that customers buy coffee on their way to work or home, intending to consume it there. However, the company’s own research showed that customers intend to consume the coffee immediately while driving. McDonalds also argued that consumers know coffee is hot and that its customers want it that way. The company admitted its customers were unaware that they could suffer third degree burns from the coffee and that a statement on the side of the cup was not a “warning” but a “reminder” since the location of the writing would not warn customers of the hazard.

The jury awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages. This amount was reduced to $160,000 because the jury found Liebeck 20 percent at fault in the spill. The jury also awarded Liebeck $2.7 million in punitive damages, which equals about two days of McDonalds’ coffee sales.

Post-verdict investigation found that the temperature of coffee at the local Albuquerque McDonalds had dropped to 158 degrees Fahrenheit.

The trial court subsequently reduced the punitive award to $480,000 — or three times compensatory damages — even though the judge called McDonalds’ conduct reckless, callous and willful.

No one will ever know the final ending to this case. The parties eventually entered into a secret settlement which has never been revealed to the public, despite the fact that this was a public case, litigated in public and subjected to extensive media reporting. Such secret settlements, after public trials, should not be condoned.

Excerpted from ATLA fact sheet

She once loved caring for minature roses.

She was living in pain. I could see it in her eyes when we first sat down to speak.

Constant, chronic pain, you could see it around her eyes-there was tightness there. Melinda was beginning to look older than her years from the strain. She had been very careful with pain medications. She didn’t want to add addiction to her list of problems. I admired her for that carefulness.

But there was a price to pay for that. It was difficult for her to get comfortable during our interview. We would stop so she could adjust her position and then speak again to the camera. We wanted her to tell us her story.

The heavy, dark truck was going 60 mph in a school zone.  When she told me, I couldn’t believe it. A school zone!

The crossing guard had already stepped out, fluorescent green vest, motioning for cars to stop. She and her husband had already stopped and were waiting for young children to finish crossing the street after their day at grade school.

The driver of the dark truck saw nothing of this. Oblivious to his surroundings, he stepped on the gas pedal to increase his speed. He was in a hurry. He was always in a hurry I suspect.

Witnesses to the accident saw the truck slam into a stopped passenger car at sixty miles and hour. It sounded like an explosion and people from everywhere came running. People in a nearby bank thought a bomb had gone off. Glass and metal were everywhere in street.  She was grateful no children were hurt, and she was grateful the crossing guard wasn’t injured.

When she came to, she didn’t immediately know how badly she was injured. She just wanted to get home. She kept telling the paramedics-let me get home please.

“I wasn’t paying attention.” he told the police nonchalantly. They issued him a ticket of course. But where was his responsibility to the life he had changed in that school zone?

What she didn’t know then was that not all back injuries can be repaired. The best surgeons can’t always undo what’s been done. The rest of her life had been changed in that moment.

Melinda’s back took the brute, cruel force of the impact. The transfer of energy from the truck through the car then into to her lower back was more than she can ever heal.  The seat belt saved her life. But it is a very different life she has now. It changed dramtically and  through no fault of her own.

Before this collision, she was an active career woman, mother, grandmother and wife. Now, she is isolated in her home. Her day begins with pain and the difficulty of getting out of bed and tending to her home and family. Washing, cooking, cleaning and grocery shopping were things she didn’t think about before-she just did them.  Now, she is very restricted and limited as to what she can do. Many, many responsibilities have shifted to her husband. She cannot work and they can’t survive on one income no matter how much they cut back and are careful. She feels terrible that she can’t contribute and that he now carries more than a full load of worries.

Her career, caring for her home, gardening, have all been taking from her and left nothing in return but constant enduring pain as her new lifelong companion.

Roses, she loved miniature roses and had been growing, and cultivating them for years.

Now, the rose bushes in the rock wall in the front of her home were wild and unkempt. Yes, her husband got the weeding done.  But that was only the beginning of what she use to accomplish in her yard.

Her grandchildren had lost the once-young energetic grandma who could rough and tumble with them her large back yard. Gone were the famous pony rides she gave to her grandsons. Gone was the youthful laughter as they clung to the “pony” as it galloped and twisted and turned and rolled them onto the soft carpet of green and held them close and laughed with them when the climbed back onto her back.

Now, they have a tired grandmother, tired and world weary from the constant pain who sits briefly, uncomfortably trying to read to them. Distracted by her pain from really living and moving with the rest of us. 

Our legal efforts on her behalf can’t heal her back. We only hope that a modest insurance settlement can relieve her constant money worries. It’s the best we can do for her and we’re trying to do just that.

Ned Siegfried wanted a Dory & Nemo theme to help children feel comfortable in a business setting. Children love it when they walk in and see our fish tank. They immediately run to the tank to see Dory & Nemo and the other dozen or so fish we have in our aquarium.

Dory is now seven years old and the orange and black song fish are about the same age. I think that’s a long time for a fish.

Yes, the fish get along so they’re no disturbing sights of floating fish or shark attacks in an eight hour day. Not a good look  for a business…

Our receptionist Gianna, feeds them twice daily. She tells me they anticipate feeding time when the see the red cup. How their fish brains know this I do not know. (See photo below.)

We have some new additions that change their color and camouflage themselves in the shrubbery. Sometimes it’s really hard to find them.  See what I mean?

The red flaming fish sits near the bottom when he’s hungry. He looks kind of sulky. He’s waiting for the sight of the red cup and then the food magically appears.

Our fish tank is professionally cleaned once a week. Keeps everything healthy. The folks at Alpine Marine Imports in Orem, Utah help us with that. Give John a call, he can put fish in your office too.

Let us know if you have any suggestions regarding fish in aquariums.