Randy Barnhart

US District Judge Now Sitting on the Court Most High

From US Courts news:

Senior U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown, who regularly presided over cases well past his 104th birthday, died on January 23, 2012. Brown turned 104 last June 22, tying an age record for the federal bench – set in 1977 by Judge Joseph Woodrough of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Brown was appointed to the U.S. District Court in Wichita, Kansas, by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. He assumed senior status in 1979, but continued his judicial duties for the next 32 years.

Thank you for your service, Your Honor.

Our Environmental Law Practice: NASA Graphically Depicts Climate Warming

A picture is worth a thousand words; a moving picture is worth ten thousand.

From the NASA website: Global average surface temperature in 2011 - ninth warmest since 1880! The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) monitors global surface temperatures continuously. The above shows an updated analysis. Temperatures around the globe in 2011 are compared to past decades. The analysis shows how our planet, Earth, is experiencing warmer temperatures than just a few decades ago. The average temperature around the globe in 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 C) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline.

For any questions, contact Melissa Anne Hailey - Top Environmental Law Attorney.

All-Metal Hip Implants - Manufacturers Must Be Responsible

If you have an all-metal hip replacement, you may be among the lucky ones who can walk. Or you may be worse off than you would have been without the allegedly flawed device. One thing’s for sure: Those flaws are going to cost Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Zimmer Holdings (ZMH) plenty in legal fees and possible settlement costs. How much? Maybe $5 billion.

One thing is for sure: there are people out there suffering tremendously due to the flaws in all-metal hip replacements.

via www.forbes.com

MoM Hip Suits and Multi-District Litigation

There will be arguments to a bench of federal judges - U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation - in late January on the issue of consolidating the growing number of defective Wright hip implant lawsuits brought by patients who have experienced pain and debility with the metal-on-metal (MoM) hip implants. The panel of judges will hear arguments on whether all Wright hip lawsuits should be presented to a single judge for pretrial motions.

One motion to consolidate the Wright hip lawsuits has already been filed bby a plaintiff to have pending and future Wright hip implant cases transferred to one of the US Districts of Georgia for purposes of discovery and pretrial motions. The idea is to preclude duplication and reduce inefficiency. In addition, the policy for consolidation is to avoid contradictory rulings from different judges or courts.

The basic allegation in most of the hip implant law suits is "design defect," which refers to the metallic debris shed by the MoM hip implants which then can cause pain and tissue damage. Somewhat counter-intuitively, Wright opposes the consolidation, arguing that it will only result in more lawsuits being filed against it. It could be that certain cases are unique, so always consult with an attorney - after you have had a proper examination and evaluation by your medical professional.

The FDA approved the MoM hip replacement system under the "fast-track" approval procedures. The MoM implants typically are made of cobalt chromium molybdenum in the cup and "femoral head" which when walking or running can shed metal particles leading to metallosis or toxicity in the blood, adjacent tissue and bone.

The firm is here to assist those with MoM hip implants.

This is Exciting: The Digital Public Library of America

In early December of last year, Professor Robert Darnton of Harvard University was interviewed by Rhys Tranter, a PhD candidate at Cardiff University. Darnton warned that "commercial interests are exploiting digital technology in order to fence off large parts of our cultural commons," but that the Digital Public Library of America is "an answer to that threat."

To the question, how does the Digital Library of America compare with the idea of a Digital Republic of Learning, Darnton replied in a way which should excite everyone. To him, the Digital Public Library of America is more than a gleam in his eye and no mere utopian dream. The Library is taking shape now and may emerge fully fledged by 2020. The general idea for the Library is "to make available, free of charge, the cultural heritage of our great research libraries," but in a non-commercial way, unlike Google's book project, which has been tangled up in the courts over copyright.

Money, of course, is necessary, but Darnton stated that major American foundations "are enthusiastically supporting this idea." As for the technology, the Library is working with computer scientists who say that "this is not even difficult, they can design the infrastructure for this new library." Of course, "digital" means that it will be a "distributed system," not some colossal structure rivaling the Pentagon. Indeed, it won't be one big database, either, but a system of linked databases "scattered all over the United States in a way to make them perfectly compatible: the user won’t even know where the book, or the pamphlet or the manuscript is located."

The first "beta" will or should be available by April of 2013. As with Google, copyright will be an issue, but over 2 million books already in the public domain and in special collections in many heretofore inaccessible research libraries will be made available.

Darnton says that the Digital Library project has the best law school professors working on the copyright issue, devising legal strategies to deal with it in order to make "at least some of these copyrighted books available" to all readers. In "ten years, we will have a library greater than the Library of Congress, which is the largest library in the world, available free of charge to everyone." This is exciting!

New Video on Dangerous 15-Passenger Vans

KENSTV in San Antonio, TX recently ran this special report on the dangers
of 15-passenger vans, like the Ford E-350.

(visit my micro-blog on defective passenger vans)

Metal-on-Metal Hip Device?

Artificial hip replacement devices, but especially Metal-on-Metal (MoM) hip implants, come with unique risks associated with the daily wear on the ball and socket. The metal ball and the metal socket or cup are in constant contact and wear while walking and running. As a result, microscopic metal bits or particles shed away from the device and enter into the tissue around the implant. Further, these metal particles can transmute to metallic ions which can then enter the bloodstream. Even if the surgeon takes every precaution, shedding metal particles cannot be completely avoided. See this article on wikipedia.

To be sure, not all people who receive MoM hip implants have the same reaction to the metal particles or ions. It is impossible to predict who will experience a negative reaction to the metal debris, and if so, what precisely that negative reaction will be. Also unknowable is when the negative reaction might happen or its severity. Still, it is true that over time, the metal debris shed by MoM implants can cause serious damage to bone and tissue in the hip area, called "adverse local tissue reaction (ALTR)" or "adverse reaction to metal debris (ARMD)." Further, the metallic ions can effect on heart, nervous system, and thyroid gland. In many cases, the resulting pain compels a "revision surgery" which replaces the implanted device with a new one.

The firm is actively investigating cases of failed hip implants. Several involve the Wright Profemur Z Hip. Protect your rights: a Metal-on-Metal (MoM) hip implant may cause serious injury and pain, requiring replacement. More here.