From previous postings you may know our client won his jury trial against Willamette Dental for damage to his lingual nerve from a wisdom tooth extraction. The trial was in Portland, Oregon in June 2006. Willamette Dental was insured by Fortress Insurance and appealed the jury verdict. The case was argued before the Oregon Court of Appeals by Maureen Leonard for our client and we prevailed. The insurance company tried to get our client to settle for less than 1/3 the verdict and then less than 1/2 the verdict (not including the 9% interest that was running on the judgment). Insurance companies try to wear down clients. Fortunately, believing in the jury and the court system, our client stood up to the insurance company and didn’t blink. Last Thursday, July 31, 2008, over two years after the verdict, our client received a check from the insurance company for the full amount of the jury verdict plus interest.

Text messaging has become an integral and seemingly unavoidable aspect of society. While texting has many benefits, it apparently can be dangerous as well. The American College of Emergency Physicians Foundation recently publicized the hazards of texting and cautioned people to text with care. Teenagers and young adults in particular can become so distracted by texting that they are unaware of their surroundings. The Foundation reported numerous injuries and even deaths resulting from texting. Texting while walking can cause falls or collisions with other pedestrians, bicyclists, or even automobiles, not to mention collisions with stationary objects. The Foundation stresses using common sense while texting and also offers the following suggestions:

Who could imagine that dental care could be hazardous enough to cause death? Though uncommon, apparently there have been enough patient deaths resulting from dental care to prompt the state of Washington’s Health Secretary to ask the state’s dental board, known as the Washington Dental Quality Assurance Commission, to launch an investigation.

The Seattle P-I newspaper first published a story on July 15, 2008, that investigated three patient deaths. The article asserted that the dental board’s investigations of these deaths were inadequate.

For those frozen yogurt lovers out there, I wanted to pass on information about activeculture in SE Portland.  It is tasty!!

The store is in the Grand Central Bowl building/area (820 SE 8th Ave, Portland, OR 97214 503-608-7742).  activeculture has “30+ Froyo flavors on rotation, fruity smoothies and milky shakes.”

At ActiveCulture the yogurt contains over 10 million active probiotic cultures per gram.

Probiotics are known to aid with digestion, increase the body’s immune system, and help prevent many types of illnesses including osteoporosis, gastrointestinal infections, and some cancers.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Finn Terry. Tragically, Finn, an 11 year old Portland boy, died this weekend when a canoe he was riding in flipped over in the Clackamas River. Finn attended da Vinci Arts Middle School in Portland and he received a standing ovation at the school’s talent show on Friday when he read his poem about love.

Today was the oral argument in Franco v Willamette Dental before the Oregon Court of Appeals.  The lingual nerve injury case was originally tried to a Multnomah County jury in Portland, Oregon in June 2005 by Jane Paulson and her co-counsel.  The jury awarded the full amount sought, $600,000.  After nearly two years, the appellate argument was heard in Salem, Oregon.  We will now wait for the Court of Appeals decision.  Due to other matters being held at the same time, the argument was heard in the Tax Court in Salem, Oregon.  Maureen Leonard of Portland, Oregon briefed and argued the case for us on appeal.  Our client attended the hearing with Jane.

Yesterday, Portland, Oregon attorney Jane Paulson settled a wrongful death case for a woman who died prematurely from a delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer. The medical malpractice case was filed in Multnomah County, Oregon. The settlement amount is confidential. The settlement will help the woman’s minor children.

The attorneys at Paulson Coletti Trial Attorneys, practicing in Oregon and Washington, frequently handle medical malpractice cases included delayed diagnosis of cancer.

   If you have taken the pain killer Vioxx and believe that you suffered heart damage or stroke as a result of taking the defective drug, the deadline for filing paperwork to substantiate the claims has been extended for one month under the terms of a settlement with the manufacturer Merck & Co. Please review the article posted below from the Associated Press:

Vioxx Deadline Extended

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press
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    In 1999, an Oregon jury awarded the Estate of Jesse Williams $521,000 in actual damages and $79.5 million in punitive damages intended to punish the company for wrongdoing. Jesse Williams began smoking in the 1950’s while in the Army and died in 1997, six months after being diagnosed with lung cancer. The verdict was appealed and eventually struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled that the punitive damage verdict was excessive because it was more than 100 times greater than the amount of actual damages.

In June 2006, Jane Paulson obtained a jury verdict for her client for $600,000 — the full amount she asked the jury for. Our client’s lingual nerve was injured when Willamette Dental had a periodontist remove his wisdom teeth. Due to the injury our client had numbness on 1/2 of his tongue, no sensation to pressure, no ability to distinguish hot or cold, no taste on 1/2 of his tongue and he had burning pain in the tongue at times.