Defective Drugs Take Their Toll

Anyone who has been made sick by taking a drug with ghastly side effects knows full well they can take their deadly toll.

Getting sick means putting your trust in the hands of doctors, pharmacists and drug manufacturers. Sometimes that trust is betrayed in a way that results in serious injuries or death by taking defective drugs. If someone takes a defective drug, there are product liability laws designed to hold people responsible.

A defective drug is one that has severe adverse side effects. "It isn't only a prescription drug, it may also be one sold over the counter," indicated Jack Zinda, a partner at the law firm of Heselmeyer Zinda PLLC, in Austin, Texas.

In some instances, drug companies know about the side effects and market the drug anyway. In other cases, they find out about the side effects later and either choose to keep the drug on the market, or have it recalled by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"The bottom line in cases involving a defective drug is that if the drug caused harm to a person, and the drug company knew about the dangerous side effects and chose to do nothing, they may be found liable for the consequences," added Zinda. Drug companies are responsible to test their drugs for side effects before taking them to market. Additionally, they are required to advise people about those side effects.

"Despite the fact that the U.S. FDA is mandated to safeguard public safety and health, there are far too many instances where defective drugs with deadly side effects are approved and remain on the market despite reported severe drug reactions and deaths," stated Jack Zinda, a partner at the law firm of Heselmeyer Zinda PLLC, in Austin, Texas.

The FDA doesn’t have enough manpower to keep track of all the drugs brought to the marketplace, and they often find out about the side effects later. This is often too late for people who took the drug(s) believing that they were safe.

If faced with a situation where a drug has caused devastating side effects or death, contact a defective product attorney post haste and have the case assessed. Jack Zinda, partner at the law firm of Heselmeyer Zinda PLLC, in Austin, Texas, handles these types of cases.

Jack Zinda is an Austin personal injury lawyer. To learn more about Austin injury lawyer Jack Zinda visit Hzfirm.com.

Pssst, the Secret Is Out

When a trade secret gets out or is stolen, the ramifications are enormous; proof positive that trade secrets are valuable assets to be protected.

If you haven’t seen the news in the last little while, you may be astounded at the damage awards in two controversial trade secret cases. One in California came in with a jury verdict of $36.3 million in damages in a trade secret and breach of contract case. In Georgia, there was another settlement of $37.3 million. There may be another chapter written in both of these cases, as they may be appealed.

Having said that, the staggering amount of the awards serves to point out something very important to the business community – trade secrets are invaluable to businesses. The fact is that companies with trade secrets they don’t want to lose to another company need to ensure they are protected through non-disclosure agreements (NDA). There is more than one way to protect secrets and it’s for this reason that an expert Austin business lawyer is the best person to turn to when those secrets need to be kept.

Non-disclosure agreements are not standard, run of the mill pieces of paper that an employee signs. They are, in most instances, tailor-made for a specific situation and in some instances for the people who need to sign them. No business should consider operating without a non-disclosure agreement if they have trade secrets that are critical to their industry. For this reason they need to discuss with the lawyer the categories of individuals who need to become acquainted with an NDA as a prerequisite of their employment.

Within and outside of any corporation there are a wide variety of individuals who may have access to a trade secret, and those include, but are not limited to employees, consultants, customers, suppliers, other existing or potential partners and angel investors or merger and/or acquisition aspirants.

Struggling to keep a lid on that secret is of primary importance to the company who will need to consider other methods of secrecy such as encrypted password protection, storing critical material under lock and key, limiting distribution of the crucial information and reminding employees frequently that they need to keep what they know to themselves.

Ironically, many a company that does have secrets to keep finds themselves in the position of wanting to hire someone who used to work for their competitors. This potentially awkward scenario is best addressed by having the new employee sign specific employment agreements to not divulge what they know. Obviously this would be a sticky situation that may have the potential to blow up later should the worker choose to talk about what they know despite having an agreement in place.

Often when an employee is leaving a company and has had access to trade secrets, they need to consider how to handle the potential possibility of being sued for leaking those secrets. Whether or not they are going to work for the competition or start their own business, if they’re smart, they need to have a clear understanding in writing about what they may take when they leave. The trick of course is living up to that agreement.

Jack Zinda is an Austin business lawyer with Heselmeyer Zinda, PLLC. To learn more about Austin business attorney Jack Zinda visit Texasbusinessattorneys.net.

Degrees of Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries may arise as a result of many different causes that include: being hit while playing a high intensity sport (football), a fall, physical abuse, or auto accidents.

Spinal cord injuries do not always take much of an impact to cause significant damage. The impact just needs to be in precisely the right spot. There are two types of classifications relating to spinal cord injuries – complete and incomplete, with the most severe category being a complete injury.

Many people make the mistake of thinking a complete spinal cord injury is the result of a cord being severed or broken. This is a myth. In fact, when there is a complete spinal cord injury, the cord is rarely broken or severed. A patient with a complete spinal cord injury will usually lose feeling and motor functions from the point of the injury down through the rest of the body. Unfortunately, statistics show that there is a less than 5% recovery rate for this type of injury.

Incomplete injuries fall into three further divisions. An injury to the front of the cord is called an anterior lesion. Secondly, an injury to the mid area of the spine is referred to as Central Cord Syndrome. Finally, if a victim sustains a blow to just one side of the cord, and that is the only location of the damage, this is called Brown-Sequard Syndrome. Paralysis may occur with any spinal cord injury. However, with an incomplete injury the condition is usually temporary.

It's very difficult to accurately assess if a spinal cord injury is complete or incomplete until the secondary trauma(s) manifest themselves in order to clarify any potential diagnosis. For instance, swelling and inflammation may ultimately change the initial prognosis from one category to another. There is, however, the chance that secondary symptoms may not be as devastating as initially thought, and allow a partial or total recovery.

If you have been involved in an accident that was caused by someone else's negligence and the diagnosis is a complete or incomplete spinal cord injury, contact a skilled personal injury attorney for a consultation. You may be entitled to receive compensation for your injuries, medical bills, therapy, long-term care, and pain and suffering.

Jack Zinda is an Austin business lawyer with Heselmeyer Zinda, PLLC. To learn more about Austin business attorney Jack Zinda visit Texasbusinessattorneys.net.

That Bites

If the dog's bark is worse than his bite, a court case likely won't be the end result. However, if the bite is worse than the bark, that is another matter.

In some instances, a dog owner may face civil and criminal charges if their dog takes a bite out of someone. While it might not seem like a big deal, it may turn out to be that way.

Dog bite law is an interesting mixture of civil and criminal law and the laws vary widely among jurisdictions. If faced with a dog bite, it's best to hire a competent dog bite attorney who will know what the law says in the particular jurisdiction where the incident took place. An important issue in dog bite cases is whether the jurisdiction follows the one-bite rule.

"The one-bite rule actually originated in English common law and generally speaking, protects a dog owner until he has actual knowledge his dog is dangerous/vicious. Once that becomes evident, the owner is strictly liable for any injuries inflicted by the dog," explained Jack Zinda, a partner at the law firm of Heselmeyer Zinda PLLC, Austin, Texas.

Most states are fairly consistent in saying that an owner is liable if any injuries were caused by negligence in handling the dog or by violating a strict leash law. "If a person happens to live in a state where an owner is considered to be liable by virtue of an existing statute because they own the dog, hiring a dog bite attorney is the smart thing to do," added Zinda.

If faced with a dog bite situation, make certain to assist the victim to get medical attention if it is necessary. "Do not volunteer any information to the person about the dog or the dog's habits or personality. Save this discussion to have with the attorney," advised Jack Zinda, a partner at the law firm of Heselmeyer Zinda PLLC, Austin, Texas. If the dog has unexpectedly bitten someone, or even if it was provoked to bite, immediately take all reasonable precautions to protect anyone else from a dog bite.

If there were any witnesses to the dog-biting incident, get names and addresses, etc. and call the insurance company to report the incident. This is to make sure that if there is a claim, the insurance company defends the owner in a lawsuit. If they are not aware of the incident, any claims filed later may be denied. "Here is one tip that most home owners don't know about, and that is insurance companies will generally ask what breed of dog is on the premises because they will either charge higher rates or decline to insure at all," said Zinda.

Jack Zinda is an Austin business lawyer with Heselmeyer Zinda, PLLC. To learn more about Austin business attorney Jack Zinda visit Texasbusinessattorneys.net.