Month: June 2018

Periventricular Leukomalacia in Newborns

Posted on by YostLaw

Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is an injury to the brain which occurs when tissue deep in the baby’s brain, called the white matter, dies away or is damaged.   If a baby’s brain does not receive enough oxygen during labor and delivery, the brain cells in the baby’s white matter can die or be damaged.  The patches of damaged or dying brain cells which lead to a diagnosis of PVL can be seen on brain imaging studies, such as ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which are tests typically performed on infants whenever there is suspicion the baby did not receive enough oxygen during labor and delivery.

The severity of PVL varies from child to child, depending on the size and location of the damaged brain tissue.   Infants who suffer PVL are more likely to develop cerebral palsy (CP) because the brain injury caused by PVL can damage the nerve cells that control movement.  Nerve cells damaged by PVL can cause the growing child’s muscles to tighten, stiffen and uncontrollably contract and spasm.   Muscle groups in any part of the body may be affected, with involuntary leg spasms and contraction being the most common.  Severe damage caused by PVL can also cause seizures and developmental delays.

There is no treatment for PVL.  Monitoring a baby for development of PVL and managing the problems caused by this brain damage are the responsibility of your baby’s doctors.

PVL can severely impact your child’s development and quality of life.   If your child suffered a brain injury at birth, contact The Yost Legal Group today at 1-800-YOST-LAW (800-403-7259). The attorneys at Yost Legal Group are experienced, caring professionals ready to investigate your claim with compassion and determination. Call us today to receive a free, confidential consultation about your possible case.

We handle all cases on a contingency fee basis. This means you will never pay an attorney’s fee up front, and you owe us nothing unless we win your case.

Stryker LFIT V40 Update

Posted on by YostLaw

In August 2016, Stryker recalled its LFIT V40 femoral head hip implant based on higher than expected taper failure rates.  A taper lock failure occurs when the femoral head of the hip implant comes loose from the stem of the hip implant. Many people implanted with this faulty device suffer from severe pain, inflammation, loss of bone strength and mobility, and difficulty in walking. In some cases, excessive metal debris from the components causes an adverse metal reaction known as metallosis. Typically, when the LFIT V40 device fails, the person must have a revision hip surgery to remove and replace this defective Stryker product. Many people selected the LFIT V40 hip implant system because Stryker marketed this product as lasting longer than hip implants containing plastic or ceramic components, and being more suitable for persons wishing to maintain a physically active lifestyle.

The widespread failure of the LFIT V40 resulted in the filing of numerous lawsuits in federal courts all across the country. This, in turn, led to the creation of a Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) in the United States District Court in Boston, Massachusetts.  A MDL consolidates lawsuits filed in different U. S. District Courts nationwide into a single district court to make it easier to coordinate issues and proceedings that will apply to all cases.  As of May 2018, 271 lawsuits were pending in the LFIT V40 MDL.

Trials in what are known as bellwether cases usually take place used in a MDL.  Bellwether trials involve a small group of cases selected from the total MDL pool of cases.  A bellwether trial serves as a test case that the Court and the parties select to test their evidence and arguments, with the goal of moving the overall litigation towards resolution.  These trials are used in mass tort actions like the LFIT V40 MDL, where hundreds of persons have been injured by the same defective and dangerous medical device.  Bellwether cases generally have facts that are typical and representative of other cases in the wider litigation.  The outcome of a bellwether trial often informs the parties on whether they will continue to litigate or settle their claims, and on what terms. If these bellwether trials result in good jury verdicts for the plaintiffs, they may set the stage for settlement discussions that involve all the cases in the MDL.

Judge Indira Talwani will be overseeing the LFIT V40 MDL and has ordered that the initial bellwether trial group of cases be selected by October 5, 2018. Specific case work up in these cases will then take place through a process known as discovery. The first LFIT V40 MDL bellwether case is scheduled to be tried by a jury in September of 2019.

When patients are forced to undergo painful and costly revision surgery following the implant of a defective and dangerous product such as the LFIT V40, corporations like Stryker who manufacture and market these defective products must be held accountable. Our experienced lawyers work for those individuals who have been harmed by this defective Stryker hip implant product. If you or a loved one has been injured or required revision surgery following a Stryker LFIT V40 femoral head implant, or another defective hip device, the attorneys at the Yost Legal Group will investigate your potential claim and lawsuit. For a free consultation, please call us at 1-800-YOSTLAW.

Enhanced Underinsured Motorist Coverage – What Every Maryland Driver Needs to Know

Posted on by YostLaw

Effective July 1, 2018, Maryland insurance companies will begin to offer Enhanced Underinsured Motorist Coverage (“EUIM”) to individuals with private passenger automobile insurance policies, including motorcyclists. Commonly referred to as “stacking”, this new coverage will allow you to combine, or “stack”, your underinsured motorist coverage (UM) with the policy limits of the at-fault driver, ultimately increasing the amount of money to which you may be entitled, following an auto accident.

For instance, it is June 19, 2018, and you are involved in an auto accident on your way to the grocery store. At present, the existing law provides that your UM coverage only pays for the difference between the at-fault driver’s coverage and your UM coverage. Therefore, if the at-fault driver carried a $30,000 policy, and you had purchased $100,000 of UM coverage, the most you could recover following this accident is $100,000 ($30,000 from the at-fault driver’s policy and $70,000 from your own UM coverage). However, once the EUIM law goes into effect, you will be able to stack your UM policy with the at-fault driver’s policy. Meaning, if your accident were to occur after July 1, 2018, and after you made the election for EUIM, the most you could recover following this accident in this scenario is $130,000 ($30,000 from the at-fault driver’s policy, stacked on top of the $100,000 from your own EUIM coverage).

Why is it necessary for you to make the election for EUIM with your auto insurance carrier? Currently, the minimum required liability coverage for an insured vehicle in Maryland is $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. For example, under the current law, if you were involved in a serious auto accident and your medical bills were $110,000, you would be personally responsible for $10,000 of those bills. Even more, because all of the money went towards repaying your medical bills, you wouldn’t receive anything for your pain and suffering. This new law, however, will provide extra coverage for injured people when they are involved in accidents with individuals that either have: no insurance; the minimum insurance coverage; or coverage that was less than the coverage you obtained through your own policy.

It is critically important to note that, this coverage is not automatic. Accordingly, in order to obtain EUIM, you must elect so, in writing to your auto insurance carrier, on a specific form. More specifically, the new law requires that optional EUIM be offered to consumers “at the time of purchase of a private passenger motion vehicle liability insurance policy.” Md. Code § 19-509.1(c). For this reason, it is extremely important that when you renew or obtain a new auto insurance policy, that you evaluate how such additional coverage could benefit you if you or a loved one were involved in an auto accident, when deciding whether to select EUIM coverage. For more information or questions regarding auto injuries and/or the new Enhanced Underinsured Motorist Coverage, please call Adam P. Frank at the Yost Legal Group.

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