ThePopTort

Chrysler/GM Auto Defect Victims Head to DC—Demand Justice, in Spite of Bankruptcies

As we mentioned yesterday, families and severely injured victims of defective GM and Chrysler vehicles are in Washington DC this week seeking immediate help from lawmakers to remedy those companies’ excessively cruel bankruptcy plans.

Under both schemes, warranties issued by the “old,” pre-bankruptcy versions of the companies will be honored and money set aside to cover replacement of the defective car parts—however, if the part causes an accident or leads to a catastrophic injury or death, the companies will be off the hook—and those injured will be effectively abandoned.

Well, we’re happy to report that the media and Congress are beginning to take notice of this terrible injustice—and we wanted to share some of the latest developments… 

•    Check out Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) yesterday grilling GM CEO Fritz Henderson over  his company’s intention to seek “immunity for existing claims and potential claims for any cars that have been sold prior to the closing of [his] bankruptcy.”  (FF to 176:32 on this link.)
•    Also take a look at the coverage from Bloomberg, KHOU in Houston, Fox News’s DC affiliate, The Hill,  ABC News, and CNN (embedded below).

Another Day, Another (Employee's) Dollar...

Last week it was food industry leaders who were caught with their hands in employee tip jars.  Now a group of construction workers from California, Arizona, and Nevada have filed a lawsuit charging that the major subcontractor that hired them—Building Materials Holding Corp., and several related subsidiaries—withheld overtime and other wage payments.

Pablo Nunez, 37, who served as a carpenter for one of the company’s subsidiaries for about three years, said he regularly worked 10 hours of overtime each week, but was paid for only five.

“They did that for years and years,” Nunez said through an interpreter, adding that complaints to his supervisors were ignored and that he was ultimately laid off.

The suit currently involves 14 plaintiffs, but if a judge grants it class-action status, that number could balloon into the thousands, according to the workers’ attorney, Glenn Rothner.

Building Materials Holding Corp. reported $2.3 billion in sales in 2007.

In the News…

Last week, CJ&D’s Executive Director Joanne Doroshow responded to the Desert Sun’s article on tort abuse.

This article's use of fictions, exaggerations and scare tactics do nothing more than create public scorn for severely injured people, who sometimes must turn to the legal system.

Lawsuit filed in South Dakota meant to challenge the state’s medical malpractice cap.

Earlier this month, the New Times reported on at least six doctors practicing in Arizona who had their licenses revoked in other states.  The report “played a key role in the potential suspension” of one of the physicians. 

New York City’s civil lawsuit against 27 gun dealers is expected to settle this week with one of the final gun dealers. 

Medical Malpractice – The Hits Keep on Coming!

A VA hospital in Philadelphia may have given “insufficient radiation treatment to more than 100 prostate-cancer patients” over the last six years.  Some have died. 

In Arizona, the medical board disciplined 54 doctors so far this year, mostly by sending letters of reprimand.

Meanwhile, hospitals in 23 states now say they won’t bill patients “for the worst kind of medical mistakes, including operating on the wrong body part or the wrong person, or giving someone the wrong blood.”  Says Craig Becker, president of the Tennessee Hospital Association, “When you look at these adverse events, these are pretty gross errors.”