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The last victim of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse has been recovered from the water. The long, complex search for the disaster's cause is ramping up in earnest. It's about the time we'd expect the lawyers to descend. But the pinstripes are already out of the gate, setting new records for jumping the gun in a disaster. Just days after the collapse, while recovery crews were still battling treacherous waters, Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben -- one of the state's highest profile personal injury firms -- petitioned for access to the site for three attorneys and two expert witnesses. An immediate...

ANGLETON, Texas - Merck & Co.'s first wrongful-death verdict over its painkiller Vioxx came in a case that was not seen as especially strong, and is likely to inspire thousands of more suits on top of the 4,200 already filed against the drug maker, analysts say. Analysts have already estimated Merck's liability could be as high as $18 billion and that number could now rise. Merck & Co.'s stock sank $2.35, or 7.7 percent, to close at $28.06. The jury awarded $253.4 million in damages to a widow of a man who died in 2001 of heart arrhythmia, or irregular...

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Merck has been held liable by a Texas jury in the first lawsuit involving its former blockbuster drug Vioxx, in a case that could have a profound effect on thousands of other cases filed against the company. Plaintiff Carol Ernst has won her lawsuit in Texas Superior Court, which blames Vioxx for the 2001 death of her husband, Robert Ernst, a 59-year-old marathon runner and Wal-Mart worker who was taking the arthritis painkiller at the time of his death. Ernst died of a heart attack. The verdict held Merck liable for the death. The jury awarded...

ANGLETON -- The Brazoria County jury in the nation's first Vioxx-related civil trial has found pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. liable for the death of a man who took the painkiller.Jurors awarded Robert Ernst's widow, Carol, $253.4 million in damages, which is a combination of his lost pay as a Wal-Mart produce manager, mental anguish, loss of companionship and punitive damages. Carol Ernst began to cry when the verdict was read while her attorneys jumped up and shouted, "Amen!" The plaintiffs team huddled and hugged and repeated, "Amen, amen," while plaintiff's lawyer Ben Morelli told Ernst, "It's your jury." "Anyone who said they...

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court agreed to consider Tuesday whether family members can sue in federal court after a 14-year-old girl cut her finger on a Star-Kist tuna can and suffered permanent damage. snip.. Beatriz Blanco-Ortega, then 9, was at school in Puerto Rico when she cut her finger on the tuna can and bled profusely for nearly 30 minutes. After a nurse stopped the bleeding, her mother took her in for surgery. The doctor reported she suffered scarring and a minor permanent impairment that could get worse over time. Blanco-Ortega and her family then filed separate lawsuits in...

PALMDALE -- In a judgment against a 17-year-old girl and her father's automobile dealership, a jury has awarded $7.3 million to a seriously injured Los Angeles Police Department patrolman for a traffic accident caused by the teen as she talked on a cellular telephone. A car driven by plaintiff Robert Jewett collided with defendant Kelly Johnson's sport-utility vehicle at 42nd Street West and Avenue N as Johnson made an illegal U-turn while talking on a cellular telephone, according to court testimony. The three-week trial in front of Judge John Doyle in the North District Palmdale Courthouse ended Monday with the...