In two separate lead paint cases in Laconia, the occupants have won their cases.  In the first, a child was poisoned by the  lead paint while living in the home. 

The child, who was three years old when she moved to Cottage Street, was diagnosed two years later with lead levels in her blood of 25 parts-per-billion – more than twice the 10 parts-per-billion level determined by the U.S. Center for Disease Control as lead poisoning.

The case against Mark Mirski, doing business as Mirski Revocable Trust was settled for $118,000 after an eight year battle.  A Merrimack County Court agreed that the child had suffered cognitive injuries as a result of the poisoning.   The family had said that there was chipping and peeling paint but they had never been warned of the danger.  State law requires that all renters be warned of the presence of lead paint.

In the second case Steven and Valerie Johnston were given triple damages in their lawsuit against the real estate agent who sold them the property in 2006 without disclosing that there was lead paint present.  They discovered the presence of the lead paint when their children had elevated lead levels in their blood.

According to U.S. District Court, District of New Hampshire, Steven and Valerie Johnston of 37 Fair St. need $102,000 to remove the lead paint from their property and argued successfully that Pauline Eastman of Belmont should have known the federal statutes regarding the full disclosure of lead paint.  Federal District Judge Joseph N. Laplante ordered a lien assessment against Eastman of $306,000 – an increase of $56,000 from the $250,000 the Johnstons originally requested.

Public health coordinator for the Lakes Region Partnership for Public Health, Susan Laverack, has indicated that Laconia is one of the hot spots for lead poisoning in New Hampshire.  The real issue is having funds available for testing children and abatement of the lead paint presence.  “One issue in Laconia is that people say [their apartment] is the only place they can afford to rent,” she said, pointing out that there is very little affordable rental property in the city.

The Belknap County Grand  Jury, according to an article in the Laconia Daily Sun, has indicted Erica Blizzard for two counts of negligent homicide and one count of aggravated driving as a result of an early morning boating accident on June 15th. 

Erica and two friends, Stephanie Beaudoin and Nicole Shinopules, were reported to be heading to a home on Sleeper’s Island when it struck Diamond Island at about 2:30 AM.   Shinopules was taken to the hospital with undisclosed injuries, Blizzard was taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Beaudoin was killed.

Investigators from the New Hampshire Marine Patrol had been told by Shinopules that the three had been drinking in Wolfboro before leaving there by boat.  Investigators recovered alcoholic beverages from the boat, beer cans near the crash site, and also took blood samples from Blizzard. 

 At the time of the accident, Blizzard was president of the New Hampshire Recreational Boaters Association which had been mounting a lobbying effort against proposed legislation efforts that would have imposed  speed limits on boaters on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Negligent homide is a class B felony and the penalty could be up to 7 years in prison.  Negligent homicide that occurs while operating a vehicle or boat while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a class A felony and the penalty could be up to 15 years in prison.

The Union Leader has reported that Kim Kyle has settled her lawsuit for 2.5 million dollars for an auto accident in which her son Brendon was killed.   On Valentine’s Day in 2007, she and her son had stayed in Lowell, Massachusetts because of a snowstorm.  The next day when she tried to call in about not going in to work she was told that if she didn’t come she’d be fired.  She was a nursing student and was working at a Derry, NH nursing home at the time.

She strapped Brendon into his car seat and left for Derry planning on dropping him off at her mother’s in Londonderry, NH.  Near exit 4 on Route 93, a tractor-trailer that was passing her in the left lane jackknifed next to her and dragged her car about 600 feet. 

Her son’s neck was broken and he died instantly.  She suffered a broken right hip, a collapsed lung, lacerated liver, concussion and her scalp was torn from her head.  Hydraulic tools were used to extricate her and Brandon from the wreck.

The truck’s Canadian owner, Fidele Tremblay Inc. and the driver, Francis Hammond were sued for  30 million dollars in federal court in October, 2007.  The suit  alleged that  Hammond was negligent in driving too fast for the poor road conditions at the time.

 A jury trial was scheduled to begin in a few weeks but the settlement was reached last Friday.  According to the settlement, neither the driver nor the company accepted fault for the accident.

An article in the Concord Monitor reports that the 1st U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston has upheld the constitutionality of a first-in-the-nation New Hampshire law that makes doctors’ prescription writing habits confidential.

Shortly after the law took effect in 2006, IMS Health Inc. of Norwalk, Conn., and Verispan LLC of Yardley, Pa.,  sued to have the law overturned claiming that it violated freedom of speech provisions in the Constitution.   The companies which collect, analyze and sell the prescription information argued that the law endangered public health, violated free speech and impeded research.

The data mining companies say that researchers, law enforcement and government agencies also use the data they gather and make no apologies for the profit they make in selling the data.

In April, 2007 U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro threw the law out ruling that the law placed a burden on free speech and that the State of New Hampshire  had not shown that it would reduce unnecessary spending on prescription drugs. 

The law prohibits pharmacies, benefits managers, insurance companies and data-mining companies from selling or using prescription information that identifies doctors for commercial purposes, including influencing sales. Supporters said it does not affect research, impede the government from collecting Medicaid data or prevent pharmaceutical companies from evaluating the data with prescribers’ identifying information removed.

A similar law in Maine was also thrown out but the appeals decision will apply to both states since they are both in the 1st Circuit.

Besides the attorney general, supporters of the law include AARP, the state Department of Health and Human Services and the New Hampshire Medical Society, which represents about three-quarters of New Hampshire’s doctors.

According to articles in The Citizen of Laconia and The Concord Monitor, a federal jury last week awarded $400,000 to a drywall installation worker who claimed that the company she worked for had created a hostile work environment for a female employee.

Nicole L’Etoile had worked as a drywaller for about twenty years when she started working for New England Finish Systems in 2002.  In her suit she claimed that the company allowed male supervisors to make crude and offensive remarks about women.   Her suit also alleged that she had been laid off  because she was female and also that she had been retaliated against because she had filed discrimination complaints against the company.

According to her complaint she was only given work when the job required a woman such as with federal jobsites.  She also alleged that as soon as they could they would lay her off.  When she called in for more work she was told she’d be hired when the company needed a woman.

L’Etoile had filed discrimination complaints with the state Human Rights Commission which found no probable cause and rejected her appeal.  In 2006 she filed her lawsuit with U.S. District Court in Concord.  She later hired attorneys to represent her.  Mediation failed and the case went to trial.

The jury’s verdict agreed that, because of her sex, she had been subjected to a hostile work environment.  They did not agree that she had been laid off because she was female or retaliated against because of her discrimination charges.

Her award of $400,000  included an award for emotional distress, pain and suffering and also a punitive award against  the company.  However, federal law caps the amount she can receive based on how many employees the company has.  The cap in this case is $200,000 and that’s all she will get if the verdict stands.

The company claimed she was given work when her skills were right for the job and has not decided whether to appeal the award.

An article in the Union Leader reports that David Burns is already serving time in a New Hampshire state prison after being convicted of trying to strangle  his girlfriend in 2004.  Now he faces an additional sentence of up to 20 years after pleading guilty in U.S. Federal Court to wire fraud charges.

Burns’ daughter was born in 1988 but suffered brain damage.  A medical malpractice suit was filed against a Boston hospital and, in 1996, his daughter was awarded a 1.7 million dollar settlement with interest.    That award plus interest – about 2.4 million dollars - was deposited in 1999 into a Massachusetts account under the management of a Boston law firm.

The money was supposed to benefit his daughter, but prosecutors said Burns used the cash for himself to cover attorneys’ fees, bail for criminal charges against him, drug rehabilitation, race cars, funeral expenses and to buy illegal drugs. 

In the period from 1999 to 2003 Burns helped himself to about 1.6 million dollars averaging about $35,000 a month.  

Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold H. Huftalen said he’s never seen a case quite like this.  “It’s an extraordinary case. It’s a disturbing case,” he said yesterday.

The investigation into the fraud started when the Rockingham County Probate Court asked the Office of Public Guardian to inquire  into the withdrawals.  That investigation involved the FBI, the state Attorney General’s Office and Kingston New Hampshire police.

As a result of this case the Office of Public Guardian also brought suit to recover the stolen funds from the law firm that managed the account.    That suit was settled.

Authorities investigating the June 15th fatal Lake Winnipesaukee boating accident that killed one passenger and hospitalized another passenger and the driver are waiting for forensic results before forwarding the case to the county attorney.   Lt. Tim Dunleavy of the New Hampshire Marine Patrol said the department has completed its investigation of the June 15 crash that claimed the life of Stephanie Beaudoin, 34, of Meredith and critically injured the boat’s driver, Erica Blizzard, also 34, of Laconia.

 
The site of the crash, Diamond Island, is just off the deepest part of the lake.  It was pitch black and drizzling that night and locals say there was poor visibility.  Cause(s) of the accident have not been disclosed but Merrill Fay, owner of Fay’s Boat Yard, is quoted in an earlier newspaper article as saying, “If she had run into the island at 25 MPH she would have got bumped around a little but that’s all.”

Lt. Dunleavey expects the results from the last piece being tested will be received by the end of the month at which time the entire case will be handed to Belknap County Attorney James Carroll.  It will be his decision whether to file negligent homicide charges against Blizzard.

The New Hampshire Marine Patrol received a search warrant for the boat.  The affidavit filed in support of the warrant indicated that a passenger, Nicole Shinopules, had indicated that the three women had been drinking alcohol in Wolfeboro before the accident.

The warrant also indicates that personal belongings of the occupants were taken as evidence along with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.  The warrant also authorized the taking of blood samples from Blizzard and indicates that the Marine Patrol had inspected the boat 3 times after the crash and obtained measurements of the boat’s extensive bow damage.   The investigators had also inspected all the boat’s controls and gauges as well as the engine, electrical and mechanical systems.

If Blizzard is  charged with negligent homicide, she could face three to seven years in prison.  If alcohol was involved the penalty could be seven to fifteen years.

According to an article in the Rutland Journal, a Windham Superior Court jury in Vermont has determined that a Brattleboro woman should receive $290,000 in damages because she was unlawfully evicted from her home.     The jury found that Denise Brennan should receive damages from both her landlord and the Windham County Sheriff Department that evicted her.

Joshua Simonds, Brennan’s attorney, filed the complaint in 2001.  The complaint asserts that Brennan was evicted from the home of Sandra Glick after being served with eviction papers prepared by Glick’s attorney, William McCarty.  The papers were served by Deputy Sheriff Charles Lavalla.

According to the complaint, the papers had not been either  issued by a court or signed by a judge, actions necessary for an eviction.  The complaint also asserted that when Brennan pointed that out to the sheriff, she was threatened with arrest.  Brennan left without any of her property which was disposed of by Glick who either sold it, gave it away or kept it.

On August 28th, the jury found Brennan was eligible for $10,000 in damages from the Windham County Sheriffs Department and $280,000 from Glick — $275,000 for her anguish and $5,000 for her lost property.

“The sheriff got his wrist slapped because he didn’t read the papers,” said attorney John Paul Faignant, who represented Deputy Lavalla on behalf of the Windham County Sheriff’s Department. “What they’re basically saying is you can’t trust a lawyer.”

Robert Reis, attorney for both Glick and McCarty, disagreed with Faignant.

“The jury found his client unfairly evicted the plaintiff,” Reis said.

Within the next 10 days, Reis said he will file post-trial motions to prevent actions of damages against his client.

Both Reis and Simonds agree that this case will probably end up before the Vermont Supreme Court.

The Food and Drug Administration has this month begun to issue a quarterly report of potential safety issues. The report lists drugs that are being evaluated for potential safety issues, drugs that have been identified by reviewing reports in the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS). The Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act, passed into law in September 2007, requires the FDA to issue the report.

The report lists 20 drugs and the potential risk associated with that drug. There is no indication of how widespread or serious the problem may be. This bothers some that it may cause some patients to stop taking their medications and therefore perhaps create another health risk for themselves.

“My message to patients is this: Don’t stop taking your medicine. If your doctor has prescribed a drug that appears on this list, you should continue taking it unless your doctor advises you differently,” said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the main industry lobbying group, said it supports giving more safety information to doctors and patients, but worries that some will be needlessly alarmed.

“Our reservation is that patients will be abruptly stopping therapy,” said Alan Goldhammer, a vice president of the organization. “One can’t generalize with an emerging safety notice. It may affect half the patients, a quarter of the patients, or only a small subset of the patients.”

The report, January-March 2008: http://www.fda.gov/cder/aers/potential_signals/potential_signals_2008Q1.htm

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