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A woman was killed on April 17, 2018 after a jet engine apparently exploded in mid-air and its shrapnel reportedly crashed through her window on a Southwest flight to Dallas. The incident forced the 767 Boeing aircraft, Flight 1380 that had taken off from New York, to emergency land in Philadelphia. Witnesses told the press that they saw the woman passenger being sucked out the broken window with fellow passengers trying to hold her in…

As the popularity of Uber increases, so does the problems associated with the ride-hailing company. Uber announced (April 12, 2018) that it will be conducting annual background checks on U.S. drivers, instead of just an initial check, as well as hire a company that will regularly monitor criminal arrests in an effort to keep riders safer. According to the website, 49 deaths, 92 assaults and 363 sexual assaults have been attributed to Uber and Lyft…

U.S. Congress has summoned current and former executives of pharmaceutical distributors to testify who are accused of contributing to the serious opioid crisis in this country and what role they and their companies play in the epidemic of prescription painkillers. The May 8 hearing, scheduled before a House Energy and Commerce Committee oversight panel, will put pharmaceutical executives under oath to explain why so many highly addictive pain pills are finding their way into several…

Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices, will be the luncheon keynote speaker at the “Bet-the-Company” Mass Tort Litigation Conference in Chicago May 30. W. Mark Lanier, of The Lanier Law Firm in Houston, Texas, also is a featured keynote speaker. Sponsored by HarrisMartin, the all-day Multidistrict Litigation Conference will feature speakers on some very timely topics — “Facebook Breach – Is Anyone’s Data Safe?”, “Framing Jury Themes for Women’s Health…

The birth of a child certainly is one of the most significant events for a family, but all of those hopes are ruined for hundreds of people following two fertility clinics destroying frozen embryos when the liquid nitrogen tanks thawed in March. Imagine women with uterine cancer who counted on those stored embryos to be their only hope for a family. Or those aging women who paid medical professionals assuring them that they would be…

  On Wednesday, April 11, 2018, a New Jersey state jury slammed Johnson & Johnson and its talc supplier with combined punitive damages of $80 million after finding that the pharmaceutical giant acted with reckless indifference in selling asbestos-containing talcum powder that contributed to a man’s development of mesothelioma. After awarding last week a $37 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson and the company’s French-based talc supplier, Imerys Talc America Inc. for its talcum powder…

After a $37 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson and the company’s French-based talc supplier, Imerys Talc America, for its talcum powder causing cancer, comes news that the product may contain cancer-causing asbestos particles that the company failed to disclose to the public. Some consumers have been using Johnson & Johnson talc products for years, even using it for babies because the marketing of the product condoned it as safe. Years later, comes word that…

The 24th Annual Clifford Symposium on Tort Law and Social Policy will be held at DePaul University April 19-20 on “Patient Safety: How Might the Law Help?” For two days, two dozen academics, lawyers and medical professionals from around the country will discuss the medical crisis in this country and alternate legal strategies that might encourage greater safety. Among the faculty members are medical professionals including David Studdert, joint professor of Medicine and Law of…

On April 2nd, 2018, Clifford Law Offices named Craig J. Squillace a partner at the firm. Craig J. Squillace, associate at Clifford Law Offices since 2002, was promoted to partner. Squillace, who most recently received a record settlement of $4 million in Will County, concentrates his practice in the area of vehicular and trucking accidents at the personal injury firm. He also has experience in medical malpractice, product liability and municipal liability. Squillace is a…