Articles Tagged with personal injury

Injured in Surgery: Is It Product Liability or Medical Malpractice?

Published on: June 2, 2018 | By Clay Hodges

I get calls from people who have been badly injured after surgery. If it’s straightforward surgery to repair a torn ACL, the question is whether the surgeon was negligent; if that turns out to be the case, the caller will have a claim for medical malpractice. But what if the surgeon is implanting a device: an artificial hip or knee or hernia mesh or pacemaker? And then after surgery the patient is worse off than before? If this is the result, the next question is this: was the person the victim of a defective product or medical malpractice? Or both?

So What’s the Difference?

Medical malpractice is the legal term for a doctor who has been negligent. This means that the doctor failed to perform the surgery with an expected degree of care and competence. In a phrase, the doctor simply screwed up the surgery. For a plaintiff to win a medical malpractice claim, he or she must show that the doctor failed to perform his duties with a normal “standard of care” typical of similarly situated doctors. This means that surgeons in small towns will be judged against similar doctors in similar towns, while doctors from major research hospitals in big cities will be judged against their similarly situated peers, and of course will be held to a higher standard. The bottom line is this: medical malpractice is the failure to provide competent medical care, causing the patient unexpected injury.

Handling Your Product Liability Case Without a Lawyer: Good Idea?

Published on: January 20, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

Now and then I get calls from people who are representing themselves in product liability litigation. (An individual who represents himself in litigation is called a pro se litigant.) Usually these callers have worked their cases to a point and have questions. Sometimes the questions are rather modest: “I’ve been offered this amount of money to settle? Is that fair?” Other times the questions are ominous: “The judge now says I need an expert witness. What is an expert witness?” The first question is a mere judgment call. Is $150,000.00 enough to compensate you for the pain and suffering of a failed artificial hip? That is mostly for the injured person to decide (though lawyers have plenty of insight into the value of such a claim). The second question poses a serious threat to your case. If an expert witness is required to prove your case, and you don’t have an expert witness (or worse, you don’t even know what an expert witness is) your lawsuit will be lost. And quickly. (You can read about expert witnesses here.)

I get the impulse to “do it yourself.” Prior to attending law school, I sued my landlord in small claims court for the return of my security deposit (I won). I also tried to replace the steering box in my 1974 Ford Bronco (that didn’t turn out so well).

These phone calls from pro se litigants are often interesting. Plainly some people have developed a distrust of lawyers. For others, the thought of paying legal fees for a good attorney seems unpleasant and undesirable, even overwhelming. Some may be trying to litigate their claim “on the cheap.” But the real question is: does it work? Can a person represent himself or herself successfully in a product liability injury case?

Smoking Can Harm Your Product Liability or Personal Injury Case

Published on: December 21, 2016 | By Clay Hodges

First, let me make the case for smoking:

You enjoy it. It tastes good (I guess). It makes you alert (I hear); but also, oddly, it can calm you as well (from what I’ve read). You also look cool doing it (I confess; this last part is often true). And it’s legal. But perhaps the strongest argument I hear from smokers is this: no one is going to tell me I can’t smoke. This is a free country after all.

That’s about it, really. That’s all I’ve got. And I’m not here to nag you. By all means, smoke if you must. But let me present a different perspective: setting aside the many health problems smoking causes, it can also destroy or damage your product liability or personal injury case.

★★★★★

I was involved in a case for the faulty hip replacements. Clay Hodges represented me. I can't say enough about how much he has helped me. Clay was able to win multiple settlements on my behalf with most of them being the maximum amount able to be awarded. Matt J.

Clay, thank you sir for making a disheartening experience at least palatable, you and your staff were honest, caring and understanding through the entire process of my wife’s hip replacements, while monetary settlements never make the pain and suffering end, it sometimes is the only way people can fight back to right a wrong. J. V.

We are absolutely pleased with how Clay Hodges handled my husband’s hip replacement claim. He always kept us informed of the progress. And, his work resulted in a settlement which we are extremely pleased. Thank you, Clay! Carol L. & Norm L.