Martin & Jones Blog  filter by date: January 2010

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is developing new guidelines requiring higher and more scentific standards than under the Bush administration.  Under the Bush administration, many of the Bush FDA appointees were former pharmaceutical industry or medical device company employees which approved deadly drugs like Vioxx, Avandia and Trayslol and defective heart devices from Medtronic or Guidant.

It was recently reported that renowned actor James Woods resolved a long and bitter medical malpractice lawsuit against a hospital arising out the death of his brother receiving treatment there.  An apology by the hospital was a pivotal event in the settlement process during a trial that ironically was in the fourth week. Kent Hospital’s president decided to follow her gut and asked Mr. Woods to dinner to discuss the case - “treating a grieving brother the way she’d want to be treated herself.” 

On November 25, 2009, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ("COA"), in Musch v. Domtar Industries, held that employees' daily post-shift activities of changing clothes and showering due to potential chemical exposure in employer's paper mill was NOT so integral and indispensable to employment that it was subject to overtime compensation under the FLSA.