Antidepressant Drugs Could Cause Children to Hurt Themselves

The FDA has ordered makers of antidepressant drugs to add warnings to their labels that children and teenagers who use them may have suicidal thoughts and behavior.

The warnings apply to more than 30 antidepressants, including Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil.

The warnings are the most serious type that the FDA can require for a drug. They tell doctors to watch children closely for “unusual changes in behavior,” and to advise families to be on the lookout as well.

The FDA says the danger is especially

great when patients first start taking a drug, first stop using a drug, or increase or decrease their dose. Restlessness, pacing, and shaking may be signs of a problem.

According to the FDA, the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior is twice that of children taking a placebo.

In recent years, a number of drug companies have been sued as a result of patients on antidepressants hurting themselves or others, and the FDA warning could help such patients prove their cases.

Auto Insurance May Cover More Than the Companies Tell You

Here are some cases from around the country that show that you shouldn’t just take an insurance company’s word about what its policy covers. If you or someone you know is injured, you should always talk to your attorney.

• In California, two company trucks had an accident. The driver of the first truck got out and walked over to the second truck to see if the driver was hurt. While standing outside the second truck, he was hit by a passing motorist. The California Court of Appeal said the driver was covered by his employer’s auto policy, even though he was not actually a driver or passenger in either of the trucks at the time.

• In Alaska, an 11-year-old boy was

injured in an accident while riding in a car insured by Allstate. He died a week later. The Alaska Supreme Court said that Allstate not only had to cover claims related to the boy’s death, but also had to cover the boy’s mother’s claims for her emotional distress over the incident.

• In Nevada, a State Farm policy said that policyholders who wanted to sue the company over a claim had to do so within two years of the accident. But a federal court threw this out. The court said the provision was unfair, because State Farm could lead a policyholder to believe that it would pay a claim and then change its mind as soon as the two years were up.

20-Year-Old Could Be Compensated for Injury at Birth

A 20-year-old man who suffered a shoulder injury at birth can bring a lawsuit against his mother’s obstetrician, says a New Jersey appeals court.

Ordinarily, if you’re injured by someone, you have to bring a lawsuit within a few years, or you lose your right to compensation.

However, since children can’t bring a lawsuit on their own, it’s often possible for a child to wait until he or she becomes an adult and then sue — even if this means that the lawsuit won’t be filed until many years after the injury.

In this case, the man claimed that the

doctor never obtained “informed consent” before opting for a vaginal delivery instead of a cesarean.

The doctor argued that it would have been impossible to obtain the “informed consent” of an unborn baby. He said the only person whose consent he needed to obtain was the mother…and it was now far too late for the mother to sue.

But the court said that if an obstetrician doesn’t get a mother’s consent, then a baby who suffers as a result can sue too — even if that means a lawsuit is brought 20 years later.

Company Responsible for Injury Caused by Dangerous Employee

A student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute was assaulted by a janitor, who tried to strangle her in a bathroom. The student sued the staffing company that had hired the janitor, claiming it was responsible for the assault because it should have performed a background check on the man before hiring him.

The student claimed that if the company had checked the man out, it would have discovered that a protective

order had been issued against him in a neighboring county. A federal appeals court agreed and allowed the suit.

This case is part of a recent trend toward requiring employers to conduct background checks on applicants for safety-sensitive jobs — such as maintenance workers and others who have access to apartments, dormitories, condominiums and offices.

Workers’ Comp Covers Spouse’s Lost Wages

Workers’ compensation must pay for a wife’s lost wages where she had to take time off from work to drive her husband to his doctor’s appointments.

So says the Iowa Supreme Court.

Under the state workers’ compensation law, the injured husband could be

reimbursed for travel expenses in going to medical treatments. The court said this included the cost incurred by his wife in missing work, since this was the least expensive way for the husband to get to the appointments. (The couple lived in a town with no taxi service.)

Newspaper Can Be Sued for Reporting False Accusations

After a heated exchange at a town council meeting, a council member told a reporter that the council president and the mayor were “child molesters,” and that he had witnessed the council president engaged in a homosexual act. The newspaper reported these comments, even though it had no reason to think they were true.

The mayor and the council president sued the newspaper for libel.

The newspaper argued that it was just reporting the facts — that a council member had actually made those particular claims at an official meeting.

But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that didn’t matter. It said a newspaper has no right to repeat completely unsubstantiated charges, and it can be sued if it damaged the officials’ reputation with a “reckless disregard” for whether the claims were true.

Landowner Must Be Sure Foliage Doesn’t Block Drivers’ View

A property owner must make sure that foliage on her property does not block motorists’ view of an intersection, says the Florida Court of Appeal.

In this case a young woman had difficulty seeing oncoming traffic because of 12 feet of overgrown bushes and trees at an intersection. She slowly pulled into the intersection to make a left turn and was broadsided by a dump truck, killing her.

Her mother sued the owner of the

property for not trimming the trees.

The court allowed the suit, saying the danger was serious and it would not have been very difficult for the property owner to do something about it.

According to the court, it didn’t matter that the land belonged to a private homeowner rather than a business. It also didn’t matter whether the trees were planted by the owner or simply grew naturally.