Personal Injury Law Specialist in Phoenix, Arizona

On March 19, 2010, the National Business Institute will be presenting a seminar on Handling the Auto Injury Claim in Phoenix, Arizona. The seminar is designed for attorneys who represent plaintiffs and defendants in car, truck, bicycle and motorcycle personal injury cases. Steve Leshner is one of the seminar speakers, and will be presenting the topic “Take the Case to Trial”. As an Arizona State Bar BoardCertified Specialist in Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation, a former President of the Arizona Trial Lawyers Association, a Arizona “Super Lawyer” and a Life Member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, with a history of having tried lawsuits in Arizona for over 30 years, Steve is particularly well qualified to present this topic.

An Arizona federal judge on Friday rejected arguments by Matrixx Initiatives Inc., Zicam LLC and others that the remaining plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation over Zicam Cold Remedy had not demonstrated the product could cause anosmia.

U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on the issue of general causation — whether the cold remedy had the capacity to cause a loss of the sense of smell. The defendants filed the motion in March, just months after Matrixx and Zicam agreed to pay out $15.5 million to settle with more than 1,000 plaintiffs who claimed Zicam Cold Remedy caused them to lose their sense of taste or smell.

Judge Martone ruled that the personal injury plaintiffs had put forth enough evidence to demonstrate that it was possible that Zicam Cold Remedy can cause anosmia.

“A reasonable fact finder could conclude that ordinary use of Zicam can cause plaintiffs’ alleged injuries,” the opinion said.

Attorneys for the parties did not immediately respond to request for comment Friday.0

In their motion for summary judgment, the defendants had argued that the plaintiffs could not show general causation because they had not demonstrated exactly how much Zicam exposure was necessary to cause anosmia.

But after considering limited precedent and practical concerns, Judge Martone ruled that plaintiffs did not need to provide such precise information.

“Plaintiffs need not establish the toxic dose of Zicam,” the opinion said. “Plaintiffs’ evidence of toxicity is sufficient to create a material issue of fact regarding general causation.”

In December, Matrixx and Zicam settled the bulk of outstanding cases and claims in the MDL as well as in California and Arizona state courts. The settlement covered about 1,014 plaintiffs and 1,127 claimants, Matrixx said at the time.

The plaintiffs and claimants agreed to dismiss their cases with prejudice in return for participating in the voluntary settlement, which includes $11.5 million after certain contingencies are satisfied and $4 million in subsequent payments within 21 months, the company said in December.

The lawsuits were launched largely after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a June 2009 letter to Matrixx saying that Zicam Cold Remedy gel and swabs could not be marketed without FDA approval, and that the products were misbranded because its labeling did not bear adequate warnings regarding the risk of anosmia.

The zinc-containing products are intranasal cold remedies marketed for reducing the duration and severity of cold symptoms. In its letter, the FDA said that the products had not been shown to be effective.

Steve Leshner is a member of the Plaintiffs Steering Committee, and the Negotiation Committee in the MDL, and Lead Counsel for the Plaintiffs in the Arizona state court cases. He is also a member of the Claims Committee which is in the process of resolving the settled claims.

Stephen I. Leshner of Phoenix, Arizona has been selected as a Top Lawyer 2011 in Personal Injury by North Valley Magazine.Avvo, Inc.-the Seattle company that helps consumers make better health and legal decisions by offering free Q & A forums, backed by ratings and profiles for 90 percent of the doctors and lawyers in the U.S.-has teamed up with North Valley Magazine to present a list of top lawyers in the Phoenix area.Lawyers are ranked based on their professional backgrounds according to Avvo’s proprietary algorithms.The Avvo Rating is a score on a 10-point scale distilled from the raw rankings generated by Avvo.The ratings and rankings were calculated August 9, 2011.Steve Leshner has a perfect 10.0 Avvo rating, and is one of only five lawyers chosen in the category of Personal Injury

Phoenix, Arizona plaintiffs personal injury and medical malpractice attorney Steve Leshner is one of the co-authors of the Chapter on Negligence in the Arizona Tort Law Handbook 2012, published by the State Bar of Arizona, which will be available to the public on October 1, 2012.

http://www.legalspan.com/azbar/calendar.asp?UGUID=&ItemID=20120824-314499-132139

Stephen I. Leshner of Phoenix, Arizona has been selected for inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America^®in the practice area of Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs. For nearly three decades, Best Lawyers has been regarded, by both the profession and the public, as the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States.

Selection to Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive and rigorous peer-review survey (comprising more than 3.9 million confidential evaluations by fellow top attorneys) and because no fee or purchase is required to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is rightly considered a singular honor. The annual, advertisement-free publication has been described by The American Lawyer as the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.