Personal Injury | Medical Malpractice | Attorney | Steve Leshner

Personal Injury & Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Phoenix, AZ


Personal Injury Law Specialist in Phoenix, Arizona


With over 30 years of success and expertise, Stephen I. Leshner, PC is the best choice for your Personal Injury lawsuit or Mesothelioma claim. I can help take the complications and stress out of your personal injury such as motorcycle accident or asbestos exposure case.

Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) Filters

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IVC Filters are designed to prevent pulmonary embolisms in patients where blood thinners are not a viable option. Currently, these filters, which are sometimes mistakenly called Greenfield filters, are supposed to be temporary, and removable when no longer needed.

However, many patients have experienced their IVC filters migrated, tilted or fractured. The migration of the IVC filter can cause it to be unable to be removed. When the IVC filter migrates, tilts or fractures, it can cause embolisms to reach the heart, lungs, liver or kidneys, causing serious permanent injury or death. Also, when the IVC filter moves, tilts or fractures, it can perforate vessels, organs or the spine, causing serious permanent injury or death.

Most of the IVC filters implanted in the United States were manufactured and sold by Cook Medical or Bard. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued advisory and recommendation opinions to both Cook and Bard about their IVC filters, and on July 13, 2015, the FDA issued a warning letter to Bard about its IVC filters.

If you or someone close to you has died, or suffered serious permanent injury, or has had surgery or needs surgery to remove an IVC filter that is or has caused serious injury, please call Phoenix Arizona Mass Tort Product Liability Attorney Steve Leshner for a free consultation.

FDA warns that SGLT2 Inhibitors (e.g., Johnson and Johnson’s Invokana) for diabetes may result in a serious condition of too much acid in the blood

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that the type 2 diabetes medicines canagliflozin, dapagliflozin, and empagliflozin may lead to ketoacidosis, a serious condition where the body produces high levels of blood acids called ketones that may require hospitalization. We are continuing to investigate this safety issue and will determine whether changes are needed in the prescribing information for this class of drugs, called sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors.

Patients should pay close attention for any signs of ketoacidosis and seek medical attention immediately if they experience symptoms such as difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, confusion, and unusual fatigue or sleepiness. Do not stop or change your diabetes medicines without first talking to your prescriber. Health care professionals should evaluate for the presence of acidosis, including ketoacidosis, in patients experiencing these signs or symptoms; discontinue SGLT2 inhibitors if acidosis is confirmed; and take appropriate measures to correct the acidosis and monitor sugar levels.

SGLT2 inhibitors are a class of prescription medicines that are FDA-approved for use with diet and exercise to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. When untreated, type 2 diabetes can lead to serious problems, including blindness, nerve and kidney damage, and heart disease. SGLT2 inhibitors lower blood sugar by causing the kidneys to remove sugar from the body through the urine. These medicines are available as single-ingredient products and also in combination with other diabetes medicines such as metformin (see Table 1 below). The safety and efficacy of SGLT2 inhibitors have not been established in patients with type 1 diabetes, and FDA has not approved them for use in these patients.

A search of the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database identified 20 cases of acidosis reported as diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), ketoacidosis, or ketosis in patients treated with SGLT2 inhibitors from March 2013 to June 6, 2014 (see Data Summary). All patients required emergency room visits or hospitalization to treat the ketoacidosis. Since June 2014, we have continued to receive additional FAERS reports for DKA and ketoacidosis in patients treated with SGLT2 inhibitors.

DKA, a subset of ketoacidosis or ketosis in diabetic patients, is a type of acidosis that usually develops when insulin levels are too low or during prolonged fasting. DKA most commonly occurs in patients with type 1 diabetes and is usually accompanied by high blood sugar levels. The FAERS cases were not typical for DKA because most of the patients had type 2 diabetes and their blood sugar levels, when reported, were only slightly increased compared to typical cases of DKA. Factors identified in some reports as having potentially triggered the ketoacidosis included major illness, reduced food and fluid intake, and reduced insulin dose.

Steve Leshner Quoted in Arizona Republic Regarding Bad Faith Lawsuit

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Ties between Phoenix Fire Dept., insurer at issue in lawsuit

Matthew Casey, The Republic | azcentral.com 5:13 p.m. MST May 13, 2015

A so-called “hand-in-hand” relationship between the Phoenix Fire Department’s arson squad and a private insurance company is expected to come under scrutiny in the retrial of a civil lawsuit against the insurer by a woman wrongfully accused of setting fire to her home.

When the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office dismissed the criminal case against Barbara Sloan because of a lack of evidence, Deputy County Attorney Edward Leiter noted an “incestuous relationship” between the Phoenix Fire Department and Farmers Insurance, the case disposition worksheet says. Judge Christopher Whitten agreed, writing that the Fire Department and insurance company seemed to work “hand in hand,” minutes show.

In April, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Arthur Anderson overturned the verdict in the 2012 case he presided over and granted Sloan a new trial in her civil lawsuit against Farmers Insurance. A jury ordered Sloan to pay Farmers $1.68 million in legal fees after it ruled in 2012 that the insurance company did not act in bad faith by stopping payment on her claim.

A trial date has not been set.

Farmers and the Phoenix Fire Department both declined to comment for this story.

Requests for new civil trials are common but are rarely granted, Phoenix attorney Stephen I. Leshner said. The decision to grant Sloan one meant that there were “extraordinary facts” that were not presented during the first trial and kept it from being fair, he said.

The new trial could result in a multimillion-dollar swing in Sloan’s favor as her attorney, Mike Poli, alleges that a private investigator hired by Farmers, Robert Laubacher, was pressured by the insurer to change his opinion on the cause of the 2009 house fire near 40th Street and Campbell Avenue to arson from not arson.

The blaze was later traced to faulty car parts inside the garage.

Laubacher declined to comment for this story.

Fire Capt. Sam Richardson had deemed the blaze an arson the day of the fire, and he was later the subject of an Arizona Department of Public Safety investigation that resulted in the DPS accusing him of lying under oath. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery questioned Richardson’s competency and integrity in October, when he declined to prosecute Richardson and a fellow arson-squad member in connection with their investigation of Sloan.

One of the recommended charges was based on statements Richardson made to the DPS about the number of times he spoke with Laubacher during the investigation.

The Phoenix Fire Department financed an independent administrative investigation into Richardson’s actions, and he was not disciplined for what was determined to be a lack of training.

Laubacher, who is licensed through DPS, visited Sloan’s home two days after the fire and determined that it started from an unknown source and was not arson, Farmers Insurance documents show.

After several phone conversations, Richardson and Laubacher met in June 2009. Laubacher then decided to label the fire as human-caused but not name Sloan as the culprit, courts records show. About four hours later, the same records show he called an official at Farmers and expressed concerns about calling the house fire arson.

The reason Farmers wanted Laubacher to change his assessment, according to Poli, was that if Sloan were convicted of burning down her own home, the company would not have to pay her claim. Farmers paid more than $1 million to Sloan for her claim after the criminal case was dismissed.

Poli discovered the flip-flop while deposing Laubacher in the lead-up to the first civil trial. But attorneys for Farmers labeled Laubacher’s original findings “privileged information” during the trial and did not disclose Laubacher’s original report to Poli.

Laubacher refused to testify during the trial and took the Fifth Amendment when Anderson asked him a series of questions, including one about whether he faced pressure from Farmers to change his opinion, records show.

Law enforcement and insurance companies are often the agencies people call when they need help. But Leshner said that while law-enforcement officers have “prestige” that makes most people want to believe them, “there have been fire investigators who have had wrong theories for decades,” Leshner said. Insurance companies will fight customers on the “simplest, most head-scratching” of things because they want to avoid paying out the premiums they collect, he said.

“People act in their own interest when money is involved,” Leshner said.