Iowa City workers' comp case will be prosecuted
Des Moines Register - APR 23, 2012

The Iowa attorney general's office has been asked to make an Iowa City trash hauler the poster child in Iowa for what can happen when an employer fails to carry workers' compensation insurance.

A deputy workers' compensation commissioner referred the case to state prosecutors this month, after two Des Moines Register Reader's Watchdog columns focused on the lack of prosecution in such cases in Iowa... read more

Group explores lack of prosecution of workers' comp cases
Des Moines Register - APR 8, 2012

Nicki Briggs was 27 years old in 2007, working for $15 an hour as a semitrailer truck driver for Ozark Automotive in Grimes.

On April 17 that year, she had just picked up a load of scrap metal when she was struck head-on by a dump truck. The result: an extended stay at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines and continued chronic pain... read more

IAJ delivers donation to Siouxland Community Health Center
IAJ - FEB 2012

Trial attorneys with the Iowa Association for Justice (IAJ) delivered a donation to support a Sioux City health clinic. The group collected donations from trial attorney members across the state at IAJ's 21st Annual Workers' Compensation Seminar, a legal education seminar. At the seminar IAJ members pitched in to assist underserved northwest Iowans, raising over $2,300 for the Siouxland Community Health Center.

The service project is part of IAJ's Justice In Deed initiative, which links trial attorneys with community service organizations to assist struggling Iowa families... read release.

High costs prevent some small civil trials from going to court
Cedar Rapids Gazette - JAN 31 2012
Iowa City Attorney Karen Lorenzen has to turn away prospective clients with legitimate medical malpractice claims of $25,000 to $30,000 every month because the costs involved in going to trial, $15,000 or more, eat up the damages awarded.

“The hardest thing to do is to give someone that reality,” Lorenzen, of Hayes and Lorenzen, said. “And it seems to hit the elderly the hardest.” read more

IAJ installs new officers, board members and honors award winners
IAJ - NOV 2011

The Iowa Association for Justice (IAJ) installed new executive officers and members of its board of governors during its annual convention (November 10-11) in Des Moines. IAJ’s newly installed leaders will serve the 2011-12 term. IAJ also honored its 2011 award winners during the convention... read release.

Paying for their mistakes
Cedar Rapids Gazette - OCT 25, 2011
 

She fought the odds after a medical mistake nearly took her life. Many saw her survival as a miracle. Schelley Sanders, in a January 2010 interview with The Gazette, described how she went into a Davenport hospital in 2003 for a simple procedure — to have her fallopian tubes tied. But the doctor unknowingly punctured two holes in her bladder.
 

She developed sepsis — a severe infection — and a flesh-eating virus. She lapsed into a “locked in” state, losing all muscle control for several months. She then had to relearn how to walk and talk. After her rehabilitation, she was left with permanent injuries and severe chronic pain... read more

Iowan fights for access to communication for Iowa hospital patients with hearing imparment
KCCI TV - SEPT 27, 2011

"What I want to see come from his death is the fact that no other deaf person will have to go through that again," said Polly Fullbright. But from tragedy comes groundbreaking chance at one Metro hospital. She lost her husband to an undiagnosed heart defect. Tonight his memory lives on. Polly Fullbright filed a lawsuit against a Des Moines hospital because she and her husband (both hearing impaired) did not, she says, have anyone with whom to communicate. News Channel 8's Patrick Bell has this story here.

Though you may not hear her voice, Polly Fullbright speaks from the heart. "My husband was my best friend, my soul mate - if you will. I brought some pictures. This was our wedding. He was a wonderful man," said Polly. But in 2008, the life they worked so hard to build ended in tragedy... see the clip here