Pritzker Olsen Attorneys Named Minnesota Super Lawyers
Pritzker Olsen is proud to announce the accolades that three of our attorneys have recently received. Firm founder and president Fred Pritzker made the Top 100 Minnesota Lawyers list in addition to being named a Super Lawyer. Attorneys Elliot Olsen and Eric Hageman also made the Super Lawyers list. Attorney Brendan Flaherty made the Rising Star list.
The Super Lawyers selection process involves a rigorous evaluation of a lawyer’s skill and experience. Super Lawyers combines peer nominations and evaluations with third-party research. There are 12 indicators on which each candidate is evaluated and selections are made annually. According to Super Lawyers:
“The objective is to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource for attorneys and consumers searching for legal counsel. Since Super Lawyers is intended to be used as an aid in selecting a lawyer, we limit the lawyer ratings to those who can be hired and retained by the public, i.e., lawyers in private practice and Legal Aid attorneys.”
Super Lawyers Selection Steps
- Candidate pool creation
- Candidate research and evaluation
- Peer evaluation within practice areas
These same basic steps apply to the Rising Stars selection process as well. However, these awards are limited to attorneys under the age of 40, or who have been in practice 10 years or fewer. They also do not go through the peer evaluation by practice area. According to Super Lawyers, “While up to five percent of the lawyers in the state are named to Super Lawyers, no more than 2.5 percent are named to the Rising Stars list.”
Pritzker Olsen attorneys have been named Super Lawyers for several years in a row. Our mission is to help injured people get on with the rest of their lives by obtaining justice, fair compensation, and holding accountable those who caused them harm. We are a national law firm and represent people all over the country in the following personal injury practice areas: foodborne illness, wrongful death, product liability, medical malpractice, transportation negligence and fires and explosions.
Multimillion Dollar Verdict in Wrongful Death of Bicyclist Run over by a Semi Trailer in Minneapolis
Attorneys Fred Pritzker and Eric Hageman won a $2,469,339 verdict in a MN wrongful death case for the family of a bicyclist who died when she was run over by the rear wheels of the trailer of a right-turning semi truck at a busy intersection in Minneapolis. The family is pleased that someone has been held accountable for her death. Immediately after the accident, it didn’t look like anyone would be.
The police officers who investigated the accident determined that the bicyclist should have seen the truck and that the accident occurred because she was unable to remove her feet from her new clipless bicycle pedals. Attorneys Pritzker and Hageman proved otherwise.
After obtaining the truck driver’s logbooks, they were able to determine that there were numerous falsifications, which should have caused the driver to be out of service at the time of the accident. Moreover, the deposition revealed that the truck driver had failed to monitor his right outside mirrors during his turn. This failure was compounded by the truck driver’s admission that he believed he was pulling a 48-foot trailer, as opposed to a 53-foot trailer.
After an eight-day trial where Pritzker and Hageman presented their evidence, the jury found 70% fault on the truck driver and 30% fault on the bicyclist and awarded her heirs and next of kin $2,469,339 in damages.
Attorneys Fred Pritzker and Eric Hageman have the experience and resources to win tough cases. They do their own investigation of every accident, using accident reconstruction specialists and other experts to prove semi truck driver negligence. Contact Minnesota lawyers Fred and Eric for a free consultation. Our law firm is not paid unless you win.
Food Safety in Minnesota – Time for Change
I am a food safety lawyer. I represent foodborne illness survivors in cases against food producers and retailers responsible for selling food poisoned with E. coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria, Campylobacter, and other dangerous pathogens.
Minnesota and 42 other states are in the midst of the latest foodborne outbreak: adulterated peanut butter and peanut paste traced back to the Blakely, Georgia plant of Peanut Corporation of America. This outbreak has sickened scores of Minnesotans and has been implicated in at least three deaths including senior citizens Shirley Almer and Clifford Tousignant, both of whom were residents of nursing homes in the Brainerd area (our firm represents Ms. Almer’s heirs).
Although the Minnesota Department of Health was instrumental in identifying the source of this outbreak (as well as another well-publicized Salmonella outbreak involving peppers in 2008), Minnesota can and should do more to protect its citizens from the dangers of unsafe food. For example, many states, not including Minnesota, require that restaurants post the results of sanitation inspections. The obvious reason is that consumers, armed with the knowledge of which restaurants are clean and safe, can make informed choices about which establishments to patronize. Posting such scores is also a strong incentive for restaurant owners to clean and maintain their restaurants so as not to get poor scores in the first place.
Minnesota should also require more explicit food labeling (even if it means that such laws run afoul of federal labeling laws). As this peanut butter recall painfully illustrates, it’s often difficult to trace back commercial ingredients to their source. Thus, many Minnesota stores – large and small – continue to sell products containing the recalled peanut paste. With more effective labeling, sellers could quickly determine if products contain recalled ingredients and remove them from sale.
As Minnesotans, we can be proud of the stellar job performed by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. However, we can and should do more to protect our citizens from the dangers of food poisoning.
Pritzker Law Firm Files Lawsuit against Peanut Corporation of America
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The sudden and unexpected death of a Minnesota woman who fell victim to a nationwide Salmonella outbreak has prompted a wrongful death lawsuit against Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) — a maker of bulk peanut butter and peanut paste.
Fred Pritzker, founder and president of national food safety law firm Pritzker | Olsen P.A., filed the complaint Monday in Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis for the heirs and of Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Perham, Minn. The suit also names King Nut Companies, an Ohio-based firm that distributed the contaminated peanut butter that came out of PCA’s plant in Blakely, Georgia. The product was delivered to a nursing home in Brainerd, Minnesota, where Mrs. Almer was temporarily residing.
According to the complaint, her death on December 21 was a direct result of consuming peanut butter that contained the same genetic strain of Salmonella that has sickened more than 500 other people in 43 states. On January 13, PCA initiated a recall that included the product that had been served to Mrs. Almer.
“This is a very large and significant recall,” Pritzker said. “It points to a number of vulnerabilities in our food safety system that require legislation and funding to correct. Consumers should feel concerned and demand a significant overhaul.”
The lawsuit alleges negligence on behalf of PCA and King Nut for failure to train and properly supervise peanut butter production workers and other employees; failure to safely produce, store and transport its products; failure to maintain sanitary conditions during and after production; failure to prevent cross-contamination and failure to properly test its products, as well as other acts of negligence.
The sut also alleges that PCA and King Nut are negligent per se for failing to comply with Minn. Stat. Chapter 31 and 21 USC Sec. 331.
The suit also makes a claim for damages under the doctrine of strict liability.
Pritzker said Mrs. Almer was the “canary in a coal mine” whose death helped lead health investigators to the plant in South Georgia. Now federal officials view the PCA plant as the outbreak’s lone, known source.
Mrs. Almer’s children were notified January 6 that she died with a Salmonella infection. Days later,the Minnesota departments of health and agriculture traced the problem to a five-pound pail of King Nut creamy peanut butter that had been in use at the nursing home.
Pritzker said grieving family members were angered to learn that the peanut butter served to Mrs. Almer contained the same deadly pathogen associated with hundreds of Salmonella infections since mid-September.
Mrs. Almer, who grew up in New York Mills, Minn.,still owned a bowling alley in Wadena. She had survived two bouts with cancer in recent years and was cancer free when she was sickened with Salmonella. Just before she became ill, family members were planning to take her out of the nursing home. Instead, she became so sick from the bacteria that she was taken to a hospital, where she died.
Weeks later, a second Minnesotan who was living in a nursing home in Brainerd died from the Salmonella outbreak. He was Clifford Tousignant, 78, of Duluth. Since then, a third Minnesota nursing home resident has died after becoming infected with the same strain of Salmonella. State health officials have not released the third victim’s name.
Pritzker | Olsen has considerable experience and a reputation for success in representing survivors of foodborne illnesses (including E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella and Shigella). The firm is involved in virtually every national outbreak and has collected large sums on behalf of people injured or killed by adulterated food. In addition, the firm is devoted to educating the public about food safety issues and advocating for badly needed food safety legislation and increased funding for the federal, state and local agencies charged with protecting our food and enforcing food safety laws.
Pritzker and members of his firm are frequent guests and commentators about food safety issues and have been interviewed by and profiled in a number of media sources including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and CNN.
For more information, visit http://www.pritzkerlaw.com or contact Fred Pritzker at (612) 338-0202. PritzkerLaw has offices are located at Plaza VII, Suite 2950, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402
###
Attorney Elliot Olsen Speaks at Conference about Preemption and the Future of Medical Device Litigation
Attorney Elliot Olsen recently spoke at the Seventh Annual LifeScience Alley Conference in Minneapolis on Preemption and the Future of Medical Device Litigation. He appeared with Randall Pattee of Lindquist and Vennum and Jean Lance, VP of corporate legal and general counsel for Boston Scientific. Topics included the following:
- What does the future hold for mass-tort, defective design and failure-to-warn claims against device manurfacturers?
- What claims survived the Supreme Court’s decision in Riegel v. Medtronic?
- What new defenses do device manufacturers have?
Elliot Olsen has significant experience with medical device litigation. To contact Elliot, please call 1-888-377-8900 or submit our contact form.
Auto Accident Jury Verdict
Minnesota Lawyer, a legal publication, featured a jury verdict won by attorney Elliot Olsen in the paper’s “Verdicts & Settlements” section:
Injuries Alleged: Soft-tissue neck and low-back injuries
Jury Award: $87,441.44
Demand: $25,000
Highest Offer: $10,000
Plaintiff’s Attorney: Elliot Olsen, PritzkerLaw, Minneapolis, MN
Insurance Company: Progressive Ins. Co.
Case Number: 02-CV-07-3289
Court: Anoka County District Court
Judge: Hon. Kristen C. Larson
Date of Disposition: July 10, 2008
Plainfiff’s Expert: Dewayne Truhlsen, D.C.
Plaintiff’s Summary of the Case: This case involved a rear-end collision on Highway 8 in Chisago County. The plaintiff, who suffered soft tissue and low-back injuries, was transported from the scene by ambulance. Following the accident, the plaintiff did some physical therapy and then treated with multiple chiropractors over the next three years. He also had a 14-month lapse in treatment.The jury determined that the plaintiff suffered a permanent injury and a 60-day disability. It awarded $12,755.44 in past medical expenses ($7,532.95 was paid by no-fault); $15,000 for past pain and suffering; $20,000 for future pain and suffering; $34,000 for future medical for chiropractic care; and $5,686 for past and future loss of consortium.
