http://www.cuminggillespie.com

Cuming, Gillespie & Raymaker are very pleased to announce that our firm is currently locating and assisting Alberta claimants in the Medtronic medical devices national class action. We currently require an Alberta Health care number and other various information in order to properly assess claims for damages for both individuals and Estates of deceased individuals. Additionally, Alberta Health will be bringing forth a claim through the litigation to recover their health care costs

For further information, please contact our office directly.

Calgary Health Region staff provided a young leukemia patient with the wrong blood type during nearly two months of transfusions, a wrongful death lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the survivors of nine-year-old Seemeen Dhanani, says the treatment error caused or contributed to the young girl’s death two years ago.

The claim, a copy of which was obtained yesterday by the Sun, said Seemeen was given a series of transfusions following an Aug. 23, 2006, stem-cell transplant.

The procedure at Alberta Children’s Hospital used a blood type A+ graft, while Seemeen’s blood type was B+, the claim, filed Wednesday by lawyers Gavin Price and Craig Gillespie, says.

“The differing blood type of the graft, compared to Seemeen’s blood type … was an expected part of the stem-cell transplant procedure and ought to have been manageable,” the lawsuit states…

Read the full article from the Calgary Sun here
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/10/17/7116421-sun.html

McLENNAN ROSS LLP / CUMING GILLESPIE RAYMAKER

We are very pleased to report that on October 10, 2008 we received the decision from Justice Rooke certifying our action as a Class Action as well as dismissing, with some minor qualifications, the applications by the defendant Banks to strike the action against them. We see this as a major success in the action.

What does certification of the action mean? Certification is the first critical step in a Class Action lawsuit. It is what turns a regular action on behalf of only the representative plaintiffs who filed the Statement of Claim, into an action on behalf of all of the innocent investors in the HMS Scheme. This will require the Defendants to evaluate the risk against them. The claim is now a much bigger amount, as it is on behalf of the whole Plaintiff class rather than two or three individual plaintiffs. There is the possibility that the defendants, or some of the defendants, could appeal the decision. But certification of the action means that we can now begin the process of regular litigation, including exchange of documents between the parties as well as Examinations for Discovery of the major defendants in the litigation.

We thank you all for your patience. We understand how slow litigation can seem, especially in cases this complicated and involving so many parties. We ask that you continue to be patient, as, while the litigation will now be able to move forward, the next steps can still be time consuming and slow moving.

We will continue to update you with any news if there is anything to update you with. But please remember that we ask that you please not call or e-mail for updates. It is very time consuming and expensive for us to deal with clients seeking individual updates, so please understand that if you do not receive an update for several months, this means that there is nothing newsworthy to share with you.

Thank you for your understanding.

Yours truly,

Lynn Dechaine (for Graham McLennan)
Paralegal - Litigation
McLennan Ross LLP
Toll Free: 1-800-567-9200
Direct Line: (780) 482-9281
Fax: (780) 482-9100

Cuming, Gillespie & Raymaker is proud to announce that Justice Cullity of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has appointed our co-counsel group, led by Won J. Kim of Kim Orr LLP, and James Newand of Lerners LLP as lead counsel in the Canadian national class action claim. Cuming, Gillespie & Raymaker are proud to be Alberta counsel for this matter and we are excited to proceed with seeking certification of a national class action comprising all persons implanted with Guidant Pace Maker and Defibrillator devices throughout Canada.

Cuming, Gillespie & Raymaker is proud to announce we have joined the national counsel team led by Won J. Kim of Kim Orr LLP in Toronto in the proposed national class action regarding Guidant Defibrillators.

A similar claim in the U.S. resolved on a global basis for approximately $214,000,000.00.

Should you have any inquiries with respect to Guidant Defibrillator claims please contact James Cuming of Cuming, Gillespie & Raymaker.

Cuming, Gillespie & Raymaker, and our class action partners, Kim Orr, Lerners, Rochon Genova (and others) are very, very pleased to announce that Justice Hoy of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has declared a certified national class in the case of Peter et al v. Medtronic of Canada.

This matter will now move forward to the notice stage, and then potentially proceed to a trial on the merits of the claim.

The certification was successful in that it was determined there was an identifiable class, the class members have common issues, a national class action was the preferable procedure and, for the first time in Canadian class action jurisprudence history in a pharmaceutical action a waiver of tort was granted to the Plaintiff class. This means that if the Plaintiffs are successful in their class action they will be able to disgorge profits from the Defendant Manufacturer on the conclusion of the claim.

For further inquiries with respect to the Medtronic claim please contact James Cuming of Cuming, Gillespie & Raymaker.

The latest version of our firm’s newsletter - The Reporter is available here.

The national certification hearing on Vioxx is now set for June 24-27 in Toronto, Canada.

Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald
Published: Sunday, April 20, 2008

Minutes after paying $60 in fees for a $300 loan, Terry Hartley just shrugs.
“This one’s not bad,” Hartley, 47, says of the interest on the week-long loan. “It’s not cheap, but it’s better than some of them.”
Hartley, a courier who earns about $600 a week said he’s recently declared bankruptcy — fallout from his divorce and “wasting money.” He has a bank account, but no line of credit.
Two weeks ago, he fell behind on some bills and had to go for an advance at a payday loan company on Macleod Trail.
“You can only get half of what your paycheque is,” he said.
One week later, Hartley went back. This time to take out a loan to pay off almost all of the first loan, which he didn’t have the money to pay off.
The cost of two weeks grace: another $60.
“That’s more or less all it is — convenience,” Hartley said, shrugging once more, adding he hopes he won’t have to get a cash advance again this year.
When a borrower like Hartley takes out another loan to cover the first, with new fees, it’s termed a “rollover” in the payday loan industry. Rollovers have been banned by larger payday loan companies, as they trap some borrowers in a cycle of loans.
Alongside other provinces, the Alberta government is now grappling with rollovers and other contentious issues as it debates how to properly police the rapidly growing payday loan industry. This week will see the end of consultations on new regulations for the industry.
While there has been little attention paid by people not intimately involved, it will be no easy task for the government to come up with rules that please both businesses and consumer advocates.
Some see payday loan companies as shady exploiters of the poor and desperate, or those with bad credit. Others say they provide a much-needed service that banks and credit unions won’t touch, in part due to the high number of defaults on loans.
“The payday loan industry is one that evokes strong opinions from both sides,” said Brock Ketcham, who is leading the Alberta government’s review of the industry in the consumer services branch.
The people who use payday loans are charged $20 to $50 for every $100 they borrow to tide them over until payday. Money Mart, the Cash Store, Western Cash Mart or EZ Cash Advance and numerous others are all firms that provide small, short-term loans with high interest-rates and fees that in some instances add up to 1,000 per cent or more, if calculated on an annual basis.
Whether it be rising consumer costs or an increasingly willing attitude when it comes to taking on debt, Canadians have not shied away from using services offered by the payday loan companies
From just a handful of stores in the early 1990s, Canada now has at least 1,350 payday loan outlets, with more than 250 of those storefronts in Alberta.
“All you have to do is compare a Yellow Pages today with one three or four years ago, and you would see there’s a very significant rise in the number of outlets,” Ketcham said.
The province itself has a strong connection to the industry. The Canadian payday loan industry has its longest histories in B.C. and Alberta, and the two largest providers in the country — Money Mart and Cash Store Financial (formerly known as Rentcash Inc.) — both were founded in Edmonton.
(page 1 of 3) - full article is available here.

Excerpt posted for your convenience from Canada.com, no copyright or ownership of this article is claimed by cuminggillespie.com. The full article is available here.

In February, 2003, I suffered a massive heart attack while a hospital patient.

On February 17, 2003, my wife and I took our two dogs for a walk. I started to have difficulty breathing, was red in the face, became panicky and was sweating even though it was very cold outside. I told my wife that I thought that I was having a heart attack.My wife drove me to the hospital. Upon presentation in Emergency I was sweating, breathing rapidly and my fingers, hand and arms were numb and tingly and I could not catch my breath.The Emergency physician diagnosed acute anxiety and hyperventilation.I was admitted to hospital. The next evening I sustained a massive heart attack.

My life has significantly changed since my massive heart attack - the functional capacity of my heart has been dramatically reduced. I used to be a power engineer at a sour gas plant who enjoyed big game hunting and fishing. I can no longer work and spend most of my time in a reclining chair in front of the television.

I retained the legal services of Bill McNally & Pamela Fischer and launched a medical malpractice law suit. A Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta found that the Emergency Physician was negligent in my care in that he failed to order the required tests for a 45-year-old smoker who arrived in the Emergency Department with my symptoms.

Bill and Pam handled my case in a professional manner and demonstrated a real sense of understanding and compassion with respect to the hurdles I was facing as a result of my sustaining such a life-altering injury. Their successful handling on my case resulted in me being awarded a significant sum of money and this has had a fundamental effect on my life for which I am grateful.

Bob Zazelenchuk

In February, 2002, my life changed forever when I dislocated my right shoulder and sustained a fracture to my humeral head, tore my rotator cuff and damaged the nerves in my shoulder. I subsequently developed a frozen shoulder. I am right-handed and today I live with severe chronic pain which interferes with my sleep and adversely affects all of my daily activities.

I am an elementary school teacher by profession - a vocation which I loved. On February 4, 2002, I took my science class outside to trace their shadows on the sidewalk. As I was walking on the sidewalk of the school yard I stepped on a patch of snow which was situated below a drain spout which channelled water off of the school’s gym roof onto the sidewalk. I fell heavily onto my right shoulder. Shear ice lay under the skiff of snow in a depression in the sidewalk.

I retained Pamela Fischer to represent my legal interests. Pam helped me through the litigation process, concluding with a Judicial Dispute Resolution before the Honourable Madam Justice Romaine. Pam was very professional and compassionate. She understood my medical complications and my fear of the legal process. She obtained a very good settlement for me which will allow me to attend at a Chronic Pain Clinic in an effort to improve the quality of my life. I am fortunate to have had the benefit of Pam’s legal expertise and personal assistance.

Debra S.