Browning Law News Blog

Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski of Houston, Texas has been treating terminally ill cancer patients with "unconventional" treatments for over thirty years. He has publicly claimed that he can treat inoperable pediatric brainstem tumors. However, Burzynski does not have board certification or formal training in oncology. One family was told that the treatments would cost around $100,000 out of pocket because most insurance companies refused to cover treatments from Burzynski's clinic. Burzynski refers to his cure as "antineoplastons" which were originally made from a mixture of blood and urine he obtained from public parks, bars, and penitentiaries, but have been synthesized in a lab since 1980. His treatment has not be cleared by the FDA. One reason it hasn't been approved is that he simply won't file to have it reviewed. Instead, Burzynski refers to it as more of a natural cancer therapy that can be used to treat other medical problems such as AIDS and lu...

Jennifer Connell suffered a broken wrist after her excited 8 year old "nephew" (she is actually his cousin, but the boy calls her "Auntie Jen") rushed to hug her, which caused her to fall over and break her wrist. She claimed that the boy was acting unreasonably when he jumped into her arms during his birthday party in 2011. Connell had to undergo two surgeries, and may have to have another one as well. She was suing for the amount of $127,000. She also claimed that the injury still has an impact on her day to day life. Her attorneys say that she wasn't out to sue her nephew, but just collect recovery from the homeowners insurance company for her medical bills. It only took the six member jury 25 minutes to decide that the young boy was not liable, and he was in no way negligent. L aw professor William Dunlap said that this is common in civil cases with children because they cannot be held under the same "reasonable person" standard. Comments f...

There was a $600,000 settlement on October 6 for the families of three students who died several days after being hypnotized by their principal. This amount is the maximum amount any Florida government agency can pay without special approval from the state legislature and governor. This case started back in 2011 when the high school principal, George Kenney, admitted to hypnotizing 16 year old Wesley McKinley a day before he committed suicide in April 2011. George Kenney Another investigation found that Kenney had hypnotized as many as 75 student, staff, and others since 2006. One basketball player said that he had been hypnotized more than 30 times to improve his concentration. A couple other students who were hypnotized included 17 year old Brittany Palumbo and 16 year old Marcus Freeman. Palumbo committed suicide in 2011. Freeman died in a car crash after attempting to self-hypnotize. The attorney for the families, Damian Mallard, said that they did not sue for the money...

In late September, 2015, a federal judge ruled that Warner/Chappell Music did not have a valid claim to the copyright on the song lyrics of "Happy Birthday." Warner/Chappell Music has been reeling in approximately $2 million per year from licensing fees on the song. Apparently, the song has been in the public domain for decades, and is estimated to have generated about $50 million in royalties. The song was copyrighted in 1893 in a book called "Song Stories for the Kindergarten" with the original lyrics being "Good Morning to All" written by the Hill sisters. The copyright expired in the 1920's and the owner did not immediately renew it. Another company filed for a new copyright in 1934, and various lawsuits erupted from that. The federal judge ruled that the original copyrighter, Patty Hill, overtly abandoned the copyright, and that the new copyright applied only to one piano arrangement of the melody, not the original lyrics and melody of the s...

 It is a trial lawyer's job to educate jurors, and tell them what they need to know in order to decide cases. Despite this, there are many things, true things, that lawyers are not allowed to tell jurors directly in statements to the jury or indirectly through testimony of their witnesses. Lawyers know these things, though, and I thought you might like to know some of things. #1. A lawyer can't tell the jurors anything that happened during settlement negotiations. He cannot let the jurors know, when asking them to make the defendant pay his client $100,000 that the defendant agreed to pay him $80,000 prior to the trial. The reason for this is that you want settlement negotiations to be very open. You don't want to damage a negotiation session because someone is afraid that what they say will get repeated to a jury if you don't strike a deal. #2 In Idaho, a lawyer can't tell the jurors that the defendant has insurance. In many other states, he can. Bec...

Security at a stadium Taylor Swift was performing at had to get a hold of a man who was charging the stage. The man is Christian Ewing who is 26 years old. Ewing was charged with entering without a ticket, and a felony and a misdemeanor battery, and obstruction. One source said that a security guard had his rib broken during the incident. Ewing's bail is set at $35,000. Comments from Allen : The crush on Taylor Swift earned Mr. Ewing a misdemeanor battery.  The crush on the security guard, resulting in a broken rib, earned Mr. Ewing a felony. With all the security at a concert like this, how did he even get in without a ticket? My guess on the obstruction charge is that Mr. Ewing gave a fake name when arrested; that will earn anyone a charge of resisting or obstructing an officer. When you are arrested, you don't have to confess to a crime, but you do have to give your real name.  Additionally, any information you volunteer to the police must be true.  If you g...