Southern Arizona lawsuits

Pima County in court over inmate suicide

TUCSON — The mother of a Tucson teenager claims officials at the Pima County Jail ignored several warning signs about her son’s suicidal tendencies, leading to his death just days after he was incarcerated.

Daryl Marie Kramer is suing the county, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik and Correctional Medical Services, a St. Louis-based government contractor that administers medical care in the jail, on behalf of her deceased son, Brian Kramer.

In November 2007, Daryl Kramer grew concerned about her son’s mental health while he was on probation, the complaint states. It does not mention the details behind his probationary status.

She called her son’s probation officer and told him to return Brian to the jail as an act of “tough love.” She claims she told the officer that Brian had attempted suicide three times recently, including once in the previous week. She claims she asked the officer to put him on suicide watch.

When Brian Kramer was admitted, jail officials noted that he had a small wound on his wrist that he had purposely re-opened, according to the complaint. This and other jail reports revealed several “red flags” that should have alerted the jail to Brian Kramer’s problems.

He was placed on suicide watch initially, the complaint claims, then removed and put into the general prison population a few days later. The complaint also claims that he was not receiving Zoloft or other medical treatment for his mental health.

Two days later, Brian Kramer tried to hang himself in his cell. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced brain dead upon arrival, after which he was taken off of life support and his organs were donated for transplants.

Daryl Kramer is suing for negligence and wrongful death. She is represented by Tucson lawyers Michael and Jack Redhair. The case is before Judge Michael Miller.

AG sues major drugmaker for false advertising

TUCSON — Pfizer misrepresented the risks associated with one of its products and recruited doctors to promote it in order to reap up to $4 billion in sales, a recent lawsuit claims.

The Arizona Attorney General filed a 15-page court complaint recently that alleges New York-based Pfizer Inc. repeatedly deceived consumers to pump up sales of Bextra, which the FDA approved for treatment of arthritis and menstrual pains.

Specifically, the complaint in Pima County Superior Court claims that Pfizer:

• Withheld studies that showed safety risks,
• Deployed an enormous sales staff to promote Bextra’s “off-label” uses,
• Gave improper gifts to physicians in return for their help marketing the product.

Lawyers for state Attorney General Terry Goddard claim the deceptions began in 2001 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve Bextra for all of the “off-label” uses Pfizer was counting on to make Bextra a financial “blockbuster,” the complaint states. It has since settled with the federal government for almost $900 million.

The state claims Pfizer was trying to push Bextra as a treatment for acute and perioperative pain and as a way to reduce gastrointestinal side effects without the research to prove it or tell both sides of the drug’s story.

The controversy involves a line of drugs called COX-2 inhibitors. These drugs block one of two enzymes that make the feeling of pain and inflammation more pronounced.

Three types of this drug received FDA approval, according to the complaint. Pfizer released Celebrex in early 1999, which was followed several months later by Vioxx from Merck, a Pfizer competitor. Vioxx was withdrawn from the market in 2004; Bextra was withdrawn in 2005; and Celebrex was given a “black box” warning on its label for certain risks associated with COX-2 drugs, the complaint states.

Still, Pfizer allegedly persisted in selling Bextra under its new pain-killing role. The state claims it cast negative studies associated with Bextra as a fluke, bought research from advertising agencies it had under contract and, in one case, got positive studies published in a major medical journal before editors could retract it.

It also disclosed only “favorable” data for Bextra, and ran several ad campaigns that touted Bextra as the ideal pain-killer for the “weekend warrior.”

The company “also sought out and developed physician speakers who were high prescribers of Bextra and supported its off-label use,” the complaint claims. “These health care providers were then paid to give lunch or dinner talks relating to off-label use of Bextra.”

Sales staff often accompanied doctors on their presentations, which were usually held at the best restaurants in town, the complaint claims. The most successful doctors were rewarded with “preceptorships” in which they received up to $500 to allow Bextra sales reps to accompany them on their rounds or in the operating room.

The state Attorney General is seeking a permanent injunction that bars Pfizer from continuing these alleged practices in Arizona, as well as civil penalties and attorney’s fees. The state is represented by assistant Arizona Attorney General Noreen R. Matts in Tucson.

Catfight brews over pet cemetery

TUCSON — An outside investor group wrested control of one of the city’s largest pet cemeteries away from its original owner, thanks in part to its connections at the Bank of Tucson, a recent lawsuit claims.

The court action comes from Darla Norrish, who ran the Pet Cemetery of Tucson from 1998 until last May. She claims an investor group comprised mostly of officials from the Bank of Tucson conspired against her to gain control of the business, and she is asking Pima County Superior Court Judge John Kelly to give it back.

The roots of her complaint date back to December 2006. That’s when Norrish says the group, led by business broker Lea Marquez-Peterson, approached her with an offer to invest in the cemetery . The cemetery is located just south of Fort Lowell Park near Craycroft and Grant roads.

At the time, Norrish says she was licensed to provide cemetery, mortuary and crematory services there for pet owners in Tucson. But she had outstanding debts.

So when the investor group offered her a $134,000 loan, she accepted and used the money to clean up the debt. They included $40,000 in delinquent taxes, $78,600 in outstanding loans for cremation equipment and other liabilities, and a $15,000 consulting fee for Marquez-Peterson, according to the complaint.

But only weeks later, relations between Norrish and the group allegedly soured. She says a sales agreement was never reached, but that the investors did not demand she repay the note.

That demand came later, in December 2007, Norrish claims. Two months later, Dennis J. Clancy named himself the new trustee under the cemetery’s deed of trust and put the business up for sale at public auction on the same day, the complaint claims. The basis for the sale was that Norrish had failed to pay off the loan.

Norrish claims she never received a notice of breach prior to the sale, or that the sale notice was posted on the property. When the auction was held in May, the investor group bought the cemetery. The group is comprised of Sylvia E. Cotton and Patricia A. Taylor, who are a director and an officer for the Bank of Tucson, respectively.

But the saga continued. Norrish claims she was physically removed from the property on the day of the sale, and that she was barred from retrieving her car and other items. They included a 1993 Ford Taurus and eight pot-bellied pigs.

She was allowed to remove the pigs three days later, but one of them died. Norrish also claims the investors threw some of her remaining personal items into the pigpen during monsoon season.

Norrish says all of this was done "with the purposes of wrongfully acquiring The Pet Cemetery, acquiring its goodwill and customers, and crippling [Norrish] financially so that she could not compete with [the investors] and could not challenge [the investors'] misconduct."

She is asking Judge Kelly to void the sale and grant her quiet title to the cemetery, along with any compensatory and punitive damages. She is represented by Tucson lawyers Michael A. Fleishman and Ned Garn.