Combustible tobacco kills, as evidenced by the close to half a million people each year in this country who die from tobacco smoking related diseases.   In response to dwindling interest from the public to their combustible products, and to increase the market share of nicotine addiction, the tobacco industry and […]

Today people across the United States and in parts of the world will wear blue clothes and wrist bands to recognize the health crisis of autism in the world. The Washington Post carried an article today that suggests the very real world of autism from a mom of three autistic […]

Safeguarding, streamlining, strengthening the clinical trial process is one of three of the Food and Drug Administration’s primary goals for 2015. So states an 11-page document titled 2014 – 2015 Strategic Priorities. The other two goals focus on 1) striking a better balance between data collection requirements and the time […]

In June 2014, at the Advanced Judicial Studies conference, SDSBS attorney Jim Gustafson was sworn in as treasurer of FJA by Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, Jorge Labarga. During the conference, Mr. Gustafson spoke to circuit court judges about trying tobacco cases. Also, The Florida Bar Association announced […]

For those who fight the tobacco industry, the recent $23.6 billion punitive damages jury verdict in a case tried in Pensacola against R.J. Reynolds was not astonishing. It reflects moral outrage after details about the tobacco industry’s dark past, and present, were disclosed. Public knowledge of the health risks of […]

Palm Beach County Initiative Provides Public Boxes for Disposing of Old Medications Did you know prescription painkillers are the most commonly abused drugs by teenagers? Did you know 2,000 youths per day try prescription pills for the first time? Did you know two-thirds of boys and girls who become addicted […]

Opioids are frequently prescribed to ease the pain for those suffering from cancer but the city of Chicago believes the drug use has gone above and beyond cancer pain and it’s suing Big Pharma for aggressively pushing the powerful and addictive drugs on the general public. The city claims to […]

JAMES W. GUSTAFSON, JR. is a shareholder with Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley PA, a member of the firm’s executive committee, and the managing partner of the firm’s Tallahassee office. Jimmy is a sixth generation Florida native who served with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and studied at St. […]

BRENDA S. FULMER is a Partner and Shareholder with the law firm of Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, P.A., one of the largest personal injury law firms in Florida. She also serves on the firm’s executive committee and leads the firm’s dedicated mass tort unit, which focuses on complex […]

BRIAN R. DENNEY is a Shareholder at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, P.A. in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he currently serves on the firm’s Executive Committee.  He has earned Florida Bar Board Certification in Civil Trial Law, the highest level of recognition for the competency and experience of a […]