Crest Night Effects – Part III

As soon I noticed that this product had damaged my teeth I informed the companies that I thought are responsible and should be held accountable for the damage (Proctor & Gamble and/or Costco), and I reported this incident to the FDA MedWatch program, too. Additionally, I contacted several lawyers in Seattle who deal with product liability cases. But there are only a few of them around. In my letters I described what had happened to me and I attached the info from the dentist in Vancouver. The responses I received were as follows:

I. On 5th August I received a letter from attorney B. He responded that I may have a viable claim, but given their current caseload, they are unable to take on this matter.

II. On 19th August I received an email from the lawyer firm P. The office assistant wrote that their office is not interested because of the high cost involved in product liability cases and my case may cost more to prove than a jury might award as compensation. Thus she advised me to consult with a lawyer who handles dental malpractice cases because he may have other cases of the same type. And she gave me his name (attorney L.) and phone number.

III. In between I spoke on the phone to an attorney C. who had not replied to my letter. When I hadn’t heard anything back from him, I gave his office a call. They told me that they had not received my letter. I spoke with a person who told me after asking a few questions what the dentist had suggested that he needed to talk to his managing partner and that he’ll call me back. He called me back after 5PM and told me that they had decided not to take my case. He asked me whether I knew the statue of limitations. After I said that I didn’t know them, he said that they are 3 years and that I have plenty of time to find a lawyer, and he wished me “good luck”. I have heard this expression quite often here, after nobody wanted to help me.

IV. Early Monday morning, 23rd August, I received a call from attorney K. who suggested that I’ll talk to him after certain events took place: he suggested to talk to him on 8th September after the Labor Day weekend and his return from his vacation in Canada, BC, and after I had received an estimate for the costs of the repair.

V. Additionally, I received from attorney F. the response not being able to represent me. That was on 27th August. They also mentioned that “the statutes of limitations in Washington provide that no product liability claim shall be commenced more than 3 years from the date of the incident or 3 years from the date the claimant discovered or in the exercise of due diligence have discovered the harm and its cause.”

While I was searching for an attorney who would support me, I felt pretty lousy. I just had my teeth damaged and now they were quite sensitive and hurting, too. Here I like to mention that the pain is gone, but the teeth are still in damaged condition.

While all this went on I tried to get a bit more knowledgeable about legal stuff. On Tuesday 17th August I decided to go to the King County court house to visit their library and see whether I could find an attorney who handled a product liability case that is similar in nature that what I experienced. But not knowing the system and having no help from anyone who is willing to help you is quite an undertaking. The library clerk gave me the phone number for the lawyer referral service and a number that I could call in case I want to complain about a lawyer.

Now, you must know that I experienced the most unusual events here in the Bellevue/Redmond/Seattle area, which I will talk about at another time. But I would like to mention here though I don’t know the legal system, it appears to me that I was purposefully put off or not helped at all.

On the day I went to the King County library, I spoke to a woman from the prosecutor’s office. She told me that before I can talk to a prosecutor the police has to contact the prosecutor and I need a case number from the police. Additionally she said that the police hat to investigate what I’m saying because they don’t know whether they can believe me.

I also visited the Seattle library on that day to check out whether they have articles about tooth whitening complaints or court cases thereof.

After I had talked to attorney K. early morning on 23rd August, I went by the LWTC to pick up the x-rays that had been made from my teeth in February. The clerk told me that the file didn’t state any damage to my frontal teeth. B., the student at the LWTC, had thoroughly examined my teeth and written up a detailed report. Additionally, an attending dentist had checked my teeth, too, and verified the condition of my teeth. I received the x-rays and only a standard copy that other dentists receive. They didn’t give me a copy of the report that B. had written up. Therefore I just asked the clerk whether the detailed report files would be released if the court orders so. And she confirmed that.

On September 2nd I consulted with a dentist who had done some work on my teeth while I still had dental insurance. I only visited his office to get an estimate for the repair costs. Dr. M. said that he couldn’t testify that Crest Night Effects caused the damage to my teeth because he had not seen my teeth for some time. I understood that and it actually had never crossed my mind that he should testify. I replied that I knew that he couldn’t testify about the condition of my teeth because he hasn’t seen me for the past few years and that I just consulted him today to receive an estimate for the repair of my teeth.

I knew that I had documented prove that my frontal teeth had been just fine while they were thoroughly examined at the LWTC in February/March 2004. And that was 4 months before I used Crest Night Effects on my teeth. I mentioned to Dr. M. that the student A. at the LWTC and the dentist in Vancouver could give their testimonials. And I gave him a copy of the written statement from the dentist in Vancouver and my current x-rays.

After I had received Dr. M.’s written estimate and the Labor Day weekend had passed by I contacted by phone attorney K., and he asked me to sign paperwork so that I authorize him to ask the dentist questions in my behalf and get the detailed report from LWTC released. That was at the end of September 2004.

Here I would like to end my description of the different events that took place while searching for a lawyer who takes on a product liability case. I’ll write about the experiences with attorney K. in my next post, Crest Night Effects, Part IV.

Additionally, at a later time in my pursuit of justice I contacted the dental malpractice lawyer recommended by office assistant M. and other dental offices. I’ll write about these quite unusual events in Part V, VI, and VII.

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