You’ve seen the ads on television in which a law firm advertises for clients who have suffered because of negligence or malpractice. Copley High School and Kent State University alumnus Kip Petroff placed one of those ads. His book, Battling Goliath: Inside a $22 Billion Legal Scandal, is the story of his involvement as representative for tens of thousands of plaintiffs in a class-action suit against the manufacturers of the weight-loss drug known as fen-phen.
The pharmaceutical company now known as Wyeth began offering fen-phen, a combination of two drugs; one was found to cause heart valve leakage. When the FDA requested that fen-phen be removed from the market in 1997, Petroff looked for former users whose hearts had been damaged.
In Battling Goliath, he tells of the landmark case that set the precedent, and the monumental legal decision that resulted in ultimate victory. He also tells of the increasing amounts of vodka he was consuming, his marital problems and the huge amounts of cash he was investing in an outcome that was anything but guaranteed.
Battling Goliath (198 pages, hardcover) costs $24.95 through the author’s web site, http://www.BattlingGoliath.com; all profits will benefit the New Hope Foundation, which raises money for impoverished families in the Dallas area, where Petroff lives.
Man tells how he was ‘Derailed’
Jerry Tanner was a very successful businessman, with his gift for entrepreneurship resulting in several multimillion-dollar companies in two states. In Derailed, the Ashland native tells of an adolescence that included surviving a house fire that killed his younger sister and brother, the resulting guilt that led to a suicide attempt, and his struggle to keep his sexuality a secret. Two relationships ended because Tanner wasn’t able to tell his family about his partners; two businesses failed.
Then Tanner set off for Alaska, accompanied by a drag queen named Larry. The two friends shared an apartment for a year while Tanner got his accounting business off the ground. He met Russell, who would be his partner for 18 years, and started a respite care business that grossed $1 million its first full year in business. Four years later, it brought in $14 million.
Russell grew distant, and one night, while he was away for a class reunion, Tanner went out to dinner. Afterward, he invited a few restaurant employees and guests home; he says that one man made a clumsy pass at him, which Tanner rebuffed. Almost two years later, he was arrested on charges including first-degree rape stemming from the incident. Tanner tells only his side of the story, so his accuser’s voice is not heard, but he is articulate and credible in describing his legal struggles and related business decline.
Derailed (239 pages, softcover) costs $17.99 from online retailers.
Mysteries are nominated
Candice Millard’s superb Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President, about the assassination of Ohio-born James A. Garfield, has been nominated for an Edgar Award in the category of Best Fact Crime book by the Mystery Writers of America. The Silence of Murder by West Salem author Dandi Daley Mackall is nominated for Best Young Adult mystery.
Events
Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library (3512 Darrow Road, Stow) — Yoga instructor and author Larry Terkel will lead a meditation workshop and sign his books, including Small Change: It’s the Little Things in Life that Make a Big Difference and How to Meditate, 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Registration requested; call 330-688-3295.
Coventry Village Library (1925 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights) — Former Beacon Journal writer Thrity Umrigar talks about her new novel The World We Found, 7 p.m. Wednesday. Registration required; call 216-321-3400.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Independence branch, 6361 Selig Blvd.) — Katherine Stewart discusses and signs her book The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children, 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday.
Cleveland Public Library (325 Superior Ave. NE) — Washington Post associate editor Eugene Robinson appears as part of the library’s Writers & Readers series; his latest book is Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America, 2 p.m. Saturday.
— Barbara McIntyre
Special to the Beacon Journal
Send information about books of local interest to Lynne Sherwin, Features Department, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309 or lsherwin@thebeaconjournal.com. Event notices should be sent at least two weeks in advance.
