Hundreds of thousands of lawsuits over the allegedly defective earplugs are pending.
On March 25, a federal jury awarded $50 million to a United States Army Veteran who blamed his hearing damage on combat earplugs 3M Company sold to the military.
Luke Vilsmeyer claimed he had suffered permanent hearing loss and severe tinnitus after using the company’s Combat Arms Earplugs Version 2, mostly during training drills, from 2006 to 2017.
Courts are increasingly siding with victims when it comes to long-delayed diagnosis of serious or fatal injury resulting from the use of dangerous or defective products.
A lawsuit filed by former NFL football players against helmet maker Riddell has been revived after players took their case to an Appellate Court in the wake of a lower court’s dismissal of the claim as untimely. The players are contending that multiple concussions while wearing the helmets have left them with varying symptoms, including headaches, memory loss, mood swings and blurred vision. The players also allege an increased risk of developing long-term, life-threatening brain injuries, including Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Riddell argued similar allegations made in a lawsuit against the National Football League in 2012 means the players had knowledge of the alleged damages and associated liability for years, and so failed to make a claim in a timely manner. The lower court agreed. However, the iconic helmet maker is facing a slew of other liability lawsuits, which have made it difficult for the company to find a buyer, the New York Post reported.
Meanwhile, Reuters News Service reports a New York Appeals Court has voted to revive a lawsuit against a coke oven manufacturer, which alleges Honeywell’s industrial steel ovens contributed to cancer diagnoses among steel workers.
Such cases are becoming more common as consumers gain better understanding of the fact that focus on profits and a lax regulatory environment have allowed some of the nation’s largest companies to make billions of dollars at the long-term cost of the health and welfare of employees and the public. Recent high-profile examples include lawsuits against Purdue Pharma over the opioid epidemic and lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson, alleging the company has long known its iconic baby powder is tainted with asbestos.
Cancers and many other health conditions are, in fact, caused by environmental factors, including workplace exposure to dangerous or harmful chemicals or the use of dangerous consumer products.
Johnson & Johnson’s stock continues to falter as the company begins defending itself at trial against a lawsuit by the state of Oklahoma, which alleges the company made billions in profits while contributing to the opioid deaths of more than 4,000 state residents over the last decade.
It’s the first trial to pit a state attorney general’s office against an opioid maker in an attempt to recover the billions of dollars spent on healthcare, criminal justice, and emergency medical services. Nearly 50,000 people a year are dying from opioid overdoses in the United States; that’s more people than die from either traffic accidents or gun violence. Attorneys for Oklahoma called it the worst manmade health crisis in the nation’s history.
Purdue Pharma and Teva, two of the nation’s largest supplier of opioids, have already reached multi-million dollar settlements with the state. Johnson & Johnson was the only opioid maker to take the case to trial. Court watchers expect the company to lose badly, before settling the case during the appeals process. Neva settled for $85 million, while Purdue Pharma agreed in March to pay Oklahoma $270 million.
Several blood-pressure medications containing Valsartan are being recalled. The recent announcements are the latest in a rash of dangerous and defective drugs and medical products to be recalled in 2018.
Pharmacy Times reports Teva Pharmaceuticals has issued a voluntary recall in the United States of all lots of amlodipine/valsartan tablets and
amlodipine valsartan/hydrochlorothiazide combination tablets. The action comes after similar recalls have been announced by other manufacturers, after an active ingredient was found to be tainted with a known carcinogen.
Impurities found in Mylan’s valsartan API is known as N-nitroso-diethylamine (NDEA), which has been classified as a probable human carcinogen. Miami Herald reports Mylan recalled 15 lots of the blood pressure and heart attack medication, which is used as the active ingredient in a variety of medications sold be various manufacturers.
Lawyers for Civil Justice reported this month that nearly half of all cases pending before federal district court judges involve Multidistrict Litigation (MDLs) — more than 124,000 cases at the end of 2017.
About 90 percent of MDL cases involve product liability claims, which means, according to the study, that consolidated product liability cases – such as those alleging defects in drugs or medical devices – account for about 42 percent of the civil caseload before federal district judges. The 18 largest MDLs contain 107,000 individual cases pending before just 15 federal judges, according to the report.
Multi-district litigation is a special federal legal procedure in the U.S. federal court system, which is designed to speed up the litigation process by combining many similar cases. The MDL statute is 28 U.S.C. § 1407 in the United States Code. Section 1407. Most MDLs involve a few dozen to a few hundred cases. The notable exception is MDL No. 875, based in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which is the largest and longest-lasting MDL. It was created in 1991 by the JPML to manage all asbestos personal injury and wrongful death cases in the federal courts. As of 2011, over 121,000 cases had been transferred into MDL No. 875, and over 108,000 cases had been settled, dismissed, or remanded, leaving about 13,000 pending.
Recent drug recalls of numerous common heart medications illustrate the growing risks faced by American consumers.
CNN reports the FDA has found another impurity in valsartan, Torrent Pharmaceuticals’ recalled heart drug.
The generic ingredient is found in several pills that have been under voluntary recall since July. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration keeps an updated list of valsartan recalls, as not all pills containing the drug are currently subject to recall.
This month’s $289 million jury award in a product- liability lawsuit against Monsanto is a historic and important victory for consumers that will likely have a watershed impact on billions of similar claims pending across the nation.
In this case, plaintiff was awarded $39 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages after developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. As CBS News reported, a California jury found the former school groundskeeper’s repeated use of Monsanto’s popular RoundUp product, a glyphosate-based weedkiller, was a substantial factor in causing plaintiff’s rare cancer.
It was the first of thousands of similar lawsuits Monsanto faces across the country. Plaintiff took a job as pest control manager for a Bay-area school district in 2012, where he sprayed the weedkiller 20 to 30 times per year. Jurors deliberated for three days following the eight-week trial.
When kids are on summer break and the weather is nice, it’s a great time for young people to get outside and enjoy fun activities. Unfortunately, there are some summer toys which are really risky for kids. Parents need to make sure they are choosing safe products for their children, checking for recalls and supervising kids so children don’t take unnecessary risks. 
Manufacturers of toys and children’s products are also held to very high standards for safety. If products have defects or cause harm to children because the manufacturer didn’t incorporate the right safety features or warn parents of product risks, there is a good chance the product manufacturer could be held legally liable if a child sustains an injury.
A Boston product liability lawyer should be consulted after a child is hurt or killed by any product to determine if the parents and child can make a case for compensation. Continue reading
Johnson & Johnson pharmaceuticals has been in the news recently, as the company’s subsidiaries have resolved pending claims against them… and not in the company’s favor. One subsidiary, Ethicon, may pay as much as $4 billion in damages to settle lawsuits from defective hip implants. Another, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, has had two multi-million jury verdicts against the company based on Topamax birth defects, and will be required to provide compensation of around $11 million to one family and just over $4 million to another. 
For those who were taking Topamax during pregnancy and whose child was born with a birth injury such as a cleft palate, a heart or lung defect, a penile defect called hypospadias, malformed limbs or spina bifida, it is important to have claims evaluated to determine if you too have a legal right to damages. Our personal injury lawyers in Massachusetts can conduct case evaluations for families who may be affected by Topamax.
Continue reading
Hip replacement is known to be a risky surgery, which can cause serious complications for patients, including fatality. The hip replacement process is one of the most invasive surgeries and is often performed on the elderly who have weaker structures and immune systems. Despite the high risk of surgery, many patients will continue to pursue the treatment, either to improve their quality of life, or out of necessity. Fortunately, for those pursuing hip replacement, new studies show that the number of deaths has been cut in half due to improvements in surgical procedures.
Despite improvements in the surgical process, many victims will continue to suffer because of defective hip implants. Our Massachusetts defective hip implant attorneys are dedicated to helping victims and their families protect their rights. We aggressively pursue legal action against medical device companies that have been responsible for the injuries caused by defective hip implants. Our legal team is also committed to staying abreast of the mired of issues related to hip replacement surgery.
Continue reading
Product Liability Lawyer Blog