Articles Posted in Products Liability

Juul is facing lawsuits on multiple fronts. Our lawyers are focusing on vaping injury and vaping addition cases in young people who plaintiffs’ lawyers argue were targeted by Juul.

There is a vaping crisis in the country that snuck up on everyone.  There are stories every week about the growing number of vaping-related illnesses and injuries appearing at hospitals. According to a recent Washington Post article, there are now 18 reported deaths related to a mysterious vaping illness, along with over 1,000 other possible cases of vaping-related injuries.  It may well be that many of these specific cases have little to do with Juul.  But this crisis has everyone taking a close look at Juul.

The sharp increase in reports has caused a significant backlash against vaping companies such as Juul, who has been dominating the e-cigarette market for the past two years. Vaping and e-cigarette lawsuits against Juul and other companies are increasing by the day. There has even been a strong push in some states to completely ban the sale of e-cigarette and vaping products. Many experts maintain that recent vaping injury reports are just the tip of the iceberg for the e-cigarette industry.

We have been getting a lot of calls from Atrium C-Qur hernia mesh victims.  These poor people have a lot of questions and concerns and we try to lay some of those out for you here.

The C-Qur hernia mesh products are a line of polypropylene surgical implants that were manufactured by Atrium Medical Corp.  The C-Qur hernia mesh products were one of several types of implant devices used in hernia repair surgery between 2006 and 2015.  Hernia repair is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures in the U.S. each year.

What are Hernia Mesh & Patch Devices?

Years ago, we were involved in gadolinium MRI lawsuits involving nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF), which is a fibrosing disorder of the skin and joints that occurs with victims with advanced renal insufficiency.

The cases settled for millions of dollars because NSF is just an absolutely awful disease.  Now there is a new set of gadolinium MRI lawsuits alleging that gadolinium is toxic and harming patients.

What is Gadolinium?

In Troubles with Jeep Liberty

Jeep Liberty is a pretty cool looking vehicle that has been off the market for the last three years.  You never know all of the reasoning why these decisions are made. But this vehicle, many of which were made in Egypt and Venezuela, certainly has had a lot of problems that owners are still experiencing in 2017.

The big recall Chrysler announced in 2007 was for over 800,000 Jeep Liberty sport utility vehicles because of the potential loss of steering control.  This recall occurred after Chrysler received 111 complaints about this problem. Chrysler admitted three reports of injuries from auto accidents as a result of the defect. In the complaints that have been made, the ball joint failed, dropping the vehicle’s front end onto one or both of the front tires.

On Friday, June 21st, Maryland’s ban on the sale of “hazardous” baby bumper pads will go into effect.

The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has said that the ban is intended to help educate parents about safe sleep practices for babies. The ban applies to crib bumpers that are made of non-mesh type material, and are intended to rest directly above the mattress, along the length of the interior sides of the crib.

Violations for selling crib bumper pads to Maryland consumers involve warnings or a fine of up to $500 per item shipped or sold. I don’t think anyone was selling them here anyway. I think just gets the word out of the risks of these pads and that is a good thing.

In mass tort cases, plaintiffs’ lawyers love MDLs. The hope for many lawyers who have mass tort cases is that they can sign up the client, let the MDL steering committee (a selected group of lawyers that take the lead on the cases) do the heavy lifting, and then join into the larger settlement. This is particularly true when you have a large volume of cases that are settling for a small or mid-sized amount of money. Because working these cases up individually is hard work with a limited payoff.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers instinctive love of MDLs dies quickly when they have a great case that they want to push forward as opposed to waiting for the sometimes torpid MDL to move forward. This is particularly true when you have an outlier case that you think has great value then other cases.

This takes us to Davis v. Biomet Orthopedics. Biomet is one of the manufacturers of the much-maligned metal-on-metal hip implants. These hip implants have two components made of metal. When the patient’s leg moves, the metal parts grind away at each other. This causes metal bits to shave off and to fall into the surrounding tissue, and sometimes into the patient’s bloodstream. Plaintiff in this case alleges that she was harmed by a defective prosthetic Biomet hip implant.
Continue reading

We have the technology to essentially create bone. Just extremely cool. Drug and medical device companies come up with some unbelievable stuff that have really changed the world. Most of these companies are doing great work. Admittedly, I just focus on the negative. But it is worth nothing that most of these companies have changed the world and decreased human suffering. That is great thing.

But…. there is a but. Bone grafts, as cool as they are, have to be done right or the cure is going to be worse than the original problem. Medtronic is a company that, in my opinion, has a history of taking shortcuts that hurt patients. Most prolifically in recent years was the way they botched their defibrillator leads. The cases would have been worth billions but the Supreme Court completely bailed them out with an awful preemption ruling. Continue reading

Even with over 2 million Mirena users, the FDA has received well over 45,000 reports of adverse events from women who use Mirena IUDs. Over 5,000 reports involve dislocation of the device, and about 1,500 involve movement of the device. This can be dangerous because the Mirena IUD has been linked to perforation injuries—it can puncture the uterus, causing severe and permanent injuries. A puncture wound may require surgery, or even a hysterectomy. The result? Lawsuits are increasingly mounting against Bayer. Continue reading

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned about an outbreak of fungal meningitis that affects several states, including Maryland. Meningitis is a serious and potentially fatal infection near the brain and spinal cord that can cause brain damage or death. Anyone who is at risk should get to the hospital immediately for evaluation.

There is a huge buzz out there for potential cases. The Maryland Daily Record just wrote an article this morning about how lawyers are racing to these cases. Certainly, every lawyer with a website and/or a budget to run commercials is talking about these cases. Some of the information is very good and helpful to other attorneys and potential victims. Some of it is just liberally borrowed from another website that copied off of someone else. Some lawyers definitely know how to put the copy in copycat.

Anyway, this blog post tries to lay out the issue both for lawyers who many have potential cases and for potential victims looking for real information on these cases. Continue reading

If you have a pulse, you are familiar with Johnson & Johnson’s pain reliever, Tylenol. I’ll bet you anything if Tylenol was a person, it would be one of the 20 most recognizable people in the world. I project Tylenol just above Lady Gaga and just below Bill Clinton.

Johnson & Johnson’s legendary marketing machine has done an amazing job of promoting the brand, and developed several different versions of Tylenol, including liquids, solids, extra strength, and children’s varieties. Most of us have blithely thrown back Tylenol to overcome serious and not so serious pain.

No one is calling for a Tylenol recall. Used properly by an educated public, it is a great product. The question is whether Tylenol has soft pedaled the risk of liver injury.

With social media and everything else in the era, we hear so many statistics spouted out that no one is every paying attention anymore to the ones that really matter. So here’s the question: how many people went to the hospital last year with a Tylenol overdose, and how many people died from a Tylenol overdose? Think about it a second and actually make a good faith guess. The answer is after the jump. Continue reading