Articles Posted in Products Liability

Does a product manufacturer has a nondelegable duty to design a safe product or can they kick that can down to the end-user?

Said differently, can a product manufacturer shift the responsibility for making safety choices to the end-user of that product?

Okay, this is looking a little bit like a push poll, right?  I’m trying to lead you to the answer that I want.  So maybe the question, phrased least generously to the plaintiff, is does a manufacturer have an obligation to install optional safety equipment?

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.

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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 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?

In Troubles with Jeep Liberty

Jeep Liberty is a cool-looking vehicle that has been off the market for the last three years. You never know all the reasoning behind why these decisions are made. But these vehicles, many of which were made in Egypt and Venezuela, have had many problems that owners were 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 because 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 they intend the ban 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 true when you have an enormous 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.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers instinctive love of MDLs dies quickly when they have a substantial case that they want to push forward as opposed to waiting for the sometimes torpid MDL to move forward. This is true when you have an outlier case that you think has great value than 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. The plaintiff, in this case, alleges that she was harmed by a defective prosthetic Biomet hip implant.
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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 a great thing.

But…. there is a but. Bone grafts, as cool as they are, have to be done right, or the cure will 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

According to reports submitted to the U.S FDA, in the past year, Monster Energy Drinks has been linked to the deaths of five people. Each of the five people, and a sixth person in 2009, were reported to have consumed Monster drinks prior to their death. According to the FDA, no conclusions are drawn until an investigation is completed, making these mere allegations.

The parents of a 14-year-old girl, who died after consuming two Monster drinks, have named Monster Beverage Corp in a lawsuit filed last week in California. The suit alleges that the drinks led to caffeine toxicity, causing cardiac arrhythmia, and resulted in the girl’s death.

Monster is the largest U.S. energy drink maker by sales volume and claims that over the past sixteen years, they have sold over 8 billion energy drinks worldwide, which have been safely consumed. Monster claims to be unaware of any fatality anywhere that has been caused by its drinks, which includes not being responsible for the death of the 14-year-old girl.

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 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. Every lawyer with a website and/or a budget to run commercials is talking about these cases. Some 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

There are thousands of DePuy ASR hip replacement lawsuits, most of them alleging pain and defects that frequently require a revision hip surgery and implantation of a safer device (something that is not a metal-on-metal hip implant). Speaking frankly, I think most plaintiffs’ lawyers consider these DePuy cases to have high settlement and trial value. I really don’t think DePuy/Johnson & Johnson will be racing to the courthouse steps to try these cases. I’m betting these cases unfold like the Bayer Yaz cases: a lot of tough talk, but an abject fear of a trial which will lead to massive numbers of settlements.

Anyway, the DePuy ASR hip replacement injury cases, most of them merged in a class action known as an MDL, are heading to trial. Dates for two bellwether cases have been set—May 6, 2013, for one, and July 8, 2013, for the other.

We don’t know which cases will go to trial yet, only that two trials are set. Among the thousands (4,451 as of July 10) of DePuy hip implant cases filed and merged in the United States District Court for the District of Ohio, the lawyers get to pick. The judge has requested that each side choose four cases that they would like to see go to trial. The cases chosen must involve a revision surgery and must satisfy certain discovery requirements.

Here’s the timeline, according to Case Management Order No. 14:

• August 8, 2012: Each side selects four potential cases.
• November 1, 2012: End of discovery for the eight selected cases. This is not full discovery, but limited discovery to help identify the ideal bellwether cases.
• December 1, 2012: The parties should tell the court which of the eight cases should be bellwether cases. The parties can agree on the cases to be used.
• December 15, 2012: If the parties do not agree on which cases should be bellwether cases, the court will pick four total (two primary cases, and two backup cases).

Additional time will be allocated for specific discovery in the four cases.
The bellweather trials are a vital part of the MDL process. The chosen cases guide both plaintiffs and defendants in deciding whether hip replacement settlements are possible, and for how much. It is instructive to see how a jury will evaluate these cases. For that reason, the parties often must fight the urge to pick what they see as the best cases—it is more instructive to choose garden variety cases representative of most cases. That said, there is a certain appeal to winning the bellweather cases, even if they are not necessarily representative of the rest of the cases. Winning plays a huge psychological role in how the other side views their chances for other cases. Continue reading