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The China-based Gree Electric Appliances Inc. and its partners have agreed to pay a $15.45 million civil penalty after U.S. regulators alleged the company’s dehumidifiers posed a fire and burn risk to consumers and the company failed to warn them or take immediate action to remedy the problem.fireextinguishers

Gree manufactured and sold some 2.5 million dehumidifiers at big name stores throughout the country under more than a dozen different brand names. But when the company learned that its units were posting a fire and burn risk, it failed consumers and regulators on several fronts. Among those:

  • The company intentionally failed to report a defect and the unreasonable risk of severe injury to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) right away within 24 hours as required under federal law.
  • The company intentionally misrepresented key facts to investigators with CPSC as they were delving into the reported issues.
  • The company sold these products indicating they were UL safety certified, despite the fact it was known these products did not meet the basic UL flammability standards.

The devices were sold under highly-recognized brand names, such as GE, Kenmore, Frigidaire and Soleus Air.  Continue reading

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Robotic surgery nearly killed her. That’s what plaintiff in Zarick v. Intuitive Surgical Inc. alleges in her $300 million product liability lawsuit. Although she survived, she suffered enormous physical pain and suffering and mental and emotional distress. She experienced the horror and agony of her intestines prolapsing through her vagina. She endured a life-threatening second surgery to repair the damage. Her internal injuries were significant, permanent and have all but annihilated her sexual relationship with her husband.surgery1

“It forever changed my life for the worse,” she told a reporter in 2013, four years after she had undergone hysterectomy surgery with the assistance of the Da Vinci robotic surgical system.

Her case is the first of many pending against the robotic surgery manufacturer, Intuitive Surgical, Inc. The 44-year-old alleges she underwent the surgery to address bleeding caused by benign cysts. She said she was convinced by her doctor to undergo the procedure because it was minimally invasive and, she was told, one of the safest and most effective ways to treat her condition. Continue reading

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Facing hundreds of personal injury product liability lawsuits over defective ignition switches, General Motors this year has faced down the first of thousands of these cases. Surprisingly, the company thus far has been fairly successful. The first three cases ended in their favor, with two of them dismissed (one after plaintiff was deemed not credible) and a third following a trial in which jurors decided the vehicle in question was defective and unreasonably dangerous, but it wasn’t the cause of plaintiff’s injuries. driver

Now, the company has chosen for the first time to settle one of these bellwether cases. That’s critical here because it could well determine how the company proceeds with other pending product defect lawsuits – particularly those that ended in fatality.

The auto manufacturer has recalled some 2.6 million of its small cars with the faulty ignition switch issue, which causes power to be suddenly cut from a moving vehicle. Not only is that especially dangerous because it causes a driver to lose control of the vehicle, it also shuts down critical safety systems, like airbags and brakes.  Continue reading

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A Texas woman was awarded nearly $16 million against a Rhode Island company after she became quadriplegic after a utility vehicle ran her over while she was working on her family’s farm. ward1

The $15.8 million verdict is reportedly the highest personal injury damage award doled out in the federal U.S. Western District of Texas, though plaintiff will reportedly only receive about half of that due to a finding of 50 percent contributory negligence. Based on Texas’ modified comparative fault with a 51 percent bar (the same standard used in Massachusetts), that was almost enough to prohibit collection of any damages at all.

According to court records in Nestor v. Textron, Inc., the accident involved a vehicle called the E-Z-Go Workhorse cart. It looks something like a golf cart, but it’s designed to haul material. It was December 2011 and plaintiff was working alone on the ranch, using the vehicle to help her with feeding and moving livestock around the property. Plaintiff alleges that she stopped at a gate to open it. She took her foot off the accelerator, which stopped the engine. However, as she was opening the gate with her back to the vehicle, one of the cubes of cattle feed fell onto the acceleration pedal. The engine started. The vehicle thrust forward. The force knocked her to the ground and the vehicle ran her over. As a result, she is now paralyzed from the neck down.  Continue reading

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When we think of hip replacement surgery we are typically think of senior citizens.  For the most part, that is who is getting hip replacement surgery.  However, as discussed in a recent article from Fox News, younger are people are getting a total hip replacement much more often than they have been in the past.

surgeon-2-179919-mOne patient interviewed as part of this article was man in his 40s who had been experienced tremendous pain in his hip. He had always lived what we would consider an active lifestyle and would run and engage in sporting activities on a regular basis.  When he went to his doctor to see what was wrong was him, his doctor apparently explained that he is excellent health for the most part, yet he has the hips of man 30 years older that he actually is.  Continue reading

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Many people have seen the recent advertising campaign for Xifaxan, which features what can only be described as an anthropomorphic intestine with a happy face as part of their new commercials.   This is similar to Lunesta using a magical butterfly.  Now the makers of Pradaxa using animated red goldfish to sell their drug.

betta-fish-series-5-1402154Now, recent news feature from BioPharmaDive, discusses how the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is beginning to look into whether this may lead potential drug users into not taking risks seriously because they are being presented with a lovable cartoon character when being told about the risks.

This is of course in addition to the fact that they have a very soothing voice describing serious and possibly deadly medical conditions in way that almost makes them sound like good things. Continue reading

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While the Nestle Corporation is most well known for its many sweets – chocolate and candy products like a Nestle Crunch bar – the company is also major producer of other food items. Many of these goods are sold in the freezer aisle, including DiGiorno pizzas, Stouffer’s frozen dinners and Lean Cuisine frozen meals.

english-ambulance-2-43758-mAt any given time, there are millions of units of frozen food manufactured by Nestle in supermarkets across the country.   According to a recent news feature from AOL, the company has issued a massive recall that is affecting around 3 million units of product all containing spinach.  This is not the first recall involving spinach, but normally a spinach recall involves the fear of listeria or E. coli bacteria.  Continue reading

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A recent feature from CBS News examined whether Johnson & Johnson and Bayer, the makers of Xarelto, knowingly withheld certain important data for a letter to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

nurse-1-1158314-mThe specific claim made by lawyers for Xarelto plaintiffs in the multi-district litigation (MDL) class action lawsuit is that the defendants purposely withheld information from results published involving a Duke University analysis of drug trial results.  This information relates to a blood testing device that was not functioning property.  The device was being used to test patients who were on Warfarin (Coumadin), which is the traditional alternative to Xarelto.  Continue reading

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After having a total knee replacement procedure, there is generally a somewhat long and painful recovery period.  This is especially true in the case of a bilateral total knee replacement.  This is a controversial procedure that involves a surgeon, or even two surgeons, replacing both of a patient’s knees at the same time with an artificial knee implant device.

mhANPeMWhile it is common for a patient to get severe osteoarthritis in both knees at the same time and to ultimately need both knees replaced, many doctors prefer to do the operations on separate occasions.  The reason they prefer this course of action is because even though the total recovery time is doubled, the patient is up and walking around much faster, and this means they are out of the hospital and less likely to get a serious infection.

Patients are also less likely to get a serious clotting disorder known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), where clots form deep in the veins of the legs and then travel to other parts of the body, where they can cause serious damage and even death. On the other hand, doctors who perform bilateral knee replacement procedures favor the reduced rehabilitation time. Continue reading

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Product-producing giant Johnson & Johnson, along with its DePuy unit, lost a $500 million verdict in a case involving five plaintiffs who alleged they were injured by defective hip implants. Specifically, the Pinnacle metal-on-metal implants, which are known to not only fail more quickly than advertised, but to cause serious injury in the form of tissue damage, bone erosion and high levels of metal in patients’ blood.wheelchair4

The decision followed a two-month trial and a one-week juror deliberation period. Jurors ultimately decided these artificial hips were not only defectively designed, but that the companies that sold them did not warn the public about the potential risk, as they had a duty to do.

This prompted jurors to award not just $140 million in compensatory damages, but an additional $360 million in punitive damages. Compensatory damages are intended to compensate the victim. Punitive damages, which are also paid to the victim(s), are intended to punish the defendant for egregious behavior and gross negligence. Continue reading

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Disclaimer – The settlements above are only a sample of cases represented by our office. Each case is different and the amount of a potential resolution of your case will vary considerably depending on a substantial amount of factors. Some case results were worked in conjunction with partnering law firms.

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