Product Liability Lawyer Blog

December 14, 2017

Strategies in Boston Product Liability Cases Involving Tainted Food

Food service businesses and food product manufacturers both have a responsibility to ensure the the items they serve and sell are reasonably safe for public consumption. Plaintiffs in these cases must show the manufacturer or food provider was not reasonably careful in distributing the product, and that the illness or injury suffered was causally connected to that breached duty of care.

If a person goes to a restaurant, consumes food that was negligently handled and becomes sick with food poisoning, that generally falls under the auspices of general negligence. On the other hand, if you purchase a prepackaged food item and become sick due a manufacturing or production defect, we are likely dealing with a products liability matter. That difference is important because pursuant to the Massachusetts version of the Uniform Commercial Code (U.C.C.), this transaction falls under what is known as the sale of goods, and special rules apply. The U.C.C. was adopted by our state is found in Chapter 106 of the Massachusetts General Laws (M.G.L.).

According to Reuters, a French manufacturer of baby formula has just issued a full-scale international recall of baby food products. This is a major recall because the French company is one of the world’s larges makers of baby formula. The reason for the recall is because of alleged salmonella poisoning. It has been reported that 26 babies have already been sickened as a result of consuming formula that was tainted with salmonella. Continue reading

December 5, 2017

Boston Product Liability Attorneys Talk Dangers of Taking Pradaxa

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Patients with a serious medical condition known as atrial fibrillation, also known as “Afib,” a type of irregular heartbeat, are generally required to take a prescription blood thinner or oral anticoagulant medication. Blood thinners have been on the market for decades, and the most popular one is Warfarin, invented in late 1940s and approved for use in the U.S. in 1954. Pradaxa is a newer type of oral anticoagulant that can lead to serious and irreversible damage, and the company failed to warn of these dangers.

Warfarin was originally sold under the brand name Coumadin but has been a relatively lost cost generic for many years. While it is generally safe and effective, it can lead to internal bleeding if the dosage is not correct. These risks can be curtailed by having routine blood work to determine how the drug is working and avoiding certain foods. If there is an adverse event, doctors are able to quickly reverse the side effects with the use of an antidote. Continue reading

November 30, 2017

DePuy Pinnacle Hip Implant Plaintiffs Awarded $247 Million by Jury

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A number of medical device manufacturers have produced defective hip implants, but one of the most troubling is a company called DePuy, which produced the DePuy Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip. The product has been plagued with problems almost since the outset.

DePuy is a major manufacturer of durable medical equipment, including artificial joints such as hips and knees. The company has since been acquired by Johnson & Johnson and became the DePuy Orthopedics Division of Johnson & Johnson. It was this successor company that was named a defendant in a product liability lawsuit that recently resulted in a $147 million jury verdict in a defective hip implant lawsuit according recent news article from Reuters.

Six Plaintiffs Collectively Awarded $147 Million Verdict in DePuy Hip Injury Case

This most recent DePuy lawsuit was heard in the U.S. District Court in Dallas Texas, with relief sought by six plaintiffs who suffered serious injuries as a result of their use of the defective Pinnacle hip.

This was the third jury verdict against this defendant in connection with injuries cased by the DePuy Pinnacle hip implant device. This is one of an estimated 9,700 cases pending against Johnson & Johnson for the Depuy defective hips. Although the company won the first bellwether trial, it has subsequently continued to lose, with many juries concluding the company liable. A spokeswoman has promised long-term commitment to vigorous defense of these cases, but if verdicts like this continue, it’s likely we’ll see an uptick in settlements.

This type of complex litigation requires an experienced legal team with extensive resources. Continue reading

November 21, 2017

Defective Furniture Results in Death of Children

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Dangerous around the household that can cause injury to small children can include things like household chemicals such as liquid drain cleaner, cleaning products, sharp edges, electrical outlets, the strings used to raise vertical blinds and similar items. However, furniture can also pose a serious risk to small children when it is defectively designed, lacking features to ensure it is properly secured. If a product is defectively designed, or a hidden hazard is not conveyed to the consumer before an injury occurs, it can be grounds for a product liability lawsuit.

According to a recent news article from CNN, an eight child has died from as a result of a toppled dresser from IKEA. These dressers are the very popular MALM style units that come in a variety of sizes ranging from three to six drawers. These dressers were recalled in 2016, but injuries and deaths are still occurring.

It’s important to point out that a recall does not insulate a manufacturer from liability. However, the recall also can’t be used as proof positive the product was defective, as lawmakers and courts did not want to dissuade product makers from warning the public about potential dangers. That said, details that emerge following a product recall can be useful in a product liability lawsuit. Continue reading

November 15, 2017

Defective Household Products Cause Personal Injury in Boston

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

When you buy a product, you expect that it will work for the purpose in which it was intended. In some cases you end up with a defective product and are annoyed and have to try get your money back. When the product is not only defective but also dangerous, this can lead to serious personal injury and the need to file a Boston products liability lawsuit.

According to a recent news article from Fox News, Kidde, one of world’s largest manufacturers or fire smoke alarms and fire safety equipment has issued a recall on over 38 million fire extinguishers. The two models of handheld fire extinguishers are among the most popular models and the recall states that these products may fail to work as designed during a fire emergency.

November 7, 2017

Big Business Leads to Defective Hip Injury Cases in Boston

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Elective hip replacement surgery has grow in popularity to where it has become has become one of the most common surgeries in the U.S. with hundreds of thousands of operations performed year. This is partially because younger patients are getting artificial hip implants and because of the massive marketing push by the medical device manufacturing firms. The problem occurs when companies rush dangerous defective artificial hips onto the market without taking the time to do proper and required safety testing.

According to a recent news article from MedGadget, a new sales index and forecasting system is evaluating the global hip replacement market and has estimated that sales are to reach $5 billion a year by 2021. These companies are making a lot of money and they are trying to show “healthy” growth from quarter to quarter. While this is done in the name of efficiency to make shareholders happy, it also leads to corners being cut at the expenses of patients who have no idea they are about to receive a defective hip implant that can cause tremendous pain and suffering, lost time at work during the surgery and recovery, and many other types of legal damages. Continue reading

November 3, 2017

First State Court Xarelto Lawsuit Starts

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The first lawsuit against Bayer AG and Janssen involving the drug Xarelto has started in a state court. Most products liability cases involving dangerous or defective drugs are filed in federal district courts. These cases can however, be filed in state courts across the county so long as jurisdiction is proper. The cases do not usually end up going to trial in state court even if they commence there, because pursuant to 28 U.S. Code § 1446, a defendant may remove a case to federal court as long there is proper subject matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction.

Personal Jurisdiction in Federal Court

Personal jurisdiction, also known as in personam jurisdiction means that the parties have some ties to the forum state making the action proper within the context of Due Process. This is usually not hard to satisfy as long as the case is removed to the a federal court that sits in the same jurisdiction in which the state court action was originally filed. For example, if a plaintiff was injured by Xarelto in Boston and filed a case in the Suffolk County Superior Court, the case could removed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts which is also located in Boston. Continue reading

October 31, 2017

Jury Awarded Plaintiff Over $140M in AndroGel Testosterone Lawsuit

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Over the past decade, drug companies have been heavily marketing the sale of so-called testosterone replacement therapy as a treatment for the signs of normal male aging, despite a lack of proven benefits and evidence of serious health risks. According to a recent news article from Commercial Appeal, a jury has awarded one plaintiff over $140 million in a product liability lawsuit filed after popular testosterone replacement therapy drug, AndroGel, caused him to have a massive heart attack.

This case was filed in federal district court located in Chicago and the defendant was AbbVie, a major drug manufacture and maker of AndroGel. The break down of the damages was $140,000 in compensatory damages and $140 million in punitive damages. Continue reading

October 25, 2017

Serious Safety Testing Violations Found with DePuy Pinnacle Hip

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A British federal agency has discovered serious safety testing flaws on metal hip implants, sparking concern the devices were defective and dangerous as sold.

Most artificial hip joints are made from metal, plastic, and cements or a combination of these materials. The DePuy Pinnacle and DePuy Pinnacle ASR hips were not designed like ordinary artificial hip implants. These hips were designed with an all metal construction. This means that both the ball and socket were made entirely of metal. The idea, as suggested by the company’s marketing department is that a metal-on-metal hip joint would be smoother than a traditionally-designed implant. This in turn would allow younger hip replacement patients to lead a more active life as the joint would act like the patient’s uninjured natural joint.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned by the company. Like most metal surfaces, when it is subject to extreme amounts of force and rubbed against other metal surfaces, it creates friction and this leads to integral breakdown. There are many consequences to a hip joint breaking down prematurely. Continue reading

October 14, 2017

Study: DePuy Attune Knee System Has “Unusually High” Early Failure Rate

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A recent study conducted by nine prominent orthopaedic surgeons and published in The Journal of Knee Surgery revealed the Attune Total Knee Arthroplasty System had an unusually high rate of failure, prompting calls for further research. The study came on the heels of the first (of what may be many) product liability lawsuits filed against Attune manufacturer DePuy Synthe, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

The company promises the knee replacement devices, approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s 510(k) fast-track process in 2010, will improve range of motion and give patients a stable knee replacement for years to come. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons reports successful knee replacements can last up to 20 years or more. Over the last several months, however, the firm has filed several dozen reports with the FDA that document early failures resulting in destabilization of the knee replacement and painful revision surgeries.

The recent study analyzed the high failure rate, and attributed much of it to the “debonding of the tibial implant-cement interface.” In layman’s terms, surgeons found that the adhesive being used to bond the implant and keep it in place is inadequate. This results in a loosening of one of its components, destabilizing the entire knee.