Articles Posted in Product Liability

Automaker Chrysler’s bankruptcy proceedings are leaving more than dealers and workers worried. There’s another class of people who have much to lose if the automaker goes under, and little attention has been paid to their plight.

We are talking about the people who have pending product liability lawsuits against the company. These people will find that their dreams of justice are shattered when the spoils are distributed. Plaintiffs who have filed product liability lawsuits against the company fall in the unsecured creditors’ group. While secured creditors include people who have collateral, unsecured creditors include plaintiffs and other corporations. These creditors are low on the pecking order when it comes to payouts. The secured creditors will get first preference, leaving the remainder of the funds to be distributed among the unsecured creditors. Corporations that are included in the unsecured creditors’ group are likely to demand priority for their funds; leaving plaintiffs with peanuts after all other debts are paid.

According to the New York Times, it’s still not clear how these pending lawsuits will be dealt with. They could be sent back to the original courts for a decision, after which the plaintiff who have won or settled may be able to go to the bankruptcy court for their money.

General Motors and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have announced a set of three recalls for the new Chevrolet Camaro as well as several other models of pickup trucks and sports utility vehicles, because of auto defects.

The recalls involve a total of 43,824 vehicles. The Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Avalanche, Suburban, Tahoe, Colorado, the GMC canyon and Yukon are included in the first recall of about 27,118 cars. These vehicles have a faulty seal in the fuel control system that allows water to leak through, leading to short circuits, possible engine failures or stalling of the engine. The second recall involves 15,393 Traverse SUV’s for brake system compliance failure. The third recall involves 1,243 units of the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro.  The problem relates to a positive battery cable that can wear away, causing the vehicle to stall at the least, or cause an engine fire.

All three recalls have to do with serious safety problems in these vehicles. The Camaro in particular, is a highly anticipated model that seems to have already run into safety problems. There have already been at least four reports of problems with the worn out cable in these V-8 powered cars, although none of these incidents have resulted in injuries.

In a month in which at least 34 weight loss products of a New York-based company were recalled by the FDA, the agency has issued another warning, this time to consumers who use popular weight loss supplement Hydroxycut, to stop using these immediately. The warning comes because of reported liver injuries in persons who took these products, including at least one death.

Hydroxycut has a lion’s share of the weight loss supplement market with close to 9 million bottles reportedly sold last year alone. The supplement is popular with people on a diet because of its appetite suppressing properties. Besides, it is used widely by bodybuilders to define muscle tone. According to the FDA, some of the Hydroxycut products also have a serious side effect – they cause liver injuries. At least one person’s death has been linked to the weight loss supplement. A 19-year-old man reportedly died in 2007 from liver injuries. Also one person has had to undergo a liver transplant procedure after he suffered liver damage from using the product. According to the FDA, it has received at least 23 reports of liver injuries caused by the supplement.

The company that makes Hydroxycut, Canada based-Iovate Health Sciences has agreed to recall all Hydroxycut products, even though the FDA has linked only about 14 Hydroxycut products to liver injuries. The company however denies that the sole death was linked to its product in any way.

A Ford Explorer trial involving a young woman, who suffered spine injuries in an accident involving a Ford Explorer, began in DeKalb County last week. Jessica Mundy, who was 22 years old when the accident took place, is claiming damages from Ford, alleging that a transmission design defect in her Explorer caused the SUV to suddenly shift from park to reverse. The accident left Mundy a quadriplegic.

Mundy claims she put her car in park, and got out to mail a package. The car ran over her, leaving her with a fractured spine. In January 2005, Ford had issued a repair service bulletin involving a transmission problem, and the alert covered a number of vehicles, including Mundy’s SUV. Her lawyer insists that the transmission repair which was conducted on her Explorer, could have contributed to the problem. The bulletin at the time warned owners, that transmission fluid could lead to their vehicles experiencing “delayed/harsh reverse engagements,” and asked owners to get a transmission fluid additive installed to correct the problem at their dealer. Another letter sent on April 2005 again reminded vehicle owners that if the vehicles were left to operate with the original factory-installed fluid, the danger of transmission shifting would actually increase.

More than 200 Ford owners have complained to the National Highway Transport Safety Administration about the transmission defect in the Explorer. In most of the complaints, there is a delay when the Explorer is shifted from park to reverse or from another gear to reverse. Other complaints have involved the vehicle slipping from park to gear, although Ford continues to deny that the complaints say any such thing.

States Moving to Crack Down on Sale of Defective Old Tires That can Cause Accidents

An ABC News investigation last year revealed that thousands of motorists may be at risk for automobile accidents because their vehicles are fitted with aged tires that are older than the recommended age limit for tires. The investigation by “20/20” caught some of the biggest retailers in the country selling outdated and aged tires. Now, states across the country are taking steps to ensure that retailers and dealers don’t fob old and weak tires on an unsuspecting motoring public.

The risk of a tire becoming dried out and prone to blowouts that can cause accidents increases after six years of age. The investigation, however found tires including some sold by Goodyear that were made in 1999 and 2002. Other investigations by ABC news affiliates around the county found outdated tires dating back to 1999 and 2001 sold at Wal-Mart. Old tires were also found at Wal-Mart stores in Florida, as well as Sears in New Jersey. Similar stories came in from across the county. The retailers including Goodyear and Wal-Mart insist that the age of the tire should not be taken as the most important factor in judging its safety.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced that Mega Brands America Inc. will pay a $1.1 million civil penalty to settle allegations that the company failed to inform the government about the dangers posed by its Magnetix building sets.

The defective toys were the subject of a recall in 2006 after a 22-month-old child died after swallowing tiny magnets that had come loose and fallen out of the toy. The first indication that Kenny Sweet’s parents had that Kenny was sick was flu like symptoms. and shallow breathing. When he was taken to the hospital, his condition rapidly deteriorated, and he suffered a cardiac arrest. His left lung collapsed, and Kenny died soon after. His parents asked for an autopsy to find out what had happened to their precious little boy. The report arrived the next day, and the results were shocking. The coroner had found eight small magnets in Kenny’s intestine. When Kenny’s horrified parents who suspected that the magnets could only have come from the Magnetix toys, checked the toy, they found several magnets missing.

In 2005, Mega Brands which was then known as Rose Art Inc reported Kenny’s death to the CPSC. However, the company failed to provide any information about how the tragedy had occurred, and instead, claimed that the magnets probably fell out because of aggressive use of the toy. On February 1^st 2006, the company again submitted a full report which did not mention any complaints it had received of the loose magnets falling out of the toy. In March, the company recalled close to 4 million units of the toy. The CPSC later discovered that when Rose Art had first reported Kenny’s death in December 2005, it has already receive more than 1,100 complains of magnets falling out of several magnetic toy models. These complaints had included at least one report of a child being injured after swallowing the magnet. By the time the company acted to recall the toys, the number of complaints had grown to more than 1,500 across 65 different models.

Food and drug safety advocates and Georgia product liability attorneys have long called for a division of the Food and Drug Administration into separate agencies, each in charge of food and drug safety.These calls have gotten louder since the salmonella poisoning scandal earlier this year that’s been linked to contaminated peanut butter. It’s obvious that the agency is over burdened, over stressed, and simply unable to handle the responsibilities of making sure that the food and medical products that Americans consume are completely safe to use.

Hopes for a split of the agency into separate divisions for food and drug safety received impetus last week when President Barack Obama named two health experts to top positions at the FDA. The President has tipped former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to be the agency’s new commissioner. Joshua Sharfstein, a pediatrician has been picked by the President to be deputy commissioner. Sharfstein has long been a strong critic of health issues, including the safety of children’s cold medicines. FDA insiders believe that the President’s choice of 2 respected health experts points to his being in favor of dividing the agency into two. The President has also appointed an advisory group which will be re-evaluating archaic American food safety laws, many of which are several decades old.

The FDA has traditionally focused on drug safety as its primary responsibility, and critics have complained that the issue of food safety comes up at the agency only when there is a crisis like the recent salmonella epidemic. It has been apparent even to a casual observer that the FDA has too many responsibilities and too few resources. The drug industry is reportedly in favor of a split agency because it would lead to quicker drug approvals. Besides, having a single drug safety agency will mean better oversight over drug approvals, and more stringent following of approval processes.

Democratic lawmakers are planning to introduce legislation that would overturn a Supreme Court decision in February 2008 barring injured patients from suing a medical device company if the device had already received Food and Drug Administration FDA approval. In effect, the legislation promises to return patients their right to sue medical device makers for injuries sustained after using their products.

In February 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that injured patients or their survivors could not sue companies that manufactured medical devices that had FDA approval. Since the ruling was passed, judges around the country have thrown out several hundreds of lawsuits that were filed by patients and their families against manufacturers of defective medical devices. Now Henry A Waxman, Democrat from California and Frank Pallone Junior Democrat from New Jersey, have plans to introduce legislation that would overturn the Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court ruling was based on the premise that approval by the FDA took preemption or precedence over product liability laws in individual states. Judges around the country have cited the Supreme Court decision as the reason for their dismissal of several medical device product liability lawsuits.

Since the Supreme Court ruling was passed, Atlanta product liability attorneys, pharmaceutical injury experts and patients’ advocates have been vocal in their opposition to the law which essentially cuts off individual rights to justice in the event of an injury. It is important to understand how serious some of these injuries are. Defective Medtronic defibrillators have resulted in a massive shock being delivered to patients’ heart, and there have been other serious injuries including burning and scarring injuries caused by malfunctioning joints and other devices. These injured victims used devices that were approved by the FDA, but can hope for little justice as long as the Supreme Court decision rules. The FDA has time and again failed in its duty to make sure that medical devices entering the market are free of defects. It has severe critics both within and outside the organization who are concerned about botched approval procedures, and even corruption at the agency. If the new Democrat-sponsored legislation passes, patients can hope for justice again.

If it isn’t contaminated drugs, tainted milk products and lead painted toys that Georgia product liability attorneys constantly encounter, it’s the prospect of being poisoned in your own home by defective drywall. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is investigating whether gases emitted from Chinese-made drywall pose a safety risk to house owners, including those in Georgia.

The investigation is linked to complaints of sulfur-like gases that were being emitted from the drywall, resulting in corrosion of electrical wiring and plumbing in a few homes in Florida. Drywall is commonly used in the construction of interior walls, and currently the CPSC has no standards for the material. The drywall that has been the focus of close to 100 complaints by homeowners in Florida to the state’s department of health, was imported from China due to a shortage. The CPSC investigation will look at whether there are potential safety hazards in the use of the drywall, and whether a recall needs to be issued for the defective drywall. Besides Florida, the problem is expected to be particularly high in gulf coast states like Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. Parts of Louisiana and Mississippi that were badly ravaged by Katrina are likely to have several houses that were rebuilt after the hurricane, using the toxic drywall.

Symptoms of sulphur poisoning from the drywall include sulphur odors that are similar to the smell of rotten eggs. The house may have more problems with this electrical wiring and air conditioning systems that can’t be explained easily. Most importantly, people living in the house could be experiencing frequent respiratory tract infections, and unexplained dizziness.

Earlier this month, we reported on Governor Sonny Perdue’s proposed legislation granting immunity from civil liability to pharmaceutical companies and medical device makers if their products had already received FDA approval. Earlier this month, a bill was introduced outlining many of the same proposals that the governor mentioned, and underscoring the fears of patients, civil justice advocate and Georgia product liability attorneys.

The Bill, Senate Bill 101 grants immunity to these companies from any injury lawsuit brought by Georgia residents if the injury was caused by a pharmaceutical drug or medical device that had FDA approval. It’s clearly aimed at attracting Big Pharma investment into the state with civil liability immunity being the Unique Selling Proposition (USP). What it essentially does, however, is sacrifice patients’ rights to hold these companies accountable for injuries or deaths caused by their products. At the risk of sounding dramatic, we believe victims of device and pharmaceutical injury will be at the mercy of these companies.

The bill relies on a foundation that has been found to be increasingly fragile in recent years. FDA approval of drugs and devices has come under the scanner after several drugs and devices were forced off the market when injuries and risks associated with their use came to light. Do the names Vioxx, Heparin and Medtronic defibrillator leads ring a bell?