Articles Posted in Class Action Lawsuit

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From the early 1950s to the later 1980s, the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina provided residents and employees with drinking water that was heavily contaminated with toxic chemicals. Extensive scientific research has revealed that the poisoned water supply at Camp Lejeune had a devastating impact on the long-term health of base residents, who have suffered significantly higher rates of birth defects, cancer, and neurological conditions.

Many of the Camp Lejeune water contamination victims have brought civil lawsuits seeking financial settlements for their injuries. Unfortunately, a harsh law in North Carolina called a statute of repose has effectively blocked all of these victims from pursuing their claims and getting the justice they deserve. However, the U.S. Congress has now fixed this injustice by passing a new federal law that will allow former Lejeune residents to file water contamination lawsuits despite the law in North Carolina.

May 2023 Update

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Aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) is a firefighting foam utilized to extinguish flammable liquid pool fires. AFFF contains perfluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), man-made chemicals that are known for their water and stain-resistant properties. PFAS persist in the environment and accumulate in the human body, leading to growing concerns about potential health risks, including cancer, thyroid disease, and reproductive problems. Firefighters face particular risks due to AFFF exposure during firefighting operations.

The History of AFFF

The history of AFFF can be traced back to the development of synthetic foam concentrates during World War II. After the war, researchers began looking for ways to improve firefighting capabilities for aircraft and fuel fires. In 1962, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) started working on developing AFFF. By 1966, the NRL had successfully developed the first AFFF formulation, which was introduced into the market by 3M under the brand name “Light Water.”

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The surgical implant manufacturer Exactech recently announced a recall of all its Optetrak® implant systems used in total knee replacement surgeries since 2004. The recall came after the company discovered that a problem with the product packaging was causing the polyethylene insert component in the Optetrak implants to degrade not function properly. This defect is causing the Optetrak knee implant systems to prematurely fail which ultimately requires patients to undergo additional revision surgery.

Individuals who had the Optetrak system implanted and suffered premature failure due to this defect can file a product liability lawsuit against Exactech and potentially recover financial compensation for their pain and medical bills. Our firm is currently accepting Optetrak implant failure cases from patients who suffered a premature failure to their knee replacement implant and had to undergo revision surgery.

Opterak Exactech Recall Lawsuit –  April 2023 Update

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Recent studies have established that prolonged use or exposure to the industrial herbicide paraquat (Grameoxone) can lead to the development of early-onset Parkinson’s disease. Now thousands of agriculture workers are filing paraquat lawsuits alleging that they developed Parkinson’s due to occupational exposure to paraquat.

The paraquat cases have been consolidated into a “class action” MDL which should eventually results in a global settlement with payments to all claimants. This post will look at how much settlement compensation paraquat plaintiffs might reasonably expect to get.

Related Paraquat Posts

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Thousands of CPAP machine lawsuits have been filed since medical device company Philips recalled millions of sleep apnea machines after discovering that they were causing users to inhale toxic foam particles.  Our CPAP lawyers are handling these lawsuits in all 50 states.

Thousands of CPAP Lawsuits

Thousands of additional CPAP recall lawsuits have been filed on registered against Philips in the class-action MDL lawsuit.

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The Bair Hugger warming device has been a popular medical device used in hospitals for years. It is used to keep patients warm during surgeries, which helps prevent hypothermia and other complications. However, studies have suggested that the use of Bair Hugger warming devices during joint replacement surgery may increase the risk of infection.  These studies spawned thousands of lawsuits that evolved into the Bair Hugger class action lawsuit.

What Is the Bair Hugger Warming Device?

The Bair Hugger warming device is a forced-air warming system that was first introduced in 1987. It is a portable device that blows warm air through a disposable blanket, which covers the patient during surgery. The device is designed to maintain the patient’s body temperature, which helps reduce the risk of hypothermia and other complications.

The Bair Hugger was created in the 1980s by Augustine Medical, Inc., which was later acquired by Defendant Arizant Healthcare, Inc. In 2010, Defendant 3M Company purchased Arizant, including the Bair Hugger product line. The Bair Hugger is designed to keep patients warm during surgical procedures by blowing warm, forced air over the patient. It consists of a portable forced-air temperature management unit and a disposable Bair Hugger forced-air blanket, with 25 different styles available that vary in size and coverage, including partial or full coverage of the patient’s body, and some are used underneath the patient. The manufacturer markets Bair Huggers as a warming solution that can be used for various patients, from pediatric to geriatric, and for both short and long procedures. The marketing slogan for Bair Huggers is “Everyone Deserves a Hugg™,” emphasizing its suitability for everyone.

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Our lawyers are investigating toxic baby food autism lawsuits.

What triggered our involvement in these cases was a congressional investigation last year that revealed that many popular brands of baby foods in the U.S. contain dangerously high levels of toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and arsenic. Scientific evidence and studies have shown that consumption of these metals during infancy and early childhood can cause neurologic damage and autism.

Product liability lawsuits are now being filed nationwide against baby food manufacturers. These baby food autism lawsuits allege that the manufacturers knowingly sold their products with unsafe levels of toxic metals and that the plaintiffs developed autism spectrum disorders from consuming them in their baby foods.

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Nexium, or esomeprazole, is a drug that is used to treat heartburn and excessive amounts of acid in the stomach. Specifically, it is used to treat duodenal and gastric ulcers, esophagitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Nexium is a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) that decreases the amount of acid produced in the stomach. Other drugs that are in the same class as Nexium include Prevacid and Prilosec. Approximately 15 million Americans use PPIs that are sold both as prescription and over-the-counter. Nexium sales exceed $3 billion a year.

Nexium Class Action Lawsuit Updates 

March 2023: The bellwether trial in the Nexium PPI litigation that was supposed to get started this month has now been postponed to June 5, 2023. Two additional bellwether trials will follow in July and September. No explanation for the postponement was given, but many believe that was done because the parties are close to a settlement. 

August 2022:  Defendants in the PPI MDL had moved to dismiss all failure to warn claims in the PPI class action lawsuit because they are preempted. The argument, and it is a weak one, is that because the FDA (a federal agency) approved the warning labels, state law claims cannot be brought. 

Our lawyers talked about this in the last update in June – this motion is crucial because the crux of this class action lawsuit is that you knew of this problem with kidney injuries yet you did not change their product, instructions, guidelines, or, most importantly, warn doctors of the risk. 

The Special Master in the MDL likely put this issue to bed in the Prilosec-Nexium class action lawsuit. issued a report to the MDL Judge recommending that this argument be rejected because the defendants cannot show that the FDA would have rejected proposals for stronger warnings about kidney damage. The first bellwether trial in the MDL is set for November.

June 2022: The defendants in the Nexium-Prilosec PPI class action MDL have filed motions for summary judgment in the upcoming bellwether test trials. The primary legal argument in this motion is based on a doctrine called federal preemption. The preemption doctrine holds that victims are blocked from bring tort lawsuits under state law if there is a federal law that protects the defendants from liability. The Special Master in the MDL recently allowed both parties to submit additional briefing to address how a recently decided case on the preemption issue (In re Fosamax Alendronate Prod. Liab. Lit.) could potentially impact the issues in the Nexium-Prilosec cases. Our lawyers have read the Fosamax case (which rules in favor of defendants on a preemption argument) and in our opinion it is not applicable to the issues in the PPI cases.

April 2022: There are around 13,500 lawsuits pending in the Nexium-Prilosec PPI class action MDL.  The first trial will be in October.  The hope is that a few trials will set settlement amounts for Nexium kidney lawsuits. But many class action lawsuits – at least lately – have had trials and the parties still could not agree to a settlement amount for the victims.  So the judge, in this case, wants to keep the pressure on the lawyers.  So if a global settlement is not reached, the MDL Judge has identified a group of 200 cases that the parties will be preparing for trial over the next 16 months.

  • These drugs have had a troubled history.  Zantac, which was long considered a great and safe drug, has now been associated with cancer.

Problems with Nexium

Nexium is a controversial drug.  At one point, bone fracture lawsuits were all the rage because there was data suggesting Nexium, particularly the long-term use of Nexium, would cause bone fractures and breaks.  Our lawyers believed many of these lawsuits were meritorious.  But the litigation did not get very far.

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Within the past year, many lawsuits have been filed against Teva Pharmaceuticals. These Paragard IUD lawsuits allege that suits allege that Teva’s IUD fractures upon removal, resulting in fragments being left in the uterus. The plaintiffs claimed this caused them to undergo additional removal procedures, which would have been unnecessary had this defect not occurred.  The purpose of this page is to provide a status update on the current state of the Paragard lawsuits as of late February 2023.  Other Paragard law firms and websites are providing updates on this litigation, and I would encourage you to follow them here, here, and here.

Indeed, the biggest news in the short history of this litigation was last month when these lawsuits were centralized into an MDL in Georgia federal court.  This means there will be a class action in which all federal court cases will be consolidated in Georgia under one judge.  So if you have a federal case in California, Texas, Florida, or anywhere, it will end up.

Let’s start out by talking about some of the science behind these cases.  Usually, what fuels litigation is that studies come out, and lawyers jump on these studies to bring lawsuits.  In this litigation, it might be a little bit backward.  It took a while for plaintiffs’ lawyers to pick up on the problems with Paragard.  Now a new study this year further supports the contention Paragard lawyers are making.

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3M Company, a multinational conglomerate based in Minnesota, faces over 200,000 lawsuits in federal court in Florida in February 2023.

The lawsuit alleges that 3M knowingly sold defective earplugs to the U.S. military from 2003 to 2015 without disclosing the defect, which caused the earplugs to loosen and not adequately protect the user’s hearing. The lawsuit further claims that the company was aware of the problem for years but continued to sell the earplugs and even falsified test results to maintain its lucrative contract with the U.S. government.

As a result of this defect, thousands of military service members and veterans have suffered from permanent hearing damage, which has led to significant hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and other related conditions. The lawsuit seeks compensation for the affected individuals and damages for the company’s alleged fraud and negligence.

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