Legal Examiner

“In products liability actions against parties other than health care providers…for injury to the person resulting from or arising as a result of the implantation of any medical device, [the cause of action shall be deemed to accrue] when the person knew or should have known of the injury and its causal connection to the device.”

As reported in our article about the second bellwether trial involving an allegedly defective metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implant, $360 million of the $497.6 million verdict rendered in March to five plaintiffs against Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy unit was […]

As the lawsuits on behalf of the families of victims killed by metal shrapnel from defective Takata airbags mount, it is interesting to read about the strategy of plaintiff’s counsel in these cases.  The most recent Takata lawsuit was filed […]

Takata airbags have been recalled in approximately 25 million vehicles worldwide, and at least 12 deaths have been attributed publicly to the defective airbags.  I say “publicly” because there have been confidential settlements, which may have been kept from the […]

The FDA announced that it is recalling MicroPort Orthopedics’ ProFemur Long Cobalt Chrome 8 Degree Varus and Valgus Modular Neck implants over issues with the acute fractures.  The agency labeled the recall as a Class I, the most serious type of recall, […]

Faulty Ignition Switches Lead to Loss of Engine Power, Power Steering, Braking and Airbags On June 3, 2015, Chrysler updated its recall of Jeep Grand Cherokees (model years 2005-2007) and Jeep Commanders (model years 2006-2007) over an ignition switch defect, which Chrysler described as follows: Chrysler has decided that a defect, which relates to motor […]

The case of Dr. Amy J. Reid has helped bring world-wide attention to the risks that power morcellation procedures can spread cancer inside a woman’s body.  Dr. Reid, a 41 year old radiologist and mother of six children, had a power morcellation procedure to remove uterine fibroids.  She was later diagnosed with an agressive cancer […]

The surgical procedure called power morcellation has become a popular treatment for uterine fibroids.  Laparoscopic power morcellators are electric surgical devices.   Morcellation refers to the cutting up of tissue into smaller pieces or fragments.  The technique involves insertion of a tiny instrument with rapidly spinning blades, the morcellator, used to break up the fibroids […]

Last week it was reported widely that Johnson & Johnson had “tentatively agreed to a settlement” that could reach up to $4 billion to resolve thousands of lawsuites filed for patients injured by defective DePuy ASR hip implants.  DePuy Orthopaedics is a division of Johnson & Johnson.  Reports by the New York Times, Bloomberg, and others […]

What drives big trial verdicts?  Defense trial lawyer organizations are buying into the theory that if a plaintiff lawyer is able at trial to trigger jurors’ survival instincts, that jury is far more likely to return a big verdict in favor of the plaintiff.  If jurors see the defendant’s conduct as an immediate danger to themselves, their  […]