Accident and Injury Lawyer Blog

There is a recall for all Simplicity full-size cribs with tubular metal mattress-support frames. This crib recall comes after an infant suffocated after becoming trapped between the mattress and the crib frame. Worse, there is a risk that this Simplicity crib can collapse which, obviously, can also call injury. These Simplicity cribs subject to this recall were sold at, among other stores, Target, Wal-Mart, and Babies R Us.

AstraZeneca officially takes a punch in the Seroquel litigation. Sadly, it is not directly involving the lawsuits brought by diabetes victims around the country. Instead, the Justice Department announced that AstraZeneca will be fined $520 million for illegally marketing Seroquel.

When a lawyer thinks 'tractor lawsuit" the first thing that pops to mind in a truck accident tractor trailer claim. A recent Jury Verdicts Research (JVR) report underscores there is another kind of tractor injury case where the claims are serious: lawn tractors and lawnmowers.

Thankfully, there are not a lot of these cases. But lawsuits involving lawn tractors, lawnmowers, hedgers, and other lawn and garden products can cause real injuries that often lead to lawsuits. According to JVR, the average verdict or award in law and garden products lawsuits is $3,116,525.

Our firm handles product liability lawsuits. If you have a product liability claim, call 800-553-8082 or get a free on line case evaluation.

Last week in St. Louis, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on behalf of the Medtronic plaintiffs who appealed the dismissal of Medtronic pacemaker lead lawsuits filed in federal court.

The string of losses in the Seroquel and Medtronic lawsuits has been pretty stunning. But plaintiffs keep fighting and the tide many eventually turn.

MAG Mutual Insurance provides malpractice insurance to most Georgia doctors and others in the southeast. MAG Mutual Insurance Company is the tenth largest medical professional liability insurer in the United States.

In spite of its continued claims of a medical malpractice lawsuit crisis, MAG Mutual recently approved a dividend distribution its doctor-policyholders. MAG Mutual's website brags that for the fourth year in a row, and the twelve of the last sixteen years, MAG Mutual has provided a dividend check for its doctors.

The Kugel mesh implant lawsuits suffered a minor blow when a Rhode Island jury rejected a plaintiff's claim that he suffered severe internal injuries as a result of problems with the CR Bard's Composix Kugel hernia patch.

In the case, Plaintiff's lawsuit alleged that after his hernia surgery, his hernia patch broke causing Plaintiff severe injuries when the patch became intertwined with his hernia. Plaintiff alleged that the patch caused a number of internal problems including bowel obstruction and stomach pain. After a two week trial, the jury found the defendant negligent but also found that the Plaintiff failed to show causation. In other words, the jury was not convinced that the negligent design was the true cause of the Plaintiff's injuries.

While this case is a win for the defendant, it is also a win for plaintiffs in that the jury found negligence. In the vast majority of these cases, plaintiffs are going to be able to show a causal relationship between the defect and the injury. I suspect that there is going to be an eventual settlement of the vast majority of these Kugel hernia patch lawsuits at some point and establishing negligence should further the possibility of settlement of the 3,000 plus remaining lawsuits.

• More details on this Kugel lawsuit
• Overview of Kugel lawsuits
• More summary of Kugel cases

A recent study provided a strong foundation for the knee injury lawsuits involving Zimmer's NexGen knee replacement. Last month, data was presented by two heavyweight Chicago orthopaedic surgeons, Dr. Richard Berger and Dr. Craig Della Valle from Rush University Medical Center that 36% of the implants were loose after two years, and 9.3% of the implants were either revised or scheduled to be revised because of looseness and associated pain. According to these orthopedic doctors, “[t]his component is still commercially available but should not be used for any patient.”

• Learn more about Zimmer NexGen knee replacement lawsuits

A recent study provided a strong foundation for the knee injury lawsuits involving Zimmer's NexGen knee replacement. Last month, data was presented by two heavyweight Chicago orthopaedic surgeons, Dr. Richard Berger and Dr. Craig Della Valle from Rush University Medical Center that 36% of the implants were loose after two years, and 9.3% of the implants were either revised or scheduled to be revised because of looseness and associated pain. According to these orthopedic doctors, “[t]his component is still commercially available but should not be used for any patient.”

• Learn more about Zimmer NexGen knee replacement lawsuits

The lawyers at our law firm are offering free case evaluations for women who may have potential Gynecare pelvic mesh lawsuits. Many women have suffered complications and injuries from transvaginal placement of surgical mesh, a procedure for urinary stress incontinence (USI or SUI) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP).

Urinary stress incontinence is a common problem for far more women than many realize - some 13 million of them in the United States. This condition often comes on after childbirth and also as a result of aging. Instead of selecting a diaper-like product, many women chose a procedure to solve their problem.

In these cases, pelvic mesh tape was woven through pelvic tissue and placed underneath the urethra to create a support sling. When the mesh tape works as designed, it can support the urethra when pressure is applied. Unfortunately, with ObTape and with Gynecare, women have had serious problems which include:

• Mesh erosion into the vagina
• Pelvic pain
• Difficulty having sex
• Fistulas
• Granuloma
• Vaginal scarring

In October 2008, the FDA warned of the serious problems associated with transvaginal placement of surgical mesh. In recent years, the FDA has learned of over 1,000 women who have had problems with surgical mesh devices, including the Gynecare Gynemesh and ObTape. This has lead to lawsuits around the country.

If you or someone you know experienced problems as a result of this procedure with any manufacturer including Gynecare TVT and ObTape, contact attorney Laura G. Zois at 800-553-8082 or get a free online consultation.

Toyota has is asking dealers to temporarily halt sales of 2010 Lexus GX460 SUV after a Consumer Reports safety warning. Toyota is not - at least as of yet - going to recall the vehicle.

Consumer Reports suggests there is a serious rollover problem with the 2010 GX460. Consumer Reports is not pulling any punches either, specifically telling readers not to buy the new GX460 because of safety risks associated with the vehicle.

About 5000 of these GX460s have been sold. Although there have been no no reports of rollover have been uncovered in these models that are already on the road, reports often lag behind incidences and the GX460 apparently performed awfully during the Consumer Reports test track. The magazine reports that the rear tires skidding dangerously sideways at high speeds.

The one time golden child of the car industry continues to take its lumps. If Toyota/Lexus wants a spokesman who can relate to the product, it should consider Tiger Woods. Both larger than life giants crashed to earth hoping to rise up again that keeps facing every increasing roadblocks. I'm really joking but Toyota needs to do something dramatic and fast to restore public confidence.

A Texas jury awarded $3.8 million to a man to who brought a defective design product liability lawsuit against Brunswick after a boating accident in 2007. The jury found that the man's leg became tangled in the boat's propeller because the boat did not have guards and covers to protect boaters from getting stuck in the propeller.

Thirteen million boats travel each year on our nation's waterways. Last year there were 3,489 boating accident injuries that resulted in 710 deaths.

Albany Medical Center Hospital settled a malpractice lawsuit involving the death of a woman following the birth of her daughter for $5.2 million.

Plaintiffs' lawsuit alleged that while the woman was delivering her child by Caesarian, the surgeon damaged her uterine arteries which caused severe hemorrhaging that lead to her death. Other doctors repeated suggested follow-up surgery to repair the damage but the surgeon refused for more than six hours.

The $5.2 million dollar settlement included terms that speak well of the hospital and the Plaintiffs, including an agreement that the hospital fund an annual maternal safety lecture series in honor of the victim and requires the hospital take other preventative measures - both training and technological - to make sure this does not happen again.