litigation 1073 articles

Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits filed against Bayer Healthcare in Pennsylvania state courts were consolidated into a mass tort last week by Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas judge Sandra Mazer Moss, who appointed 3 Pennsylvania attorneys to serve as liaison counsel for the plaintiffs. All of the lawsuits allege that Yaz and Yasmin caused adverse events attributable to the ingredient drospirenone (DRSP), which has been linked to blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, gall bladder disease, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and other serious reactions, including sudden death. The suits assert that Bayer knew about the risks but failed to disclose them ... Read More

One would think that a woman who is gang raped by seven coworkers, then locked in a shipping container for more than 24 hours without food, water or even a bed, would be able to find justice. After all, this is the United States. We have justice written into our constitution, our pledge of allegiance, and the very fabric of society. But for Jamie Leigh Jones, a 21-year-old Halliburton computer technician working in Iraq, obtaining justice against those fellow Halliburton employees who brutalized her has been a long, complicated and arduous battle. For years, Jones has been seeking compensation against ... Read More

On Friday, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) awarded $1.4 milion to ex-Chicago Bulls star Horace Grant as compensation for losses the NBA star suffered as a result of investments in Regions Morgan Keegan bond funds. There are numerous lawsuits pending against the financial management company as a result of the funds, which investors allege were represented as low-risk, but which were actually tied to the volatile subprime mortgage market. When the market crashed, investors lost up to 80 percent of their investment, almost overnight. FINRA is the money management industry’s regulatory organization, and is overseeing hundreds of arbitration complaints ... Read More

One of the three principal shoulder pain pump manufacturers facing lawsuits over serious injuries associated with the use of the pain pumps is no stranger to controversy. It was also engaged in an illegal scheme for which it was prosecuted for paying hundreds of thousands – and possibly millions – of dollars to physicians for using its hip and knee replacement products exclusively. Stryker Corporation, a multinational, publicly traded corporation, sells McKinley Medical pain products in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Pain pumps are devices that deliver pain medication directly into the surgery site for up to 72 hours. The pumps ... Read More

For a long time, physicians didn’t know why patients who had shoulder surgery began suffering from a painful condition known as chondrolysis, in which the patient loses the cartilage in the shoulder. “This goes all the way back to about the year 2000. People who had surgery seven or eight years ago who thought they would recover are now seeing that they have lost their cartilage and they don’t know why,” says Frank Woodson, shareholder with Beasley Allen Law Firm. “However, now that the literature is expanding and more and more doctors are finding out about this and they’re telling ... Read More

More than a million senior citizens suffer from abuse or neglect in a single year, many of whom live in nursing homes, according to the National Center on Elder Abuse. For every case reported to authorities, more than five go unreported. These startling statistics have rallied the eldercare advocacy group International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) to declare a day to raise awareness of the cultural, social, economic and demographic process affecting elder abuse and neglect through community events aimed at promoting understanding of abuse and neglect of older persons. June 15, 2009 has been designated as ... Read More

Kecia Neal of Arkansas was prescribed Reglan in 2005 to help her overcome a medical condition that involved the paralysis of stomach muscles. What she didn’t expect is for the medication to make her even sicker. Last month, Neal filed suit against Teva Pharmaceutical, Schwarz Pharma and Wyeth Inc., makers of Reglan and its equivalent metoclopramide, after she began experiencing involuntary and repetitive movements of her body and face known as tardive dyskinesia. The condition is debilitating, and often continues even after the medication has been discontinued. In February 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered Reglan’s manufacturers to ... Read More

Nine people in Arizona who claim they were permanently injured by a medical device designed to deliver pain medication to the shoulder joint, are suing the makers of the device for more than $68 million, according to the Phoenix Business Journal. The nine are among a growing number of lawsuits filed against the makers of shoulder pain pumps that were used in patients following shoulder surgery. The devices have a catheter that is implanted into the surgical site and delivers regular does of anesthetics to the wound for up to 72 hours. Doctors soon began to see a connection between ... Read More

If it’s not lead in paint or melamine in dog food, then perhaps it’s poisonous drywall? The latest batch of toxic Chinese imports – some 550 million pounds of highly sulfuric drywall – has found its way into homes throughout the U.S. and even Canada. The cheap Chinese drywall flooded into the U.S. during the building boom, beginning in 2004, and peaked as the bustling economy and Hurricane Katrina put a strain on domestically manufactured drywall. Most of the affected homes appear to be in Florida, but newly constructed homes in several states and beyond are also affected. When we ... Read More

A Kentucky oil company faces a criminal investigation and possible $25,000-per-day fines for multiple environmental violations that have marred the local community, according to a report by Convenience Store News Online. Childers Oil Co., a petroleum vendor and operator of 45 convenience stores, is responsible for a serious oil sludge leak in November of last year and a diesel fuel leak February. According to government records, Childers Oil, which is based in the eastern Kentucky city of Whitesburg, has also been cited for at least 10 other violations since 1995. The November incident occurred when oil waste from a Childers ... Read More