After experiencing problems with the Fiat Chrysler nine-speed ZF 9HP automatic transmission, lead plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit, claiming that the defects were hazardous to drivers and passengers in that they caused delayed acceleration and sudden loss of power. Fiat-Chrysler recently agre
When their 21-year-old daughter died unexpectedly in 2008, shortly after receiving the Gardasil human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, the Tarsell family blamed the vaccine for the tragedy and sought to hold the vaccine maker, Merck, accountable. They investigated the case and learned that their daught
A Utah man recently filed a new Bard hernia mesh lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. It joins the other federally-filed lawsuits centralized there in August 2018. The plaintiff claims that after he was implanted with the Ventralex mesh,…
Lithium-ion batteries, such as those that power laptops, tablets, cell phones and e-cigarettes, can short-circuit sometimes, leading to smoking, burning, fires, and even explosions. Because of the risk, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibits all spare (uninstalled) lithium-metal and lit
According to a letter from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently sent to Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing, Toyota is recalling about 90,000 vehicles because of an airbag problem. In the event of a crash, the airbags may not deploy as expected, increasing…
When the Pennsylvania grand jury released their report on the widespread sexual abuse in six of the state’s Catholic dioceses, one of the things they mentioned was that most of the cases were too old to be prosecuted. In Pennsylvania, the statute of limitations allows…
The State of New Jersey recently released an inspection report detailing problems found at the HealthPlus Surgery Center in Saddle Brook, including a number of issues related to potential patient exposure to inadequately sterilized medical instruments. The Center sent out nearly 4,000 letters warnin
In June 2017, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated all federally-filed Ethicon Physiomesh lawsuits into one court in the Northern District of Georgia. Today, there are over 1,500 cases pending in that litigation, with each plaintiff raising similar allegations that the Ph
On November 29, 2018, the FDA warned about a rare but serious life-threatening risk of stroke and artery rupture in patients taking the multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Lemtrada (alemtuzumab). Since the drug’s approval in 2014, a total of 13 patients so far have reported these…
According to a recently settled whistleblower lawsuit, 3M Company and its predecessor Aearo Technologies, Inc. —which supplied the U.S. military with Combat Arms Earplugs version 2 (CAEv2) between 2003 and 2015—made false statements about the effectiveness of those earplugs, unnecessarily putting mi
A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine raises more concerns about the safety of inferior vena cava (IVC) filters when used in older patients with pulmonary embolism (PE—a blood clot in the lung). Results of the study showed that patients receiving an IVC filter…
Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc., a U.S.-based company that manufactures and markets bicycles and bicycle components, recently announced a recall of several of its bikes because of a crash and injury hazard. All affected models have the Future Shock sprung bars and stems, and have a…
