Articles Posted in Defective Products

Nissan, Honda, Mazda, and Toyota are recalling 3.4 million motor vehicles because of airbag safety issues that could cause the devices to catch fire or emit metal fragments that could result in serious injuries to passengers. The airbags come from Takata, a leading supplier. No serious related injuries have been reported thus far.

Over 1.3 million of the autos affected in this global recall are in the US. Due to a manufacturing defect in the propellant that is used in the inflator, the safety device may not deploy correctly. Takata says that if the propellant in certain wafers was compressed incorrectly, a rupture in the airbag might occur.

Among the vehicles impacted are 1.73 million Toyota vehicles, including its Lexus SC430, Sequoia, Corolla, and Tundra models manufactured between 2001 and 2003. Honda’s recall involves 1.1 million vehicles, including Civics, Odysseys, and CR-V’s. 480,000 Nissan vehicles are affected, including the Maxima, Cube, and others, while some 45,000 Mazda RX-8 and 6 models are part of this recall.

A South Dakota woman, who had sued Johnson & Johnson after experiencing complications with a vaginal mesh implant, was awarded $3.35 million after a jury determined J&J and its subsidiary Ethicon Inc., failed to adequately warn her doctor of potential dangers of the implant and misrepresented the product in its brochures.

The woman, identified as Linda Gross, had received the implant in 2006, where she shortly thereafter began experiencing medical complications including “mesh erosion, scar tissue, inflammation, and neurologic compromise to structures and tissues.” Gross alleged that J&J and Ethicon Inc. were liable for the product’s defective design, manufacture, warnings and instructions.

Gross’s lawyer, Ben Andersen, said the case was significant to women’s health litigation, and stated that “[the verdict] is a strong statement to Johnson & Johnson and Ethicon that they cannot put profits before safety.”

Original Article from: Fox Business
Continue reading

In the first hip defect verdict against Johnson & Johnson over its DePuy artificial hip, a jury has ordered the healthcare company to pay $8.3 million to Loren Kransky, an ex-prison guard. The 65-year-old claimed that he developed health issues, including metal poisoning, after he received his implant in 2007. Three years later, J & J recalled approximately 93,000 artificial ASR hip implants.

In his hip implant lawsuit, Kransky accused the manufacturer of failing to warn about the risks, design defect, and negligence. Meantime, lawyers for J & J contended that the plaintiff’s injuries were a result of pre-existing medical conditions and an unrelated infection rather than the ASR XL hip.

While all-metal hips comprised about 40% of all US hip replacement devices in 2008, they have become much less popular in the wake of growing worries that they aren’t as safe or effective as previously thought.