Articles Posted in Defective Products

Wayne Watson, who developed respiratory health issues in 2007, has won a $7.2 million food injury verdict from Gilster-Mary Lee Corp., Dillon Companies Inc., and The Kroger Co. for his “popcorn lung” affliction. The illness is linked to the chemicals used in microwaved popcorn to make it taste buttery while keeping the calories down. Watson ate two bag of popcorn daily for about a decade.

The jury found popcorn maker Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. 80% liable and Kong Soopers’ supermarket ‘s parent companies Kroger and Dillon Foods 20% liable. His food injury lawyers contended that the defendants should have warned consumers that inhaling the buttery smell could cause lung damage. Diacetyl, which is the chemical found in the popcorn Watson ate, may have a possible link to Alzheimer’s. Manufacturers no longer use it in artificial flavoring. (Watson settled his products liability claim against FONA International Inc., a flavor developer, separately.)

“Popcorn lung” is a potentially deadly respiratory disease that is mostly found in flavoring plant workers who end up inhaling diacetyl on the job. (In 2004, Eric People’s, a Gilster-Mary Lee plant work, won a $20 million personal injury verdict for lung damage that he developed while involved in the manufacturing of buttered popcorn.) Symptoms may include shortness of breath, coughing, and wheezing. Constrictive bronchiolitis obliterans, which can constrict and scar the lung’s smallest airways, may even develop.

Manufacturer Stryker Orthopaedic has been named the defendant in a number of products liability lawsuits filed by plaintiffs seeking compensation for their hip implant injuries. The complaints revolve around its Rejuvenate and ABG II modular-neck hip stems that Stryker recalled in July over reports that their titanium and cobalt parts were rubbing together, creating cobalt shavings that may cause heavy metal poisoning in the body. About 20,000 of these devices were in the US.

Plaintiffs are contending that Stryker was negligent in the manufacturing, testing, development, marketing, distribution, and selling of a defective hip plant product. In Massachusetts, contact our Boston hip implant defect lawyers today if you think you may have a claim against Stryker or the maker of another defective medical device.

The two recalled Stryker systems are comprised of mix-and-match parts, which are supposed to provide implant surgeons with more flexibility so they can customize the fit of the femoral components for each patient. The stems have titanium coating, while the neck parts are comprised of cobalt and chromium. It is when the parts rub against one another at the junction where they connect that the metallic debris can arise. Stryker said that the Food and Drug Administration had already received at least 45 reports of complications related to its implant systems this year.

In the first three of about 8,000 DePuy hip implant lawsuits that it is facing, Johnson & Johnson has consented to pay approximately $600,000 to resolve the cases, which were filed by Nevada plaintiffs. Each ASR hip implant case will cost the medical device manufacturer about $200,000. All three products liability complaints had been scheduled to go to trial before the end of the year.

The plaintiffs, 74-year-old Annelise Rundle, 60-year-old Katherine Guy, and 69-year-old Martha Bender, were all implanted with their ASR hip replacements by the same surgeon. These devices later had to be removed and they underwent hip revision surgery. Considering that a first implant procedure already can be rife with potential risks and health complications, followed by a possibly challenging recovery time, to have to undergo a similar procedure so soon after can take a toll.

In Massachusetts, our Boston DePuy hip implant attorneys represent plaintiffs that have suffered health complications because their artificial hip failed or malfunctioned in some other way. DePuy ASR implant failures can cause bone damage, metal-related complications, muscle damage, nervous system damage, bone strain, necrosis, and other problems.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, burn injuries, high cholesterol, and smoke inhalation aren’t the only dangers to watch out for while grilling. Grill-cleaning brush bristles apparently can pose a serious safety hazard if ingested accidentally. This can happen if the sharp, wiry bristles come off while the brush is being used to clean the grill and they then end up getting caught in the food during grilling. Injuries from swallowing these bristles have included soft tissue injuries, puncture wounds, gastrointestinal tract perforations, bladder injuries, sigmoid colon injuries, and other internal injuries, accompanied by severe pain. You may want to speak with a Boston products liability law firm to explore your legal options.

Last Month, CBSNews.com reported that the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report’s July 6 journal issue noted six cases involving grill cleaning brush ingestion at a Providence, Rhode Island hospital between March 2011 and June of this year. That’s just one facility. Adding insult to injury is that often, these bristles are so tiny that they can be hard to detect on X-rays, especially if an ER doctor, physician, or radiologist doesn’t know what to look for.

If you or someone you love suffered injuries from swallowing grill cleaning brush bristles, you may have grounds for filing a Boston personal injury lawsuit against the brush’s manufacturer. Another possible liable party might be the host of the barbecue or the person that used the brush to clean the grill. A lot of this will depend on your injuries and the specifics regarding how they happened.

With over 4 million people in the US now using artificial knees, it is essential that the manufacturers of knee replacement devices make sure that their products are free from any design defects or safety issues that could cause serious injury to wearers. Unfortunately, there have been numerous problems reported by patients, who many of whom have gone on to file knee replacement lawsuits seeking damages.

Among the safety issues and complications cited by plaintiffs:

• Premature device failure • The artificial knee implant coming loose or giving out • Severe pain • Swelling • Persistent warmth or heat in the knee

In a rare move, the US Consumer Product and Safety Commission is pursuing an administrative lawsuit against Maxfield & Oberton Holdings LLC claiming that its magnet toys are defective products. The manufacturer of the Buckycubes and Buckyballs products is disputing the allegations.

The small, round magnets are normally sold in sets of more than 200 pieces and are considered adult toys. Unfortunately, one too many kids under the age of 14 has ended up suffering severe injuries from accidentally swallowing more than one of the individual magnets. The victim might be a toddler who has decided to put the shiny round objects in his/her mouth or an older kid pretending that the magnet is a tongue piercing.

The danger happens once the magnets reach the stomach and intestines where they are inevitably drawn to each other and can end up tearing holes in the different organs, or cause blood poisoning or even death, as they come together. The CPSC is aware of at least a dozen child magnet ingestion injuries since 2009 when more than 2 million Buckyball and Buckycubes sets were sold in this country.