Defective Products

March 31, 2015

GM Settles Family’s Second Faulty Ignition Switch Lawsuit Over Daughter’s Wrongful Death

The parents of Brooke Melton have settled their second auto products liability case with General Motors. Brooke, 29, died on her birthday in 2010 when her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt skid on a wet road and was struck by another car.

Experts hired by the Meltons’ legal team said that the ignition of the Cobalt had slipped from “run” into “accessory” mode just before the collision, causing the engine, power steering, airbags, and power brakes to become disabled. They also identified that the ignition switch used in the Cobalt was not the same as the one found in cars of the same model that were built in the years following. The products defects case was settled for $5 million.

However, after GM disclosed that a number of its vehicles were linked to an ignition switch defect last year—the company eventually recalling some 2.6 million vehicles—the Meltons sued the automaker again, claiming that the company committed fraud by settling the first case while continuing to knowingly sell faulty ignition switches. The manufacturer’s own engineers have said that excessive weight or jarring on an ignition key may cause the switch to move from “run” to “accessory” mode, shutting off the power.

March 9, 2015

Family Sues Walgreens, Abbot Laboratories for Wrongful Death Involving Erroneous Diabetic Test Strips

by Altman & Altman

The family of Abbie Harper is suing Walgreens and Abbott Laboratories for wrongful death. The 23-year-old law school student had been using the FreeStyle-brand test strips made by Abbott to monitor her diabetes.

The products liability case contends that the strips, along with a blood glucose meter and Omnibod insulin pump, which were made by defendant Insulet, gave Abbott the wrong glucose readouts, causing her to take less insulin than she needed. Abbott died in November 2013.

Four days after her passing, Abbott recalled the test strips, noting in certain instances that the product had provided the wrong low blood glucose findings. The plaintiffs believe that aside from the product defect, there were also issues of compatibility involving certain devices. Their legal team believes that a manufacturing error caused the test strips to become defective.

March 5, 2015

Will New Mandatory Standard for Frame Child Carriers Decrease Injury Incidents?

by Altman & Altman

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has approved new mandatory standard to enhance the safety of frame child carriers. The safety standard does not apply to soft carriers and slings, which are subject to different standards.

Between January 2003 and September 4, 2004, the CPSC has received close to 50 incident reports about this child product, including reports of 34 injuries. One incident involved a toddler who sustained a head injury after a frame child carrier fell from a chair.

According to the new standard, a frame child carrier is typically made of fabric placed around a frame that is designed to carry a child weighing anywhere between 16 to 50 pounds. The child typically is too young to sit up without support. The carriers are worn on the backs of caregivers, often when hiking.

February 25, 2015

Transportation Secretary Asks Congress to Authorize New Enforcement Tools for NHTSA; Levies Fine on Takata For Faulty Airbag Systems

by Altman & Altman

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Mark Rosekind have teamed up with elected officials, representatives from the rental car industry and consumer safety advocates, to ask Congress to pass legislation that would require rental car agencies and used car dealers to fix safety defects before renting or selling vehicles subject to a recall, according to a press release issued by NHTSA.

Proposed by the safety watchdog, the GROW AMERICA Act would require rental car agencies to fix all safety defects currently under recall before renting a vehicle. The act would require used car dealers to do the same before selling a vehicle. Under current federal laws, new cars must be fixed before being put up for sale. Despite the efforts made, no similar federal provision exists for rental car agencies or used car dealers.

“Every vehicle under an open safety recall should be repaired as soon as possible,” Secretary Foxx said in a statement. “Requiring rental car agencies and used car dealers to fix defective vehicles before renting is a common-sense solution that would make our roads safer. Safety advocates and the rental car industry have taken a stand for safety, and we need Congress to do so as well.”
Foxx announced this week, a $14,000 per day fine against airbag manufacturer Takata for failing to fully cooperate with the NHTSA’s ongoing investigation into the company’s defective airbags.
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February 24, 2015

Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $2.5M Risperdal Injury Verdict Over Abnormal Male Breast Growth

by Altman & Altman

A jury says that Johnson & Johnson must pay the family of an autistic boy $2.5 million for failing to warn that its antipsychotic medication, Risperdal, could cause abnormal breast development in males. The plaintiffs claim that Austin Pledger, then 7, took the drug in 2002 and developed size 46 DD breasts. Gynecomastia is the medical term for this condition.

Risperdal’s generic name is risperidone. While there have been numerous Risperdal lawsuits settled, this is the first one involving gynecomastia that accuses J & J of hiding the risks to go to trial. Among those that gave testimony was former Food and Drug Administration commissioner David Kessler, who was a paid expert witness for the family of Pledger. He said that J & J knew about the risks but did not disclose the data that demonstrated to what extent young males could experience abnormal breast growth.

Despite the verdict, J & J’s Janssen unit, which marketed Risperdal, maintains that the drug’s FDA-approved label did in fact properly warn of possibly side effects. They also maintain that Pledger was not hurt by taking the drug but instead his quality of life improved “significantly” while on the medication.

February 18, 2015

Jury Awards $3.6M Actos Drug Injury Verdict

by Altman & Altman

A jury has ordered Takeda Pharmaceutical Company to pay $2.3M in compensatory damages and $1.3 million in punitive damages to a man who claims that the diabetes drug caused him to develop bladder cancer. John Kristufek said that the drug maker hid the dangerous risks involved with taking the medication.

Actos is a pill that is designed to regulate blood sugar levels. It is typically prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes.

In his drug defect lawsuit, Kristufek argued that although drug representatives don’t deliver the medication or information to doctors offices and pharmacies, they come up with strategies to get doctors to prescribe Actos as safer than other diabetes medications. The incentive for the salespersons, Kristufek claims, is commissions, bonuses, and other rewards.

February 11, 2015

Products Liability Lawsuit Sues Babies R Us, Manufacturer, for Sisters’ Furniture Defect Deaths

by Altman & Altman

The family of sisters Ryeley Beatty, 3, and Brooklyn, 2, are suing Babies R Us and Baby Cache Inc. for wrongful death. The two toddlers died from asphyxiation after a 124-pound dresser fell on them in their home.

According to the furniture defect case, the store sold the dresser, which was a floor model, at a discounted price. The plaintiffs contend that the product did not come with the proper warning labels or instructions and lacked an anchoring device that should have kept it from tipping over.

Per the wrongful death lawsuit, the dresser did not comply with American Society for Testing and Materials standards, including the requirement that they stay upright when opened and 50 pounds is applied to the front of it, such as when a small child tries to climb a dresser. This furniture item should also ideally with a label warning that the dresser is at risk of tipping over or an anchoring strap, which this one lacked.

February 9, 2015

Wheelchair Lift Manufacturer Faces $1.75M in Penalties for Selling Knowingly Selling Defective Lifts

by Altman & Altman

Wheelchair manufacturer Ricon Corp., is being forced to pay $1.75 million in civil penalties and has agreed to increased oversight by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after it continued to sell defective wheelchair lifts, despite having issued a recall due to a potential fire hazard.

The company has agreed to a consent order including the penalty and an admission that it violated the Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act by selling the defective equipment and violated federal safety regulations by failing to promptly notify NHTSA that it had done so.

“This company’s failure to protect the public from a product known to be a safety risk is absolutely unacceptable,” NHTSA Anthony Foxx said. “Manufacturers must meet their safety obligations, and when they don’t, we will be there with strong enforcement action.”

Ricon has recalled more than 4,000 wheelchair lifts that it sold to manufacturers of vans and buses since September 2012. The recall was issued to fix a defective cable had the potential to spark a fire. In June of 2013, the NHTSA began contacting bus and van manufacturers who used Ricon wheelchair lifts to make sure they were aware of the recall. According to the NHTSA, Ricon was asked when it had ceased producing the defective lifts, but the company had allegedly failed to respond to repeated requests for the information.
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January 31, 2015

Auto Industry Faces A Heavy Blow After Another Airbag Recall

by Altman & Altman

The auto industry has faced a number of troubles this past year; troubles which have only deepened with this weekend’s recall of more than 2.1 million older vehicles from three major carmakers-Toyota, Chrysler and Honda.

The announcement comes only days after the family of Carlos Solis filed a lawsuit against Takata, the airbag manufacturer for Toyota. Solis, 35, was killed on Jan. 18 in a minor crash in Texas. The lawsuit alleges that as an air bag in his 2002 Honda Accord inflated, it sent a piece of metal into his neck. Solis was pronounced dead at the scene. His death has not officially been linked to the air bag, but officials are speculating the airbag played a role.

The vehicles are being recalled a second time to fix potentially faulty air bags that may inadvertently inflate while the car is running. Recalled vehicles include some Acura MDX, Dodge Viper, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Honda Odyssey, Pontiac Vibe, Toyota Corolla and Toyota Avalon models made from 2002 to 2004.

According to a statement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, all of the vehicles covered in Saturday’s announcement had already been under a recall for the defective air bags, but the carmakers’ original attempts to fix the defects worked only about 85% of the time. Since the initial recall, there have been about 400 reported cases of faulty air bag deployments in the recalled vehicles. The incidents resulted in minor injuries but no known deaths. The recall highlights the problems automakers and regulators face with increasing number of complex electronic systems.
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December 8, 2014

Honda Recalls Another 2.6 Million Cars with Takata Air Bags in the U.S.

by Altman & Altman

Honda Motor Co. said that it is expanding its U.S. recall of vehicles with Takata air bags to include another 2.6 million autos. The action, which had only applied to certain areas of the country with high humidity, has now gone national. The automaker says it will replace the air bag inflators on the vehicles.

The air bags, made by the Japanese supplier, are at risk of inflating too forcefully. Should this happen, an air bag explosion might occur, causing shrapnel from the safety device to shoot out in the vehicle, potentially causing debilitating even fatal injuries. At least five fatalities have been blamed on the faulty air bags. All of the vehicles involved with these fatalities were Hondas.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been calling on automakers with vehicles that have Takata air bags to make needed fixes to the safety devices. Honda is the only one to comply with the regulator’s demand so far. Ford, BMW, and Mazda haven’t decided whether to call for a national recall, while Chrysler has refused, as has Takata.