Medical device manufacturer Johnson & Johnson faces a variety of product liability lawsuits based on its DePuy ASR Hip Implants. The all-metal hip implants were inadequately tested before they were released for sale and experienced high failure rates.
Actos Lawsuit Alleges Drugmaker Was Aware of Adverse Effects
A recent whistleblower lawsuit alleges that drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. hid some of the adverse effects of its diabetes-drug Actos from federal regulators. The whistleblower alleges that the company was aware of a link between its dangerous prescription drug and hundreds of congested heart failure cases but opted not to report these events in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Adverse Event Reporting System.
Medication Errors Linked to Wrongful Deaths, Injuries
A study into prescription errors indicates that medication errors are shockingly common and often lead to the wrongful death of patients. One study of Canadian hospitals found that one in 13 patients suffered from a medical malpractice and that a quarter of these medical errors were drug-related.
Study: Poor Patients Less Likely to File Medmal Claims
A recently released study indicates that poorer patients are less likely to file medical malpractice claims than wealthier patients. The study, which was published in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, goes against the belief of some physicians that lower income patients are more likely to complain about the care that they receive.
Employment Laws Violated by Employers
California is among the states that see a higher-than-average number of federal class actions brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and these types of cases outnumber all other private class actions in this area of the law. Surprisingly, many of the FLSA and other employment cases stem from a lack of knowledge and compliance with employment laws by employers.
Lawsuits fight global warming on behalf of young people
Water is a big deal in California. Consequently, there is an entire sub-specialty of California law dealing with water and other environmental issues, based in part on the notion that natural resources belong to everyone. This was bolstered by a 1983 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a California case that the government has a duty to protect the "people's common heritage" under the public trust doctrine.
Company Sells Product Despite FDA Rejection
Rejection by the United States Food and Drug Administration was not enough to stop one company from selling a product outside the U.S. The well-known company Johnson & Johnson continued to sell its defective DePuy hip implant overseas, including in Europe, despite the FDA ban on the sale of this device in the United States because of safety concerns. Because regulations overseas can differ significantly from those in the United States, the company can say that it operated fully within the law.
