Articles Posted in Product Defect Litigation

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It would be hard to miss the multiple news releases and stories that General Motors has some big problems with its 2005-2007 Chevrolet Cobalt and its 2007 Pontiac G5.  General Motors is recalling these vehicles because a heavy key chain or rough roads can jar the key, turn off the engine and disable the airbags.  According to recent reports, General Motors has linked the defect to 31 crashes and 12 deaths.

However, there were no recalls of these vehicle until this year, so used car buyers considering a General Motors model may not have known of the faulty ignition switches.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has said that on outstanding recalls, about 30% of the owners do not return the car to the dealer for the recall fix.  Carfax, which sells reports tracing the history of used cars, says that 3.5 million vehicles were sold last year that had defects subject to a manufacturer’s recall but had not had the repair done.

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Fox Factory, located in Watsonville, Calif., has recalled Evolution 2013 mountain bike suspension forks. Built for the model year 2013, the recalled suspension forks are for the series 32 and 34, with a 120 mm to 160 mm. 

The suspension forks’ damper cylinder/pistons can separate and cause the front wheel to detach, which could be dangerous to riders.  The Evolution name and logo are on the sticker on the front fork with the Fox brand name logo.  

Bike retailers nationwide sold bikes that fit this recall between August 2012 and October 2013 as original equipment on the bikes.

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Liam O’Neill bought a 2000 GMC Jimmy SUV.  On July 3, 2001, his wife, Mary, was driving home in the SUV when the vehicle suddenly stopped.  She was in the eastbound lane of a 2-lane street.  Mary attempted to restart the SUV several times but it would not start.

She called a tow truck and her husband came out to help her push the SUV off the road. Mary then turned on her hazard lights and Liam pushed the car on the driver’s side, while steering. Mary pushed from behind.

While the O’Neills were trying to move the SUV, a car driven by Raymond Martin struck the rear of the SUV.  Liam was knocked to the ground and Mary’s legs were pinned between the two vehicles, which led to her legs being amputated above the knee.  Other cars had passed the O’Neills’ SUV while it was stopped without incident. The weather was clear and there were no visual obstructions or obstacles that hindered a view of the O’Neills’ stalled vehicle. 

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Federal District Court Judge Hon. David R. Herndon of the Southern District of Illinois has ordered that Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIPI) pay $1 million in sanctions for discovery abuses in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) involving the oral anticoagulant Predaxa. This same U.S. Federal District Court, also in the Southern District of Illinois, is where many of the country’s  Yasmin and YAZ (Drospirenone)  birth control injury cases are being handled; also in an MDL.

Judge Herndon found that BIPI, the maker of Predaxa, had chosen not to produce thousands of documents to the plaintiffs, which the judge determined was bad-faith conduct. 

According to the order, BIPI and its German parent company were unable to explain why it chose not to produce critical documents and communications by a deadline set by the judge. The deadline was in June 2012. 

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DePuy Orthopaedics is the subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The company has agreed to pay $2.475 billion to settle what amounts to thousands of claims related to patient injuries suffered as a result of defective ASR hip implant parts.  The settlement was approved by U.S. District Judge David A. Katz of the Northern District of Ohio. Judge Katz is overseeing the consolidated multidistrict litigation (MDL) of more than 10,000 DePuy claims.

The ASR XL Acetabular and ASR Hip Resurfacing Systems were recalled in August 2010 after reports that there was an unusually high rate of that device failing within five years after being surgically implanted.  

Individuals who had this hip replacement device implanted have suffered a number of different kinds of ailments. For one, because of the metal-on-metal parts contained within the hip system, patients have developed metallosis, which is metal poisoning. Shavings from the metal-on-metal device move from the hip ball into the hip socket, causing small metal particles to enter the bloodstream. 

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Scott Weigle and John Moore, two mechanics, were working on a trailer from a semi-truck. Weigle and Moore had considerable experience as mechanics working at a trucking repair company.

On July 31, 2009, Weigle and Moore were about to do a job to rebuild the braking system on a semi-truck trailer.  They used an airlift to raise the rear portion of the trailer and then lowered the trailer onto two support stands.  Weigle had already begun work on the trailer when Moore came over to help.  The trailer moved as both mechanics were working underneath, causing the support stands to tip over and the trailer came crashing down on the two men.  Both Weigle and Moore suffered serious injuries.

The two support stands were designed by the company SPX.  These support stands consist of a conical base, an extension tube and a support pin. 

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Jack Taylor was a motocross enthusiast from the downstate Illinois town of Lewistown. Taylor replaced a tire for his motocross bike on July 9, 2009 with a new one he purchased from a store in Peoria, Ill.  On July 11, 2009, Taylor went to the Sunset Ridge MX MotoCross Course in Walton, which is near Lewistown.

While using the course, Taylor attempted to jump. When he landed on the front tire, the one he had only recently replaced, it blew out and caused him to be injured. Taylor was taken to a nearby hospital and then transferred to another hospital in Peoria. 

On June 21, 2012, Taylor filed a lawsuit against Lemans Corp., Moose Racing, Parts Unlimited and Gibbs Motor Corp., alleging strict liability for a defective product, negligence and breach of implied warranties. The lawsuit that Taylor filed was in Cook County. The defendants moved to transfer the case to Bureau County, where the motocross course was located. The motion was brought under the doctrine of forum non conveniens.

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Mario Olguin, 51, bought a used set of mismatched tires, including a 13-year-old Michelin tire from A-Car Wrecking Salvage Lot.  Olguin took the tires to Twin’s Tires and Wheels, where the tires were installed on his vehicle. Eleven days later and while Olguin was a passenger in the vehicle, a tread on a Michelin tire separated. The Olguin party was traveling on a highway in Mexico. The driver lost control of the vehicle, which caused it to roll over.

Olguin suffered a spinal fracture at C2, a mild traumatic brain injury and significant wounds to his head and both arms. He was taken to a hospital in Mexico where he was placed in a halo brace and underwent skin grafting for his wounds. He also underwent an epidural and nerve-block injections for pain. Olguin still suffers pain in his neck and back. He also suffers from depression, mood disorder and cognitive problems that affect his decision-making and thought-processing skills. 

Once spontaneous and independent, Olguin now relies on his family for everything. His past medical expenses totaled nearly $307,000. His future medical expenses and life-care costs are estimated to be $1.5 million. At the time of this incident, Olguin owned and operated a landscape company. He has returned to work in a different job. There were no claims for lost earnings.  Olguin sued A-Car and Twin’s Tires and Wheels claiming that the companies were negligent in selling and installing a tire that was 13 years old and showed signs of weather cracking.

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According to a recent Chicago U.S. District Court decision, a Maine aircraft repair company cannot be brought into a court in Illinois. The decision was based on an argument that because the company’s website can be accessed in Illinois, jurisdiction would lie in U.S. District Court.

In the written opinion issued by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Ruben Castillo, the lawsuit was dismissed.

Clover Technologies LLC, based in Ottawa, Ill., filed a lawsuit against Oxford Aviation Inc. of Oxford, Maine. 

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A confidential settlement agreement was reached just two weeks before the start of a bellwether case in a coordinated litigation in California regarding hip implants. The terms of the settlement agreement were not revealed. 

The trial had been scheduled to begin in the middle of October 2013.  The next bellwether trial is set to begin in January 2014 in Los Angeles.  Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., face thousands of lawsuits at the federal and state levels regarding the ASR implants. 

In March 2013, a Los Angeles jury returned a verdict of $8.3 million in damages to a retired prison guard who claimed that he was injured by the device. This was the first such trial against the orthopedic company.

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