A consumer advocacy group is petitioning the government to ban the weight loss pill Meridia because a recent study suggests it increases risk of heart attack, stroke and death. A letter Thursday from Public Citizen calls on the Food and Drug Administration to pull Abbott Laboratories’ drug from the U.S.…
Once upon a time, asbestos was practically everywhere. Because the material causes devastating forms of cancer and lung disease, huge product-liability litigation sprung up. That led to huge settlements, which led to the establishment of huge trusts, created to assure payment to millions of current and future claimants. Some $20…
The Supreme Court has left in place an $82.6 million award to a woman who was paralyzed after her Ford Explorer rolled over. The justices rejected Ford Motor Co.’s challenge to the portion of the award, $55 million, that was intended as punitive damages. Ford argued that it should not…
The state Supreme Court reinstated an $8 million default judgment against Hyundai Motor Co. in a lawsuit over the backward collapse of a front seat in a 1997 crash that left a man paralyzed. In a 7-2 ruling, the high court reversed the Court of Appeals, which had overturned a…
The head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission conceded that the agency “hasn’t been acting as quickly as it should” on crib safety problems. More than 2.1 million drop-side cribs by Stork Craft Manufacturing of Canada are being recalled following reports of four infant suffocations. The CPSC said the recall…
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Merck osteoporosis drug Fosamax causes jaw damage, more than two months after a jury deadlocked in a case involving a similar claim. U.S. District Judge John Keenan found that Bessie Flemings, 74, a Mississippi resident, failed to present enough evidence to…
A Florida jury ordered cigarette maker Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million in damages to a 61-year-old ex-smoker named Cindy Naugle who is wheelchair-bound by emphysema. The Broward Circuit Court jury assessed $56.6 million in past and future medical expenses against the company, part of Altria Group Inc, as…
Two Pfizer Inc. units’ hormone- replacement therapy drugs caused an Illinois woman’s breast cancer, making them liable for at least $6.3 million in damages, a Philadelphia jury ruled. Jurors found that the combination of Wyeth’s Prempro and Pharmacia & Upjohn’s Provera menopause drugs was a substantial contributing factor in Donna…
Federal regulators are demanding changes to labels on devices that deliver pain killers directly to joints after surgery, in response to numerous reports of irreversible cartilage damage. The Food and Drug Administration said from 2006 to 2008 it received 35 reports of severe cartilage damage in patients who were given…
The Chinese drywall product liability complaint is now nearly a year old. And while incidents of Chinese drywall being installed in homes have all but stopped, complaints of bloody noses, sinus infections and vomiting spells for pets and people, widespread corrosion and blackening of copper tubing and wiring and “rotten…