Defective Products Legal News Articles & Interviews

Pensacola, FL Attorney Bryan Aylstock and his law firm is representing over 10,000 current and former U.S. military service members who have suffered hearing loss and tinnitus allegedly caused by 3M defective military earplugs. “We hold 3M accountable for what they did to our military brothers and sisters and what they did not tell them,” says Aylstock.

Santa Clara, CA Bayer stated on its website in June 2020 that it will make a total payment of $10.1 billion to $10.9 billion to resolve current and address potential future Roundup Litigation. The $10.1 billion figure will settle about 75 percent of Monsanto’s Roundup lawsuits by an estimated 125,000 people who claim exposure to its weed killer and other glyphosate herbicides caused them to develop the form of cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Santa Clara, CA A former volunteer firefighter diagnosed with testicular cancer has filed a PFAS/PFOA lawsuit similar to many other firefighters nationwide. They allege a number of firefighting foam manufacturers did not warn firefighters that their fluorochemical products contained PFAS and/or PFPS, which are toxic and carcinogenic chemicals.

Washington, DC  A recently published study links breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) to implants manufactured by seven pharmaceutical companies. In addition to Allergan, the manufacturer of Biocell textured breast implants, the study names Mentor Worldwide, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, Silimed Polyurethane, Eurosilicone, Nagor, Orion, and Poly Implant Prothèse. Allergan faces at least 150 product liability and class action lawsuits. Mentor faces a smaller number, and none of the others are yet facing litigation.

New York, NY Five more women have recently filed lawsuits against Cooper Surgical and Teva Pharmaceuticals claiming its ParaGard IUD broke while being removed. The ParaGard website warns consumers that its device sometimes gets stuck in the uterus, requiring surgical removal, but does not include a problem with it breaking apart.

Somerville, NJ In mid-October 2019, the FDA recalled Ethicon Echelon Flex surgical staplers because of a dangerous manufacturing failure that could cause serious health damage or even death. This followed, by only a few months, a recall of Ethicon Endo-Surgery curved intraluminal staplers, a defective medical product that posed similar dangers to patients.

Pensacola, FL A federal judge ruled in July that 3M ‘s defective earplug excuse cannot invoke the “government contractor defense,” which was key to 3M. The company has used this reasoning because it protects contractors from tort liability for defects in products designed and developed for the federal government, and 3M claimed its combat arms earplugs were designed in close collaboration with the military. Now that 3M is no longer immune to this defense, bellweather discovery is underway.

Silver Spring, MD  On August 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provided an update on adverse events relating to breast implants, including breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma. The new FDA update on BIA-ALCL reports a total of 733 cases and 36 patient deaths globally, an increase of 160 new cases and 3 deaths since July 2019. Of those 733 cases, 84.6 percent involved Allergan implants.

St Louis, MO In an attempt to stop the sale of the weedkiller Roundup, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed last month on behalf of the National Black Farmers Association against Bayer (which bought Monsanto). Farmers argue that they are forced to buy more and more Roundup-resistant seeds every year and the only way to break the cycle is to remove Roundup from the market.

Wilmington, DE On July 21, Hiheshia Bell, the widow of Carl Glasper, filed a Zantac cancer lawsuit in Delaware Superior Court alleging that Zantac killed her husband. The lawsuit, which has since been removed to federal district court for the District of Delaware, delves deeply into the scientific evidence that Zantac was toxic.