Product LiabilityRSS

  • March 16, 2009

    Drug Cos. Hid SSRI Risks, Paid Docs Kickbacks: Suit

    Pfizer Inc., Forest Laboratories Inc. and Warner-Lambert Co. have been hit with a proposed class action accusing them of coordinating a scheme to mask suicide risks associated with antidepressants Lexapro and Celexa in pediatric patients while simultaneously offering doctors kickbacks to prescribe the drugs for younger patients.

  • March 13, 2009

    Schering-Plough To Settle Securities Suit For $165M

    After announcing its $41 billion merger deal with Merck & Co. earlier in the week, Clarinex maker Schering-Plough Corp. on Friday confirmed a $165 million deal that settles a consolidated securities class action over the drugmaker’s alleged failure to disclose information about the manufacturing safety problems that led to a delay of the drug's release.

  • March 13, 2009

    Asbestosis Exclusions Mean Just That: Texas Court

    In a case involving bankrupt copper mining company Asarco LLC, a Texas state court judge has ruled that insurance policy exclusions barring coverage of asbestosis claims do not bar coverage for claims involving other asbestos-related diseases.

  • March 13, 2009

    GSK Could Face Punitive Damages Over Paxil Case

    A district judge has denied a summary judgment to GlaxoSmithKline PLC, ordering documents the drug manufacturer said contain trade secrets unsealed, and paving the way for punitive damages in a product liability case filed by a user who claims the antidepressant Paxil was a factor in his suicide attempt.

  • March 13, 2009

    3rd Circ. Tosses 44 Asbestos Claims V. WR Grace

    A federal judge has thrown out 44 claims against bankrupt chemical company W.R. Grace & Co. for asbestos-related property damage, affirming a lower court's decision that they were filed too late.

  • March 13, 2009

    Bill Would Ban BPA In All Food And Drink Containers

    The controversial chemical bisphenol A would be banned from all food and beverage containers in the U.S. under a bill introduced Friday by three members of Congress.

  • March 13, 2009

    NC Sens. Propose Tobacco Regulatory Agency

    Two North Carolina senators have proposed a bill to establish a federal agency to regulate tobacco, posing an alternative to a similar measure in the U.S. House of Representatives, which would put tobacco under the purview of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

  • March 13, 2009

    Tuna Cos. Dodge Calif. Mercury-Labeling Requirement

    The Court of Appeal of the State of California has shot down the state's bid to require canned tuna fish distributors to include warnings to pregnant woman that the products contain methylmercury.

  • March 12, 2009

    Lloyd's Can't Defer Interest On Asbestos Claims: Court

    An appeals court affirmed a ruling against Lloyd's of London on Thursday, saying a coverage-in-placement agreement between the insurer and a chemical company limits the claims amount Lloyd's must pay to $10 million per year, and the insurer is required to dole out interest on rollover payments.

  • March 12, 2009

    NJ Appeals Court Nixes $2.6M Ruling Against Roche

    In a boost for Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., a New Jersey appellate court has vacated a judgment that awarded $2.6 million to a man who claimed he had to have surgery to remove his colon after taking the acne treatment Accutane.

  • March 12, 2009

    Bug In Cardinal Drug Pump Could Trigger Wrong Doses

    Cardinal Health Inc. has reported a “potential risk” in one of its drug pumps that could deliver the wrong amount of medicine, just a few weeks after it signed a consent decree with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration clarifying recall protocol for its pumps.

  • March 12, 2009

    Breast Implant Case Preempted By Riegel: Judge

    Citing preemption by federal law, a federal judge has dismissed a products liability case against Allergan Inc. accusing the company of making silicone breast implants that were unreasonably dangerous.

  • March 12, 2009

    Judge Signs Off On BP's $50M Guilty Plea

    Marking the largest U.S. environmental criminal fine in history, a federal judge has reportedly given the green light to a $50 million plea deal by BP PLC to lay to rest charges related to a deadly explosion in 2005 at the oil magnate's Texas City, Texas, plant that killed 15 workers and injured 180 more.

  • March 13, 2009

    Jury Hands Deceased Popcorn Worker $7.5M

    A federal jury rendered a $7.5 million verdict in favor of an American Pop Corn Co. employee one day after the man died of lung and heart failure related to the condition he had claimed was caused by working with buttery flavoring used to make microwave popcorn.

  • March 11, 2009

    Covidien Tracheostomy Tube Recall Listed As Class I

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has listed Covidien Ltd.'s nationwide recall of some its pediatric tracheostomy tubes as a Class I — the most serious type of recall in which there is “a reasonable probability that use of these products will cause serious injury or death.”

  • March 11, 2009

    Obama Picks Public Health Expert To Head FDA

    The Obama administration has reportedly tagged former New York City health commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg as its first choice for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s top job, ending a months-long search.

  • March 11, 2009

    Seroquel MDL Judge Upholds Ban On Foreign Evidence

    AstraZeneca LP has prevailed in its battle to keep out evidence of overseas regulatory actions from upcoming trials in multidistrict U.S. litigation over the drugmaker's blockbuster anti-psychotic medication Seroquel.

  • March 12, 2009

    Plaintiff Asks To Unseal Seroquel Materials For FDA

    A man who claims that AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP's Seroquel XR caused his diabetes has asked a New Jersey judge to unseal discovery materials related to clinical trials of the drug in order to share the information with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as it considers widening the anti-psychotic's use as an antidepressant.

  • March 11, 2009

    Proposed Bill Would Make Restaurants Post Calories

    A Delaware senator has introduced a bill that would compel restaurant chains to include calories, sugar and sodium amounts and other nutritional information on their menus.

  • March 11, 2009

    Grand Jury Probes Stryker Over Device Marketing

    Federal grand jurors are investigating whether Stryker Corp. subsidiary Stryker Biotech illegally promoted its medical products and filed false reports with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the medical technology company revealed Tuesday.