consumer protection

Published on: July 7, 2009

Georgia Home Depot Customer Awarded $1.5 Million in Premises Liability Lawsuit

A Home Depot customer, who sustained serious injuries in a Marietta store from a piece of wood falling off a folk lift, has been awarded $1.5 million in premises liability damages.

In 2005, Larry Reece was at a Home Depot in Marietta when a pallet of plywood fell about 24 feet on him. Reece suffered serious neck and spinal injuries that left him debilitated, and unable to continue his work as a residential contractor. According to his attorney, he settled with Home Depot over punitive damages, but the case had to go to jury trial over personal injury damages. He has now been awarded $1.5 million in damages, while his wife has been awarded $30,000 for loss of consortium as part of the damages.

Besides the debilitating injuries and the severe pain that he suffered, Reece also had to deal with the high expenses of hospitalization and other medical costs. Since the accident, Reece has racked up about $120,000 in medical expenses.He was required to have permanent hardware in his neck to resume his normal activities. Most traumatic of all, Reece who has been a construction worker all his life, was unable to return to his job. He lost his livelihood, along with the trauma and loss of income that that accompanies.

Published on: June 23, 2009

Nestle Cookie Dough Recalled After Reports of E. coli Poisoning

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Nestle SA has announced a recall of its Toll House cookie dough because of fears of E. coli contamination linked to dozens of cases of food poisoning nationwide. About 47 varieties of the cookie dough have been included in the recall.

The Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers not to eat Toll House refrigerated and prepackaged cookie dough because of the risk of E coli contamination. The agency has asked consumers who may have any of the pre packaged cookie dough to throw these away. Consumers have been advised that they could face the risk of food poisoning even if they cook the dough, because the bacteria might be transmitted to their hands and cooking surfaces. According to the FDA notice, the contamination was exposed in a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as state and local health departments.

So far, there have been 66 reports of illnesses from 29 states since March this year. 25 persons have been hospitalized and seven of these had suffered a complication called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome [HUS] which can end in kidney damage and even death.

Published on: May 8, 2009

FDA Warns Against Using Weight Loss Supplement Hydroxycut After Reports of Liver Injuries

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

In a month in which at least 34 weight loss products of a New York-based company were recalled by the FDA, the agency has issued another warning, this time to consumers who use popular weight loss supplement Hydroxycut, to stop using these immediately. The warning comes because of reported liver injuries in persons who took these products, including at least one death.

Hydroxycut has a lion’s share of the weight loss supplement market with close to 9 million bottles reportedly sold last year alone. The supplement is popular with people on a diet because of its appetite suppressing properties. Besides, it is used widely by bodybuilders to define muscle tone. According to the FDA, some of the Hydroxycut products also have a serious side effect – they cause liver injuries. At least one person’s death has been linked to the weight loss supplement. A 19-year-old man reportedly died in 2007 from liver injuries. Also one person has had to undergo a liver transplant procedure after he suffered liver damage from using the product. According to the FDA, it has received at least 23 reports of liver injuries caused by the supplement.

The company that makes Hydroxycut, Canada based-Iovate Health Sciences has agreed to recall all Hydroxycut products, even though the FDA has linked only about 14 Hydroxycut products to liver injuries. The company however denies that the sole death was linked to its product in any way.

Published on: March 26, 2009

Calls for FDA to Split Grow Louder

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Food and drug safety advocates and Georgia product liability attorneys have long called for a division of the Food and Drug Administration into separate agencies, each in charge of food and drug safety.These calls have gotten louder since the salmonella poisoning scandal earlier this year that’s been linked to contaminated peanut butter. It’s obvious that the agency is over burdened, over stressed, and simply unable to handle the responsibilities of making sure that the food and medical products that Americans consume are completely safe to use.

Hopes for a split of the agency into separate divisions for food and drug safety received impetus last week when President Barack Obama named two health experts to top positions at the FDA. The President has tipped former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to be the agency’s new commissioner. Joshua Sharfstein, a pediatrician has been picked by the President to be deputy commissioner. Sharfstein has long been a strong critic of health issues, including the safety of children’s cold medicines. FDA insiders believe that the President’s choice of 2 respected health experts points to his being in favor of dividing the agency into two. The President has also appointed an advisory group which will be re-evaluating archaic American food safety laws, many of which are several decades old.

The FDA has traditionally focused on drug safety as its primary responsibility, and critics have complained that the issue of food safety comes up at the agency only when there is a crisis like the recent salmonella epidemic. It has been apparent even to a casual observer that the FDA has too many responsibilities and too few resources. The drug industry is reportedly in favor of a split agency because it would lead to quicker drug approvals. Besides, having a single drug safety agency will mean better oversight over drug approvals, and more stringent following of approval processes.

Published on: March 6, 2009

Democratic Lawmakers Introducing Legislation to Overturn Immunity for Medical Device Companies

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Democratic lawmakers are planning to introduce legislation that would overturn a Supreme Court decision in February 2008 barring injured patients from suing a medical device company if the device had already received Food and Drug Administration FDA approval. In effect, the legislation promises to return patients their right to sue medical device makers for injuries sustained after using their products.

In February 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that injured patients or their survivors could not sue companies that manufactured medical devices that had FDA approval. Since the ruling was passed, judges around the country have thrown out several hundreds of lawsuits that were filed by patients and their families against manufacturers of defective medical devices. Now Henry A Waxman, Democrat from California and Frank Pallone Junior Democrat from New Jersey, have plans to introduce legislation that would overturn the Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court ruling was based on the premise that approval by the FDA took preemption or precedence over product liability laws in individual states. Judges around the country have cited the Supreme Court decision as the reason for their dismissal of several medical device product liability lawsuits.

Since the Supreme Court ruling was passed, Atlanta product liability attorneys, pharmaceutical injury experts and patients’ advocates have been vocal in their opposition to the law which essentially cuts off individual rights to justice in the event of an injury. It is important to understand how serious some of these injuries are. Defective Medtronic defibrillators have resulted in a massive shock being delivered to patients’ heart, and there have been other serious injuries including burning and scarring injuries caused by malfunctioning joints and other devices. These injured victims used devices that were approved by the FDA, but can hope for little justice as long as the Supreme Court decision rules. The FDA has time and again failed in its duty to make sure that medical devices entering the market are free of defects. It has severe critics both within and outside the organization who are concerned about botched approval procedures, and even corruption at the agency. If the new Democrat-sponsored legislation passes, patients can hope for justice again.

Published on: February 26, 2009

Drywall in Georgia Homes Poses Health Concerns

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

If it isn’t contaminated drugs, tainted milk products and lead painted toys that Georgia product liability attorneys constantly encounter, it’s the prospect of being poisoned in your own home by defective drywall. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is investigating whether gases emitted from Chinese-made drywall pose a safety risk to house owners, including those in Georgia.

The investigation is linked to complaints of sulfur-like gases that were being emitted from the drywall, resulting in corrosion of electrical wiring and plumbing in a few homes in Florida. Drywall is commonly used in the construction of interior walls, and currently the CPSC has no standards for the material. The drywall that has been the focus of close to 100 complaints by homeowners in Florida to the state’s department of health, was imported from China due to a shortage. The CPSC investigation will look at whether there are potential safety hazards in the use of the drywall, and whether a recall needs to be issued for the defective drywall. Besides Florida, the problem is expected to be particularly high in gulf coast states like Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. Parts of Louisiana and Mississippi that were badly ravaged by Katrina are likely to have several houses that were rebuilt after the hurricane, using the toxic drywall.

Symptoms of sulphur poisoning from the drywall include sulphur odors that are similar to the smell of rotten eggs. The house may have more problems with this electrical wiring and air conditioning systems that can’t be explained easily. Most importantly, people living in the house could be experiencing frequent respiratory tract infections, and unexplained dizziness.

Published on: February 3, 2009

Georgia Peanut Butter Plant Has History of Poor Sanitation

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

The Georgia peanut butter plant at the center of the salmonella food poisoning crisis has a poor sanitation record, and has frequently been cited for health and sanitation violations, the NY Times (via Tort Deform) reports.Judging by the condition of the plant in our very own Blakely, Georgia, the media and food poisoning lawyers should not even be surprised that a nationwide outbreak of deadly salmonella poisoning has originated from this facility.

The Peanut Corporation of America plant has been cited several times since 2006 for health violations. Inspectors have frequently found the facility full of large gaping holes in its food security mechanisms. These include grease accumulation inside the facility, doors with large holes that a rat could easily squeeze through, and dirt and grime everywhere.The plant had areas caked with rust that could easily disperse and fall into food products, and poor sanitization of surfaces meant for food processing.Peanut butter packets were left lying around uncovered. These violations continued even till 2008, when inspection reports continued to mention numerous violations.

Dirty and unsanitary conditions breed rodents and insects.Animal feces are just one of the ways that the salmonellum bacterium spreads.The risk of infectious disease is the reason why food processing and preparation plants and establishments that serve food like restaurants, are put though numerous safety inspections.From the report in the Times, it seems like that the plant was a salmonellosis time bomb waiting to go off.

Published on: January 30, 2009

FDA Reviewing Drug Labeling Charges

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Product and pharmaceutical liability lawyers have been seriously worried about the impending outcome of Wyeth vs. Levine and the preemption doctrine.

In December, this blog discussed the case of Wyeth and Levine and federal/state preemption issues. We await the United States Supreme Court’s decision on this issue. Meanwhile, the FDA is having to answer to these problems.

The New York Times is reporting that the U.S Food and Drug Administration may be launching criminal investigations into complaints made by several scientists against agency officials. The complaints go back to November of 2008 when the House Energy and Commerce Committee received a letter from scientists at the FDAs Center for Devices and Radiological Health division. The letter made serious allegations that management at the CDRH had been interfering with the process of approving medical devices. The scientists complained that they were being "forced" into rushing ahead to approve devices, bypassing standard procedures. The letter galvanized the ECC committee to launch an enquiry. Now, nine scientists who had made that complaint have written a letter to President Obama alleging that FDA officials may launch criminal investigations into those complaints. The letter states that it is "an outrage that our agency would step up the retaliation to such a level because we have reported their wrongdoing to the United States Congress."

Published on: January 24, 2009

Worst Toys of 2008 – Will 2009 Be Any Better?

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

The year 2000 was the year of several dangerous toy recalls, many of which were the focus of product liability lawsuits around the country.This list of the 10 most dangerous toys of 2008 includes toys that pose hazards of choking and aspiration, lead contaminated toys as well as those that are prone to fire and burn hazards.

It isn’t clear if the list is in any particular order of danger or number of injuries caused, but it kicks off with Air Hogs RC Helicopters that came with the danger of exploding lithium-powered batteries.Many of the toy related scares of 2008 – and there were plenty of them – were linked to children being able to remove the detachable magnets from toys, and swallow these. Several dozen children were rushed to emergency rooms with perforated intestines, after swallowing magnets that later began to stick to each other through intestinal walls. Most of these injuries required surgery.The toys that came with magnets attached included earrings that contained a small magnet inside, and these make it to the list too. Other noteworthy defective playthings include backpacks containing off-the-chart levels of lead contamination, balloon sets, Dora the Explorer Lamps (which are actually electrical items and not really play things, but try explaining that to kids who see their favorite Dora on the lamp, and want to play with her), and high decibel High School Musical Rockerz.

Also on the list are children’s toys containing phthalates, a chemical compound that is often mixed with plastic to make it softer. These have been found connected to reproductive problems in male children, including a drop in testosterone levels, as well as genital abnormalities.Linking phthalates to these disorders has been the easy part – the challenge lies in finding out what products contain these chemicals, present as they are in a variety of consumer products, from air fresheners to teething rings.Phthalates are never mentioned in the list of ingredients, which means that most of us who use these cosmetics, perfumes, cleaners, and toys risk being exposed to them every day.Expect to hear more reports of injuries and illnesses associated with phthalates use in toys in 2009.

Published on: January 22, 2009

FDA Continues to Sleep Over Food Safety

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Seattlepi.com has an interesting story about how well we can expect our federal agencies to ensure that the food that makes it to our tables is safe to eat. The focus of the story is but naturally, the salmonella food poisoning crisis that has engulfed the country with 6 deaths connected to the epidemic so far.

The biggest source of concern to American consumers in this latest crisis, the report says is the manner in which the Food and Drug Administration dragged its feet for more than three months before confirming an outbreak. The latest crisis that has involved the agency’s food safety protocol has had consumer safety advocates, food poisoning lawyers as well as the public, wondering how the FDA which found out weeks ago that the Georgia plant of Peanut Corporation of America was the source of the particular strain of Salmonella found in the contaminated peanut butter, could have waited so long before they even confirmed the source. The FDA continued to mouth the same line – that the peanut butter in question was only sold to restaurants, nursing homes and food companies, but they still have not released a list of all Peanut Corporation of America clients who may have received the contaminated butter. The FDA’s outdated practices mean that manufacturers are rarely forced to recall their products. The agency prefers to rely on voluntary recalls by companies, and in many cases, these are too late to prevent severe illnesses.

More companies meanwhile are queuing up to announce recalls of their products that contain peanut butter. General Mills has recalled 2 varieties of snack bars because butter used in the snacks came from the Peanut Corporation of America. Other companies including Perry’s Ice cream Company, Food Lion Cookie, Hy-Vee Inc, have all removed their products containing peanut butter from store shelves as a precautionary measure because of the fear that these could contain traces of the contaminated butter.