Articles Posted in Product Liability

Two Summons with Notice have been filed in The New York County Supreme Court alleging that GE’s failure to properly design and maintain the Fukushima plant hurt more than 100,000 people. Lead plaintiff Mitsuru Okura demands at least $3 million per plaintiff and the second plaintiffs Sasaki Body Ltd. and Mihana Ltd are seeking $5 million in damages per class member. If successful these class actions could wipe out GE whose market capitalization is estimated at $260 billion.

Okura claims that GE’s negligence caused the explosion and the meltdown at the plant and that the radiation released from this accident caused class members “personal injury, mental anguish, emotional distress, property damage, business interruption, loss of business, loss of income, economic injuries, and ongoing long-term physical, mental and emotional health problems,”

Read more in the Court House News Service

A defect in Chrysler’s Ready Alert Braking system is causing a diminished break pedal feel in the 2012-2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango models. The defect didn’t lead to any accidents or injuries as Chrysler pointed out that the brake function was never lost nor was it out of compliance with regulations. The recall affects more than 25,000 cars in North America.

Chrysler also announced a separate recall for its 2014 Fiat 500L model because of a glitch in the transmission software that prevents some vehicles from shifting readily out of park. No accident nor injury have been reported. The fix consists of a software update and affects a little less than 20,000 cars in North America with some 20% of them remaining on dealer lots.

Read more in the Washington Post

4 patients died and 5 others suffered significant personal injury after Thoratec, a heart device manufacturer launched an updated version of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), the HeartMate II LVAS, without providing sufficient information and training to patients and caregivers especially those who were originally trained on the older model.
The manufacturer issued a worldwide Urgent Medical Device Correction Letter to update its labeling and training material regarding the use of the HeartMate II® LVAS Pocket System Controller. The FDA issued a safety alert urging patients who are using the HeartMate II LVAS Pocket Controller to immediately contact their doctor for retraining and receive updated information on how to properly use the pump.

Read more in MarketWatch

Following General Motors car recalls related to a defective ignition switch, The NHTSA has opened a Timeless Query, TQ14-001 and sent a Special Order to GM with a list of 107 questions that must be answered by April 3rd 2014.
In a recent article in the New York Times, Christopher Jensen looks at some of the most interesting and unusual questions.

A methylmercury strict product liability claim against Bumble Bee will proceed. A New York federal Court refused to dismiss claims that the tuna company is strictly liable for and was negligent in failing to warn about the mercury in its products in a lawsuit alleging personal injury from excessive consumption of Bumble Bee’s tuna products which contain methylmercury. Porrazzo v. Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, No. 10-4367 (U.S. Dist. Ct., S.D.N.Y., order entered February 27, 2014).

Read more on Lexology

Adding to the costs of potential product liability lawsuits and the costs of replacing the defective ignition switch, General Motors is now facing a fine from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The agency announced yesterday that it “opened an investigation into the timeliness of General Motors’ recall of faulty ignition switches to determine whether GM properly followed the legal processes and requirements for reporting recalls”.

Read more on Reuters.com

A defective circuit breaker in some Nissan Frontier pickup trucks may cause a fire therefore Nissan is recalling 16,838 model years 2012 through 2014 in North America. No accidents or injury have been reported so far.

Read more at Reuters.com

Imported sub-standard quality and defective drugs were the central theme of FDA Commissioner, Margaret Hamburg’s visit to India. The visit was organized after the FDA recently banned the import of drugs and drug ingredients from several large Indian manufacturers for quality reasons. The commissioner met with health officials, regulators and drug makers executives including those of the banned companies.

Both countries agreed that their regulators would work more closely to better coordinate regulatory oversight as well as organize seminars, webinars, meetings and training sessions.

India is the second largest drug importer in the US after Canada and supplies 40% of the generic and over the counter drugs used in the US. Recently the FDA has been concerned by the increase of defective or low quality drugs imported from India. Weak domestic regulatory oversight and a lax approach to quality control by some manufacturers are the main reasons why a significant quantity of low quality or defective drugs reach the American market undetected.