Roche Holding AG, the Swiss drugmaker, must pay $25.16 million in damages to a former user of its Accutane drug who blamed the acne medicine for his inflammatory bowel disease, a New Jersey jury ruled. Andrew McCarrell, 38, won the verdict at a retrial in Atlantic City, New Jersey. An…
Articles Posted in Product Liability
Toyota Acceleration Complaints Cite 34 Deaths, U.S. Data Show
Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles have been linked to 34 deaths by consumers filing complaints with the U.S. government over unexpected acceleration, according to the Transportation Department. The total jumped by 13 fatalities since Jan. 27 as nine more filings were added to a database the department’s National Highway Traffic Safety…
WFAA: Wife of Southlake Texas Driver Who Died Slams Toyota
The wife of the driver of a 2008 Avalon that shot into a pond in Southlake and flipped, killing four people, said she believes quicker action by Toyota could have prevented the tragedy. Linda Hardy’s husband, Monty, was behind the wheel of his car that landed upside down in a…
Toyota Car Recall: Now Electronics Questions
The company vigorously denies that its vehicles’ acceleration problems might stem from an electronic or software glitch. But it remains an open question, and any such finding would be devastating. In the nearly five months since it launched a string of recalls to stop its cars from accelerating out of…
Colorado Man’s Crusade to Bring Attention to Defective Toyota Cars
A Colorado man has fought mostly unsuccessfully to get his concerns heard since his wife’s Prius car accident in 2006. Before his wife’s Prius suddenly accelerated uncontrollably to 90 miles per hour on a mountain highway, you’d have been hard-pressed to find a bigger fan of Toyota than Ted James.…
Defective PVC Bursting Pipes Lead to a Legal Battle
State and local governments across the country may have to replace their water systems because of defective pipes, according to a whistle-blower lawsuit unsealed this week. The whistle-blower, John Hendrix, accuses his former employer, one of the world’s largest pipe manufacturers, of falsifying test results about the quality of its…
Ex NHTSA Regulators Hired by Toyota Helped Halt Investigations
Former regulators hired by Toyota Motor Corp. helped end at least four U.S. investigations of unintended acceleration by company vehicles in the last decade, warding off possible recalls, court and government records show. Christopher Tinto, vice president of regulatory affairs in Toyota’s Washington office, and Christopher Santucci, who works for…
Toyota Units Named in Suit Claiming Racketeering
Four Toyota Motor Corp. units were named as defendants in a racketeering lawsuit that claims the companies collaborated to sell cars they knew were unsafe. The lawsuit, filed Feb. 8 in federal court in Covington, Kentucky, targets Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc., as well units that produce…
Toyota Faces Massive Legal Liability From Defective Cars
Legal expenses and damages could add billions to Toyota’s recall costs, with dozens of suits pending over injuries and deaths and at least 30 seeking class-action status over lost use of vehicles. Toyota Motor Corp.’s massive recalls for acceleration and braking problems are creating a huge legal liability for the…
Boston Scientific Defibrillator Safety Questioned
Two defibrillator brands made by Boston Scientific Corp. have a design flaw that can result in the devices delivering potentially life-threatening shocks to the hearts of patients, authors of a medical journal article say. The defect can cause the Cognis and Teligen brand defibrillators to deliver the shocks when they…