Suit against Mattel toy company over lead paint

A lawsuit was filed on Monday against Mattel — America’s largest toy company — because several of the company’s products were found to contain excessive amounts of lead.

A little over a week ago, Mattel recalled hundreds of thousands of die-cast toy cars because the paint used on the toys contained unsafe levels of lead. (The cars portrayed the character of “Sarge” from the 2006 Pixar film Cars.)

Several weeks before that, nearly 1 million toys were recalled by a subsidiary of Mattel for the same reason. (These toys included ones that portrayed characters from both Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer.)

All of the products in question had actually been manufactured in China.

The suit, filed by attorney Jeffrey Killino in California, aims to “compel the toy giant to set up a fund to test kids who may have been exposed to the recalled products for lead poisoning” according to CNN. Killino said he will consider expanding the suit into a class action if many children are found to have been poisoned by the metal.

A similar (but separate) suit filed earlier this month in Florida is also aiming for class action status.

Lead is particularly toxic to the bodies and brains of young children. It can cause learning disabilities, blood disorders, brain disorders, and damage the nervous system.

Mattel is the parent company of Fisher-Price, American Girl, and Radica USA. If you think you own a toy that was affected by one of the recalls (complete list can be found here) contact Mattel directly.

Merck Loses Second Vioxx Trial

After a long silence, finally there’s news about Vioxx (from a AP article published today):

NEW ORLEANS - Merck & Co. lost the second federal trial over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx on Thursday and must pay $51 million to a retired FBI agent who had a heart attack after taking the drug for more than two years, a jury decided.

The jury found that Merck & Co. “knowingly misrepresented or failed to disclose” information about the drug to retired FBI agent Gerald Barnett’s doctors. It said Barnett should get $50 million in compensatory damages.

Then, after hearing more arguments, the jurors added a $1 million punitive damage award, finding that Merck “acted in wanton, malicious, willful or reckless disregard for the plaintiff’s rights.”

So, the first federal trial was held twice — the first deadlocked and was declared a mistrial, while the second ended with a verdict for Merck.

What made this one different? It could have been the fact that the jury was made up of 8 older men who sympathized with the plaintiff (himself an older man).

Two federal Merck trials down, thousands of federal Merck trials to go…

Vioxx Plaintiff Gets $13.5 Million

…but, of course, Merck plans to appeal.

The 77-year-old man, who blamed his heart attack on Merck’s Vioxx, won $9 million today after already being awarded $4.5 million, bringing his grand total to $13.5 million.

This was the 6th trial over Vioxx, and “the first involving people alleging use of 18 months or more.” That 18-month benchmark is significant because “the study that prompted Merck to voluntarily withdraw the drug found that its risks doubled after 18 months’ use.”

In its only other loss in a Vioxx case, Merck was ordered last August to pay $253 million to the widow of a man who died after taking the drug for a short time.

Merck is gong to face almost 10,000 more cases in state and federal courts, and the company “has vowed to try them one at a time.” That’s gotta be one happy (and rich) team of lawyers…

Source: Yahoo News

Rocky Flats Class Action Wrapping Up

Here’s the start of an AP article published at The Denver Channel:

After hearing months of testimony, a federal court jury was expected to soon begin deliberating whether the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant contaminated neighboring land with plutonium as claimed by thousands of residents.

Residents filed a class-action lawsuit against Rockwell International Corp. and Dow Chemical Co., which operated the plant at separate times for the federal government. The suit claims contamination from the plant, which shut down in 1989, drastically reduced property values for about 13,000 landowners.

Defense attorneys have said damages could reach $500 million. The government would cover the damages and the companies’ legal bills because they were operating as contractors.

Rocky Flats, just west of Denver, made plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads. It was closed because of safety problems and the end of the Cold War. Dow operated the plant from the 1950s until 1975; Rockwell ran it from 1975 until the plant was shut down.

For the rest, click here. For more information, try the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board.

Class Action Over Pfizer’s Depo-Provera

Another headache for Pfizer:

Canadian women looking for a trouble-free way to prevent pregnancy may be making themselves susceptible to osteoporosis, a condition that causes bones to become fragile and more likely to fracture.

A $700-million class action lawsuit has been filed against the makers of Depo-Provera, a birth control injection prescribed to more than 600,000 Canadians last year. The lawsuit alleges that women who have taken the contraceptive have developed osteoporosis.

Depo-Provera is made by international drug conglomerate Pfizer, also responsible for popular prescription drugs Viagra, Zoloft and Celebrex. Users are given an injection every three months and have a less than one per cent chance of getting pregnant while on the medication, according to the drug maker’s website.

Tracey Bourque, 33, recently found out she has the bone density of a 55-year-old woman. Bourque and her doctor wonder if it is linked to her use of Depo-Provera.

Depo-Provera was tested in the 1980s and approved in Canada in 1997. Two million prescriptions for the drug have been written in Canada in the past four years.

One year ago, Pfizer warned Canadian and American officials the drug could lead to bone density loss. The United States issues a warning shortly afterwards saying the drug should not be used as a long-term contraceptive. Health Canada issued similar statements in November, 2004, and June and July this year.

“The data indicate that women who use Depo-Provera may lose significant (bone mineral density),” states the July Health Canada warning. “The data also indicate that bone loss is greater with increasing duration of use and may not be completely reversible.”

[…]

According to lawyer Glyn Hotz, Bourque isn’t the only concerned person. He told CTV that he has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of a group of woman who also worry about a link between Depo-Provera and bone deterioration.

“We’ve seen people who have had multiple fractures, required knee replacements,” he said Monday. “We’ve got somebody who is in her twenties who is on the borderline for having a hip replacement.”

For the rest, click here.

Canadian class action over Bayer’s Baycol

Two Manitoba women have filed a class action against Bayer, maker of the cholesterol-reducing drug Baycol:

The German-based company voluntarily removed the drug from the market in August 2001 after 31 deaths were attributed to its use.

Five months later, Bayer confirmed that almost 100 deaths were linked to Baycol. It’s believed the drug has caused debilitating muscle and kidney ailments in thousands of people.

The women’s claim was approved as a class action suit by a Manitoba judge after a certification hearing last year.

[…]

The class action suit is the first to be filed in Manitoba under a new law which sets out the procedures and rules for class action suits.

Previously, class actions were permitted in Manitoba but were difficult to pursue because there were no rules and they seldom went to trial.

The class action suit says the two women continued to experience muscle pain and loss even after they stopped taking the drug. Bayer is facing a number of class action suits as a result of the drug.

Philip Morris *wins* a case

AP is reporting that “the Illinois Supreme Court handed the tobacco industry a huge victory Thursday by tossing out a $10.1 billion fraud judgment against Philip Morris USA over the marketing of its “light” cigarettes.”

The Illinois case came to the state’s high court from Madison County Judge Nicholas Byron, who in March 2003 ordered the company to pay $10.1 billion — $5 billion in compensatory damages, $3 billion in punitive damages and $2.1 billion in interest.

The cigarette maker argued the case should never have been declared a class-action on behalf of some 1.1 million light cigarette smokers who bought light cigarettes in Illinois.

“Industry critics warned that the Illinois decision does not insulate U.S. cigarette companies from future lawsuits. There are at least 40 similar suits pending against companies like Philip Morris and Reynolds American, any of which could result in awards into the billions of dollars, tobacco opponents said.”

Here are some of those pending suits:

— In Oregon, an appeals court is considering a $100 million punitive damage award to the estate of a 53-year-old lung cancer victim;

— In Florida, the state Supreme Court is reviewing a $145 billion punitive damage award in the Engle class action case that was overturned on appeal;

— In New York, lawsuits charge major tobacco companies marketed light cigarettes as being less harmful than regular cigarettes despite knowing they deliver comparable amounts of tar and nicotine.

Vioxx class action in Australia

Australians are launching a class action against Merck over Vioxx:

More than 400 Australians have launched a class action for personal damages from the manufacturers of the anti-arthritis drug, Vioxx.

The drug has been found to increase the risk of stroke and heart attacks, and was globally recalled in September last year.

Law firm Slater and Gordon is bringing the class action against Merck and Co, the American manufacturer of Vioxx and its Australian subsidiary.

Special counsel Richard Meeran says clients have a compelling case for compensation.

“This drug is a defective drug - it increases the risk of heart attack and stroke by a very significant amount,” he said.

“It had been marketed and promoted by the company as being safer than the the alternative drug, when in fact the opposite seems to have been the case.”

Mr Meeran says there is evidence the drug’s manufacturers knew Vioxx posed a risk.

“Vioxx was recalled last year at the end of September by the company because the company’s own study has shown that users of Vioxx has a significantly increased rate of cardiovascular problems,” he said.

“We’re not seeking specific amounts for any body - as I said the amounts will vary and I wouldn’t want to put figures on the amounts of damages for that reason because they’ll be so variable,” he said.

Source: ABC News Online

Pfizer starting huge Celebrex study

BusinessWeek Online is reporting that Pfizer is searching for a definitive answer on celebrex by funding a “multiyear, $100 million study to finally find out if the painkiller is safe.”

“The study, being run independently by the clinic, will compare three drugs: Celebrex (the Cox-2 drug from Pfizer), ibuprofen (sold under the brand name Motrin), and naproxen, sold under brand names such as Alleve.”

The study should answer a big question: Were the cardiovascular problems seen with the withdrawn painkiller Vioxx unique to that drug or a common problem for all so-called Cox-2 inhibitors? Merck pulled Vioxx from the market in the fall of 2004 after a study confirmed it was linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks.

Celebrex fell under similar suspicion in December, 2004, when one Pfizer’s studies showed a possible link to increased cardiovascular risk at higher doses. Those fears have hammered the drug’s sales. This year Celebrex is expected to bring in just $1.7 billion in revenue, according to SG Cowen analyst Stephen M. Scala, vs. $3.3 billion in 2004.

The study should provide a wealth of information to individuals wrestling with how to treat their arthritis. The trial will focus on people with heart disease or at high risk for it. All patients will be given low-dose aspirin, which is a typical treatment for people with heart problems, as well as the drug Prilosec, to reduce stomach acid.

It’s “a risky study for Pfizer. It could find that Celebrex does pose a cardiovascular risk, and that would doom the product.”

UK suit against Seroxat (Paxil) coming next spring

Reuters is reporting that GlaxoSmithKline is facing a suit over the antidepressant Seroxat in the UK:

GlaxoSmithKline faces a 1,500-strong UK class action suit early next year over its anti-depressant Seroxat, The Business newspaper said on Sunday.

It quoted Mark Harvey, a partner at Cardiff solicitor Hugh James, as saying he would launch the suit next spring.

Harvey was not available to comment on Sunday.

A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline told Reuters: “We do not accept the allegations in the potential class action and will address the issues raised if litigation is pursued.”

The 1,500 litigants will claim they were not warned that the drug, prescribed for depression, could lead to addiction, the newspaper said.

They will also allege it caused aggression and in some cases suicidal thoughts, the paper said. The drug is known as Paxil in the United States.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc in August slammed a study from scientists in Norway suggesting Paxil was linked to an increased suicide risk in adults, arguing that the research was flawed and misleading.

Experts at the European Medicines Agency earlier this year reaffirmed the positive benefit-risk for Paxil in the treatment of adult anxiety and depression.

Next Page »