Brain Injury Events – Blog Archive

Boston Scientific To Pay Millions Following West Virginia Mesh Trial

scolellawalsh on November 21, 2014

Category: Transvaginal Mesh
Tag: Brain Injury Events

Trials against vaginal mesh device manufacturer, Boston Scientific Corp. (“Boston Scientific”), continue in West Virginia. Only one week after a jury in Miami’s federal court ordered Boston Scientific to pay $26.7 million to 4 plaintiffs, the company has now been ordered to pay another $18.5 million to an additional 4 plaintiffs. The plaintiffs in the recent West Virginia federal trial claimed injuries, including nerve damage, pain during sex and infection, as a result of the company’s Obtryx device. The jury not only awarded each of the plaintiffs several million dollars in compensatory damages, but also awarded each woman an additional one million dollars in punitive damages, finding the company acted with “gross negligence” in failing to adequately warn consumers and doctors about the risks involved with the device.

If you or a loved one has experienced any injury from the use of a vaginal mesh implant, please contact Stark & Stark and speak to one of the Mass Tort attorneys, free of charge, who can help assess any claims that you might have against a manufacturer.

First DePuy Pinnacle Hip Device Trial Begins

khart on September 22, 2014

Category: DePuy Pinnacle
Tag: Brain Injury Events

The trial of plaintiff Kathleen Herlihy-Paoli started last week in federal court in Dallas, Texas. The Paoli trial is the first of more than 6,000 cases filed across the country that have been consolidated in a Multidistrict Litigation (“MDL”) before the Honorable Edward Kinkeade, United States District Court Judge in the Northern District of Texas.

Plaintiffs allege that the Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip replacement device, manufactured by DePuy, has a higher-than-normal failure rate. Additionally, some plaintiffs have complained that the device has caused metal poisoning, called metallosis, due to high levels of chromium and/or cobalt. Plaintiffs’ lawyers have argued that the Pinnacle hips suffered from design flaws that were ignored by DePuy. As reported by Bloomberg, the federal jury was told that DePuy’s attempts to convince doctors that the metal-on-metal version of its Pinnacle hip implant was safe amounted to “marketing run amok.” The decision reached by the jury in this trial could help determine the outcome of the entire centralized litigation.

If you have had a hip replacement, which used the DePuy Pinnacle device, you can contact Stark & Stark to speak to one of the Mass Tort Attorneys, free of charge, who can help assess any claims that you might have against DePuy.

NABIS 27th Annual Medical-Legal Conference

Bruce H. Stern on April 1, 2014

Category: Brain Injury Events
Tag: Brain Injury Events

This past week, the North America Brain Injury Society (NABIS) held its 27th annual medical-legal conference on traumatic brain injury. As one of the co-chairs of the program, we brought together one of the nation’s top medical and legal experts.

Bruce Stern Invited to Speak at Trucking Collision Seminar

Bruce H. Stern on March 31, 2014

Category: Brain Injury Events
Tag: Brain Injury Events

The American Association for Justice Education’s Trucking Collision Seminar at the end of April provides the latest courtroom litigation strategies for representing victims of trucking collisions. A faculty of experienced trial lawyers and consultants will offer tools and tactics when representing victims and their families.

The Upcoming Alaska Brain Injury Conference

Bruce H. Stern on January 27, 2014

Category: Brain Injury Events
Tag: Brain Injury Events

The North America Brain Injury Society and the Alaska Brain Injury Network have announced the 2014 Alaska Brain Injury Conference which will be held in Anchorage, Alaska, April 30 – May 2, 2014.

2014 World Congress on Brain Injury, March 19 – 22, 2014 in San Fransisco

Bruce H. Stern on January 17, 2014

Category: Brain Injury Events
Tag: Brain Injury Events

The World Congress is held biennially, and sponsored by the International Brain Injury Association. The IBIA World Congress is the largest gathering of international professionals working in the field of brain injury. Delegates are comprised of physicians, psychologists and neuropsychologists, therapists, social workers, nurses, case managers, legal professionals, advocates, and all others working in the field of brain injury. In 2012, over fourteen multi disciplinary professionals attended the Ninth World Congress held in Edinburg, Scotland.

NJ Court Reinstates Bristol-Myers Wrongful Death Suits

scolellawalsh on September 30, 2013

Category: Bristol-Myers Squibb
Tag: Brain Injury Events

Recently, Stark & Stark’s Mass Tort team successfully argued for the reinstatement of two dozen previously dismissed wrongful death claims against Bristol-Myers Squibb. U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Arpert ruled that federal toxic tort law preempts any limitations period in New Jersey’s Wrongful Death Act. Originally, it had been held that the time that plaintiffs had to file their claims was restricted to two years after death. This latest ruling expands the time to when plaintiffs knew, or reasonably should have known, that Bristol-Myers Squibb caused the plaintiffs’ deaths.

In these cases, plaintiffs allege that Bristol-Myers Squibb knew that its manufacturing facility in New Brunswick, New Jersey, had contaminated the surrounding working class neighborhood for several decades, but failed to notify residents. Plaintiffs further allege that they had no way of knowing the extent of toxic contaminants discharged into their neighborhood by Bristol-Myers Squibb, including chromium, arsenic and chlorinated solvents.

Judge Arpert’s ruling allows 24 families, who were previously barred from seeking compensation, the ability to have their case heard and adjudicated. You can read coverage of Judge Arpert’s decision here and here.

North America Brain Injury Society 26th Legal Conference

Bruce H. Stern on September 26, 2013

Category: Brain Injury Events
Tag: Brain Injury Events

I just recently returned from New Orleans where the North America Brain Injury Society held its 26th legal conference on traumatic brain injury as well as its 11th medical conference on traumatic brain injury. As co-chair of the legal conference I was very pleased with the high quality of the speakers and their presentations.

Johnson & Johnson Faces out Metal on Metal Design

mschrama on May 30, 2013

Category: DePuy ASR, DePuy Pinnacle, Medical Devices
Tag: Brain Injury Events

The New York Times reports that the orthopedic unit of Johnson & Johnson, DePuy, will be phasing out its metal on metal hip devices. DePuy, makers of the ASR and Pinnacle hip devices, currently faces approximately 14,000 lawsuits nationwide. These cases are currently pending in state and federal courts.

In a statement, Depuy pointed to two factors behind its decision to drop the all-metal Pinnacle: 1) sharply declining surgeon demand for all-metal devices and 2) a recent ruling by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) affecting such products. DePuy will completely phase out the metal on metal device by the end of 2014.

If you have had a hip replacement, which used the DePuy ASR or DePuy Pinnacle devices, you can contact Stark & Stark and speak to one of the Mass Tort attorneys, free of charge, who can help assess any claims that you might have against the DePuy manufacturers.

International Brain Injury Association Call for Abstracts

Bruce H. Stern on May 8, 2013

Category: Brain Injury Events
Tag: Brain Injury Events

The International Brain Injury Association has announced the call for abstracts for the 10th World Congress on Brain Injury, which will take place on March 19-23, 2014 in San Francisco. The call for abstracts is posted on the IBIA website and will be echoed in the next issue of the International Neuro Trauma Letter.

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