Personal Injury News & Developments

Monsanto’s Roundup litigation has begun to present a near-existential issue for its corporate parent Bayer. When the German company purchased the American chemical manufacturer, it inherited all of its past, present and future liabilities. One of these liabilities concerns the pesticide Roundup, which is alleged to cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after extended exposure.

Monsanto has lost several high-profile lawsuits recently, and the jury awards have been eye-popping. One married couple was awarded $2 billion by a jury for their cases of cancer. Even after a judge reduced the verdict, the company was still assessed a damages award of nearly $90 million. There have been several other verdicts that, even after appeals, have remained in the tens of millions of dollars. Much of the damage amount consist of punitive damages assessed by the juries.

Monsanto now faces over 18,000 lawsuits relating to this product. The company’s predicament has only been worsening as there have been over 5,000 lawsuits alone that have been filed between July and the first half of August. Roundup lawsuits continue to make headlines and the publicity has encouraged more plaintiffs to lawsuits for compensation.

Patients who were taking drugs containing the substance Valsartan to treat high blood pressure were surprised to find out that there was a voluntary recall of some medications due to the presence of a carcinogen. As time has gone on, the problem has only gotten worse as more medications have been found to contain the substance. There are a number of lawsuits against the makers of these drugs, both brought on behalf of all purchasers as well as on behalf of patients who have suffered their own injury from taking the drugs. Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers can help anyone who has taken Valsartan and suffered a cancer-related injury file a complaint that could help them receive compensation.

Valsartan is not a drug unto itself, but rather is an ingredient that is found in a class of drugs. This class of drugs is meant to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. Valsartan is an Angiotensin II receptor blocker. The total size of the market is valued at roughly $1.5 billion. There are many different types of drug that contain the ingredient Valsartan, and these medications are manufactured in different places.

In November 2018, the FDA announced a voluntary recall of several medications that contain Valsartan. The specific problem was that impurities were detected in the manufacturing process that resulted in the introduction of possible carcinogens into the medications.

In February 2019, the FDA included a box warning for the gout medicine Uloric. This warning addressed the fact that those taking the drug may be at a greater risk for heart-related and other types of deaths. Recently, attorneys have begun to file suits on behalf of those who have been injured by Uloric and their families. Currently, there are more cases that are in the investigatory phase and will likely be filed soon. Anyone who has suffered harm from Uloric or have had a loved one die while taking the medication should contact Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers to discuss their legal options.

Uloric was approved by the FDA for use to treat gout in 2009. Gout is caused by high uric acid levels in the blood, and Uloric is intended to lower those levels. Gout develops in part because the body is taking substances called purines that are found in food and drink and turns them into uric acid. Uloric is supposed to stop that process. Uloric is manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The global market for the drug is estimated at just under $1 billion and continues to grow at an 11 percent annual rate.

When the FDA initially approved Uloric, it included a Warning and Precaution addressing the possibility of a cardiovascular event associated with use of the drug. However, at the time that the FDA approves a drug, there sometimes is only limited testing performed with some testing still to be done as the FDA requires. Here, the FDA directed Takeda to perform further studies about the possibility of cardiovascular deaths and events. The test results did indicate that there was a possibility of non-fatal and fatal heart attacks and stroke associated with the drug. Still, the FDA took no further action at the time.

Every serviceman and servicewoman working for the U.S. military expects that they will be provided the best standard issued equipment when fighting for the nation in combat. Our soldiers likely assume that every piece of equipment from helmets to boots will fit properly and provide ultimate protection against all situations in the field from bombs and firearms to harsh conditions in the environment. Unfortunately, our military force may have had their hearing and safety compromised from defective earplugs.

For twelve years between 2003 and 2015, The 3M Company and Aearo Technologies, Inc. manufactured and sold the dual-ended Combat Arms Earplugs – model CAEv2 to the United States military as standard issued equipment for service members deployed to combat zones around the world, including in the Middle East.

In 2018, as a result of an intensive lawsuit, the manufacturer agreed to a $9.1 million settlement filed by a manufacturing competitor and whistleblower Moldex-Metric, Inc. in a suit that was later joined by the US Department of Justice.