San Francisco Injury Lawyer Blog

Last month, according to Bloomberg.com, a Philadelphia jury awarded $10 million to the family of a teenage girl who developed Stevens – Johnson syndrome after she took Children’s Motrin. According to the Mayo Clinic, Stevens Johnson Syndrome is a sever sensitivity reaction that can be caused by many drugs. Stevens-Johnson syndrome attacks the skin and mucous membranes. It can cause the top layer of the skin to separate from the lower layer of the skin in affected areas. The condition can even spread to internal organs, and it can cause scarring and even blindness. Sometimes the disorder can affect more than 30% of the body, when that happens the condition is usually referred to as toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), which typically requires treatment in hospital burn units. According to the Maya family lawsuit, Brianna was left blind in one eye and suffered burns over 84% of her body after taking Children’s Motrin in 2000 for a cold and fever. Her family argued that a warning for Steven Johnson Syndrome was not included on the medication’s labeling that year.

The jury in the case found that Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit “was negligent for not providing a proper warning about Children’s Motrin’s risks and that failure was a factual cause of the girl’s injuries.” However, the jury did not agree with plaintiff’s claims that Motrin was defective, or that McNeil officials’ conduct warranted an award of punitive damages. Johnson & Johnson and McNeil added warning about “severe allergic reactions” which could present with “rashes and blisters” to over-the-counter ibuprofen products, but no specific mention of Stevens Johnson syndrome is made. Patent advocates say that the current drug allergy alert on labels of many over-the-counter ibuprofen medications don’t adequately warn users about the risk of Stevens Johnson Syndrome. Parents in cases involving these types of claims argue that manufacturers of over-the-counter ibuprofen products, especially those for children, should have adequate warning labels placed on their products, informing users to discontinue the drug if symptoms show.

If you have suffered injury or a loved one has died or been injured as the result of a defective drug, you may be able to recover damages. To find out if you have a claim, you should have our case evaluated by a qualified our experienced product liability attorney. Our firm can tell you if you have a case and how to go about filing a lawsuit. Pharmaceutical lawsuits are too complex for a consumer to handle alone, however, as pharmaceutical companies have enormous resources and an arsenal of high-power defense attorneys. Also, it is important to note that California has laws that set a time limit for filing different types of lawsuits, so we recommend you have your case evaluated as quickly as possible. We recommend you seek the aid of an attorney with experience in this type of litigation. Whether we settle out of court or have to go to trial, we will fight hard to get you the compensation you deserve.

This week

Sony has announced the credit card information of millions of users has been compromised–after its Sony Online Entertainment PC gaming service had been hacked and the PlayStation network service had been breached. And now consumers are banding together and filing class action suits against Sony. A law firm in Toronto is handling a class action lawsuit launched against Sony Entertainment and its associated companies. Natasha Maksimovic of Canada is leading the charge against a number of Sony subsidiaries all around the world, including Sony Japan, Sony USA, and Sony Canada, for the breach of privacy. She is seeking damages of over $1 billion, claiming the company must pay for credit monitoring services and fraud insurance coverage for all suffered users for the next 2 years. She also claimed that she can’t trust Sony because it failed to protect her private data. What is more, she has accused Sony of being focused more on protecting its products than its customers. The company faces another class action lawsuit over hacker intrusion of its PSN; it is one of three, the first two were both filed in California. All of them accuse the company of allowing a leak to occur, and for failing to notify consumers in a timely manner.

A consumer class action suit is a legal action brought by a class action attorney on behalf of a large number of people, referred to as a class, with similar legal claims involving being wronged by company or organization. Class action legal claims usually involve a defective consumer product, a fraudulent or misleading business practice, or a deceptive financial practice. Class action cases involving financial issues deal with improper billing practices, overcharges, and failure to honor warranties, and class action cases involving defective products focus on design defects, manufacturing defects, or marketing defects.
If you feel you have been wronged by a company or organization, please contact our class action attorney today for a free consultation.

According to consumeraffairs.com, Sears has been selling extended warranties, what they call maintenance agreements, and then not following through on the promises within those agreements. Typically employees offer consumers the agreement at the time of purchase, and the agreement generally states that the consumer is eligible for the 3 year Maintenance Agreement, which covers repairs and replacements for any damages due to wear and tear, and an annual preventive maintenance check, all of which are supposed to save the consumer the cost of repairs. Sadly, consumers are finding that when they attempt to make use of their Sears extended warranty agreements, by asking for repairs, replacements, or refunds, they often get the runaround. On many consumer complaint internet forums, you can find numerous complaints posted by consumers who have been duped by Sears.

For a long time, consumer advocates have questioned the worth of extended warranties. Most of the time major appliance shoppers take the bait, paying extra for an extended warranty or service contract, of which the terms and conditions are not made clear by the salesperson. Here at the Brod Law Firm, we have met many people who have been dissatisfied with extended warranties and MA’s due to lack of follow through on the part of the manufacturer or seller. MA’s and extended warranties are supposed to provide peace of mind along with insurance for your product, but the problem is that they cover the period of the product’s life cycle when the least failures occur. What is more, the MA usually runs out just before the product begins to fail, at which point the consumer can’t renew the MA. The best thing consumers can do, before purchasing an extended warrenty, is think about the chances their item will break during the warranty period– and keep in mind that manufacturers and stores know most products are reliable and will outlast the extended warranty period.

If you have been the victim of consumer fraud, please contact our consumer attorney for a free consultation. Our firm is dedicated to working hard for not only large groups of consumers in class action litigation but for the individual consumer as well, no matter the size of the case. Should you need to file a lawsuit, our consumer attorney will fight hard for your rights and make sure you achieve the justice you deserve.