Articles Posted in Featured Lawsuits

In the realm of personal injury law, product liability claims hold a unique and critical space. It is essential to understand that these claims can be broadly categorized into three types, where defendants can be held liable for personal injury or other damages. Here, we’ll delve into each of these three main types of product liability claims and provide examples of evidence or warnings that could potentially put you at risk.

Manufacturing Defect Claims

Manufacturing defect claims top the list in terms of frequency among product liability cases. These claims arise when a product, produced with a safety defect, poses an unreasonable risk for the consumer. The basis of such a claim is that the manufacturer deviated from a safe design, producing a good with a defect.

When the cryptocurrency company FTX dissolved, many innocent investors lost millions. The FTX collapse prompted a class-action lawsuit by aggrieved investors. A number of high-profile celebrities and athletes, including Larry David, Tom Brady, and Steph Curry, have been named in the class-action lawsuit because they were paid spokespersons for FTX. Let’s point out from the beginning: it seems like a crazy stretch to sue these people.

One of the famous people named in the lawsuit is former basketball icon Shaquille O’Neal. Over the last several months, however, Shaq has allegedly been actively avoiding service of process attempts by attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Brady, Curry, and the rest of the big-name defendants have all voluntarily accepted service in the case, but Shaq remained a deliberately elusive target for process servers, prompting some to call for a foul.

Update: The process server attended Game 4 by purchasing a ticket – which had to cost a fortune – and approached O’Neal while he was on the Inside the NBA set. Two lawsuits were served to him, with the second one relating to his Astrals NFT Project. It is alleged that O’Neal was not amused by the situation and had the process server removed from the arena, which is crazy.

The jury is still out this Wednesday after Memorial Day in the defamation lawsuit filed by actor Johnny Depp against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

Update: Netflix recently released a new documentary film on the Jonny Depp / Amber Heard defamation trial. The show, Depp v. Heard, features clips of testimony from the trial, mostly from Johhny and Amber themselves.

Update: Johnny Deep Wins!  $15 million in punitive damages. But they awarded Heard $2 million for her counterclaim.  Summary: what an utter mess. 

Cowboys star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was sued last week by a sports memorabilia and trading card company after Lamb allegedly breach a contract with the company by failing to autograph a certain number of player cards.

The lawsuit drew some attention because sports memorabilia companies rarely sued players for this sort of thing.

Literally, since I started writing this piece,  the lawsuit became moot. Yesterday afternoon the memorabilia company announced on Twitter that Lamb had fulfilled his obligations under the contract.   Because often filing a lawsuit is what is needed to wake someone up who is not fulfilling their obligations.  But I finished the post because it is a good story.

Doctors are being discouraged from using morcellators

The FDA last week for the first time discouraged doctors from using morcellators when performing hysterectomies.  The FDA also said morcellators should be avoided when removing uterine fibroids. The concern is that if there is cancerous tissue in the abdomen, it will hurt a patient’s chance of recovering from the cancer.  In some cases, surgeons can be stirring up cancer that neither the doctor or the patient even knows exists.   How real of a concern is that? The FDA says that 1 in 350 women who are undergoing a hysterectomy or myomectomy for fibroids have a uterine sarcoma, an unsuspected type of uterine cancer that can be deadly.

• Uterine cancer and hair straighteners 

What is a morcellator?

A morcellator is a surgical device that is used to divide and remove tissue masses during laparoscopic surgery.  In a hysterectomy, the device divides the uterus.   It is also frequently used to dissect uterine fibroids during myomectomies/fibroidectomies.

This surgical device cuts the tissue mass into pieces.  The surgeon then pulls out the pieces through extremely small incisions.   There is no question there is an upside to this technique.  It is minimally invasive surgery which means no big scars, shorter recovery time, and less of the other risks that come with surgery.

So the FDA’s announcement is a major development.   Morcellators are being used in massive numbers.  It is used in tens of thousands of hysterectomies each year.

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