North Carolina Product Liability Lawyer Blog

Articles Posted in Jury Verdicts

Medical Records Can Be Expensive Hard Cost in Product Defect Lawsuits

Published on: October 6, 2020 | By Clay Hodges

Health care is an industry that, for the most part, is pretty quick to make the most of new technology. One such area is medical records.

With the increased capabilities and reduced costs of computers, networks and electronic storage, electronic health records (EHR) are primed to take full advantage of what information technology has to offer the medical field. These advantages can include better cost efficiency and improved patient care.

That’s one reason why Congress passed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). This law set out to promote the use and adoption of EHR and medical information technology.

C. R. Bard Pelvic Mesh: North Carolina Couple Wins $68 Million at Trial

Published on: May 2, 2018 | By Clay Hodges

Seven years after filing suit, a North Carolina woman and her husband were awarded $68 million dollars for serious injuries caused by C.R. Bard’s defective pelvic mesh products.

In 2009 Mary McGinnis was implanted with the Avaulta Solo Support System and Align Trans-Obturator Yrethral Support System, two pelvic mesh products manufactured and sold by C.R. Bard, Inc. and other defendants. Ms. McGinnis was implanted with these mesh products in an attempt to treat Ms. McGinnis’ stress urinary incontinence and to provide bladder support. Shortly after implantation of the mesh, Ms. McGinnis began having severe pains from nerve damage and pain during sex. She had to undergo several surgeries to attempt to correct the problems.

Ms. McGinnis and her husband filed suit in 2011, alleging that C.R. Bard knew the pelvic mesh was unsafe at the time the products were implanted in Ms. McGinnis, and that Bard failed to warn doctors about the dangers of the Avaulta and Align pelvic mesh. At trial lawyers for Bard argued that the Defendants met all industry standards and requirements for placing the Avaulta and Align mesh products on the markets.

Testosterone Litigation: Axiron Settlement Reached; Androgel Jury Award Tossed

Published on: December 27, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

There have been two major developments in testosterone replacement therapy litigation in the past week. Last Thursday Eli Lilly & Co., the maker of the testosterone product Axiron, announced to Judge Matthew Kennelly in Illinois that an agreement had been reached to settle claims by people injured by Axiron testosterone. In the second development, the same judge tossed a jury verdict awarding $150,000,000.00 in punitive damages to a man who suffered a heart attack while taking Androgel testosterone.

Let’s take a quick look at both litigation developments:

Axiron Testosterone Global Settlement

Three DePuy Pinnacle Hip Trials Yield One Hundred Million Per Plaintiff

Published on: November 27, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

In the last three DePuy Pinnacle artificial hip bellwether trials, three juries awarded the following amounts of money: $502,000,000.00, $1,041,311,648.17, and $247,000,000.00. That’s a total of $1.79 billion dollars. The juries awarded plaintiffs compensatory damages (or actual damages) and punitive damages (to “punish” the defendant companies). Remember that these juries settled on these huge amounts of money based on their findings in three separate trials that DePuy and Johnson & Johnson were liable for design and manufacturing defects, that the defendants failed to warn plaintiffs about the risks of the defective artificial hip, and that defendants acted recklessly, intentionally, and even maliciously in marketing and selling the flawed DePuy Pinnacle hip. These last findings permitted the juries to award punitive damages.

In the bellwether trial in March 2016, a jury awarded more than $500,000,000.00 to five plaintiffs. On December 1, 2016 a jury awarded more than one billion dollars to six plaintiffs and four spouses. And finally, just two weeks ago, a jury awarded six plaintiffs (and four spouses) $247,000,000.00 in compensatory and punitive damages. Compared to the total awards, the amounts awarded to the spouses of the hip victims were modest, and appear to have totaled around $6,700,000.00.

Let’s do a little math:

Another Huge Win for DePuy Pinnacle Hip Victims: $247 Million Verdict

Published on: November 17, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

On November 16, 2017, yet another Texas jury delivered a huge verdict to the victims of the DePuy Pinnacle artificial hip. In this fourth bellwether trial, the jury awarded $247,000,000.00 to six plaintiffs and their spouses. According to news reports, after a two-month, hard-fought trial, the jury found that DePuy Orthopaedics and parent company Johnson & Johnson were liable to plaintiffs for the Pinnacle’s design and manufacturing defects. But the jury went further, concluding that the actions of the companies were fraudulent and deceptive, and that they had acted recklessly and maliciously in manufacturing, selling, and promoting the flawed products.

These last terms have special meaning in law: findings of fraud, deception, recklessness, and malice indicate that the companies went beyond mere negligence, that the defendants misbehaved intentionally or with a reckless disregard to the fact that their actions would harm innocent people. Because of these special findings, the plaintiffs were entitled to receive “punitive damages” from DePuy and J&J, which are money damages intended to punish defendants for especially bad behavior.

The jury awarded $90 million dollars in punitive damages to be paid by J&J, and $78 million in punitive damages to be paid by DePuy. That’s $168 million in total punitive damages. It is a lot of money.

Jury Awards Androgel User and Heart Attack Victim $140 Million

Published on: October 10, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

Last Thursday a jury in Chicago found that AbbVie, Inc., the manufacturers of the testosterone product Androgel, must pay the plaintiff, Jeffrey Konrad, over $140,000,000.00 for injuries he suffered after using the company’s testosterone product. The jury found that AbbVie did not adequately test the testosterone roll-on gel product and misrepresented its safety to patients and doctors.

The Second Testosterone Bellwether Trial

Mr. Konrad was in his late forties when he began using Androgel in 2010. He was prescribed testosterone to treat a decrease in his testosterone levels. Two months later he suffered a heart attack. He filed suit years later, alleging that AbbVie knew about the link between testosterone use and heart attacks but sold the product anyway, and without sufficient warnings. The jury did not find that Mr. Konrad proved the connection between his use of Androgel and his heart attack. Other factors, such as Mr. Konrad’s obesity, high blood pressure, and family history, could have caused his heart attack. Nevertheless, the jury found that AbbVie was liable for damages based on AbbVie’s negligence and misrepresentation.

Depuy ASR Artificial Hip: Plaintiff Carol Strum Gets New Trial

Published on: October 2, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

A woman who lost her case involving injuries from the Depuy ASR metal-on-metal artificial hip has been awarded a new trial.

In 2013, a Chicago jury found that Depuy was not responsible for Carol Strum’s injuries following the failure of the ASR hip. The jury found that the hip components manufactured by Depuy Orthopaedics did not cause the injuries to the plaintiff. Ms. Strum had sued DePuy in Chicago in 2011, alleging that the DePuy ASR implanted in January 2008 failed and required painful revision surgery. She also claimed that she suffered from metallosis.

On September 19, 2017, Judge Mary Dooling in Chicago granted Ms. Strum a new trial on the grounds that a surgeon and joint replacement scientist was unfairly prevented from testifying on behalf of the plaintiff in the original trial.

Health Insurance Subrogation and Your Medical Device or Drug Settlement

Published on: September 6, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

If you are injured by a defective or faulty medical device or medication, you may be able to recover damages from the responsible manufacturer. Depending on the facts of your case, these damages can compensate you for things such as medical bills, pain and suffering and lost wages. In cases where the manufacturer acted in particular nasty ways, such as burying a product study which showed an increased risk of injury, punitive damages may even be possible.

For plaintiffs who are able to obtain a damage award from the responsible medical device or pharmaceutical company, they understand they will not be able to keep every penny received. For example, some of it will go to their attorney (if they have one) and some of it may be subject to taxes. But sometimes, an unexpected “bill” comes from their health insurance company.

Why Do I Have to Pay My Health Insurance Company?

Depuy Pinnacle Plaintiffs Fight to Restore Full Punitive Damages Award

Published on: April 5, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

Now it’s the plaintiffs’ turn. The five victims of the Depuy Pinnacle artificial hip have answered the appeal of Depuy Orthopaedics and Johnson & Johnson in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. And as they did at trial, the plaintiffs have come out fighting.

Recap of Depuy’s Appeal

A few weeks ago I wrote about the appeal brought by Depuy and Johnson & Johnson after a Texas jury awarded $502 million dollars to five plaintiffs. You can read about the Defendants’ appeal here. But to recap, Depuy and J&J argue that they were unfairly prejudiced by the plaintiffs’ team aggressive tactics at trial. They argue that Defendants are entitled to a new trial because the plaintiffs’ team had “a strategy” to “inflame the jury through highly prejudicial evidence and wholly inappropriate argument.”

Depuy Pinnacle Hip Trial: Judge Slashes Jury Award by $500 Million

Published on: January 5, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

Imagine going to sleep the night after making the decision to strip five hundred million dollars from six families. I imagine it would be unsettling. On Tuesday, Judge Ed Kinkeade, a federal judge in Texas overseeing the Depuy Pinnacle MDL, made the decision to cut $500,000,000.00 from a jury award presented to six families after a grueling ten-week trial last fall. You can read about the trial and the jury’s verdict here. In that post I wrote that the jury’s verdict was “staggering,” and it was. It may be more staggering that a judge, less than a month later, would wipe out half a billion dollars of the jury’s award.

“Single-Digit Multipliers”

On January 3, 2017, Judge Kinkeade issued his post-trial court order reducing the amount of punitive damages awarded to the six families, writing that “constitutional considerations limit the amount a plaintiff may recover in punitive damages.” The relevant portion of the Order states:

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I was involved in a case for the faulty hip replacements. Clay Hodges represented me. I can't say enough about how much he has helped me. Clay was able to win multiple settlements on my behalf with most of them being the maximum amount able to be awarded. Matt J.

Clay, thank you sir for making a disheartening experience at least palatable, you and your staff were honest, caring and understanding through the entire process of my wife’s hip replacements, while monetary settlements never make the pain and suffering end, it sometimes is the only way people can fight back to right a wrong. J. V.

We are absolutely pleased with how Clay Hodges handled my husband’s hip replacement claim. He always kept us informed of the progress. And, his work resulted in a settlement which we are extremely pleased. Thank you, Clay! Carol L. & Norm L.