Walgreens Agrees to $80 Million Settlement Over Distribution of Painkillers



Walgreens has reached a settlement with the federal government that will cost the company about $80 million. The DEA charged that  Walgreens was committing an “unprecedented” number of record-keeping and dispensing violations of the Controlled Substances Act. Walgreens was said to have negligently allowed controlled substances such as the narcotic oxycodone and other prescription painkillers to be distributed to abusers and sold illegally on the black market.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the U.S. death rate from drug overdoses has more than tripled since 1990. It said prescription painkillers, also known as opioid or narcotic pain relievers, were involved in more than 15,500 overdose deaths in the United States in 2009. Walgreens had previously set aside $80 million for a settlement, including $25 million in its fiscal third quarter, which ended May 31st.



Eight Car Makers Join in the Recall of Exploding Airbags



When designed correctly, airbags will save lives. According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, airbags have saved approximately 35,000 lives since 1987. However, when airbags are defectively designed, they create a high risk of severe injury and death. As of 2009, defective airbags were responsible for 296 deaths, 59 life threatening injuries, and countless severe injuries.

Signs that you have  defective airbags are when one of the following occurs:

• The airbag inflates too quickly and aggressively, violently hitting the occupant in the face; or

• The airbag ruptures before inflation, spewing pieces of metal into the occupant’s body.
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NHTSA has opened an investigation into the issue and says that it knows of six incidents of ruptured bags and three injuries in high-humidity Florida and Puerto Rico. As of mid-July, eight car manufacturers including Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Toyota, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, and Subaru had joined in the recall of these defective Takata airbags. In the latest actions:

• Honda recalled 1.02 million vehicles in North America and 2.03 million worldwide. They were built from 2000 through 2005 and include some models of Civic, CR-V, Odyssey and Element. With this expansion, air bag recalls have affected nearly 4 million of the company’s older vehicles in North America.

• Nissan recalled 755,000 vehicles worldwide built from 2001 through 2003, with about a quarter-million Pathfinder, Cube and Infiniti FX35 models in North America.

• Mazda recalled nearly 160,000 vehicles made from 2002 through 2004, with about 15,000 in North America, including RX-8 and early Mazda6 sedans.

• Regional recalls in the U.S. by Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Toyota, BMW, Ford and Chrysler of certain vehicles in humid climates. NHTSA estimates that 1.5 million vehicles could be affected — the totals and lists of vehicles still were being compiled.

• Subaru is recalling nearly 8,600 Subaru Legacy cars, Outback wagons, Baja crossovers, and Impreza cars.

Since 2008, more than 10 million cars containing the defective Takata airbags have been recalled.

 

 

 

Testosterone Replacement Therapy Litigation



On June 6, 2014, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation established MDL No. 2545.

Lawyers for Plaintiffs, representing folks injured by Testosterone drugs, favored consolidation of all testosterone manufacturers into one MDL proceeding. The Defendants’ positions varied, with several Defendants, including AbbVie Inc. and Abbott Laboratories Inc. , Eli Lilly and Co. and Lilly USA LLC, and Endo Pharmaceuticals, supporting the establishment of an all-testosterone replacement therapy MDL in the Northern District of Illinois. Defendants Actavis, Inc., Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Pfizer, Inc. and Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. all generally opposed the creation of an MDL consolidating all testosterone products and argued alternatively that the MDL should only include testosterone gel products.
” The Panel quoted the January 31, 2014, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement that it is currently investigating the risk of stroke, heart attack, and death in men taking testosterone drugs approved by the FDA.

Johnson &Johnson Ordered To Pay Oregon $4 Million To Settle Hip Implant Marketing Claims

 

DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, has agreed to pay $4 million to the state of Oregon to settle a lawsuit filed by the state. It was alleged that DePuy failed to disclose to physicians and patients that its hip implants had a high rate of failure. According to the Oregon Department of Justice, this is the first settlement of its kind. DePuy has previously settled thousands of suits over the ASR XL implant, which was recalled in 2010. DePuy still faces thousands of lawsuits in both federal and state courts.

Symptoms & Causes

ASR patients who required revision surgery have reported a variety of symptoms before having the revision surgery, including pain, swelling and problems walking. These symptoms are not unusual immediately after hip replacement surgery. If the symptoms continue or come back, you should consult with your surgeon.

Possible Causes

Symptoms such as pain, swelling or problems walking might be caused by:
   • Loosening
     The implant does not stay attached to the bone in the correct position.
   • Fracture
     The bone around the implant may have broken.
   • Dislocation
     The two parts of the implant that move against each other are no longer aligned.

 

Ranbaxy Pays $2.3 Million To Settle Unsafe Medication Lawsuit!



The Oregon Department of Justice has also settled a case with Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. and two affiliated American companies. Pursuant to the settlement, $2.3 million will be paid to the state. It was discovered that Ranbaxy sold generic prescription drugs in Oregon that were not safe for consumers. A whistleblower case in federal court revealed that the company had been shipping substandard generic drugs to the United States, some of which were distributed in Oregon. While that case settled for $500 million, the money allocated to Oregon’s Medicaid program did not cover the full cost of drugs purchased from Ranbaxy.


The Ranbaxy-manufactured drugs in question include amoxicillin, a widely prescribed antibiotic; clavulanate potassium, used in combination with antibiotics to treat drug-resistant bacteria; and sotret, an acne medication. Medications manufactured by Ranbaxy have been subject to safety concerns outside of Oregon.

Sears Pays $5 Million To Settle Employees Overtime Class Action Lawsuit



Sears Holdings Management Corp. has agreed to pay $5 million to end a proposed class action accusing the retail giant of misclassifying about 700 employees at Sears and Kmart retail stores as “overtime exempt” in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).


So far 657 class members have opted into the collective action, according to the settlement. The FLSA class would include all Plaintiffs who opted into the suit as well as class members from a second related class action as of July 14.

Does your employees expect you to work overtime without compensation, yet continues to classify you as a per hr paid employee? If this is true please consider contacting Jim Vander Linden, www.vanderlindenlaw.com, call him at 612) 339-6841 or email him at jim@vanderlindenlaw.com

LeVander and Vander Linden Law Office

LeVander & Vander Linden

 

 

5775 Wayzata Boulevard, Suite 670

Saint Louis Park, Minnesota 55416

 

http://www.vanderlindenlaw.com/index.html

 

(612) 339-6841

Fax: (952) 767-6846

 

 

 

 

 

 

Specializing in:

 

False Claims Act  •  Whistleblower Claims

Workers’ Compensation Claims

Personal Injury

Motor Vehicle Accidents

Product Liability