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Last month, medical device company Philips drew national attention from the plaintiffs’ bar when it recalled over 3 million sleep apnea CPAP machines based on serious health concerns. Philips instructed users to immediately stop using the recalled devices because they could be causing them to inhale toxic chemicals.

The nature and circumstances of the recall have plaintiffs’ speculating on whether former users of the recalled devices will have viable claims in a CPAP product liability lawsuit. The success of future CPAP recall lawsuits will depend on 2 factors: (1) the extent of Philip’s liability which will be driven by what they knew and when; and (2) the scientific evidence linking the defect in the CPAP devices to specific health consequences. In this post we will focus specifically on the first factor – what did Philips know and when.

Philips Knew or Should Have Known About the CPAP Defects

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Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of vision loss in the U.S. It happens when the macula region in the eyes deteriorates as we age.

Recent studies have shown that some cases of macular degeneration may actually be caused by prolonged use of the prescription drug Elmiron for bladder conditions. Approximately 350 Elmiron lawsuits have been filed in the MDL class action seeking damages for eye injuries.

Macular Degeneration

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Yesterday I googled the name of our personal injury law firm “Miller & Zois.”  I was doing some research and I knew our page had the answer I needed.  When I did the search, I found a paid ad result for “Big Al Legal Team – Car Accident Lawyer Baltimore.”

big al baltimore legal group

Big Al  Legal Years Ago Under Another Name

When something shows up as an ad result in a Google search page, it means that whoever owns the website in that result is paying Google to have their site pop up on the SERP anytime someone searches for certain keywords. This system of selling spots on the SERP is called Google Adwords (also commonly known as “pay-per-click”).

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May 28, 2021 Update:  The jury came back with a defense verdict for the 3M today.  It is a tough blow for lawyers like me hoped 3M earplug victims would win every single one of these trials. The evidence seems overwhelming.  But, certainly, there will be cases where the victims cannot prove 3M’s negligence caused their injuries.  I don’t believe this loss changes settlement amounts of the 3m earplug lawsuits.  

3M is currently facing over 220,000 individual lawsuits by former military veterans who claim that they suffered hearing damage because of defects in 3M’s earplugs. These cases have been consolidated into a class action MDL in the Northern District of Florida. In an MDL, similar cases are consolidated for purposes of discovery. Once discovery is completed, a few individual test cases are selected for “bellwether” trials.

The results of the bellwether trials are critically important because they usually dictate the terms of a global class settlement. So far, the bellwether trials in the 3M earplugs MDL have gone extremely well for the plaintiffs. Earlier this month the first bellwether trial took place in the Federal courthouse in Sarasota. The case involved the claims of 3 individual plaintiffs, all former military servicemen in their 40s. After a lengthy trial, the jury awarded $7.1 million in total damages with each plaintiff getting around $2.5 million.

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Distracted driving is a big thing these days thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and the millions of people in the U.S. who are hopelessly addicted to using them. As recently as 10 years ago, distracted driving was not really even a “thing.”

As of 2021, however, distracted driving claims an estimated 3,000 lives each year, and states across the U.S. have enacted targeted laws making it illegal. In this post, we will explain what impact a ticket for distracted driving could have on your auto insurance rates.

Does a Distracted Driving Ticket Affect Your Car Insurance?

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As the number of paraquat lawsuits continues to grow, a motion was filed last month asking the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) to create a new Paraquat MDL class action for the consolidated handling of all future Paraquat cases in federal courts.

This motion is a very clear indication that the Paraquat lawsuits are building steam and could develop into a new large-scale mass tort.

Studies Link Paraquat Exposure to Parkinson’s Disease

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Our lawyers are getting an increased number of calls for Elmiron lawsuit in the last few weeks.  This class action is growing quickly.  I think these have the potential to be extremely big cases with large settlement payouts. If you have a claim, you want to call an attorney sooner rather than later to protect your rights.

Our firm is currently accepting new Elmiron vision loss lawsuits. Call us today for a free case evaluation at 800-552-8082.

Brief Elmiron History

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3M earplug hearing loss victims have been searching the Internet looking for what the $7.1 million earplug verdict means to their lawsuit. Our lawyers are reviewing these cases all over the country in every state.

At the end of this post, we will ask you to contact us to get your case started if you have not filed one already. First, let’s talk about this verdict and what it means to you.

The 3M Earplug Verdict on Friday

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In Giant of Maryland LLC v. Karen Webb, No. 413, Sept. Term 2019, was asked to decide whether Giant could be liable for an injury to a customer caused by a Pepsi delivery driver while stocking Pepsi products on the shelves. The Pepsi driver was not a Giant employee so the issue was whether Giant could still be liable for his negligent actions based on the level of control they had over him inside the store.

The COSA held that Giant did not have enough control to be liable for the actions of the Pepsi driver. Giant’s “general control” over the work of its product delivery drivers at the store was not enough. In order to be liable, Giant would need to have maintained control over the “operative details and methods” of the independent contractor’s work, including the “very thing from which the injury arose.”

Summary of Giant of Maryland v. Webb

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Spinal fusion surgery significantly increases the potential value of any back injury claim.  Our Maryland personal injury lawyers see a lot of back injuries and we have seen first-hand how spinal fusion surgery can double or triple the settlement value of these cases.

This post looks at lumbar spinal fusion settlements and verdicts in cases where the victim was required to undergo spinal fusion surgery.

About Back Injury Cases

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