Amid all the discussion surrounding this week’s government shutdown a lot of attention has been paid both to large budget issues and to the daily inconveniences – and, in some cases serious troubles – the suspension of government services involves for many Americans. One of the most potentially hazardous areas…
Relatives of a Bend man who died in 2010 while using an inversion therapy table have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Eugene against the Washington-based manufacturer of the table, according to a recent article in The Oregonian. According to the newspaper, the lawsuit alleges that the 64-year-old Oregon…
We all know that lobbyists carry a lot of weight in Washington, Salem and other state capitals nationwide, but the lack of political will currently on display in Salem is especially hard to watch. At issue is House Bill 3160. According to a recent article in The Oregonian, this modification…
It would be fair to say that when renting a car most of us assume the car is safe. Car rental companies make you sign a document acknowledging any visible damage to the vehicle and are known to check returned vehicles carefully before sending them back out with new renters.…
The really surprising thing about the BMW recall announced this week is not the fact that some older models in the German carmaker’s line had what USA Today describes as “potentially shrapnel-producing airbags.” Rather, it is that the recall has taken this long to be initiated granted everything else we…
State and federal lawsuits filed last week in California are seeking to change current legal thinking and make it harder for medical device makers to avoid responsibility for defective products. According to an analysis published in the Wall Street Journal the suits “could challenge the broad liability protection that medical…
Following up a story I wrote about earlier this week, today’s New York Times reports that a Los Angeles jury has “ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $8.3 million in damages… in the first of more than 10,000 lawsuits pending against the medical products maker” and its subsidiary,…
An editorial published last month by the New York Times raises important questions about the legal and moral responsibility medical device manufacturers have, or ought to have, concerning their products. The newspaper focused on all-metal hip implants in general and the actions of DePuy Orthopaedics in particular. DePuy is a…
An Associated Press story published yesterday on The Oregonian’s website should grab the attention of many Oregon motorists concerned about both Oregon traffic safety and Oregon defective products issues. According to the news agency, the federal government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “says it will investigate problems with stalling or…
The Oregonian noted this afternoon that the FBI is asking people across the United States to contact it regarding illnesses traceable to tainted peanuts. The case began in 2009 with an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration which found a Georgia plant run by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA)…