Civil lawsuits involving asbestos and its signature injury mesothelioma have been ongoing for more than three decades and there is no foreseeable end in sight. This is so because unlike many other injuries, mesothelioma may take up to 50 years before its symptoms begin to show in someone who has been exposed to asbestos.
Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency did not ban the use of asbestos in the United States until 1989 in spite of the fact that asbestos lawsuits have been filed since 1929. The dangers associated with asbestos and their relation to the contraction of mesothelioma have been known for decades. That’s primarily how legal theories of negligence have been articulated so that those who’ve been injured by asbestos exposure are able to sue the manufacturers of asbestos.
While asbestos-related products are ubiquitous, many people were exposed as a result of their work in the US shipyards, especially after World War II.
EPA asbestos regulations fall primarily under the authority of two different federal laws and
their resulting implementations:
– the Clean Air Act (CAA) (e.g., Asbestos National Emission Standards for Hazardous
Air Pollutants, or NESHAP) rules, and
– the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) (e.g.,Asbestos Ban and Phaseout) Asbestos
rules.

With vaginal mesh lawsuits mounting, the FDA has ordered 33 vaginal mesh device manufacturers to undertake a 3 year study to determine their effectiveness as well as their safety in treating two approved uses-pelvic organ prolapse and female urinary incontinence.
In recent years, the transvaginal mesh makers have been receiving complaints about mesh failures and their ineffectiveness in treating either of the two conditions for which the device was originally approved under the government’s 510(k) system, which allows products to reach the market without human testing if the agency decides they’re similar to devices already for sale. In October, Bloomberg News reported many implants can trace their approvals back to a Boston Scientific Corp. mesh recalled for safety concerns in 1999.
According to Bloomberg, “Almost 300,000 synthetic meshes were implanted in U.S. women in 2010 to treat incontinence or shore up pelvic muscles, the agency estimates. The devices’ alleged failures have spurred more than 650 lawsuits against manufacturers and heightened scrutiny of the FDA program that cleared the products for sale without human testing. The letters ask each manufacturer to collect data on the results and potential complications of transvaginal procedures, in which the hammock-like meshes are threaded in place through an incision in the vagina. The FDA said in July that it wasn’t clear from available studies whether the devices provided a benefit over older methods in certain cases.”

Germany and France have both recalled the popular but controversial diabetes drug Actos because of its well-documented link to bladder cancer. While these European countries have taken decisive steps to protect their citizens, the US, through its federal agency the FDA has not taken such steps. Rather, the FDA has increased the drug’s black box warnings and called for further studies.
Yet, the evidence connecting Actos and bladder cancer as well as an increased risk of heart attack and stroke has led to numerous Actos lawsuits across the country. In fact, the number of Actos lawsuits has grown to such an extent, Actos litigation has been consolidated in a multidistrict litigation in the Federal District Court in the Western District of Louisiana.
The lawsuits allege that Takeda Pharmaceutical and Eli Lilly, the manufacturers of Actos, failed to provide appropriate warnings of the dangers of Actos despite knowledge of those dangers. It has been determined that Actos can increase the risk of bladder cancer by up to 40%. Those taking Actos for more than one year are at the greatest risk. The risks increase with longer usage and greater dosages.
It seems apparent that further action should be taken by the FDA to protect consumers.

In a second time in the span of a year and a half, Belgian civil law enforcement authorities conducted raids on three Catholic Church headquarters in Antwerp, the eastern city of Hasselt, and Mechelen. The investigators were looking for physical evidence of the cover-up of thousands of sexual abuse allegations made in the last few years against Catholic clergy.
The first such raid occurred in 2010 and was followed by an unprecedented and shocking admission by former bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe who admitted he had sexually abused two of his nephews.
The Belgian Catholic Church, like those in most of Europe, have been plunged into the scandalous priest sex abuse scandal that has shocked the United States Catholic Church for the last decade.
According to the NY Times, “A spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecution Service, Lieve Pellens, said that the investigation, known as Operation Chalice, was an important phase in which officials were trying to establish whether there were grounds to prosecute priests on charges of negligence and failing to aid abuse victims.
“We have had around 200 statements from victims,” she said, “and based on these, and 87 civil claims, we wanted to look at the individual personal records of priests made by their superiors to see if, in these records that were kept by archbishops or bishops, there is anything useful.”

Actos bladder cancer lawsuits filed in California state court will be consolidated for purposes of pretrial discovery and motion proceedings under Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carl West. Also, federal Actos bladder cancer lawsuits were similarly consolidated in a multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
Actos, manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceutical, was approved by the FDA in 1999 to treat Type 2 diabetes. However, since that time, Actos has been linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer, especially those patients who’ve taken Actos for an extended period of time.
In June 2011, the FDA issued an Actos warning about the bladder cancer link and noted, “”results from two, three-year controlled clinical studies of Actos (the PROactive study and a liver safety study) demonstrated a higher percentage of bladder cancer cases in patients receiving Actos versus comparators,” the FDA wrote in its announcement of the safety review.”
According to MedPage, “The FDA is investigating a possible link between pioglitazone (Actos) and bladder cancer, and, as a result, both of the available thiazolidinediones — pioglitazone and rosiglitazone (Avandia) — are undergoing safety reviews.
The FDA said it initiated the pioglitazone review after it received preliminary data from a 10-year epidemiological study sponsored by Takeda.”

Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights President Bill Donohue has once again lashed out against those trying to help the survivors of sexual abuse. Donohue wrote a column published on the League’s website calling them a “pitiful bunch of malcontents” with a caption of a baby crying next to the article.
While these types of verbal attacks are not new from Donohue, it’s high time the bishops stand up and tell him to stop speaking as if he was speaking on their behalf. Anyone who has had the privilege of working with sexual abuse survivors knows full well the psychic damage caused by sexual abuse, especially at the hands of a religious figure such as a priest. It’s completely unwarranted and reprehensible to attack the victims and act as if all of us should just “move on” or “get over it”.
One wonders how Donohue would react if one of his children had been the victim of sexual abuse.

A trial wherein the plaintiff seeks a billion dollars in damages against the manufacturer of the drug Risperdal has opened in Texas. Johnson & Johnson, the beleaguered pharmaceutical giant has already lost more than $600 million over the marketing of its anti-psychotic drug, faces a potentially huge losses in the trial.
Texas is seeking damages of more than $1 billion.
State Attorney General Greg Abbott accused J&J of paying officials to get Risperdal on approved drug lists, marketing it for unapproved uses to children and the elderly, and lying about its effects. The case in state court in Austin was filed by a whistle-blower and joined by the state, which is seeking repayment of Medicaid payments.
Texas is asking for reimbursement of $579 million, said Tom Melsheimer, a lawyer for the whistle-blower. The amount could be tripled by jurors under state law. In addition, jurors will decide the number of violations and set a penalty of up to $10,000 apiece, if the state wins.

David Clohessy, the national director of Survivors of Those Abused by Priests, will have to appear for a deposition concerning a lawsuit brought against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph regarding sexual abuse allegations lodged against Rev. Michael Tierney.
The unprecedented move by Catholic Church defense lawyers requires the deposition be taken duces tecumwhich means Clohessy must appear with documents relating to abuse matters. The specifics concerning the document production is very broad and asks for items that are tangentially (if at all) related to the particular lawsuit in question.
Advocates for survivors of abuse have criticized the move stating that it’s heavy-handed and designed to intimidate survivors. Marci Hamilton, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law at New York’s Yeshiva University, told the National Catholic Reporter that the subpoena is “one of the uglier moves I’ve seen by any organization in these cases so far.”

Patrick Lott, Bernardsville Middle School’s Assistant Principal, faces multiple criminal charges concerning his conduct while a volunteer at the nearby Roman Catholic high School Immaculata in Somerset New Jersey. Lott is facing criminal charges for allegedly videotaping young boys, 9 of whom are under the age of 16, while they were showering in Immaculata’s communal boys locker room. Until his arrest, Lott was a volunteer at Immaculata High School, a diocesan Catholic high school run by the Diocese of Metuchen in New Jersey.
According to one local media report, “According to Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano, search warrants were executed at Lott’s house on Dec. 13 and Dec. 16 through the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit. Detectives with the Computer Crimes Unit, Soriano said, also searched Lott’s computer files and digital recordings.
In the search, Soriano said, detectives found videos of nude boys showering in Immaculata High School’s communal shower area. A total of nine of the teenagers identified in the video are under the age of 16, Soriano said.
Detectives, Soriano said, also found the spot in the school area where a camera had been installed for video recording. Soriano said Lott is affiliated with the high school as a volunteer.
Lott was lodged in the Somerset County Jail, with bail set at $500,000 cash or bond. Soriano said that as a condition of Lott’s bail, he is not to have any contact with any child under age 16, and cannot have contact either with any victims or the staff and faculty at Immaculata High School.”

In a front page New York Times article today, a middle-aged man was featured in a story about the problem with artificial hip failures. The 55-year-old man had nearly $500,000 worth of medical expenses related to revision surgery for his failed artificial hip, a Johnson & Johnson DePuy hip that was recalled earlier in the year. The man has been unable to work while his medical expenses related to the failed hip continue to mount. His attempted revision surgery didn’t work and so he is left helpless and unable to work.
Unfortunately, the plight of this man is not an uncommon story. As a hip implant recall lawyer, I’ve represented hundreds of people whose lives have been unnecessarily worsened by such artificial hip devices as Stryker hips, DePuy Pinnacle hips, Zimmer Durom Cup hips, and DePuy ASR XL hips.
Making matters worse, a recent study by the FDA has shown that these new hip devices aren’t as effective as the older hip devices. Their failure rates are alarmingly high and some result in a dangerous condition known as metallosis wherein the metal fragments from the metal-on-metal hips fall into the bloodstream and poison the blood.
The artificial hip situation in this country is tragic and appalling given the numbers of people affected by it. At some point, the federal government needs to step in and fix it before more are injured.