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Nation’s Largest Drug Distributor to Pay $150M in Settlement

Drug distributor McKesson Corporation will pay a $150 million fine.

Regulators have alleged that McKesson Corporation, a drug distributor, failed to report suspicious orders of painkillers that have been linked to the opioid addiction epidemic.drug

The company has agreed to pay a $150 million fine after they allegedly failed to detect and report suspicious orders of prescription pain pills, according to federal prosecutors. This has arguably led to the growing heroin crisis.

For example, more than 1.6 million orders for controlled substances were filled by McKesson in Colorado between June 2008 through May 2013. However,  just 16 of them from a single customer as suspicious, the Justice Department said.

In a statement from the White House last summer, federal fears related to pain killer and opioid addictions were made clear:

“President [Obama] has made [it] clear that addressing this epidemic is a priority for his Administration.  While Federal agencies have been using their authority to take every available action they can, Congress needs to take action on what is most urgently needed now – additional funding to make lifesaving treatment available to everyone who seeks it. The President has called for $1.1 billion in new funding to help Americans who want treatment get it wherever they live.”

Those addicted to opioid painkillers are most likely to form a heroin addiction according to the Centers for Disease and prevention.

McKesson, the nation’s largest drug distributor,  was accused of failing  to create an effective system to detect suspicious pharmacy orders. This was argued to be a violation of the Controlled Substances Act.

In 2008, McKesson agreed to a $13.25 million civil penalty for actions including failing to report suspicious sales of their drugs on “internet pharmacies.”

 

In a statement, McKesson said it settled “in the interest of moving beyond disagreements about whether McKesson was complying with the controlled substance regulations … and to instead focus on the company’s partnership with regulators and others to help stem the opioid epidemic in this country.”

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Johnson & Johnson Faces More Legal Trouble Over Hip Products

Johnson and Johnson is facing more legal trouble related to their hip products.

There are currently more than 8,000 suits for the DePuy Orthopaedics products manufactured by Johnson & Johnson.

In the past, the company has lost one trial involving the device and won another where the courts ruled in the manufacturer’s favor.

In the new case, the victim claims to have “suffered substantial injuries and damages” from the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary manufactured hip implant.

This comes less than a month after a federal jury in Dallas ordered Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit to pay more than $1 billion to plaintiffs who claimed they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants.

The Indiana man filed the lawsuit in Middlesex County Superior Court on Dec. 9, the new suit alleges that the metal-on-metal version of the product is defective. As a result of defects,  metal particles move into a recipient’s bloodstream and tissue after wear and tear.

 

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GM Lawsuits On The Way

GM-ignition-switch-lawsuitGeneral Motors (GM) is facing a large amount of pending lawsuits due to a recent federal court ruling. According to USA Today, The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a bankruptcy judge’s ruling this week that had protected GM from those lawsuits because of the company’s 2009 bankruptcy restructuring.

The ruling gives new life to hundreds of lawsuits from potential victims, including some who refused to accept settlements and instead took their chances in court. It also revives lawsuits from potential victims whom GM refused to offer deals and to class-action lawsuits by consumers who claim their vehicle values fell because of the scandal.

This ruling will undoubtedly bring heavy financial losses to the company as they will now have to go through thousands of cases. According to ABC News, About 1,000 death and injury lawsuits were put on hold waiting for the appeals court to rule, said Robert Hilliard, another attorney in the case. General Motors’ filings with securities regulators say there are another 101 U.S. lawsuits pending that allege that GM’s actions caused vehicle values to decline, with the expected losses for GM to range between $7-$10 billion.

After their bankruptcy in 2009, the Detroit-based automotive manufacturer has made a considerable rebound, as have other car companies since then. It will be interesting to see how this impacts the company moving forward. What makes this case so interesting is the fact that the pre-bankruptcty GM is now affecting the “New GM”.

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Takata Settles Airbag Lawsuit

airbag recall

Airbag manufacturer Takata has been in the news over the course of the past few months as scrutiny of their malfunctioning airbags has increased. The company recently settled one of their lawsuits with a family who had a member paralyzed and later die to to injuries caused by the airbag. The settlement was made just moments before a hearing was supposed to take place where the judge could have made Takata executives testify in court. Many people were surprised at the settlement, including the lawyer representing the family of the victim, Patricia Mincey.

Mincey was paralyzed from the neck down after the Takata airbag in her 2001 Honda Civic forcefully inflated after a collision on June 15, 2014. The airbag was among those recalled by Honda less than a week later.

Takata’s airbags have caused several deaths and numerous injuries to drivers and passengers, causing automakers to recall nearly 60 million vehicles in the US alone.

While the exact numbers on the settlement have not been released, Takata has handled all of their previous lawsuits with swift action. The company is currently trying to repair their image and restore consumers confidence in their products. With airbags being a vital safety component in any car, it may take the company a very long time to be trusted by car drivers and manufacturers alike.

According to a New York Times Article, the mass recalls of Takata airbags gained new urgency last month, when federal safety regulators warned that airbags in more than 300,000 older Honda and Acura vehicles were at an unacceptably high risk of exploding and needed to be replaced immediately.

 Takata also faces a class-action lawsuit brought by owners of affected cars and is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department.
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Jeep Transmission Kills Hollywood Star

Jeep27 year old actor Anton Yelchin, known for his role as Chekov in the new series of Star Trek movies, was killed when his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled down his driveway pinning him against the brick wall and fence in front of his Los Angeles home.

The car featured an “e-shift” transmission, which has been an increasingly popular trend in the automotive industry, especially in luxury models. The reason for these new shifting methods are that they take up less space, allowing room for bigger cup holders and more buttons. These new e-shift transmissions can be confusing for many drivers because it lacks the typical grooves and sensation of moving the car into park, drive or reverse. This unfamiliarity among drivers has resulted in many injuries, and in Yelchin’s case, death.

According to a CBS News report, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating more than 850,000 vehicles, mostly 2014 and 2015 Grand Cherokees equipped with e-shift. Government investigators found it “…is not intuitive and provides poor tactile and visual feedback to the driver, increasing the potential for unintended gear selection.” That investigation claims reports of 121 crashes, resulting in several people being hospitalized.

Also included in the recall were the 2012 to 2014 Dodge Charger and the 2012 to 2014 Chrysler 300, both of which are equipped with the same shifting technology.chrysler

According to a NBC News report, Gary Titus of Canton, Massachusetts, owner of a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, said he has experienced this “mis-shifting” on “multiple occasions” — including one incident that sounds eerily similar to Yelchin’s. “The worst one,” said the 59-year-old, “was when I got pinned between the car and the garage.”

This shifting malfunction is a problem that the Fiat Chrysler automotive group is working hard to address, as they have even gone as far as taking the technology out of their newer models to avoid further accidents.

If you or anyone you know has been affected by poor handling of a Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge recall, visit our recall page.

 

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Kia Faces Minivan Recall

KiaAutomobile manufacturer Kia, is recalling nearly 100,000 of the company’s Sedona minivans with model years spanning from 2006 to 2012. The recall is in place due to some suspension parts that are susceptible to rust damage when they come into contact with salt used on icy roads in the winter.

The recall will effect drivers in the following cold-weather states: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

According to a Chron article, the same recall problem was addressed in 2013.  2006 and 2007 model year vehicles will have their suspension parts replaced by the company, while the remaining vehicles will receive an anti-rust coating on the parts to protect them from any further damage.

Kia will reportedly inform consumers of their recall on July 25th.