- You probably saw the news a couple weeks ago that Boston Scientific’s division Guidant, LLC agreed to plead guilty to two federal misdemeanor counts and pay a $296m fine in connection with its sale of defective heart devices. The backstory involves reprehensible conduct on the part of some executives: aware of the fact that these implanted defibrillators were short circuiting at the rate of one per month, Guidant decided not to warn doctors about the dangers and sold off its defective inventory, instead of recalling the product.
- Courtesy of Bob Kraft, I came across this American Association For Justice illustration, showing all of the safety features in modern automobiles that products liability lawyers are responsible for. It’s a pretty astonishing list of features, but it shouldn’t be too surprising. Since safety features aren’t “sexy” features that sell cars, the implementation of most safety features has come, not via consumer demand, but by trial lawyers making a dent (no pun intended) in car maker’s bottom lines and by government regulation.
- The Rhode Island Supreme Court rules that a lawsuit can proceed against the City of Newport for allegedly unsafe conditions on that city’s famed Cliff Walk. The injury victim, a honeymooner, was paralyzed when he fell 28-feet off the Cliff Walk while walking with his new wife.
