Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP

Civil Justice Newsletter #26

Top News

• Alleged Dell False Discounts
• Spine Surgery Patient Brings Suit Against Medtronic
• DePuy Metal Hip Recall Update
• The Rights of IT Tech Workers to Overtime Pay
• Report Blames BP's Shortcuts for Gulf Oil Spill
• FDA Says Yaz Birth Control May Raise Risk of Blood Clots
• Lieff Cabraser Attorneys Honored

Introduction

The Civil Justice Newsletter is published by the national law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP. You are receiving this newsletter as a result of contacting us on the internet. We hope you find it to be of interest. A copy of the newsletter is also available online.

Alleged Dell False Discounts

Lieff Cabraser represents California consumers who charge that Dell falsely advertised price discounts on Dell's Home and Home Office website. The complaint alleges that Dell advertised "limited time" discounts, but the discounts were false because the reference prices were inflated beyond Dell's true regular prices. Dell denies any wrongdoing.

If you are an individual or entity in California who bought Dell products advertised with discounts online sometime between 2005 and 2008, you might be a Class Member eligible for a $50 cash benefit if the settlement is approved.

The deadline for your claim is October 28, 2011. Further details on settlement can be found at: www.discountsettlement.com. The list of specific Dell products covered under the settlement can be found here.

Spine Surgery Patient Brings Suit Against Medtronic

Last month, Jennifer English from Florida filed a personal injury lawsuit against Medtronic, Inc. Her complaint alleges that Medtronic fraudulently misrepresented the risks and benefits of its Infuse bone graft product used in certain spine fusion surgeries. Kent Kaudt of Lieff Cabraser stated, "When Infuse is implanted in off-label surgeries, medical research shows that it can cause uncontrolled bone growth into or around the spinal cord, often leading to intractable pain and difficult and dangerous revision surgeries to remove unwanted bone."

Learn more about the Infuse bone graft and spine and neck surgery complications. Also watch a short video on Infuse side effects and lawsuits.

DePuy Metal Hip Recall Update

Over the past month more than 30 persons across America represented by Lieff Cabraser and co-counsel have filed personal injury lawsuits against DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson, Inc., for manufacturing an allegedly defective metal hip implant, called the ASR system.

"The DePuy ASR System has had extraordinarily high rates of loosening, failure, and dangerous metal debris release, which caused patients to develop complications necessitating removal of the ASR devices in revision surgeries," stated Lieff Cabraser attorney Wendy Fleishman. "A revision surgery is a painful procedure during which some or all of the ASR System components are explanted from the patient's body and replaced with new components."

In addition,Bloomberg News reported that a registry tracking orthopedic implants in Britain shows that the failure rate of all-metal artificial hip implants sold by Johnson & Johnson "had failed in an estimated one-third of the patients who had been followed for the longest time." DePuy, the division of Johnson & Johnson responsible for the metal-on-metal ASR hip device, recalled their device in 2010, but many patients who have already had the device implanted face elevated risk of hip failure.

Learn more about our DePuy metal-on-metal lawsuits.

The Rights of IT Tech Workers to Overtime Pay

In this video, Lieff Cabraser attorney Jahan Sagafi provides a summary on the rights of tech workers to overtime pay. You can also learn more about our IT overtime cases here.

Report Blames BP's Shortcuts for Gulf Oil Spill

In September, a joint task force comprised of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, as well as the United States Coast Guard released a report finding BP responsible for the Deepwater Horizon environmental disaster.

The report cites BP cost-cutting and time-shaving practices in its attempt to complete the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico among the reasons for the accident. The report found that "poor risk management, last-minute changes to plans, failure to observe and respond to critical indicators, inadequate well control response and insufficient emergency bridge response training," all contributed to the explosion and to poor emergency response after the explosion.

While the report finds BP to be "ultimately responsible,"The New York Times noted that, "BP's chief contractors, Transocean, which owned the mobile drilling rig, and Halliburton, which was responsible for the cementing operations, shared blame for many of the fatal mistakes."

Lieff Cabraser represents individuals and business owners who suffered economic losses and environmental damages due to the BP Gulf Oil Spill. Learn more about the BP Gulf Oil spill case.

FDA Says Yaz Birth Control May Raise Risk of Blood Clots

On September 26, 2011, the Food and Drug Administration said preliminary results of an agency-funded study show women using Yaz and other birth control pills with the synthetic hormone drospirenone face an increased risk of developing blood clots.

"The FDA is informing the public that it has not yet reached a conclusion, but remains concerned, about the potential increased risk of blood clots for women who use drospirenone-containing birth control pills," the announcement said.

The birth control pill Yaz succeeded Yasmin, both of which contain drospirenone. Bayer Healthcare, the manufacturer of Yaz, faces thousands of Yaz side effects lawsuits. Lieff Cabraser represents injured Yaz patients across America, as well as parents of young women who died from blood clots while taking Yaz. Learn about your legal rights at: www.yazbirthcontrolinjurylaw.com.

Lieff Cabraser Attorneys Honored

The Daily Journal recently published its list of "Top 100: California's Leading Attorneys of 2011." Elizabeth Cabraser and Richard Heimann were included on the list.

With respect to Ms. Cabraser, theDaily Journal wrote, "Cabraser has been juggling her time between New Orleans and Orange County, working two high-profile and high-stakes cases - Toyota Sudden Acceleration and the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico."

As to Mr. Heimann, theDaily Journal noted, "In 2010, Heimann served as lead plaintiffs' counsel in a class action against Wells Fargo & Co., which garnered one of the year's largest class action and consumer protection judgments."

About Lieff Cabraser

With over 60 lawyers in offices in San Francisco, New York, and Nashville, Lieff Cabraser is among the largest law firms in the United States that only represent plaintiffs.

Since our founding in 1972, we have been committed to justice for investors, consumers, employees, patients, and small business owners, promoting safer products and fair competition, environmental protection, and human rights around the world. For the past nine years,The National Law Journal has selected Lieff Cabraser as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in the nation.

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