How You Can Protect Your Consumer Rights

As consumers, we are protected against manufacturers that fail to uphold their duty to provide safe products. These products could be toys, vehicles, drugs, or any other product consumers buy. When our consumer rights are not properly adhered to, the results can be devastating.

When you go to the pharmacy or grocery store, everything that you buy is promising you something. The labels should tell you what to expect, but the whole truth is not always written out for consumers as required by law.

What rights do consumers have? What obligations do large companies have to meet certain standards? What options do people have if injured from defective products? You have the right to know if you are being deceived by a company or unjustly injured by any drugs or goods, and you have the right to know how to gain compensation for any damages, both physical and emotional. The next question on your mind might be
“How do we take action against these companies?”

Mass Torts

What is a mass tort? A mass tort is a civil suit against a corporation(s) made by multiple plaintiffs. Mass torts can exist in state and federal courts, trying each case individually. When law offices find that a large number of plaintiffs are making the same complaints, they investigate the legality of the product in question and decide if there is legal action that can be taken for the victims.

Each plaintiff has an individual claim with distinct damages. Thankfully, any information found by one attorney in a case can be shared to help other cases with the same defendant.

Mass torts differ from class action lawsuits because class action lawsuits are filed on behalf of a group of people who share certain injuries or damages from the same problem. Both mass torts and class action lawsuits do aim to reduce the number of court cases that arise. In fact, a class action lawsuit is a type of mass tort claim.

Currently active mass tort lawsuits at The Cochran Firm:

• Just For Men
• Talcum Powder
• Xarelto
• IVC Filter
• Invokana
• Mesothelioma
• Volkswagen Recall
• Hip/knee replacement – DePuy, Johnson & Johnson, Zimmer
• Others include: Zofran, Lipitor, Risperdal, Viagra

Pharmaceutical Claims & Consumer Product Claims

As seen above, two of the most common mass tort claims include pharmaceutical claims and consumer product claims. Unfortunately, there are multiple defective drugs and products out there, and some may not become labeled as defective before having been used by huge quantities of consumers.

Many people have been injured from these items, and there have even been fatalities. Drugs and consumer products can cause physical, psychological, and emotional injury. This suffering is sometimes due to a corporation’s incomplete labeling or insufficient warnings about the product. If the drug and product companies fail to fully do their jobs, you may suffer the consequences. If this is the case, your best option to seek compensation for your losses is to contact an experienced law firm.

It is important to understand that the responsibility of the doctors and drug companies is to administer all appropriate tests prior to getting approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Regrettably, an FDA approval does not guarantee a safe drug.

All potential side effects and warnings should be placed on the drug’s label. No drug that is approved and sold should “cause harm.” The same goes for a consumer product that harms you or does not accurately perform to its promised ability. If a drug or consumer product is found to be defective, the manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors are all held responsible. This is known as product liability.

Defective Children’s Products

Children are more susceptible to serious injury when harmed by a defective product. Many of these injuries will have life-long consequences including medical and rehabilitation costs, physical and mental limitations, and emotional pain and suffering. Tragically, some injuries incurred from defective children’s products will also result in death.

Defective Medical Products

The FDA requires “device user facilities” and manufacturers and distributors to promptly notify the FDA about device-related failures or events that may have caused a death, serious injury, or illness. These reports called Medical Device Reports (MDR’s), amd are required to ensure that the most serious problems will be identified to the user. Typically, problems with medical devices fall into one of three broad categories: (i) Device problems; (ii) Use problems; and (iii) Clinical problems.

Each year, the FDA receives approximately 100,000 reports through the MDR route and another 5,000 device reports through the voluntary MedWatch route.
Do You Have More Rights Questions?
If a defective drug or product has injured you or a loved one as a result of its defects, please contact the product liability attorneys at The Cochran Firm today.

If you have a question about your rights as a consumer, or wish to request a future topic for our Protect Your Rights series, let us know in the comments below.

And, for more examples of defective products, click here.