Over 100 women thought they were protected by taking birth control pills manufactured by Qualitest Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Endo Pharmaceuticals. The women took the birth control pills as per instructions on the brochure. However, that failed to stop pregnancies. Why? Incredibly, and believe it or not, because of a packaging error.
The package was shifted about 180 degrees and that reversed the orientation of the pills. In plain English, the women took placebo pills when they should have been taking the birth control pills.
Incredibly, 94 women who took the pills gave birth after unexpected pregnancies and 17 more did not carry their pregnancies to term.
In the law this is known as a product liability case. Basically, in a product liability case the manufacturer is responsible for the safety of the product. Here the product was the birth control pills which were defectively manufactured and designed. That means they did not work.
This is probably the equivalent of a rear ender case in a car accident collision. The only real question, since the defendants are the people in charge of the manufacture of the pills, is what are the money damages for this mistake.
This is another example of trying to put a value on a subjective thing. What would you put as the value for an unwanted pregnancy? It is interesting that a man might, in some situations, place a certain monetary value for that error. However, a woman under the same circumstances might place a significantly different dollar amount for the mistake. Logically, one would think that a female juror would give a significantly higher number for this unwanted pregnancy that a male would. Again, that is just a generalization and isn’t always the case.
It is virtually certain that this is an extremely serious mistake that the manufacturer made and they must bear the consequences of it.
Let me ask you a question. How much would you give, assuming these facts, if you were sitting on the jury in this case? Pittsburgh wrongful death and auto accident attorney Bernie Tully has handled many product liability cases We are available at any time to talk to you about your product liability case. There are often special circumstances regarding a product liability case that may or may not be applicable to your situation. The best way we can help you is to sit down with you and talk about your situation and what your damages are. Then we can determine how best to help you.
Product liability cases like this are not just confined to defectively manufactured items like birth control pills. A product liability case, of course, can arise from a machine in the workplace that malfunctions and causes serious injury. It can be the result of an air bag that is defectively designed and seriously injures a victim in an auto accident. It can involve a wrongful death matter in which the individual tragically dies as a result of a defective tool, machine or vehicle. We are here to try to help you in that regard.
Let us give you a hand in any product liability claim you might have.
Thanks for reading.
Bernie the attorney