Personal Injury Law Specialist in Phoenix, Arizona

In the February 2016 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) results of a large study involving over ten thousand patients showed that Prilosec and other heartburn drug PPI use may increase the risk of the development of chronic kidney disease by 20 to 50 percent.  The study indicated that the longer a person used the drug, the greater the risk, especially if the medication was used more than once a day.

If you or someone close to you has been using Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid or other PPI, and has been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, acute kidney injury, renal or kidney failure, acute interstitial nephritis, dialysis treatment, kidney removal, kidney transplant or kidney related death, please contact Phoenix Arizona mass tort product liability attorney Steve Leshner for a free consultation.

Phoenix personal injury attorney Stephen I. Leshner has been selected to the 2016 Arizona Super Lawyers list, for the ninth consecutive year. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys. The Super Lawyers lists are published nationwide in Super Lawyers Magazines and in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers across the country. Super Lawyers Magazines also feature editorial profiles of attorneys who embody excellence in the practice of law. For more information about Super Lawyers, visit SuperLawyers.com.

Steve was also recently named as one of “Top 3 Personal Injury Lawyers” in Phoenix, Arizona by ThreeBestRated.Com.    Three Best Rated claims it finds the top three local businesses per category in a city by checking reviews, history, complaints, ratings, satisfaction, trust, cost and general excellence.  No business pays to be listed.

Phoenix, Arizona medical malpractice and mass tort lawyer Steve Leshner is also listed in Best Lawyers in America and Arizona’s Finest Lawyers.

On November 24, 2015, an Atlanta, Ga jury found in favor of the plaintiff and against Wright Medical Technology, Inc. in the first bellwether trial in the Multi-District Litigation involving the allegedly defective metal hip Wright Conserve Implant Systems.  The jury found the product to be defective, and awarded the plaintiff $1 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.

After the verdict, the attorneys for Wright filed a Motion for New Trial, challenging, among other things, the amount of the jury verdict.  On April 5, 2016, the Judge issued a ruling upholding the jury’s verdict of compensatory damages of $1 million, but reduced the punitive damage verdict by 90% from $11 million to $1.1 million.

Phoenix, Arizona mass tort product liability attorney Stephen I. Leshner has represented over 100 people injured by defective hip replacement systems, including the current cases against Wright Medical Technology, Inc.  While there have been global settlements in the DePuy ASR, Zimmer, Stryker, and Smith & Nephew cases, no global settlements have been reached in cases involving DePuy Pinnacle and Wright, which are in the bellwether trial process.  If you are someone close to you has been injured as a result of a defective metal-on-metal hip, which required the surgical removal and replacement of the hip replacement system or its components, please contact Steve Leshner for a free consultation.

On March 17, 2016, after a two month trial, a Dallas, Texas federal court jury awarded $142 million in actual damages and $360 million in punitive damages to a group of five (5) claimants who had defective Johnson & Johnson (J&J) DePuy Pinnacle hip replacements that needed surgical removal and replacement.  The jury awarded punitive damages because they concluded that J&J knew about the flaws in the Pinnacle hips but failed to warn doctors and their patients of the risks.

There are about 8,000 claims pending in the DePuy Pinnacle mass tort case, a number of which are currently represented by Phoenix Arizona personal injury attorney Stephen I. Leshner.   The claimant’s victory in the bellwether case comes after a defeat in a similar case in 2014.  In another case involving J&J, the company recalled 93,000 DePuy ASR hips, resulting in a $2.5 Billion settlement, which has been largely distributed.

A settlement agreement has been signed which proposes to resolve virtually all lawsuit and claims of United States plaintiffs and claimants who were implanted with a Zimmer Durom Cup and subsequently had the device surgically removed. The agreement establishes a settlement program which is intended to resolve all Durom Cup claims and lawsuits by the end of 2016. Any claimant wishing to settle their claim within the terms of the agreement must register on or before April 29, 2016. The terms of the agreement is set forth in www.duromsettlement.com. The settlement terms include a base award of $175,000.00, which may be increased or decreased depending on certain, pre-defined criteria that apply to individual claims.

Phoenix, Arizona personal injury and mass tort product liability attorney Stephen I. Leshner has settled a number of Zimmer Durom Cup cases in the last few years outside of this settlement program, but still has clients with unsettled cases that may benefit from this global settlement.

If you or someone close to you has been seriously injured as a result of a defective medical device, including defective hip and knee replacement devices, please contact Steve Leshner for a free consultation and case review.