Disclosure: Chris Hellums and the firm of Pittman Dutton & Hellums represent Tyrone Prothro who is a named class representative in the O'Bannon lawsuit.
Federal Judge Claudia denied the NCAA's motion to dismiss the Federal Antitrust lawsuit brought by Ed O'Bannon, Tyrone Prothro, and others. In her ruling, she held that the 1984 Supreme Court cited by the NCAA which, coincidentally they lost, did not apply.
In NCAA vs. The Board of Regents of The University of Oklahoma was the 1984 United States Supreme Court opinion which held that the NCAA's television limitations was a violation of Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts. Prior to 1953, there was no prohibition on televising games. Pennsylvania, in fact, televised all of their games. In 1953, the NCAA determined that there would only be one game per week, and no team could be on TV more than once per season. The revenue would be shared by the teams playing on television and guess who, the NCAA. In 1981, Oklahoma and Georgia sued. The NCAA lost at both the trial level and at the United States Supreme Court.
Judge Wilken ruled that none of the NCAA's arguments provides for a dismissal of the case at this stage.
A link to the order issued by Judge Wilken is attached below.
Ed O'Bannon NCAA order.pdf
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Pittman Dutton & Hellums Files Concussion Lawsuit Against NCAA
Pittman Dutton & Hellums attorney Chris Hellums, along with
Columbia, South Carolina attorney John Nichols, filed a nationwide class action lawsuit
against the NCAA last week. The lawsuit claims that the NCAA was negligent in
protecting its football players from the dangers of head trauma and brain
damage from concussions. The lawsuit seeks medical monitoring and damages.
The named Plaintiff in the
lawsuit is Stanley Doughty. Stanley’s case is compelling. A native of Amite, Louisiana,
Stanley was recruited to play football at the University of South Carolina and
did so for three years. He decided to forego his senior year at South
Carolina and signed a $400,000 contract with the Kansas City Chiefs.
After signing a contract with the Chiefs, but before he could even begin
training camp, the Chiefs’ doctors told Stanley that they would not medically
clear him to play on account of injuries he sustained while playing football in
college. He was also told he and would need surgery. Thereafter, Stanley was released by the
Chiefs, and to this day, has still not received his needed surgery.
Meghan Walsh, writing for The Atlantic magazine, published an
excellent story on May 1, 2013, chronicling Stanley’s life.That story can be
found at this link:
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II Filings Continue---Just How Many are in Alabama?
It seems as though daily, a new case is filed against Stryker related to their recalled Rejuvenate and ABG II hip systems. Many of these filings are transferred into the MDL (Multi-District Litigation) which is being overseen by United States District Judge Frank.
In Alabama, we continue to receive calls from individuals who have not been advised, or just recently been advised, that they have the recalled product. Just this week, we received calls from Birmingham, Anniston, and Fairhope from individuals who received the recalled product. I believe there may be hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of the recalled devices in Alabama.
Many believe they don't have a recalled product because their hip "is not a metal on metal." While the Rejuvenate and ABG II are not metal on metal constructs, they have been recalled and unfortunately, the damage caused by the Stryker hip is often as bad, and sometimes worse, than the metal on metal devices recalled by Depuy and others.
Why is this the case? The reason is that the Stryker problem is in the stem, not the ball and the cup. Fretting in the stem causes the same problem as the metal on metal ball and cup designs; however, because the failure is in the stem, in order to correct the problem, the stem must be removed from the femur. Stryker stems were often selected by physicians because they adhered so tighly to the femur. Unfortunately, surgeons are describing revisions of Rejuvenates and ABG IIs as askin to breaking rebar out of concrete.
If you think that you may have a recalled Stryker hip system, it is important that you evaluate your options and take special care to select a revision surgeon, should revision surgery become necessary.
Stryker Recalls Spine Plate
 |
| Fda (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) has issued a class one (1) recall on the Stryker Spine OASYS Midline
Occiput Plate. The plate is commonly used as an implant in spinal surgeries.
The failure of these implants can cause serious side effects such as blood
loss, nerve injury and a need for revision surgery.
Class I recalls are the most serious – involving situations “in which
there is a reasonable probability that use of these products will cause serious
adverse health consequences or death,” the FDA reported in the safety alert. If
a patient begins suffering from symptoms such as pain, weakness, or numbness,
“urgent evaluation is needed,”
In the FDA’s initial recall announcement of the product, issued on May 30, 2013, it noted that the Oasys Midline
Occiput Plate is part of the Oasys System, which is used in spinal surgery to
promote fusion and provide stabilization at the junction between the occipital
bone and the vertebrae in the cervical and thoracic spine.
The Products made by Stryker that were
reported to possibly have failures were distributed between April 23, 2010 and
February 12, 2013. It is estimated the roughly 1300-1500 of the recalled plates
may exist in the U.S. and another 880 internationally.
In 2009, Stryker recalled their Rejuvenate
and ABG II modular-neck hip stems due to corrosion at the modular neck
junctions. As a result of the failures, toxic
metal debris may enter the soft tissue of the hip cavity or the blood stream.
The Rejuvenate and ABG II recall has resulted in hundreds lawsuits and many
expect the number to reach into the thousands.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
