Top Lawsuits & Class Action Lawsuits
It slices and dices, cuts and chops… all sorts of things—including your fingers. And this week, Nutribullet, the maker of Magic Bullet got slapped with a defective products lawsuit filed by a customer who alleges the blender poses a risk of injury to users due to a defect which causes the product to malfunction.
Filed by Harjit Thandi, the Nutribullet lawsuit states that when Thandi was making a protein shake, parts of her Magic Bullet blender became dislodged. A cup in which Thandi placed the ingredients unexpectedly detached, when she tried to move the base the blades began to spin without warning, causing her to suffer “many severe lacerations” to her finger.
Following the injury Thandi went to the emergency room, where, “because of the many jagged cuts to her finger, the treating physician was forced to glue and gauze her finger rather than close the wound via stitches or sutures,” according to the complaint.
As a result of her injuries, the plaintiff asserts she has suffered significant nerve damage and severe pain, which could very well be permanent. “Since the date of the incident, plaintiff Harjit Thandi has suffered severe pain and nerve damage which has significantly and, likely, permanently impacted her life on a daily basis,” the complaint states. Thandi is undergoing physical therapy for the persistent pain as well as issues with flexibility and range of motion in her hand, the complaint asserts.
NutriBullet’s blades and blender mechanisms are housed in the lid, which screws onto a plastic cup. The combined unit is inverted and locked into a motorized base that automatically powers the blades. When the combined cup and lid unit are unlocked, the blades stop spinning. However, unlike a typical blender, Nutirbullet’s systems don’t contain a pressure valve, which can cause the cup to prematurely detach from the lid if too much pressure has built up when the user attempts to unlock the combined cup and blade unit. However, the blades remain locked in place and can continue to spin in the user’s hand, posing a risk of injury.
According to the complaint, ”Defendants were aware for many months and possibly up to four years, that its blenders, including the Magic Bullet, presented exactly the same type of risk which injured plaintiff.”
Some 23 lawsuits have been filed against NutriBullet for burns or lacerations from their blenders.
Thandi alleges negligence, failure to warn, manufacturing and design defects, breach of implied warranty of merchantability and violations of California business law.
The case is Harjit Thandi v. NutriBullet et al., case number 2:18-cv-00623, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
Wrongful death lawsuit in the news… All over the news this week, the filing of a lawsuit by the family of Bill Paxton, the actor who starred in “Apollo 13”, who died suddenly following heart surgery. The wrongful death lawsuit names the surgeon and the medical center where Paxton underwent the operation. The complaint asserts the surgeon was negligent as he misrepresented the risks of involved with the procedure.
According to the family, Paxton went to the Beverly Hills-area Cedars-Sinai Medical Center seeking treatment for a congenital aortic valve condition and aortic aneurysm. Dr. Ali Khoynezhad and the hospital recommended a minimally invasive procedure, which Paxton’s family state they later discovered was “unnecessary.”
During the days leading up to his surgery, Paxton’s family states the hospital and surgeon concealed the risks of the “maverick” procedure from them. They allege that Khoynezhad and Cedars-Sinai wanted to perform the unconventional operation for their own “personal and reputational benefit.”
According to the complaint, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Khoynezhad failed to disclose that the planned procedure to repair an aortic aneurysm was “high risk and unconventional,” and that the surgeon lacked experience in doing the procedure. The wrongful death lawsuit also alleges Khoynezhad wasn’t in the operating room when Paxton began experiencing the complications that led to his death 11 days later, from a stroke.
“During and after the heart surgery … defendants provided negligent diagnosis, management, and treatment of [Paxton],” the complaint states. “Due to defendants’ acts and omissions, [Paxton] suffered multiple complications, including but not limited to, excessive bleeding, cardiogenic shock, right ventricular dysfunction, ventricular tachycardia, right ventricular ischemia, and a compromised right coronary artery.”
Nearly 100 unnamed people are targeted by the lawsuit, individuals who acted negligently or provided harmful treatment to Paxton that caused his death. South Bay Medical Partners is also a named defendant.
Further, Paxton’s family is accusing Khoynezhad of battery by “intentionally perform[ing] unnecessary heart surgery.” The complaint also includes a claim of breach of fiduciary duty, which the family assert, is because both the surgeon and Cedars-Sinai failed to act in Paxton’s best interest by recommending a dangerous and unnecessary treatment.
That’s it for this week folks! See you at the bar!