Personal Injury with a Focus on Product Liability
Thousands of products are released to the public each year. As a personal injury law firm, we believe companies should be held accountable for their mistakes. When this happens, companies focus on producing higher quality products. This results in a safer society for all.
Recalls are a good way to get bad products off the market, however, by the time a recall is needed, the damage to the public has already been done. That’s where a law firm like Fleming, Nolen and Jez comes in. We help those who were victims of defective products.
With each year, a consistent goal of our law firm is to help as many victims of detective products and devices as possible. 2022 was a great year for our firm, and by extension, a great year for the public. We saw a 13% increase in case acquisition growth as compared to 2021. We also hired a new attorney and supporting legal staff to help with the increase in workload.
Big Year for Client Growth
Through the many years of serving clients, we have built a name within the product liability space. In 2022, Hernia mesh claimants represented 56% of new case acquisitions. We also saw more CPAP machine claimants which represented 15% of our new cases last year. This has kept Kelsey Stokes (lead attorney for both CPAP and Hernia Mesh cases) extremely busy. She was named Co-Lead Counsel in the MDL involving Covidien’s hernia mesh device and was instrumental in consolidating those cases in the District of Massachusetts. Throughout the year, Kelsey has worked tirelessly combing through thousands of documents, talking to experts, working with her legal team, and building cases for the many thousands of clients we represent.
2022 was also a big year for new litigations for our firm. We started getting involved with representing Exactech claimants in April of 2022 and since then, we’ve seen a steady stream of new cases. Attorney Sean Jez is the lead attorney for Exactech cases at our law firm and has been able to leverage his years of experience dealing with other medical implant devices to his advantage.
Towards the end of the year, our office saw new inquiries for hair relaxer lawsuits. We wrote a blog (See blog) discussing the studies behind this litigation. We expect to see further development well into 2023, and Sean is looking forward to providing justice for the clients we represent.
Not long after our involvement with Exactect came new inquiries for the Camp Lejeune litigation. In addition to those reaching out directly for representation, other law firms have been referring their cases to our firm. Attorney Rand Nolen has done a great job leading our legal team on these cases and has also released some educational videos discussing the litigation.
Fleming, Nolen & Jez has received hundreds of inquiries and referrals of potential Camp Lejeune serious injury cases. We began accepting cases and evaluating claims before the Camp Lejeune Justice Act passed and was signed into law by President Biden as part of the PACT Act. We have submitted many claims for administrative review as required by the act and are fully prepared to move forward with our clients’ cases in North Carolina federal court if necessary.
Building on the momentum of 2021, we continued to see more people reaching out to our office who were affected by the defective 3m earplugs. Attorney Greg Brown leads this litigation for our firm.
The 3M MDL has been well managed; despite being the largest multi-district litigation (MDL) in the history of American Jurisprudence, thus far, there have been 19 trials and the litigation has moved at an accelerated pace. Plaintiffs have been largely successful in many of these trials, with approximately 13 Plaintiff verdicts and 6 verdicts for the 3M Defendants. Unfortunately, 3M is attempting to avoid future trials, liability, and responsibility by way of attempting to use the bankruptcy proceedings of its wholly owned subsidiary, Aearo Technologies. Relatedly, more than three years after the litigation began, 3M is also attempting to raise a new defense of successor liability. The MDL Court has wisely and correctly rejected this effort so far. We are confident that the Plaintiffs’ victories, as well as various court rulings, will be upheld on appeal and are hopeful this happens in the near future.
As we continue to work on our active cases, we look forward to representing more people who need an attorney to fight for them. If you are curious about the other type of cases our law firm handles, please visit our practice areas page.
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