Hilliard Munoz Gonzales L.L.P

FDA: Novartis recall may also affect painkillers
Potential mix-up between powerful prescription pain drugs and common over-the-counter medications like Excedrin and Gas-X

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration is warning patients about a potential mix-up between powerful prescription pain drugs and common over-the-counter medications like Excedrin and Gas-X made at a Novartis manufacturing plant.

The problem stems from major manufacturing problems at a Lincoln, Neb., facility which triggered a sweeping recall of the company’s over-the-counter drugs on Sunday. The company has received complaints of broken and chipped pills, and inconsistent bottle packaging that could cause pills to be mixed up. Consumers should not use the products and can contact the company for a refund.

FDA officials warned Monday that some of Novartis’ over-the-counter pills may have accidentally been packaged with powerful prescription painkillers made at the same facility. The opioid drugs are sold by Endo Pharmaceuticals as Percocet, Endocet, Opana and Zydone.

Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc., of Chadds Ford, Pa., said it is not aware of any confirmed product mix-ups or injuries.

FDA officials say they are not recalling the painkillers because they are essential medications for many patients and the risks of stray pills are low.

“The likelihood of finding a wrong tablet in an opiate pain medication dispensed to patients is low and patients should not be unduly alarmed,” FDA’s Dr. Edward Cox told reporters.

Cox said regulators are also concerned about a shortage of Endo’s painkillers in coming weeks due to the shutdown of the Nebraska facility. Switzerland-based Novartis voluntarily halted production at the plant last month.

“FDA is working with Endo and Novartis to minimize the degree of impact. The degree of shortage will depend upon how quickly safeguards can be put in place to prevent this manufacturing issue from happening in the future,” the FDA said in a statement on its website.

FDA inspectors cited Novartis’ plant for dozens of quality control problems last summer, in a report posted to the agency’s website. Company officials repeatedly failed to properly follow up on consumer complaints received since 2009. FDA inspectors concluded that none of the 223 complaints received by the plant last year were properly reviewed, according to the report.

Novartis announced Sunday it would recall certain bottles of headache medicine Excedrin and caffeine caplets NoDoz with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2014. The company is also recalling some packages of pain medicine Bufferin and stomach medicine Gas-X with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2013, or earlier.

Customers can also call the company at 1-888-477-2403 Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST.

The FDA and Endo Pharmaceuticals recommend patients examine their prescriptions to make sure all the tablets are similar in shape, color, size and marking. If one or more of the tablets look different, patients should return the medicine to their pharmacist.

Patients can call Endo Pharmaceuticals’ call center at 1-800-462-3636.

Halliburton denies destroying evidence in BP oil spill case
Posted on January 5, 2012 at 5:09 am by Bloomberg in Accidents, Deepwater drilling, Drilling, Gulf Oil Disaster, Gulf of Mexico
22 |
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Halliburton Co. denied BP Plc’s accusation that engineers destroyed testing evidence to keep it from being used in litigation over the Gulf of Mexico rig blast that triggered the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

BP and Halliburton are suing each other over whose actions caused the Macondo well to explode off the Louisiana coast in April 2010. BP asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier of New Orleans to sanction Halliburton last month, alleging the cementing services firm hid or destroyed unfavorable testing evidence.

Halliburton said in a filing today that engineers followed company policy to discard the testing results and materials because the tests were “performed on lab stock that remains available today.” Halliburton also said tests on cement samples like those used in the well showed the formula was stable.

Halliburton’s engineers turned over notes and testified under oath that tests showed “a stable foam was observed after the slurry was conditioned — a critical fact that BP continues to ignore,” Donald Godwin, Halliburton’s lead trial lawyer, said in a filing in federal court in New Orleans.

“At most, the post-incident testing showed how non-rig ingredients performed when tested under lab conditions, not how rig stock performed when pumped downhole,” Godwin said.

The companies jointly face more than 500 lawsuits by thousands of coastal property owners and businesses claiming damages from the massive oil spill.

Spill Litigation

In seeking sanctions, BP cited a Halliburton employee’s testimony that the Macondo well’s cement formulation looked “thin” when recreated during post-blowout lab tests.

“In fact, a ‘thin’ slurry can still be a stable slurry,” Godwin said in today’s filing. Noting that the engineer testified that the slurry might have been thin by design, Godwin said the worker also “stated unequivocally that the slurry he tested foamed all the way to fill up the container, and there were no signs of gas break out, free fluid or streaking.”

Halliburton employee Rickey Morgan didn’t testify that he intentionally avoided recording certain test results to prevent lawyers from using the data against the company in court, Godwin said. Those “are not even Morgan’s words,” Godwin said.

‘What Morgan Feared’

“BP is doing exactly what Morgan feared: taking his words and work out-of-context and manipulating them to serve BP’s purposes in litigation,” Godwin said in the filing.

Halliburton also volunteered to give BP or third-party forensic investigators duplicates of hard drives used to run computer models of Macondo cement formulations that BP claims were unfavorable to Halliburton. Godwin said the company offered to provide all data inputs and employees to help BP recreate the computer models, if needed.

“We stand by our motions and the arguments we made in prior papers,” Daren Beaudo, a spokesman for BP, said in an e- mail in response to Halliburton’s filing.

BP and Halliburton have been fighting about the cement job Halliburton provided to seal the well against leaks, based on BP’s design specifications. Halliburton used an innovative foaming cement formulation that critics claim wasn’t right for the Macondo formation. As a result, BP claims the contractor’s work was flawed, while Halliburton maintains BP provided faulty information.

Government investigators have said both companies are partly to blame for causing the blowout, which killed 11 workers.

In case you missed this story from the Associated Press…

BP: Halliburton Destroyed Key Oil Spill Evidence

NEW ORLEANS - BP in a high-stakes court filing on Monday accused Halliburton of destroying damaging evidence about the quality of its cement slurry that went into drilling the oil well that blew out last year and caused the nation’s worst offshore oil spill.

BP accused Halliburton of having intentionally destroyed evidence about possible problems with its cement slurry poured into the deep-sea Macondo well about 100 miles off the Louisiana coast. An oil well must be cemented properly to avoid blowouts.

Also in the documents filed in a New Orleans federal court, BP accused Halliburton of failing to produce incriminating computer modeling evidence. BP accused Halliburton of claiming the modeling is gone.

BP asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to penalize Halliburton and order a court-sponsored computer forensic team to recover the missing modeling results.

Halliburton did not return a call seeking comment but told other media outlets that the accusations were untrue.

The allegations in the 310-page motion ratcheted up the showdown among BP PLC and contractors, Halliburton and Transocean Ltd. The three companies have been sparring over blame for the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon blast, which killed 11 workers and led to the release of 206 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. So far, BP, the majority owner of the Macondo well, has footed the bill for the emergency response and cleanup.

Also involved are Anadarko Petroleum Co. and Cameron International Corp.

The first trial over the Deepwater Horizon disaster is scheduled to start Feb. 27 in New Orleans. The first leg is expected to take about three months and determine the liability of each company involved in drilling the Macondo well. There will be other phases over cleanup costs, punitive damages and other claims.

Federal and independent investigations of the disaster have found fault in Halliburton’s cement job because it failed to properly plug the well. Halliburton used a foamy cement slurry.

In Monday’s court filing, BP accused Halliburton employees doing an internal investigation of the Macondo disaster of discarding and destroying early test results they performed on the same batch of cement slurry used in the Macondo well.

BP said Halliburton’s chief cement mixer for Gulf projects testified in depositions that the cement slurry seemed “thin” to him but that he chose not to write about his findings to his bosses out of fear he would be misinterpreted.

“I didn’t want to put anything on an email that could be twisted, and turned,” Rickey Morgan, the Halliburton cement expert, said in depositions. He worked at a laboratory in Duncan, Okla.

“Upon reviewing these latest testing results, Halliburton employees destroyed records of the testing as well as the physical cement samples used in the testing,” BP alleged.

Honda Expands Recall Saying Airbags Could Be Deadly

In a notice on it’s website, automaker Honda has expanded a previously announced recall of certain 2001 through 2003 model-year Honda and Acura vehicles to replace the driver’s airbag inflator originally installed in approximately 273,000 additional vehicles sold in the U.S.

Affected driver’s airbag inflators may deploy with too much pressure, which can cause the inflator casing to rupture and could result in injury or fatality.

Separately, Honda has also determined that approximately 640 affected driver’s airbag service parts were sold for installation in vehicles for collision repair or other vehicle service. Because Honda is unable to determine the specific vehicles that may have received the affected service parts through existing information, Honda will inspect an additional approximately 603,000 vehicles and replace those parts as necessary.

This recall now includes certain makes of the following Honda vehicles:
* 2001 and 2002 Honda Accords
* 2001 to 2003 Honda Civics
* 2001 to 2003 Odyssey
* 2002 and 2003 CR-V, 2003 Pilot
* 2002 and 2003 Acura 3.2 TL
* 2003 Acura 3.2 CL vehicles.

Honda is aware of several incidents related to this recall and expansions,
and is announcing this further recall expansion to encourage all owners of included vehicles to take their vehicle to an authorized dealer as soon as they receive mailed notification from Honda. Notification to the expanded group of customers will begin in late December 2011.

When Honda identifies concerns of this nature, nothing is more important to the company than fulfilling our obligation and responsibility to alert our customers. To this end, in addition to contacting customers by mail, in late December, owners of these vehicles will be able to determine if their vehicles Statement by AHM Regarding Driver’s Airbag Inflator Recall Expansion Page 2
require repair by going on-line or calling.

Honda owners can go to www.recalls.honda.com or call (800) 999-1009 and select option 4; Acura owners can go to www.recalls.acura.com or call (800) 382-2238 and select option 4.

Hilliard Muñoz Gonzales L.L.P. has a team of highly experienced product liability attorneys. Call us today at (361) 882-1612 if you or a loved one has been injured due to a problem within a vehicle.

Brazil fines Chevron $28 million for oil spill
By the CNN Wire Staff
November 22, 2011

Sao Paulo, Brazil (CNN) - Chevron was fined $28 million for an oil spill off the country’s coast and could face further penalties, state media reported on Monday.

The leak off Rio de Janeiro state has stopped, said Curt Trennepohl, president of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, according to state-run Agencia Brasil. Residual oil in the rocks, however, may still rise to the surface for a few days, he said.

Trennepohl said Chevron was hit with a $28 million fine and could face more penalties if it is shown the company failed in the execution of its emergency plan, Agencia Brasil reported.
Rio de Janeiro Environment Secretary Carlos Minc criticized drilling contractor Transocean, accusing the company of trying to drill at too high a pressure, given the geological characteristics of the seabed.

“This accident was avoidable. … It was incompetence. That is an environmental crime, ” he told Brazil’s Globo TV.

A Transocean spokesman said the company is cooperating with authorities but declined to provide further information.

“Transocean continues to fully cooperate with Chevron, the operator of the well, and the Brazilian authorities in all aspects of this matter,” spokesman Guy Cantwell said.

Transocean owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon drill rig, which exploded last year, kicking off the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The company remains tangled in legal disputes with BP and Halliburton over responsibility for the 2010 gusher. A U.S. government report released in September said all three companies share responsibility for the disaster, which led to more than 200 million gallons of oil being released into the Gulf of Mexico.

Chevron admitted responsibility for the Atlantic oil spill off Brazil’s coast in a statement Sunday but said it was still trying to calculate how much oil had leaked at its exploration site off Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency had estimated the total volume of oil released at between 5,000 and 8,000 barrels (between 210,000 and 336,000 gallons), according to Chevron.

“Chevron takes full responsibility for this incident,” Chevron Brazil country manager George Buck said in the company’s statement. “We are committed to deploying resources until the sheen can no longer be detected.”

Over the weekend, Minc accused Chevron of underestimating the amount of oil that had leaked.
Buck denied that accusation, telling Agencia Brasil that it was difficult to define the real dimension of the problem.

Last week Brazil’s Federal Police agency said it was investigating the spill, saying those responsible could face sentences of up to five years in jail if found guilty.

Brazil’s oil and gas regulator has said the spill is dispersing and moving away from the Brazilian coast, so it does not appear to threaten Rio’s world-famous beaches. But it does raise questions about how prepared Brazil is for the development of its offshore “pre-salt” deposits, which are expected to turn the country into a major oil exporter in the coming years.

The trial lawyers at Hilliard Munoz Gonzales L.L.P. are experienced at handling cases in the oil and gas industry. If you have been injured physically or financially due to the negligence of a company in this field, call us today at (361) 882-1612.

Check out the below article that appeared in the Houston Chronicle…

Fifth of Inspected Commercial Trucks Unsafe
By HARVEY RICE, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Published 12:19 p.m., Thursday, November 17, 2011

GALVESTON-Texas inspectors pulled 20 percent of inspected commercial vehicles off the road this year because they were unsafe, the Department of Public Safety said Thursday.

Of 331,505 commercial vehicles inspected since Jan. 1, 66,189 were deemed unsafe. Inspectors also removed from the road 12,301 commercial drivers for safety violations, DPS Director Steven C. McCraw said.

“Commercial vehicles are responsible for approximately 15 percent of the fatalities in Texas crashes,” McCraw said. “Those who choose to drive unsafe commercial vehicles or drive a commercial vehicle unsafely pose a serious threat to the motoring public.”

The DPS targets specific areas for inspections of trucks and buses under its Operation Texas Thunder, McCraw said. One such operation in McMullen County, in response to local complaints, put 64 percent of inspected vehicles out of service.

Another Texas Thunder operation in the Corpus Christi area issued 400 citations and put 206 vehicles out of service, McCraw said.2,301 commercial drivers for safety violations, DPS Director Steven C. McCraw said.

“Commercial vehicles are responsible for approximately 15 percent of the fatalities in Texas crashes,” McCraw said. “Those who choose to drive unsafe commercial vehicles or drive a commercial vehicle unsafely pose a serious threat to the motoring public.”

The DPS targets specific areas for inspections of trucks and buses under its Operation Texas Thunder, McCraw said. One such operation in McMullen County, in response to local complaints, put 64 percent of inspected vehicles out of service.

Another Texas Thunder operation in the Corpus Christi area issued 400 citations and put 206 vehicles out of service, McCraw said.

Auto giant Toyota is recalling 550,000 cars worldwide for a steering issue. Toyota released a statement saying it is voluntarily recalling certain Toyota and Lexus vehicles to replace the crankshaft pulley on the V6 engine.

According to a press release by the company, there is a possibility that the outer ring of the crankshaft pulley may become misaligned with the inner ring, causing noise and/or illumination of the discharge warning light. If this condition is not corrected, the belt for the power steering pump may become detached from the pulley and the driver may notice a sudden increase in steering effort.

The vehicles involved are certain:
* 2004 Avalon
* 2004 and 2005 Camry, Highlander, Sienna, and Solara
* 2006 Highlander HV
* 2004 and 2005 ES330 and RX330
* And 2006 RX400h

No other Toyota or Lexus vehicles or these Toyota models with 4 cylinder engines are involved.

Toyota is currently working on obtaining the necessary replacement parts. Once the replacement parts have been produced in sufficient quantities, Toyota will send an owner notification by first class mail advising owners to make an appointment with an authorized Toyota or Lexus dealer to have the crankshaft pulley inspected and if necessary, replaced at no charge. The owner notifications will be mailed by first class mail beginning in January, 2012. So far, there are no reports of accidents or injuries related to this condition.

In the meantime, if an abnormal noise is heard coming from the engine compartment, the owner is asked to make an appointment with any Toyota or Lexus dealer to have the vehicle inspected for this condition.

The law firm of Hilliard Munoz Gonzales L.L.P. is very familiar with Toyota vehicles and defects that have surfaced over the years regarding these vehicles. If you or a loved one have been injured while driving a Toyota vehicle, call us today at (361) 882-1612.

Check out the below story by the Associated Press regarding the BP Oil Spill:

By HARRY R. WEBER

Associated Press

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45209090/ns/us_news-environment/

Billions of dollars are potentially at stake in a trial scheduled for February to determine whether rig owner Transocean can limit what it pays those making claims under maritime law and to assign percentages of fault to Transocean and other companies involved.