The FDA announced in August 2020 that 620 of the 733 total unique cases of breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) reported to the agency involved Allergan implants. BIA-ALCL is an immune system cancer which can be fatal.
You may be entitled to financial compensation if you or a loved one developed BIA-ALCL after receiving a breast implant. We can obtain the most compensation possible for you while offering our no fee promise: we will never charge you a fee unless we obtain a recovery for you.
Call us today at 800-718-4658 for a free, confidential consultation. You can also talk with one of our live chat representatives, email us at info@personalinjurylawcal.com or complete the free, confidential case evaluation form on the right.
Allergan Textured Breast Implants & ALCL Risk
The FDA released a report in January 2011 stating “the FDA believes that there is a possible association between breast implants and ALCL.” The FDA added that “ALCL has been found more frequently in association with breast implants having a textured outer shell rather than a smooth outer shell.”
It is obvious that Allergan knew or should have known that its BIOCELL textured breast implants presented a possible ALCL risk by January 2011. However, at no point did Allergan warn consumers about this risk until the implants were recalled in July 2019.
Worse yet, lawsuits claim that Allergan made a concerted effort to conceal the true number of adverse event reports. Lawsuits allege Allergan reported adverse event reports with inaccurate manufacturer names so nobody could detect trends in their products.
Lawsuits also allege that Allergan chose to bypass mandatory adverse event report filings with the FDA in order to “bury evidence of ruptures and other injuries by reporting them as routine events that did not require public disclosure.”
Lawsuits claim Allergan did this by filing Alternative Summary Reports (ASR) for numerous adverse event reports simultaneously. ASRs required less detail and, critically, weren’t publicly available.
The FDA stopped allowing ASRs to be filed in 2017. There were an average of under 200 breast implant injuries reported per year to the FDA before 2017. This number grew to 4,567 adverse events in 2017 and grew to 8,242 in the first half of 2018. This clearly suggests that the true number of breast implant-related adverse events was being buried through the ASR filing process.
Compensation For Allergan Breast Implant Claims
We can obtain many types of damages in a breast implant lawsuit, including but not limited to:
- Past and future medical bills, including the cost of breast implant removal
- Lost wages
- Loss of earning capacity
- Pain and suffering, both physical and mental
- Loss of companionship in the case of a wrongful death claim
- Punitive damages
Why Allergan Is Liable For Defective Breast Implants
Our experienced products liability lawyers have been handling products liability cases since 1990. We know the ins and outs of obtaining the biggest possible recoveries for our products liability clients.
We can obtain financial compensation in an Allergan breast implant lawsuit based on numerous causes of action, including:
Negligence: Medical product manufacturers such as Allergan owe consumers a duty of care to manufacture and sell safe products as well as a duty of care to warn consumers about the dangers their products pose. These duties of care mandate that Allergan do what a reasonably careful person would do to prevent injuries and not do what a reasonably careful person wouldn’t do to prevent injuries.
It has been known since at least January 2011 that textured breast implants may pose a higher ALCL risk than non-textured breast implants, yet Allergan continued to manufacture and sell textured breast implants when viable alternative designs without textured surfaces were available to them. A reasonably careful person would not sell a more dangerous design when a less dangerous design was available to them.
A reasonable person would warn consumers of a possible cancer risk associated with their product. Allergan knew or should have known in January 2011 about their implants’ cancer risk yet never warned the public about it until the implants were recalled in 2019.
Negligent recall: We can obtain damages based on negligent recall, arguing that Allergan failed to issue reasonable care in issuing and implementing their breast implant recall because Allergan refused to pay for the surgical removal of the recalled implants.
Strict liability – failure to warn: We can obtain damages based on this cause of action, arguing that Allergan clearly knew or should have known about their products’ ALCL risk, yet failed to warn consumers about the risk. In fact, lawsuits claim that Allergan “acquired and continued to acquire new information regarding the true risks with BIOCELL implants” beginning in 1998. Lawsuits claim that Allergan, instead of warning about the risk, chose to conceal it from the public.
Strict liability – design defect: We can obtain damages based on a design defect, arguing that the BIOCELL textured breast implants are defective due to their textured surface because the textured surface makes them dangerous when reasonably used as intended. It has been known since at least January 2011 that this textured surface possibly posed an ALCL risk and viable non-textured designs were available to Allergan which could have lowered their products’ ALCL risk.
Breach of express and implied warranty: We can obtain damages based on this, arguing that Allergan expressly and impliedly warranted that their breast implants were safe when, in fact, they were not because of their associated ALCL risk.
Medical monitoring: We can obtain damages for medical monitoring, arguing that medical monitoring is reasonably necessary for prompt BIA-ALCL diagnosis since the condition can become fatal when not treated quickly.
Punitive damages: We can obtain punitive damages, arguing that Allergan acted maliciously, fraudulently and/or in a manner which intentionally disregarded your rights by failing to warn you about their products’ cancer risk as well as actively concealing that risk.
California Allergan Breast Implant Lawyers
We are the products liability experts, having obtained millions of dollars on behalf of defective medical device and dangerous drug victims over the last 30 years. Our tough, tenacious lawyers will stop at nothing to obtain the justice you deserve for your injuries.
We only charge our clients a fee for our services if a recovery is made. That is our no fee promise. Call us today at 800-718-4658 for a free consultation to see if you have an Allergan defective breast implant claim. You may be entitled to a financial recovery.
