I’m pleased with the results Weitz & Luxenberg achieved for me in my recently settled case.
I was suing a hip-replacement company that tried to act like they did nothing wrong. But the fact is they allowed a defective medical device to go out. That was incredibly wrong. This company needed to learn that their actions were incredibly wrong and that there are consequences to your bad actions.
Weitz & Luxenberg genuinely believed that what happened to me was wrong. The steps they took showed they believed in my case, which wasn’t an easy one. But Weitz & Luxenberg made it work.
The reason I needed hip-replacement surgery in the first place was that a congenital flaw in my left hip’s joint socket and cartilage deteriorating in the socket of my right hip were making it harder and harder for me to be active. Hiking is one of my favorite forms of recreation, so I was happy to learn that hip-replacement surgery could make it possible for me to keep enjoying it.
Because both sides of my hips had problems, I needed two separate hip-replacement surgeries. The first was in 2005 on my right hip. The second was in 2007 on my left hip. Each surgery involved removing unhealthy natural body parts and replacing them with factory-made pieces – ceramic on the right side, metal on the right.
I was advised that I could expect these implants to last for decades. However, only a couple of years after the second surgery, the metal hip-replacement on my left side went bad. It happened while I was out hiking. I was going up a steep trail when, all of a sudden, I started feeling intense pain.
At first, I thought I must have stepped wrong and twisted something. But, at the time, I was unaware that this particular type of implant had serious design problems that could cause a number of harmful medical conditions.
I found out about the design problems a few days later when I went to see my orthopedic surgeon to have this hiking injury treated. My doctor showed me a letter he had received from the hip-replacement joint maker, stating that the company had ordered a market recall of the devices due to safety and health concerns.
I was quite upset. Recall? What do you mean, recall? I’m not a car, I said.
The letter asked my doctor to pass along to me and other patients of his who would be affected by this recall an invitation to contact the company for discussions. My feeling was that it would be a mistake to contact the company directly. I suspected what they would do when I called was try to manipulate me into accepting a ridiculously small amount of money along with giving them my promise not to blame them for what happened.
That was when I decided I needed a lawyer.
A friend recommended Peter Samberg, one of the attorneys with the law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg. He was the first and only lawyer I approached about my case — Peter Samberg’s professionalism, his knowledge, responsiveness, his ability to communicate clearly, and the fact that he had represented, successfully, many others in my situation convinced me that I didn’t need to consider any other firm.
When I called, Peter got right back to me. He interviewed me over the phone, asked very specific questions, was very professional. He explained how his law firm handles these cases. He explained that Weitz & Luxenberg would not charge me for their services unless they won in court or got a settlement for me.
After I signed up with Weitz & Luxenberg, they sent a letter to my doctor to give him instructions about what to save from the defective implant he would soon be removing and what to send to the lab for testing afterward, such as tissue samples. That they knew this would be helpful to my case was impressive.
To start my lawsuit, it wasn’t, here, sign this stack of court papers, and then you never hear from anybody for a long time. Weitz & Luxenberg was very communicative with me the entire time. Any time I phoned or sent an email with a question, I didn’t have to wait long for a response back. Peter even gave me his cell phone number so that I could be sure to reach him whenever I needed to.
I found all of the people at Weitz & Luxenberg friendly, personal and caring. They understood how upset I was over being made to go through revision surgery to fix something that shouldn’t have needed to be fixed, had it been designed and tested correctly.
Going with Weitz & Luxenberg was the right choice. The firm fought hard and got for me a much larger amount of money in compensation than I thought I would see.
The money was important because I ended up staying in the hospital two separate times for operations to remove the defective implant in my left hip and replace it with a reliable and safe one.
The money also gave me a nice buffer for the future and helped compensate for the actual pain, suffering and mental anguish the revision surgery caused me — recovery from the revision surgery was more difficult than it was for the original hip-replacement surgery for the reason that removing the defective parts involved procedures that were more invasive.
Looking back, I think one of the reasons Weitz & Luxenberg was able to do such a good job for me was that the firm really understands this type of lawsuit against this type of defendant.
I hope I never have to sue for something like this again, or for anything where I’ve ended up being injured. But, if I do, Weitz & Luxenberg is going to be on my speed dial. And I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Weitz & Luxenberg to my family and friends if they ever need legal help.
