Email: sscott@spanglaw.com
OVERVIEW
Stuart Scott has been a lawyer with Spangenberg since graduation from Ohio State Law School in
1995 and was made a partner in 2005. "I have spent my entire legal career at Spangenberg because it is the unique blend of a prestigious and well respected trial firm with plentiful resources to prosecute cases, but is small enough so that I can still have a personal relationship with each of my clients."
FIGHTING FOR THE CONSUMER AND A HEALTHY FREE MARKET
Stuart has spent his entire legal career representing individuals and families who have been catastrophically injured or killed as a result of negligence, medical malpractice, dangerous products and drugs. However, since becoming partner, Stuart has expanded his practice into Consumer Rights cases. A few examples of Stuart's recent consumer cases include class actions on behalf of consumers involving unfair bank overdraft fees, diapers that increase infant skin infection rather than decrease it as claimed by the manufacturer, and for breach of warranty against a company that refused to honor its warranty contract for defectively manufactured residential hot water tanks that leaked.
Stuart became passionate about consumer rights issues after his own encounters with unscrupulous businesses and experiencing firsthand the frustration that consumer can feel. Stuart explains that Consumer Class Actions protect both the consumer and the honest business by identifying and punishing the bad business practices that harm the free market system:
"Consumer Class Action lawsuits are an important judicial mechanism for leveling the playing field against businesses that mislead, deceive and otherwise view customers as prey. Class actions play a vital part in our free market check and balance scheme that stop bad businesses from succeeding at the expense of the consumer and those businesses that play by the rules and deal with their customers fairly. Without these cases, dishonest business would profit through deception rather than by delivering a superior service or product."
WORKING TO KEEP AMERICA'S PRESCRIPTION DRUG CONSUMER SAFE
Stuart recently concluded Spangenberg's Vioxx and Bextra litigation and is currently involved with the firm in Yaz/Yasmin/Ocella cases.
Vioxx and Bextra are Cox-2 anti-inflammatory pain reliever prescription drugs. However, these drugs demonstrated the dangerous side effect of causing heart attacks and strokes. Stuart, along with Spangenberg associate, Nick DiCello, successfully resolved cases for several dozen firm clients totaling over $5 million in Vioxx settlements alone. The Bextra cases were settled confidentially.
"These cases really highlighted the unintended consequences when drug companies spend huge money marketing the benefits of a drug directly to the consumer while minimizing the drugs risks. There can be a strong temptation for drug companies to jeopardize public safety when a huge amount of money is at stake."
Some FDA estimates place the number of Vioxx deaths at 28,000 due to heart attacks and sudden cardiac death. Stuart puts these numbers in perspective. "It is the equivalent of a Boeing 777 crashing every week for two years."
Stuart and Spangenberg partner, Rhonda Baker Debevec, are presently heading up the firms Yaz/Yasmin/Ocella drug litigation which links this incredibly popular oral contraceptive pill to steeply higher rates of life threatening blood clot injuries such as pulmonary embolism, leg clots, stroke and heart attack than other brands of oral contraceptives.
This case has eerily similar parallels to the Vioxx case in that the manufacturer, Bayer, spent an enormous amount of money marketing the drug directly to young women promising birth control, acne prevention, and a better mood while downplaying the true nature of the risk these drugs exposed them to.
If you think you may have suffered a Yaz, Yasmin, or Ocella related injury, please contact Stuart at sscott@spanglaw.com.
WHY SPANGENBERG?
I am frequently asked by prospective clients why should they entrust their case to me and the Spangenberg law firm. My reply is that at Spangenberg we are passionate about the work of representing our clients, but passion alone is not enough. Successful results come from the experience, resources, and hard work necessary to properly prepare a major lawsuit for trial and try the case. This is what we bring to the table and what separates us from most other law firms. We don't handle divorce, criminal, estate planning or other legal matters. We do only one thing and that is prepare and try lawsuits.
Good communication with the client is critical to the outcome of a case. For most clients the legal process is foreign to them and their preconceived ideas about litigation are typically not reality. I find that the way to client satisfaction is when the client understands their case and the legal process. When the client knows what to expect they can make informed decisions about whether to settle or go to trial in their case.
Spangenberg Shibley & Liber is a boutique civil litigation trial firm in downtown Cleveland, Ohio handling cases on a statewide and nationwide basis. The firm's trial practice is diverse and sophisticated. It includes a wide array of consumer healthcare issues ranging from medical malpractice, nursing home negligence, health insurance claim denials, dangerous drugs, to defective medical devices. In addition to its consumer health care litigation practice, Spangenberg lawyers represent individuals who have been seriously injured or killed in motor vehicle accidents, on the job, through exposure to dangerous chemicals/mold, by defective consumer and household products such as automobiles, motorcycles and power tools, tainted food and many other situations. The firm also represents victims whose civil rights have been violated.
Apart from its personal injury practice, Spangenberg has a committed consumer rights practice litigating claims of marketing fraud, deceptive business practices, and violation of warranty for all sorts of consumer products.
Finally, Spangenberg Shibley & Liber represents businesses and entrepreneurs for all types of business litigation situations where the individual or business has been wronged in a business transaction.
We invite you to learn more about attorney Stuart Scott. To schedule a consultation, contact our offices in Cleveland, Ohio.
