The AP (12/31) reported, “An Oregon man whose 5-month-old son died last summer has filed a $5 million lawsuit against the maker of hammock-like baby beds. Jonathan Kuzma of suburban Gresham contends in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court that the bed made by Amby Baby USA of Minneapolis was defective and dangerous and led to the suffocation death of his son Matteo in August. The death of the Oregon infant and a 4-month-old in Georgia led to the Dec. 8 recall of about 24,000 Amby Baby Motion Beds.”
On January 4, 2010, In Product Safety, By admin
On January 4, 2010, In Product Safety, By admin
Central Florida News 13 (1/3, Kinsey) on its website reported, “While complaints keep pouring in about Chinese drywall, some state lawmakers want to make sure that tainted product doesn’t make it into Florida again.” State Sen. Dave Aronberg “said Florida needs to figure out ways to test as efficiently as possible.” The bill, “which will be up for debate in the spring legislative session, would require the state Department of Health and the Florida Building Commission to come up with new drywall standards.”
On December 15, 2009, In Product Safety, By admin
Drywall, which was manufactrured in China, has been linked to respiratory problems here in the US. Now, the HUD is ready to issue guidelines on federal aid for Chinese drywall remediation.
In continuing coverage, the Cape Coral (FL) Daily Breeze (12/15, Cassidy) reports, “Relief for local victims of toxic drywall could be on the way soon from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.” Sen. Bill Nelson, (D-FL) “announced Friday that HUD is close to deciding how victims of toxic drywall can receive assistance from the federal government.” In a letter to Nelson, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan wrote, “HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development will shortly be issuing guidance making it clear that actions to remediate drywall can be eligible for assistance under the Community Development Block Grant program.”
If you have been a victim of drywallo from China, contact a Florida Personal Injury Attorney today.
On November 8, 2009, In Trucking Accidents, By admin
A whopping 8.15% of all truck crashes were due to driver fatigue according to data gathered by the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the General Estimates System (GES), which is maintained, by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
The National Transportation Safety Board recommendation that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration create a plan to set up devices in commercial trucks that will reduce the occurrence of fatigue-related accidents. The FMCSA is currently involved in the development of a “North American Fatigue Management Program for Commercial Motor Carriers.” This project is a collaborative effort “aimed at reducing fatigue-related accidents and decreasing the personal and economic cost to drivers, companies, and worker’s compensation programs and insurance carriers.”
Have you or someone you know been involved in a Florida truck accident due to truck driver fatigue?
On November 2, 2009, In Product Safety, By admin
A case against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., which has been closely monitored by product liability lawyers throughout the United States has resulted in a $3.2 million verdict to a woman who suffered debilitating jaw necrosis from Zometa, a bone strengthening drug prescribed to many cancer patients.
The Montana lawsuit was the first of about 550 cases to go to trial against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. All of the claims involve similar allegations that the drug maker failed to adequately warn that Zometa side effects can cause osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), a condition that causes the jawbone to decay and deteriorate.
Following a five-day trial and eight hours of deliberation, the Missoula County District Court jury handing down the verdict on Wednesday, according to a report in The Missoulian.
Peggy L. Stevens, 57, alleged that she developed Zometa jaw necrosis after receiving the drug intravenously for three years as part of a battle with lymphoma. The condition typically results in severe jaw pain, loosening of the teeth, exposed bone in the mouth and jaw infections.
Zometa (zoledronic acid) is an intravenous injection used to strengthen bones; it is part of a class of medications known as bisphosphonates. Bisphosphonates are used to reduce bone complications associated with multiple myeloma and bone metastases from solid tumors.
On October 31, 2009, In Medical Device, Product Safety, By admin
Today, the U.S. Chamber hosted their annual “Legal Reform Summit” – a day they dedicate to undermining the civil justice system and maligning trial attorneys.
In response, AAJ released a new report, entitled “They Knew and Failed To,” highlighting various instances of corporations engaging in negligent conduct, knowing about it, and failing to tell the public in order to increase profits. This compelling report focuses on multiple industries – medical devices, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, food safety and automobiles.
AAJ is on the right side of these issues and reports like this one highlight the importance of a strong civil justice system and trial attorney’s role in holding wrongdoers accountable.
The full report can be viewed here: www.justice.org/clips/TheyKnewAndFailedTo.pdf.
On October 5, 2009, In Medical Device, Product Safety, By admin
On August 4, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on medical devices, specifically the Medical Device Safety Act of 2009. The American Association for Justice, with the support of Alliance for Justice and Sen. Tom Harkin’s (D-IA) office, held a press conference before the hearing, with several victims of faulty medical devices attending and four speaking. Michael Mulvihill, one of the victims that spoke at the press conference, also testified before the committee.
A 64-year-old Iowan salesman who was shocked 22 times in less than an hour by a defibrillator used to regulate his heart rate while driving on the interstate has testified before a Senate subcommittee to the loss in quality of life. Because of anxiety over the possibility of repeat incidents, Michael Mulvihill of Bettendorf, Iowa had to retire early and severely curtail his mobility. His trips to the ER out of concern for what the malfunctioning device has done to his heart have greatly increased and he currently stands to receive no compensation because the Supreme Court allowed pre-emption by FDA approval for medical devices.
This is a unique double standard in the Court’s rulings, whereby people harmed by pharmaceutical products may sue for damages, but people harmed by medical devices cannot. To compensate, Congress is considering the Medical Device Safety Act to explicitly allow consumers to seek compensation when a company’s product causes serious injury.
On August 13, 2009, In Automobile Accidents, By admin
The data available from the Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that 2008 was a record low year for fatal accidents. Nationally, the numbers haven’t been this low since 1961. The first three months of 2009 are continuing this downward trend. 2008 is a 9.7 percent drop from 2007, though motorcycle fatalities continue to rise and now account for 14 percent of all highway traffic fatalities.
This news is encouraging, but Florida and the rest of the nation have a long way to go to bring the waste, pain, and fatalities of our highways to a minimum. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Center for Statistics and Analysis, if the seat belt use had been 90% in 2007, which is over 10 percent of the actual number, another 184 people would have survived their automobile accident. The number of non-fatal injuries that would have been prevented is 4,511. Out of all fifty states, Florida stands to save the most money due to the associated cost of accidents, an estimated $605,472,000.
This means that 2009 and 2010 are going to be very interesting for safety experts and policy-makers. As of July 30th, Florida’s Primary Seat Belt Law has gone into effect. Previously, not wearing a seat belt was worthy of a traffic citation if a driver was pulled over for another moving violation. Now, law enforcers may pull over drivers specifically for not wearing their seat belts. For adults, the fine is $93. If a child is not properly restrained in its seat, the fine is $143. It is expected that Florida’s seat belt rates will rise approximately 13%, as studies have shown in other states that have enacted primary seat belt laws.
On August 2, 2009, In Uncategorized, By admin
The most recent data shows that medical costs for worker’s compensation rose between 5 to 7 percent in 2005 and 2006.
In 2004, Florida reformed their worker’s compensation legislation to give higher payments to doctors but lower payments to outpatient services, a key element in rehabilitation for workers with on-the-job injuries. As a result, fewer workers sought outpatient care, preferring the extra coverage of full hospital stays or going without treatment to paying more for the convenience of outpatient services.Those suffering from severe trauma received less expensive surgeries even though the payments exceeded the state’s schedule rate, which was among the lowest in the nation.
One of the reasons Florida underwent such legislative change in 2004 was to reduce the number of lawyers representing workers in their compensation claims. Among the changes to the actual schedule rates for treatment, there was a cap placed on attorney’s fees. By reducing the amount a lawyer could hope to make, the insurance industry supported lawmakers hoped to reduce the number of overall claims.
It didn’t work. The decrease was minimal, and the state Supreme Court has already ruled that such practices are unconstitutional because they intend to block a worker’s right to due process and legal representation. The Florida legislature has ignored this decision and reinstated the caps.
If you are injured on the job, seek the advice of an experienced trial attorney.
On July 24, 2009, In Uncategorized, By admin
At a time when Congress is considering whether to ban mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts, and credit card companies, Minnesota’s Attorney General Lori Swanson is suing the National Arbitration Forum, a lead provider of this clown-court-for-hire scam, for concealing its ties to the debt collection and banking industries. The Lawsuit State of Minnesota v. National Arbitration Forum, No. 27-09-18550, claims “a group of New York hedge funds managed by Accretive LLC in 2006 and 2007 invested in the arbitration company and also acquired a majority stake in a debt collection agency called Axiant LLC.
Arbitration is a nasty little trick that has gone unnoticed by thousands of its victims, says Jacksonville Florida Attorney, Michael E. Seelie. While arbitration clauses are in all 50 states, including Florida, Minnesota has become one of the first battlegrounds among many to bring an end to the abuse of a private judicial system, which undermines the consumer’s right to a day in court.