Product Liability Law Blog

Playgrounds can be a dangerous place for kids if there is defective equipment on the premises. Recently, the family of Alexis Durant filed a Texas playground accident lawsuit suing the owner of a Houston McDonald's for injuries she sustained while playing at the eatery.

According to Durant's mother, on July 24, the 2-year-old was choking on and soaked in her own blood when she emerged from the tunneled slide in the McDonald's "PlayPlace" area. The toddler, whose lower lip was seriously gashed when it got caught on an exposed end of a bolt as she was going down the slide, is scheduled for plastic surgery.

The family's Texas child injury lawsuit comes one year after another family sued the owners of another McDonald's in the Houston area because of a similar accident. In that Texas playground injury complaint, the family of 6-year-old Dominic Sierra claims that he sustained a gash to his head when he got stuck on an exposed screw while going down a slide on May 25, 2010. The gash was deep enough to reach his skull.

Sierra's family is accusing McDonald's chain owner Janus Unlimited, Inc. of inadequate inspection of the playground. They also claim that when they asked the manager for help, she refused to provide any and would not contact 911.

Meantime, McDonald's has issued a statement maintaining that it is committed to doing everything possible to make sure that its PlayPlaces are safe for kids.

Playground Accidents
With about 200,000 playground injuries and about 15 playground fatalities a year, it is important that premise owners and the manufacturers of playground equipment make sure that there are no safety hazards that could place a child at risk of serious injury or death. Proper maintenance, safe playground design, and using defect-free playground equipment is important. Some playground injuries have been so serious that there are kids who have ended up with serious traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, broken bones, and blindness.

If your child was injured in a playground accident, you may have reason for filing a child injury lawsuit against the property owner, equipment manufacturer, or the party in charge of supervising the kids while they were on the playground.

Playground Injuries At 2 Houston McDonald's Draw Lawsuits, Click2Houston, July 27, 2011

Playground Injuries, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Playground Safety Guide, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

PlayPlaces & Parties, McDonald's

More Blog Posts:
Playground Accident Death: Girl's Family Wants "X-Wave" Banned, Product Liability Law Blog, August 24, 2010

Back to School Reminder: Playground Accidents Can Lead to Serious Child Injuries, Product Liability Law Blog, October 13, 2009

Playground Accidents Are Leading Cause of Injury to Elementary School Kids, Product Liability Law Blog, October 13, 2009

Police are saying that the reason the driver of the tour bus taking Indian tourists to Niagara Falls lost control of the vehicle was because a tire blew out. The catastrophic New York bus accident claimed the lives of two women, while injuring the 34 other passengers and the bus driver. Some of the more serious injuries included head wounds, fractures, and internal bleeding.

The bus belongs to Bedore Tours. Although the tour had started in New York City, the bus had left Washington DC and was headed to the falls when the New York tire blowout happened on Interstate 390 about 55 miles from Rochester. The bus flipped over, falling down a wooded median.

According to Dan Ronan of the American Bus Association, the tires on the bus, which is a 2007 model that was last inspected at the end of June, were only 2 months old. State transportation officials say there are no signs that drinking, speeding, driver fatigue, or any other violations by the driver.

Tire Blowouts
As our New York tire defect lawyers have said before, it is so important that tires are free from wear and tear, design defects, or manufacturing flaws that could cause a tire to blow out, experience tread separation, or come off while the vehicle is moving. Tire blowouts can prove deadly, causing the motorist to lose control of the vehicle, collide with another auto, rollover, or careen off the road and on an embankment.

If you or someone you love was injured in a tire blowout accident, you should speak with an experienced auto products liability lawyer right away. If the accident happened because the tire failed—depending on the specifics of what happened and why it happened—you may have reason for filing a tire defect lawsuit against the tire manufacturer or the automaker. You also may have reason to file a personal injury or wrongful death case against a negligent driver and other parties who played a role in the car crash.

Now that we are in the middle of summer, it is more important than ever to make sure that your tires are safe for use. In addition to the fact that more people are on the road, with many of them taking long trips, hot temperatures can cause an already faulty tire to blow out.

Tire blowout eyed in latest fatal tour bus crash, Reuters, July 18, 2011

Tire blowout eyed in fatal NY bus crash, CBS News/AP, July 17, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Safercar.gov

American Bus Association

Bedore Tours

Tire Care and Summer Safety, Weather.com

More Blog Posts:
$32.2M Goodyear Tire Blowout Verdict Upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court in Deadly 2004 Utah 15-Passenger Van Crash—Again, Product Liability Law Blog, January 10, 2011

15-Passenger Van Lawsuit Filed Against Chrysler and R & J Tire Company Over Woman's Wrongful Death, Product Liability Law Blog, October 27, 2010

Defective Tire Lawsuit Can Proceed in Arizona Even if Rollover Accident Occurred in Mexico, Says Court, Product Liability Law Blog, August 15, 2009

Continue reading "New York Tire Blowout: 2 Killed in Tour Bus Crash Carrying Indian Tourists" »

If you or someone you love was injured in an accident while riding a conversion van, you should speak with an experienced auto products liability law firm immediately. Unfortunately, some of these full-size cargo vans that have been fitted with "luxury" amenities for camping and road trips may have sacrificed safety for utility and accessory. If this is the case, you may have reason to file a conversion van accident lawsuit against the manufacturer.

Conversion Vans
While these passenger vans were likely made by a large automaker, a van conversion company probably overhauled their interiors. "Upgrades" might include raised roofs, captain chairs, sofa chairs, kitchens, fold-out beds, TVs, and/or bathrooms.

What many consumers don't realize is that many conversion companies are not experienced auto manufacturers and may not even be are that they are supposed to abide by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (Even if you bought your car at the dealer, it was still likely a third party van conversion operation that renovate it). To make room for these additional amenities, conversion van companies may even take out some of the most basic safety features in the vehicles, which can allow vehicle occupants to suffer serious injuries during a collision.

Examples of safety defects and design flaws found in conversion vans:

• Seats that are prone to come off the car during a crash


• Seat belts that can easily rip apart


• Weak roofs that lack the structure, strength, and support found in regular vehicles


• Raised roofs that come right off the van or shatter during a collision


• Enlarged "picture windows" that are prone to break during an accident

Unfortunately, many van conversion companies lack the experience, resources, technology, and knowledge to properly engineer and test their vehicles.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards

More Blog Posts:
Kia Ordered to Pay $40M Alabama Seat Belt Defect Verdict Over "False Latching" in Teenager's 2004 Wrongful Death, Product Liability Law Blog, June 30, 2011

Auto Products Liability: US Supreme Court Sends Window Defect Lawsuit Against Ford and Seat Belt Defect Case Against Mazda Back to the States, Product Liability Law Blog, March 4, 2011

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Presents New Roof Strength Rating System for Autos, Product Liability Law Blog, March 25, 2009

Continue reading "Auto Products Liability: Conversion Van Safety Defects Can Prove Catastrophic During a Traffic Crash" »

In a unanimous vote, members of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission have approved a new federal safety rule for children's outerwear. Per the final rule, kids' upper outerwear, sizes 2T through 16 with certain bottom or waist drawstrings and those with hood or neck drawstrings in sizes 2T through 12 possess substantial product hazards that could lead to serious injuries to children. If your child got hurt or died because he or she got entangled in or was strangled while wearing clothing with drawstring, please contact our child products liability law firm today.

The CPSC says it has received 26 reports over kids dying because a clothing drawstring got caught on a school bus door, playground slide, or another object, resulting in dragging incidents, entrapment, and/or strangulation. Serious injury or death can also result if a drawstring was to wrap too tightly around a child's neck. A drawstring that has an object attached to it can also pose a choking hazard if the piece was to come off and the child was to swallow it.

It was in 1996 that the CPSC set up industry guidelines for kids' clothing in regards to drawstrings. The guidelines proved effective in that they've decreased the number of child deaths from hood and neck drawstrings by 75%, while deaths from bottom or waist drawstrings have gone down 100%. In 2006, the CPSC's Office of Compliance said that any kids' upper outerwear with neck or hood drawstrings would be considered a defective product that posed a substantial child injury risk and therefore subject to recall. In 2008, our child injury law firm reported in one of our blog posts that between April 2007 and May 2008 over 18 recalls involving over 19,000 units of clothing with drawstrings was announced.

Recently, Macy's agreed to pay a $750,000 penalty for not reporting drawstrings in kids' outerwear. Federal law requires distributors, manufacturers, and retailers notify the CPSC of a product that is a serious injury or death hazard within 24 hours of discovering the possible defect. The penalty against Macy's resolves allegations that the department store chain did not obey the law and immediately tell the CPSC that it sold children's sweaters, sweatshirts, and jackets with neck drawstrings between 2007 and 2010 and that these posed a child strangulation and death hazard. The defective clothing was sold not just at Macy's stores, but also at Robinsons-May and Bloomingdale's. Some of the clothes were allegedly sold even after they were recalled.

Macy's Agrees to Pay $750,000 Civil Penalty for Failing to Report Drawstrings in Children's Outerwear, CPSC, July 11, 2011

CPSC Issues New Drawstring Safety Rule for Children's Outerwear
Drawstrings at Neck and Waist Present Strangulation Hazard and Other Dangers, CPSC, July 1, 2011

Safety group sets kids' drawstring safety rules, MSNBC/Reuters, July 1, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Read the CPSC's Drawstring Guidelines from 1996 (PDF)

Recalls.Gov

More Blog Posts:
Strangulation, Choking, and Fall Hazards Prompt Recall of Baby Walkers, Clothing, and Books, Product Liability Law Blog, April 17, 2010

Defective Clothing Can Cause Serious Injuries, Product Liability Law Blog, June 18, 2008

Retailers Pay $320,000 Fine For Selling Defective Children's Clothing With Drawstrings, Product Liability Law Blog, May 13, 2008

Continue reading "CPSC Says Certain Kids' Outerwear with Drawstrings Pose Strangulation, Entrapment and Death Hazard to Kids" »

With summer here, our child injury lawyers want to remind parents and guardians to take the precautions necessary to make sure that children are properly supervised when swimming and pools are properly maintained and secured when no one is around to decrease the chances of accidental drownings.

While in the past, our products liability lawyer blog has focused on the dangers of in ground swimming pools and hot tubs, now, we'd like to make you aware of the drowning dangers also posed by inflatable pools. You wouldn't think a pool that above ground and no more than several inches in height as a safety hazard, but according to a new study in the American Academy of Pediatrics, portable backyard pools pose a "significant risk" for drowning to kids under age 5.

Meantime, Consumer Reports is encouraging people to stop buying inflatable pools. The publication reports that in the last decade, at least 209 kids have died in inflatable pools. 94% of these drowning victims were kids under age 5.

Some reasons why portable why backyard pools are a a drowning hazard:

• Most inflatable pools don't have layers of protection that generally accompany a regular swimming pools, such as a pool cover, a safety fence, or a locked pool door with an accompanying alarm to warn when anyone has entered the water unsupervised.


• Many inflatable pools are not drained of water after use.


• The pool's inflatable, pliable sides can make it easy for a child standing outside to slip in.

Drowning Accidents
If someone you love drowned in an inflatable pool, there may be parties who should be held liable. For instance, was the pool located on someone else's property? Was the inflatable pool adequately supervised so that no one could go in undetected? Did the pool manufacture warn that inflatable pools could cause drowning injuries and provide information about how to prevent these accidents from happening?

It takes just inches of water for someone to drown. Drowning is the second leading cause of child deaths.

Our child injury lawyers represent children and their families with drowning accident cases against negligent pool owners and products liability complaints against pool manufacturers.

Portable, inflatable pools -- a significant risk, Consumer Reports, June 20, 2011

PORTABLE POOLS CLAIM OVER 200 CHILDREN'S LIVES, American Academy of Pediatrics, June 20, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Drowning Prevention, SafeKids USA

Kids' Swimming Safety, LiveStrong

CPSC

More Blog Posts:
About 1 Million Pool and Spa Drain Covers Recalled Over Possible Entrapment and Drowning Concerns, Product Liability Law Blog, May 30, 2011

CPSC and HSC Report 172 Child Drownings and Over 180 Nonfatal Swimming Accidents in US Pools and Spas Since Memorial Day Weekend, Product Liability Law Blog, September 8, 2011

Child Drowning Accidents: Reminder to Parents and Pool Owners to Take Steps to Prevent Swimming Accidents This Summer, Product Liability Law Blog, June 27, 2010

Continue reading "Inflatable Pools Pose Significant Drowning Risk to Young Children, Says American Academy of Pediatrics" »

Chastity Glisson's family is suing Toyota for Florida auto products liability and wrongful death. The 29-year-old died on August 25 from carbon monoxide poisoning when she left her Lexus running in her garage. Also nearly killed in the CO poisoning accident was Timothy Maddock, who was Glisson's boyfriend. He is suing the automaker for his debilitating injuries.

Glisson's mom Kimberlin Nickles says that the reason the tragic accident happened was because the Lexus's Smart Key system allowed the car to keep running silently. She says that her daughter either left the car running by accident or thought she had shut down the Lexus but in fact did not. Because Toyota designed the vehicle to be soundless and smooth, Glisson was not aware that the vehicle's engine was still running. It didn't help that she had brought the key fob into the house with her.

Nickles believes that Toyota's Smart Key system is a convenience that brings with it certain safety risks, such as the risk of CO if the vehicle is inadvertently kept running. She claims Toyota ignored such "foreseeable risks" and failed to install a switch that can automatically shuts down the vehicle.

Nickles is not the first person to complain about Smart Keys. Just last year, another woman filed her Toyota Smart Key lawsuit claiming New York auto products liability and personal injury. Mary Rivera says she sustained brain damage, can no longer walk, and suffers from communication and cognitive challenges because she was exposed to CO monoxide when she didn't shut down the car. She says that the Smart Key design's keyless ignition system makes it easy to forget to turn off the engine. Rivera now requires full-time care. Ernest Codelia Jr. died from the CO poisoning during that incident.

The Toyota Smart Key is a fob attached to a key ring that can start up a car automatically if it is within a certain rage of the vehicle. No actual key has to be inserted in the ignition.

Seeing potential safety hazard, regulators rethink ignition rule, BendBulletin, February 18, 2011

Smart Key Blamed for Another Death, Courthouse News, June 21, 2011

Examining the Drawbacks of Smart Key Fobs, NY Times, February 11, 2011

Examining the drawbacks of Smart Key Fobs, NY Times, February 11, 2011

Related Web Resource:
Toyota Motor Corporation

Safercar.gov

More Blog Posts:
Wrongful Death Trial Over Utah Toyota Sudden Acceleration Lawsuit is Scheduled for 2013, Product Liability Law Blog, June 17, 2011

Another Toyota Sudden Unintended Acceleration Accident?: Prius Crashes Into Mini-Mall, Trapping Driver in Elevator, Product Liability Law Blog, May 31, 2011

Another 2.1 Toyota Vehicles Recalled Over Sudden Unintended Acceleration Problems, Product Liability Law Blog, February 28, 2011