Metro’s train protection system consists of these circuits, which are located on the track. Whenever a train crosses a circuit, the signals are supposed to be transmitted to following trains. The signals, if working correctly, should automatically adjust a train’s speed so it doesn’t hit the train that is ahead of it. In the event that a train enters the two-block buffer zone, the computers are supposed to activate the train’s brakes. The train that crashed into a second train during rush hour on Monday was run by computers.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s Debbie Hersman says that the NTSB is concerned that the train that smashed into the second train was a 1000-series train—the oldest in the Metro fleet. A few years ago, the NTSB recommended that these trains be replaced because of questions as to whether they could safely withstand a train crash.

These cars have been known to fold into themselves during train accidents. The lead car belonging to the striking train that caused Monday’s devastating collision was compressed by 2/3rds.

Already, the first personal injury lawsuit from this week’s DC train collision has been filed. The parents of 15-year-old Davonne Flanagan are accusing the District of “negligent maintenance” and “negligent operation.” Davonne, who was in the first car of the striking train, fractured his leg. His parents are seeking $950,000.

Train Defects
Train crashes often result in serious injuries and deaths for passengers—especially during rush hour when trains are packed with people. While human error, such as poor maintenance or negligence on the train operator’s part, have been known to cause many catastrophic train crashes, there are train collisions that occur because part of the train malfunctioned, the brakes were fault, the railroad track had a defect, or a signal failed to work correctly.

Metro Reviewing All Train Signaling Circuits in Wake of Accident, Washington Post, June 25, 2009

Suit against Metro alleges negligence, WTOP, June 25, 2009

Washington Metro crash probe eyes speed circuits, AFP, June 25, 2009

NTSB: Train in crash was recommended for phaseout, AP/Yahoo, June 23, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

National Transportation Safety Board

In the early years of these gas fireplaces, access to the flames was protected by some sort of metal screen. More recently, these fireplaces have been enclosed by glass doors. Fireplaces with glass doors are becoming a source of serious burn injuries to infants and small children.

In a recently published study by Desiree Jimenez and Angela Montgomery of The Children’s Hospital in Denver, the authors reported 82 children with moderate to severe hand burn injuries caused by fireplace glass doors. Five of these kids required skin grafting.

Typical hand burns range from a partial thickness to full thickness in depth. The treatment of hand burn injuries to children is painful and time intensive and the injuries affect a vital anatomical area. Permanent disability often results from contractures leading to a loss in the functional range of hand movement.

You’d think the dangers to children of this product would be obvious to the companies who sell fireplaces with glass doors. Think otherwise! One seller actually pitches its fireplace safety at its website, “Fireplace glass doors provide safety for you and your home. Children and pets are not able to be hurt by a fire while the fireplace doors are closed.” Nothing is said about serious injuries from touching the hot glass and the doors.

Fireplace companies selling this product are also well aware of the risks to children. Testing shows that the glass doors on a fireplace can heat to 400° in six minutes and take 45 minutes to completely cool.

The commercial sellers of these fireplaces also realize that toddlers are especially vulnerable. Most of the burn victims are less than two years old and just learning to walk. They are unsure on their feet and some serious injuries result from falling against the red hot glass.

Toddlers are also curious about fire and are drawn to the doors enclosing the object of their curiosity. Their “touchy feely” instincts lead them to place their little hands on the hot glass.

Obviously, parents with small children are advised to buy homes with safer fireplaces or to replace a glass door fireplace with doors made out of tempered glass. These tempered glass doors do not store heat as efficiently and are much safer for children.

If you choose not to replace the dangerous fireplace, wait until the kids have gone to bed before turning the fireplace on. Also, put a full protective screen around the fireplace in order to prevent children from being able to reach the glass doors.

Heat contact burns, especially those from fireplace glass doors, are costly, painful and can require long term care. If your child has suffered a serious burn injury, please contact the highly experienced team of Gilbert, Ollanik & Komyatte for a free initial consultation.

Sources:
Jimenez & Montgomery “The Dangers of Glass Fireplace Doors From a Pediatric Perspective, The Children’s Hospital Aurora, 2009

Bankruptcy proceedings generally place a temporary freeze on civil lawsuits, and plaintiffs end up becoming one of many unsecured creditors waiting to divide up whatever funds are left after the debts owed to secured creditors are paid off first. For auto products liability victims that were catastrophically injured in a GM or a Chrysler motor vehicle—and currently uninjured motorists that could get hurt in a defective GM or Chrysler car in the future—this outcome could pose a huge financial concern.

About 500 to 1,000 people are seriously injured or killed in auto products liability-related motor vehicle crashes each year. Approximately 300 Americans are currently suing Chrysler for products liability, and some 1,200 others are suing GM.

In New York, consumer groups are appealing the sale of Chrysler to Fiat because the new company isn’t going to be responsible for the old company’s losses, including personal injury settlements and verdicts. Center for Auto Safety Executive Director Clarence Ditlow wants the bankruptcy system or the Obama Administration to make sure that Chrysler and GM products liability victims and their families are taken care of. Meantime, the Center for Justice and Democracy want the two motor vehicle manufacturers to buy retroactive insurance polices that would cover past and future claims.

Among the victims that are fighting to recover the compensation they are owed:

• Couple Joseph and Jeanne Polio were hoping to obtain products liability compensation because Jeanne sustained catastrophic injuries during a 2005 rollover accident involving a Chrysler SUV. She now suffers from a spinal cord injury and is paralyzed from the waist down.

• 37-year-old Mark Noveck, who became a quadriplegic in a GM SUV rollover accident, settled his products liability lawsuit against the auto manufacturer right before the company filed for bankruptcy. His products liability lawyer says the $999,999 settlement was a form of “surrender” because it was better than possibly not getting anything.

Families and Severely-Injured Victims of Defective GM and Chrysler Cars Travel to Washington to Seek Urgent Help, Red Orbit, June 3, 2009

Chrysler bankruptcy stalls couple’s product liability case, NH Register, May 26, 2009

Injured little girl facing uphill fight in lawsuit against reeling GM, Daily News, May 26, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Chrysler Bankruptcy and Product Liability, NY Times, May 20, 2009

GM rescue dumps crash victims, Asiatimes.com, June 9, 2009

In a USA Today article, former Office of Management and Budget rulemaking chief John Graham expressed concern that automakers, already financially strapped, might have to compromise safety in order to meet the initiative’s deadlines and, for example, make smaller, less safe cars. This solution could have huge ramifications on people's lives.

Recent studies conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed that bigger and heavier cars still have the advantage over their smaller vehicle counterparts when it comes to protecting vehicle occupants during an auto crash. If safety is compromised in any way, there is concern that this could reverse the decline in the number of motor vehicle deaths that the US has experienced recently. Last year's US traffic death rate is expected to be even lower than 2007's traffic death rate.

White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Director Carol Browner disagrees with these concerns and says that car makers can use new technologies to meet the new fuel standards. Many environmentalists agree with the Obama Administration and say that car makers will merely have to create better vehicle designs and use lighter materials to make their autos.

However, these new approaches could cost more money that currently is in such short supply among even the biggest players in the auto industry that the government has had to provide financial assistance. Just this week, the Obama Administration announced a $7.5 billion bailout to GMAC, which is the auto lender to Chrysler and GMC. This is in addition to the $6 billion that GMAC already received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Meantime, the federal government has had to take the costs of auto safety into account. For example, the Bush Administration delayed the release of new federal standards mandating stronger car roofs that can withstand more weight during an auto crash over concern that they would be too expensive for car makers to implement. The tougher roof standards were finally announced last month.

Auto Products Liability
Vehicle occupant safety must remain a primary priority for car makers when they are designing and manufacturing their motor vehicles. If your injuries or your loved one’s death was the result of an auto defect, you should speak with our auto products liability law firm today.

Safety could suffer if we boost mileage by making cars smaller, USA Today, May 20, 2009

Notice of Upcoming Joint Rulemaking to Establish Vehicle GHG Emissions and CAFE Standards, NHTSA, May 19, 2009

New Emissions Changes May Not Be Safe, KIMA TV, May 21, 2009

Another $7.5 billion bailout for GMAC, CNN.com, May 21, 2009

Related Web Resources:
IIHS Crash Tests Reveal that Bigger and Heavier Motor Vehicles Exhibit Greater Occupant Protection During Auto Collisions

Read the Notice of Intent for the Rulemaking, NHTSA (PDF)