Product Liability Law Blog

More than six months after the runaway Toyota car crash that claimed the life of off-duty California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor, his wife, daughter, and brother-in law, their relatives are suing Toyota Motor Corp for California auto products liability. The tragic Lexus acceleration accident, caused by a an ill-fitting floor mat and the gas pedal that got entangled in it, prevented Saylor from being able to stop the car and prompted the first Toyota recall over floor mats and gas pedals.

Now, more than 8.5 million Toyota vehicles have been recalled over floor mats, sticking gas pedals, and other accelerator problems. Although the automaker has apologized for these defects that resulted in many cars becoming a possible accident hazard to millions of motorists, for many runaway Toyota and Lexus accident victims, the repairs and apology come too late.

In addition to naming Toyota as a defendant, the California auto products liability lawsuit, filed by the parents of Saylor and his wife, is suing the auto manufacturer’s US division, other corporate entities, and the Lexus dealership that loaned the vehicle to Saylor while his car was undergoing service. According to the accident report, another driver who had borrowed the same vehicle from the dealer a few days before the tragic auto accident complained to the receptionist that the Lexus had accelerated out of control when the gas pedal got stuck in the floor mat. Fortunately, he was able to free the accelerator when he put the gear shift in neutral.

Meantime, other victims and surviving family members are filing their Toyota auto products liability lawsuits. Just last week, Daniel and Nancy Murtha filed a New York wrongful death complaint against Toyota Motor Corp. The Murtha’s lost their 5-year-old son Jacob, after he sustained traumatic injuries during a Lexus acceleration accident on July 29, 2008. Nancy, who was driving the vehicle, says that when she stepped on the brakes, the car wouldn’t stop. Instead, the Lexus accelerated out of control and crashed into a rock wall. She fell into a coma, sustained neck, knee, hip, and lower back injuries, and lost part of her intestines and her spleen during the single-vehicle crash.

The Murtha’s complaint contends that even though Toyota knew for years that a number of vehicles were at risk of sudden, unintended acceleration, the automaker failed to install a brake-to-idle override system that would let motorists regain control of their vehicles.

Westchester County, New York Parents File Suit Against Toyota for Death of Their Five-Year-Old Son in Lexus Sudden Acceleration Incident, MarketWatch, March 18, 2010

Toyota sued over deaths in key California crash, Reuters, March 4, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Toyota Motor Corp.

Toyota was asked in 2007 to consider installing software to prevent sudden acceleration, Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2010

Posted by Gilbert, Ollanik, & Komyatte, P.C. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Automotive Product Liability , Brake Defects , California , Floor Mats , New York , States , Toyota Safety Issues , Wrongful Death

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Despite the massive product recalls in the past few years due to high levels of lead in certain consumer products, as well as the fact that the toxic ingredient has been banned from household paint for over 30 years, lead poisoning continues to be a health hazard—especially for young children. Lead is more dangerous for young kids, who absorb lead more easily into their bodies. Because their brains are more sensitive to lead than the adult brain, young children are more at risk of sustaining some of the serious injuries that can result from lead poisoning.

Just last week, a Mississippi family was awarded $7 million on behalf of a teenager that continues to experience developmental difficulties following exposure to toxic lead-based paint. Trellvion Gaines’s family claims that he inhaled lead paint dust and chips while staying at his grandmother’s home.

The residence was painted in the early 1970’s using Sherwin-Williams paint. After the lead paint was banned, Gaines’s family claims that they followed the directions provided by the paint maker to remove the old paint and replace it with safer paint. They contend, however, that the toxic paint chips and dust was created when they sanded and scraped the old paint (per the paint manufacturer’s directions).

Gaines, who is in his late teens, now has learning disabilities and his reading abilities are equivialent to that of a second grader. Ingesting paint has been known to increase lead blood levels and cause lead poisoning, which has been linked to cognitive and developmental problems in kids, as well as other catastrophic complications, such as traumatic brain injuries, injuries to the nervous system, mental retardation, growth retardation, coma, and death.

Also this month, another family agreed to settle their New York lead poisoning lawsuit for $1.6 million. The Utica family claimed that four siblings were injured after they were exposed to lead paint chips in two different homes.

Rankeem Gilmore, 17, Tashawn Gilmore, 18, Delqwon Gilmore, 20, and Shaquanda Gilmore, 21, will divide the settlement that two landlords will pay them. Although lead paint can no longer be used to paint homes and other buildings, the toxic paint is still be found in many older homes in the US.

Products Liability Lawsuits
Product manufacturers are supposed to make sure that their toys, paint, and other products do not contain levels of lead that are dangerous enough to cause serious injury to people. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

Examples of products that may contain toxic levels of lead:

• Paint
• Drinking water
• Painted furniture
• Painted toys

Utica family awarded more than $1 million for lead exposure, UticaOD.com, June 13, 2009

Mississippi jury rules against Sherwin-Williams in lead paint contamination lawsuit, Newsday, June 30, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Lead Poisoning, Mayo Clinic

Toys and Lead, CDC

Consumer Products Safety Commission

Posted by Gilbert, Ollanik, & Komyatte, P.C. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Catastrophic Injuries , Injuries to Children & Minors , Lead Poisoning , Mississippi , New York , States , Traumatic Brain Injuries

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