Government Agency to Issue Warnings on Deadly Baby Slings and Carriers

Mar 18

Los Angeles LawyerProduct Liability Product Liability No Comments

In so many ways, new parents often have their hands full, as caring for a baby is always a handful. For some multitasking parents who are on the go, a baby sling is a useful contraption more convenient than a stroller when going out with their child.

But according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), baby slings/infant carriers can be hazardous and in some instances, deadly.

A number of deaths and serious injuries have been linked to the use of these products. Aside from babies falling from the carrier because of soft fabric slings, infants have reportedly suffocated because some baby slings’ curved design can cause a child to get smothered in the parent’s clothing.

Infantino’s “SlingRider” in particular, after having been recalled for defective plastic sliders on the sling’s strap is still a cause for concern for many consumers because of its curved design or “C-like” position which has yet to be recalled or even addressed.

Other dangerous baby sling defects include problems with the fasteners, stitching and shoulder straps which have caused infants falling from the sling. Since 1997 around a dozen sling or front-wearing baby carriers have been recalled.

The CPSC has announced that it will issue a general warning to the public but made no mention of any recalls.

For parents, there is nothing worse than losing a child. The pain will doubtless be doubled especially in instances where the baby accidentally got suffocated in an infant carrier or fell down because of the baby sling’s defects.

Under the law, parents whose babies died or got injured as a result of a defective or dangerously designed baby sling or infant carrier has the right to file either a wrongful death claim or personal injury lawsuit based on product liability.

The law on product liability provides that manufacturers, suppliers, and even retailers can be held liable for putting a defective and harmful product out to the market. Product liability includes:

•    Manufacturing defects – Errors in the manufacturing process which may also involve poor quality materials or shoddy worksmanship
•    Design defects – Even if the product is well manufactured, it is still considered dangerous or defective because of its inherently hazardous design
•    Marketing defects – Also known as failure to warn defects – consumers can still get hurt by the product because of the absence of warnings or labels.

Toyota Car Defects to Get Fixed Soon and For Free

Feb 03

Los Angeles LawyerProduct Liability Toyota Car Defects 1 Comment

Since 1999, Toyota has received more than 2,000 complaints of unintended acceleration of some of its models. Six separate investigations conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration later only yielded the finding of “unsecured floor mats” — it took the death of an off-duty CHP officer and his family to shake the giant car maker into a more exhaustive inquiry into its cars.

After recalling 4.2 million vehicles and suspending the sale of affected models, Toyota has announced it has found a way to fix the unintended acceleration. The problem with the faulty gas pedals were traced by the engineers to have been caused by a friction device in the assembly that is supposed to provide the proper pedal “feel” by adding resistance.

The repair, which is supposed to take about half an hour, consists of installing a steel shim a couple of millimeters thick in the pedal assembly, which will eliminate the excess friction between two pieces of the accelerator mechanism.

Toyota will shoulder the expenses of the repair and have shipped the steel shim out to the dealerships and customers with Toyota models the subject of recall are advised to wait to receive certified letters from Toyota before heading out to their nearest dealer.

Also, for consumers involved in any unintended acceleration accident with said Toyota vehicles, they may contact Toyota’s customer service at 800-331-4331 or file a complaint online with the NHTSA at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq.

Another option, for victims who have been grievously hurt or whose family member had perished in a car accident due to car defects, they can file a personal injury lawsuit or a wrongful death lawsuit.

Currently, there are already a number of lawsuits filed against the Japanese automaker because of their dangerously defective cars. Some suits even claim that the defect is due to the car’s electronic system.

The Toyota troubles has however, spawned a number of “Toyota lawyers” but affected drivers should be wary before engaging the services of just any lawyer. Aside from taking into consideration the benefits of a contingency fee, lawyers must be experienced in litigating product liability or car defects claims. The track record of experience must likewise be sterling because the lawyer must be good enough to have won the cases he handles.

California Ground Beef Recalled for E.Coli

Jan 21

Los Angeles LawyerProduct Liability product liability lawyer No Comments

Beef lovers beware!

According to the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, 864,000 pounds or 390 tons of ground-beef have been found to be tainted with E. coli and is now being recalled.

A batch of contaminated beef was found shipped by the plant from January 5 to January 15 and sold to distribution centers, restaurants and hotels in California.

Huntington Meat Packing Inc of Montebello, California produced the tainted beef. Fortunately for the company, there have been no reported illnesses or fatalities from the consumption of the product.

In 2008, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there were as many as 18,499 laboratory-confirmed cases of food-borne illnesses from ten states, including California.

E.coli bacteria – in particular – are the very common causes of food-borne illnesses which can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia, and kidney failure among others.

Very young children and older people are very vulnerable to it and can become seriously ill or develop severe illness and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) by ingesting food or water which has been contaminated with microscopic amounts of cow feces.

Victims of food poisoning, especially those who have been grievously affected by the contaminated food, may file a claim for damages against the food manufacturer or distributor.

You can rightfully recover medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering especially if the manufacturer or distributor was negligent in handling the food product and failed to exercise care and quality control.

Consult a product liability lawyer to find out if you can file a claim against the manufacturer. Cases like this can be tricky as sometimes, a mere stomach ache or upset stomach would not amount to a valid claim for damages.

Reality TV Starlet Sued for Trademark Infringement

Dec 15

Los Angeles LawyerProduct Liability copyright and trademark infringement No Comments

Following the dismissal of assault, battery and false imprisonment charges filed against him by ruckus racking TV reality star Tila Tequila, Shawne Merriman has now filed a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit against the starlet.

Merriman, aside from playing as the linebacker for San Diego Chargers, also runs a business called Lights Out Holdings. In his lawsuit, Merriman claims that his former girlfriend used his famous “Lights Out” logo on her website without his permission and that the use of his “Lights Out” trademark will likely confuse consumers into believing there is an affiliation between the two of them.

He also alleged that prior to Tila filing charges against him caused the agreement he was negotiating with Walmart stores for the distribution of his T-shirts to get delayed.

Aside from seeking an injunction from trademark and copyright infringement, Merriman is also claiming statutory damages of up to $2 million and other unspecified damages.

Trademark and copyright are two entirely different types of intellectual property protections. A copyright is used for any creative or artistic expression of an idea through a medium such as a poem or a book.

A trademark on the other hand, refers to distinctive signs or indicators used by an individual or company in order to identify their products and services to the public. A logo or a brand is an example of trademark.

Using a trademark or a copyrighted work without the permission of the owner or author in certain products which may be similar or dissimilar would constitute trademark infringement and copyright infringement.

The owner of a registered trademark or copyright may institute legal proceedings against the infringer for trademark infringement or copyright infringement.

Since the owner has exclusive rights to the trademark or copyrighted item, an injunction may also be filed to get the offender to stop the use of the trademark which is detrimental to the owner’s business as well as file a claim for damages.

Advocate Group Found Lead on Disney Bike Kit and Tinkerbell Necklace

Nov 19

Los Angeles LawyerPersonal Injury, Product Liability product liability lawsuits No Comments

Before going out and buying toys for your kids, you should know that a California based advocacy group found that some toys in the market have a high level of lead in them.

You would think that we would be over this by now after a slew of product recalls were made over lead-tainted toys in 2007. It turned out that we are not done with this as even popular brands such as Mattel and Disney were included in the list of affected toys.

In fact, the Center for Environmental Health found high levels of lead on a Barbie Bike Flair Accessory Kit and a Disney Tinkerbell Water Lily Necklace.

They also found excessive lead in Dora the Explorer Activity Tote, 2 pairs of shoes, a belt for boys and children’s poncho.

The Office of the Attorney General has already sent letters to different retailers like Target and Wal-Mart that they had lead-tainted products on their shelves.

Mattel said that they licensed Bell Sports for the Barbie bike accessory but did not make or sell it.

Bell, on the other hand, said the kit was an older product that passed safety tests in 2007.

Disney also commented that the Tinkerbell necklace was tested by its licensee, Playmates Toys, before it was distributed.

Whatever the reason is, these brands should seriously consider recalling the said products and getting them out of the shelves immediately.

They do not want to be the recipient of product liability lawsuits for lead-related personal injury suits in the future.

Lead is a very dangerous chemical that can cause irreversible brain damage. These companies do not want to be responsible for the spread of this kind of disability, to children no less.

So it may be costly to do a product recall but it would go a long way in preventing any damage a lawsuit can do to the image do the company.

Elderly Couple Dies from Bathrobe Fire

Nov 04

Los Angeles LawyerPersonal Injury, Product Liability Product Liability No Comments

Products and services must meet certain standards before they could be available to the public. For innately hazardous or dangerous products, a warning must be made to inform consumers of the possibility of causing damages or injuries.

In Oceanside, an elderly couple was engulfed in fire when their bathrobe sleeve caught on fire.

Eighty-one year old Evelyn Rogoff was making herself a green tea when their stove’s electric burner set her bathrobe on fire. Her husband, Murray, came to rescue her but was burnt as well. The couple died eventually due to burn injuries.

Susan Brent, the couple’s daughter, sued Blair Corp. for at least $1.9 in damages citing negligence due to the flammability of its bathrobes. Brent alleged that the company failed to warn the public specially its target market – elderly people of the robe’s flammable nature.

Due to the incident, Blair Corp. recalled162, 000 of its chenille robes.

A product liability case may be filed when the action is based on accident-causing defects such as a bathrobe’s flammability. An injured person can bring a negligence claim in addition to a strict liability claim against the manufacturer. These claims may be best pursued through the help of a product liability attorney

Tainted Toys and Mattel’s Settlement

Oct 19

Los Angeles LawyerPersonal Injury, Product Liability product liability laws 1 Comment

With Christmas just a month or two away, a class-action suit’s settlement will surely bring glad tidings to families who were affected by a 2007 toy recall which involved millions of toys tainted with excessive levels of lead or had design problems.

Popular toys from Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Diego toys made by Fisher-Price, and some Mattel toys like Batman, Polly Pocket, Sarge cars and Barbie accessories were among those found to contain high levels of lead. They toys were all made from China.

Mattel Inc., the world’s largest toy maker, has agreed to settle and will provide affected toy buyers either 50 percent of the total amount of vouchers or $10, depending on whichever is greater.

Also, other consumers who didn’t participate in the recalls but have a recalled toy shall get a check or a voucher equivalent to the toy’s price. Buyers of recalled toys in which only one piece of the toy was affected can receive up to $12.

Those whose toys have been destroyed after the recall will also be eligible to receive a voucher for the amount of the toy for up to three toys. Mattel’s settlement could top $50 million dollars as the exact number of claims is still uncertain.

If approved by the court, Mattel and Fisher-Price will likewise reimburse families their expenses after getting tests for their children for lead exposure.

Under product liability laws, the manufacturer and supplier is responsible for damages caused by their product. The $50 million settlement will not just serve to compensate the consumers who have been injured by their lead-contaminated toys but will also be a reminder to them that the toys they put out to market should be fit for consumers.

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