California Injury Blog

Legal woes continued to mount yesterday for pet food manufacturer Menu Foods as the Canada-based company at the center of one of the largest consumer-product recalls ever in North America found itself facing at least six class-action lawsuits from angry dog and cat owners, according to a news report in The Edmonton Sun, a Canadian newspaper.

Two Los Angeles residents who allege their cats got sick from eating tainted food made by the company, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking class-action status and unspecified damages. This filing brings the number of class action lawsuits to at least six across Canada and the U.S. Class-action status needs to be granted by a judge. Having a lawsuit certified as a "class-action" is not easy or automatic.

So far, Menu Foods has recalled 95 brands of the company’s dog and cat food – 60 million cans and pouches in all. The food is said to have contained traces of aminopterin, a rat poison banned in the United States. Tests continued to confirm the source of the contamination, but wheat gluten imported from China is considered a prime suspect.

Continue reading "Class Action Lawsuits Pile up Against Menu Foods " »

A safety research company has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in federal District Court in Washington, seeking publicly-owned data about deaths and injuries that is being concealed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), according to a report by consumer watchdog group, posted on www.consumeraffairs.com.

R.A. Whitfield, Director of Quality Control Systems Corp., said that the public needs access to the Early Warning Reports collected under the Transportation Recall Enhancement Accountability and Documentation (TREAD) Act to better understand why so many deaths and injuries related to tire failures in the Ford Explorer have continued long after the well-known and well-publicized tire recalls that affected the vehicle.

The article says taxpayer money was used to gather this data, which is ironically being withheld from the public that paid for it. The TREAD Act was passed in October 2000 in response to Ford Explorer-Firestone tire-related rollover deaths in the U.S. and Ford's overseas recalls. As the article goes on to explain, TREAD amended federal transportation law to require vehicle and equipment manufacturers to report safety recalls or campaigns on vehicles and components in a foreign country if they also sold substantially similar products here in the United States.

The law also required NHTSA to create regulations governing quarterly Early Warning Reports -- information on property damage and warranty claims, consumer, dealer and field reports, production numbers and deaths and injuries collected by manufacturers -- with the intent of using the data to spot defect trends.

The suit alleges that after all these years the public has consistently been denied access to this information. The article points out that between July 1994 and January 15, 2007, at least 420 persons have been killed in tire-related, Ford Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer, and Mazda Navajo crashes, including 396 deaths found in NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and 24 recent deaths found in news accounts. For more than a year, Whitfield has been seeking Ford's EWR death and injury data on Explorers to better analyze the rise in tire-related Explorer fatalities.

Continue reading "Company Sues Feds for Safety Data Hidden from Public" »

A single-vehicle auto accident in Orange County, involving the combination of alcohol and speeding have taken the life of an 18-year-old Buena park man this morning, the Orange Country Register reported.

Authorities stated that Philip Na was driving a Toyota Camry early Wednesday morning when it careened off the road and hit a light pole, killing Na and injuring his passenger, according to the article.

Na's 17-year-old passenger was taken to La Palma Intercommunity Hospital with minor injuries. His identity was not disclosed because of his age. He was treated at the hospital and eventually released to his parents, officials said.

Preliminary reports indicate that a combination of alcohol and speeding contributed to the auto accident. An investigation into the cause of the accident is continuing.

Continue reading "Orange County Car Accident Takes Another Teen Life Because of Alcohol and Speed " »

According to a story by NBC News 4, a California man died Sunday in a single-vehicle rollover accident on U.S. 6 just east of Ely, Nevada. Jay Wooten of Fairfield, California, driving his Ford Excursion, swerved to avoid hitting an elk. The Ford Excursion crossed both traffic lanes and rolled over, killing Wooten, according to Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper George Edwards. Thank God that Mr. Wooten's five passengers, including four children, survived although they were injured and hospitalized.

What caught my eye about this story is that at Bisnar | Chase we are in the middle of rollover testing of Ford Excursions. Their instability and propensity to roll due to their configuration, handling characteristics and weight distribution is not as surprising as the inability of the vehicle to protect its passengers from injury when it does roll over. One of the astounding things we have documented from our testing is the lack of roof strength.

When turned upside down and dropped from less than a foot the roof pancakes down, leaving no survival space for passengers. Can you image how much more violently the vehicle's roof hits the ground in a rollover accident? The news article did not mention if Mr. Wooten's fatal injuries were caused by "roof crush". However, based upon our test results, I would not be surprised if the Excursion roof crushed in on Mr. Wooten, leaving him no survival space.

I'd bet that the surviving passengers had their seat belts on and that the roof did not crush in on the portion of the Excursion that they were seated in.

Let's all hope and pray that the other five passengers survive with minimal injuries.

If anyone injured in Ford Excursion rollover accidents, or their attorneys, need our assistance or our test results, call me, John Bisnar.

The clergy abuse victims’ advocates who dogged the Roman Catholic Church over sexual abuse by its clergy have now turned their attention to the Southern Baptists, accusing America's largest Protestant denomination of also failing to root out molesters, according to an in-depth article posted on CNN.

The Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (www.snapnetwork.org) has started a campaign to call attention to alleged sex abuse committed by Southern Baptist ministers and concealed by churches. The group has presented a letter to Southern Baptist Convention executive committee members in Nashville, asking the group to adopt a zero-tolerance policy on clergy sexual abuse and to create an independent review board to investigate molestation reports. It sounds all too familiar doesn’t it?

Consider this. In the past six months SNAP has received reports of about 40 cases of sexual abuse by Southern Baptist ministers with some of the incidents dating back many years.

Church leaders concede there have been some incidents of clergy abuse in Southern Baptist congregations, but say their hands are tied when it comes to investigating complaints across the denomination.

“They don't want to see this problem,” said Christa Brown, a SNAP member from Austin, Texas, who says she was sexually abused as a child by a Southern Baptist minister. “That's tragic because they're imitating the same mistakes made by Catholic bishops.”

Continue reading "Clergy Abuse Victims’ Advocates Question Southern Baptists" »

In a dog bite attack, a 9-year-old boy’s top lip was ripped off when his pet dog, a pit-bull terrier, tried to snatch a cookie out of his mouth, according to BBC News report last week.

The family raised the dog, Simba, from the time he was a puppy, and although this is the first dog bite incident they have experienced, the family has since euthanized Simba and given away another pit-bull terrier they owned. Pit-bull breeds are listed by the CDC as being a dangerous breed. Click here to read the complete list of dangerous dogs, along with a list of dog breeds that have been deemed safe for families and environments that include children.

John Henderson, the dog bite victim, reportedly needed a skin graft to try and repair as much of the damage as possible, at least at this point in time. John must now wait six weeks before the extent of the damage is known.

According to the news report, the dog bit the boy’s lip and would not release. The boy’s mother said she would never have another dog after this traumatic incident.

“It was horrible - our worst nightmare,” she said.

Continue reading "Dog Bite Injury Causes Boy To Lose Lip " »

A jet ski accident sent a 14-year-old to Broward General Hospital Friday afternoon after a crash at a lake at Markham Park in Broward County, Florida, an NBC news affiliate reported.

Officials said Tyler Goldberg apparently drove his jet ski into a wooden dock at a high rate of speed. Video footage captured by an NBC news helicopter showed a jet ski floating near a dock at the boat-loading area of the lake. It appeared that the jet ski handlebars had been knocked off.

The teenager was heading for the dock, but couldn’t turn the handlebar, officials said. He then lost control of the watercraft and plowed right into the dock. The exact cause of the jet ski accident is yet to be determined.

Goldberg's family was on shore and saw him hit the dock, the article said. A police official said that Goldberg could have turned off the power when he saw the dock approaching. That could have caused him to lose steering control because a personal watercraft needs that power to move.

Officials at the scene said Goldberg suffered chest, head and neck injuries. He is listed in critical condition, according to NBC reports.

Continue reading "Jet Ski Accident Seriously Injures Teenager" »

A sex scandal has sparked an exodus from Faith Crossing Church in Forney, Texas, according to one of its former youth ministers, according to an article in the Dallas Morning News.

The church's pastor, 45-year-old Lester A. Cody III, faces two counts of sexually assaulting a young family friend who belonged to the church when it was in Mesquite. The girl was 15 at the time, in 2002. Now 20, she went to authorities in October after finally telling her mother what had happened, according to a Mesquite police affidavit, the article states.

The church, which had more than 100 members, now has only four or five families, according to the report. Cody, who was arrested in November and indicted in January, has however maintained his innocence at his first court appearance Monday. He has denied all charges and his wife and parents stand by him, reportedly. If convicted, Mr. Cody would face up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine on each charge.

Continue reading "Clergy Abuse Scandal in Texas Empties Pews" »

Several safety groups urged the federal government to toughen rules for big-rig and truck companies, stating that more than 100 people a week in this country are killed in large truck crashes, according to an Associated Press article posted in the Houston Chronicle.

The article states that Wyoming, Arkansas and Oklahoma are the deadliest states for big truck crashes while Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut are the safest, according to The Truck Safety Coalition. California saw a moderate increase in truck crashes – from 378 in 2001 to 428 in 2005. The group released state rankings, based on the number of fatalities per 100,000 residents during 2005, the most recent year with complete figures.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration "has failed miserably," said Joan Claybrook, chair of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, which is part of the Truck Safety Coalition.

“It is shortchanging safety for the productivity and economic interests of the trucking industry.”

In 1999, when the agency was created, 5,380 people died in crashes with big trucks. Deaths in crashes of large trucks numbered 5,212 in 2005, plus 114,000 injured. Large trucks account for 3 percent of registered vehicles but 12-13 percent of traffic fatalities.

Victims say they are completely put off by the agency’s lack of action. Jane Mathis, of St. Augustine, Fla., complained that the motor carrier agency is proposing to require on-board electronic recorders that monitor hours of service on only about 465 of the more than 702,000 registered interstate motor carriers.

Continue reading "Activists Push for Tougher Truck Regulation" »

Merck & Company’s painkiller, Vioxx, contributed to an Idaho postal worker’s heart attack, a jury in Atlantic City ruled Monday, reversing the verdict in the man’s first trial and awarding him and his wife $20 million in damages, according an Associated Press article published in the New York Times on Monday.

The jury came back with the verdict in favor of Frederick Humeston, who lost his first trial in 2005 against the pharmaceutical giant, but was granted a second trial in light of new evidence that short-term use of Vioxx could cause significant harm as well. Merck insists Vioxx did not increase cardiac risks until after 18 months of use, but many doctors say research disproves that.

According to the Associated Press article, Merck has now won nine cases and lost five in the ever-increasing litigation over Vioxx, formerly a blockbuster arthritis pill.

Humeston, 61, of Boise, Idaho, suffered a heart attack in September 2001. But that was several months before Merck, under pressure from federal regulators, put a stronger warning about the cardiovascular risks of Vioxx on the drug’s detailed package insert.

Humeston had taken Vioxx intermittently for knee pain from a Vietnam War shrapnel wound. Merck removed Vioxx from the market in September 2004 after its own research showed the drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke.

The five-man, three-woman jury ruled on March 2 that Merck was negligent and did not provide adequate warning about the risks before Humeston suffered the heart attack. That set the stage for a second phase of the trial, with the jury last week hearing evidence on whether Vioxx contributed to the man’s heart attack, entitling him to damages.

Continue reading "Jury Reverses Vioxx Verdict, Merck Ordered to Fork out $20 Million" »

A San Pedro woman and her three children were awarded $50 million in punitive damages Wednesday in a wrongful death lawsuit against DaimlerChrysler Corp. in an auto product defect case.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury found that the auto maker knowingly and intentionally failed to correct an automatic transmission defect in the Dodge Dakota that led to the May 1, 2004 death of 38-year-old Richard Mraz, according to a news article based on wire reports published in the Daily Breeze.

The jury awarded the $50 million to Mraz’s widow, Adriana, and her children.

On March 2, the same jury found DaimlerChrysler liable for the death of Richard Mraz and returned a verdict of $5.2 million in compensatory damages for the family, the article said. Two of the children were Richard Mraz’s stepchildren and one was his biological child, according to the plaintiff’s attorney who was quoted in the article.

Richard Mraz suffered fatal head injuries when the 1992 Dodge Dakota pickup truck he was driving at his work site, the San Pedro/Long Beach Maritime Terminal, ran him over after he got out of the vehicle believing it was in park, the article stated. He died 17 days after the accident.

The jury found that a defect in the transmission was a substantial factor in Mraz's death, and that DaimlerChrysler was negligent in the design of the vehicle.

Continue reading "$50 Million Punitive Damages Award for Auto Defect Fatality" »

Seven people were injured, two critically, when a transit bus and pickup truck collided Monday in East Pomona, according to an Associated Press article posted on the San Jose Mercury News’ Web site.

Los Angeles County fire officials responded to the crash a little before 10 a.m. Monday.
According to news reports, one victim was in critical condition and was flown to a trauma center and another victim, who was originally listed in moderate condition was downgraded to “critical,” officials said.

Five other victims with mild to moderate injuries were treated and transported to local hospitals.

The names of the victims were not immediately released and the cause of the crash is still under investigation.

The bus was operated by Foothill Transit, which provides bus service in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys.

As mentioned, the incident is still under investigation and we don’t know who was at fault. But we at Bisnar | Chase have dealt with hundreds of bus accident cases over the years that ended up in serious personal injuries or death.

Continue reading "Seven Injured in Pomona Bus Crash" »

Apparently, food poisoning spares no one. Not even if you’re a ball player.

This is a story is reminiscent of the Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings basketball rivalry. Lakers come to town, get food poisoning and then play their arch rivals to a close game. This time it's Stanford and Arizona State.

Stanford went into its game Saturday against Arizona State with a handicap after six players came down with food poisoning, according to an article in the Tucson Citizen. As expected, the Cardinals lost to Arizona, playing without two of their starters – Mitch Johnson and Fred Washington -- who were among the six afflicted players.

Well, it was close and the game went into overtime, but still, Arizona won 85-80 in overtime.

Many of the sick players were on IVs for most of Friday, according to the Tucson Citizen article. Apparently, they and others “ate bad chicken.” Many played despite their illness.

“I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. What can you do?” said Stanford coach Trent Johnson. “The game is going to be played no matter what…We’re like boxers. We get knocked down, but we get back up.”

Continue reading ""Bad" Chicken puts Six Cardinals Players out of Commission" »

The family of a man killed three years ago during a struggle with a Fontana police officer has received a wrongful death settlement for $1 million, according to an article published in Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

The article states that Randy Jon Perchez Jr., who was 22 years old when he died, was shot by Officer Richard Guerrero during the incident on Feb. 20, 2004.

According to federal documents cited in the article, U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson criticized Guerrero and the Fontana Police Department saying that Guerrero had been investigated seven times before this incident for excessive use of force. The judge also chastised the department because senior officials had a track record of rarely disciplining officers for excessive force.

Perchez's mother, Cathy Olivas, received $825,000 and his father, Randy Perchez Sr., got $175,000 in a settlement last month, according to court papers. The amount awarded to Perchez's family was the highest among four cases of officer-involved shootings since 2000 that the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office considered unjustified.

The incident began after Fontana patrol and gang officers approached a group of suspected gang members in the 14100 block of Chaparral Avenue, according to another article in the Continue reading "Family Receives $1 Million in Wrongful Death Lawsuit" »

A dog owner, who shirks responsibility when his or her pet bites someone, could end up in some hot water, according to a bill that passed in the Michigan State House on Thursday.

An Associated Press news report states that this bill proposes criminal penalties for dog owners who leave the scene of a biting incident without providing vaccination information and assistance to the bite victim.

A violation will be considered a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine. The Bill is sponsored by Rep. Jee Mayes, a Democrat from Bay City, Mich.
The bill passed the House by a 98-5 vote. It now goes to the Senate.

Normally, bite victims can file civil lawsuits against dog owners. We should know. Bisnar | Chase has dealt with numerous dog bite injury cases, many of them horrific incidents involving small children, who have required plastic surgery.

But I agree that criminal prosecution should be an option as well. Dogs bite more than 4.7 million people a year in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of dog bites requiring medical attention has increased 15 times faster than the increase in dog ownership. In addition, there are 850,000 dog bites requiring medical attention in the U.S. annually and letter carriers suffer about 3,000 bites annually as they attempt to do their jobs.

These are alarming numbers and this is a problem that is getting worse, not better. Victims of dog bite attacks undergo a lot of pain and life-altering injuries, including deep skin wounds, loss of fingers, infections and scarring.

Continue reading "Dog Bites - A Crime?" »

A two-vehicle accident in Tustin left a 7-year-old boy in critical condition Wednesday, according to a news report in the Orange County Register.

The driver was later arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, the article stated.

The father of the injured boy, Patrick Fleury, and his other son aged 9, were also hospitalized for moderate injuries The accident occurred when a 2000 Chevrolet 1500 truck broadsided their Lincoln Town Car around 3:45 p.m. on 17th Street at the intersection of Holt Avenue in Tustin, traveling westbound, according to reports from the California Highway Patrol .

All three were transported to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana for treatment, the article said.

The driver of the truck, Brian Cherrett, 32, had tried to turn left from the eastbound lanes of 17th Street onto Holt, striking the left side of Fleury's vehicle, CHP reports said. Cherrett, of Orange, is being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail.

The collision is under investigation by the CHP. Any witnesses with information are asked to call the CHP Santa Ana area office between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 714-567-6000.

Continue reading "Crash Leaves Boy in Critical Condition" »

Why is an OC teenager not with us anymore?

The Orange County Register published a story about a Ladera Ranch teenager, Nicole Catsouras, 18, who apparently lost control of a Porsche 911 Carrera while attempting to pass another vehicle at more than 100 mph on the 241 Toll road, according to California Highway Patrol officials. Apparently the teenager clipped a Honda Civic, while attempting to pass it, lost control, crossed the center median, traveled across the north lanes and the Alton Parkway southbound on-ramp and crashed into a toll booth building.

The Honda Civic hit the center median. The driver, a twenty year old Rancho Santa Margarita man, was injured and taken to Mission Hospital. An open alcoholic beverage container was found by the police in the Honda Civic, according to the CHP.

An 18 year old driving a Porsche, 100 mph. Twenty year old, driving with open container. They barely met. One dies and one goes to the hospital. There are many things wrong with this picture.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of theses young people. God bless Nicole's soul!

Continue reading "241 Toll Road Auto Accident Claims Teenager's Life" »

Federal health officials on Thursday confirmed that the salmonella in samples taken from the Georgia processing plant is consistent with the bacteria found in the contaminated Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter, according to a news article in Healthday’s Website.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, inspections of ConAgra’s plant in Sylvester revealed the same strain of salmonella found in the peanut butter jars, which sickened 370 people across 42 states.

The article quotes Dr. David Acheson, FDA’s Director of Food Safety:

“All we know is that we've got salmonella bacteria that we found in the environment in the facility that matched the same strain that we found in patients that the states found in jars of peanut butter.”

He said the peanut butter became contaminated some time during the production process – between roasting and putting the product in the jar.

Experts say how the bacteria entered the plant will remain a mystery.

“How it got into the environment we'll never know,” he said. “It may have come in on somebody's feet; it's possible there was somebody in the plant who was sick and didn't know it. But that's pure speculation.”

Continue reading "Salmonella in Tainted Peanut Butter linked to Processing Plant" »

Are the police free from liability when a pursuit kills or maims the innocent?

Here’s an interesting question that is before the U.S. Supreme Court: “Can a police officer be sued for hitting a fleeing car during a high-speed police chase and causing an automobile accident that leaves the driver badly injured or dead?”

The answer to this question and the high court’s decision could change the way things work on Southern California freeways, as explained by a Feb. 26 article in the Los Angeles Times.

According to Times writer David Savage, the court’s answer appeared to be “no.” Our television stations must be breathing a huge sigh of relief. These chases do after all attract a large number of viewers who can’t wait to find out how it all ended.

This case has drawn a lot of attention because it could lay the foundation for national rules to limit police chases. According to the Times article, more than 300 people are killed every year in police chases. A majority of the victims are those who flee the police, but a large number of victims are also innocent bystanders. Several police officers are also injured or killed in these crashes.

But during arguments this week, most of the Supreme Court justices said they were not inclined to tie the hands of police and restrict them from using force when they are pursuing a person, who could pose substantial danger to the public.

Continue reading "Supreme Court Considers Liability In Police Chases" »