Articles Posted in Product Liability

BY: A Staff Writer
An Illinois federal jury earlier this month awarded a South Carolina woman $15 million after finding that the tire of the motorcycle she was riding on was defective and led to an accident that left her with severe brain damage. According to an article in the Peoria Journal Star, members of the jury deliberated for 15 hours over two days before they made their decision to hold Goodyear Dunlop Tires North America Ltd. liable for the May 26, 2002 accident.

The victim, Trish McCloud, was riding on the back of a motorcycle and was on her way home from a bike rally when the motorcycle’s tire deflated. The motorcycle’s driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed. McCloud ended up striking her head on the sidewalk after the motorcycle flipped. Although she was wearing a helmet, the impact of the crash was so great that it caused severe brain damage, the article said. She was also left partially paralyzed after the accident and requires around-the-clock care, her attorneys told the newspapers.

The victim probably won’t see any part of the money for a while, because Goodyear is very likely to appeal the jury award. It is hard to imagine how tragic this accident must have been for the woman, who has been rendered invalid and in a permanent state of dependency. The bills are probably mounting and her family needs this money to secure her future and pay for treating her severe brain injury.
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Mattel needs to step up to the plate. Sure, the biggest toy company in the world can argue they had no knowledge of the lead-based paints their popular Chinese-made toys are brightened with. But the least they can do is to create a fund to help parents do the testing that is needed to determine whether their children have been exposed to the lead from these tainted toys. What happened to manufacturers standing by their products and being responsible to consumers?

Since Mattel did not take that step, I’m glad that California consumers are trying to hold the toy company accountable by filing a lawsuit that seeks class-action status. According to an article in the Daily Breeze, this suit claims Mattel was negligent and should establish a fund in an unspecified amount to pay for medical screening needed to determine if children have been affected by the lead in the toys.

The article says the complaint was brought by Fontana couple Adrian and Mitchell Powell on behalf their two daughters, Megan and Morgan. Parents are worried for a good reason. According the National Safety Council’s Web site, lead is a highly toxic substance, exposure to which can produce a range of adverse health effects including brain damage. Children are particularly more susceptible to it. NSC statistics show more than 400,000 children under the age of 6 in the United States have too much lead in their blood.
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Lead is toxic to the body and especially the brain and even in low levels it can cause havoc in vulnerable, small, growing bodies. So why isn’t anything being done about it? According to the San Francisco Chronicle, one California legislator says if the U.S. Consumer and Product Safety Commission does not work fast to regulate a ban on using lead in the making of children’s toys that she will introduce legislation in California intended to do just that.

Critics of the U.S. Consumer and Product Safety Commission accuse the agency of not having strict enough rules to protect our children and of not enforcing the rules that are now in place. According to Fiona Ma, a San Francisco legislator, recalls by manufacturers like Mattel and Fisher Price of millions of toys and other products that include paint with lead over federal limits indicate that no one is watching the store or monitoring these manufacturers allowing dangerous toys to come into our homes by the millions.
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According to CNN, Mattel just widened its recall of its popular Polly Pocket toys that almost killed an Indiana girl almost two years ago. So what took you so long Mattel?

Two years ago Paige Kostrzewski was only 7 years old in July of 2005. Paige was innocently playing with her new Polly Pocket toy, whose plastic clothes attached to the Polly Pocket doll with magnets. While Paige was busy attaching clothes to the doll a couple of the magnets came loose and so she held the two loose magnets between her lips. Two days later, Paige began to complain of tummy pain that was at first written off as a stomach flu. It was only later, after Paige was vomiting green stuff, that Paige’s parents learned from a scan done at the hospital that Paige had accidentally swallowed the two magnets which had become lodged in her small bowel causing holes to form in her tissue that allowed bacteria from her bile to circulate throughout her little body causing a massive infection.

While Mattel voluntarily recalled many of the Polly Pocket products last November Paige’s parents wonder why it took so long. They will not soon forget the $40,000 medical bill or the fact that doctors told them Paige would have died within days if the magnets had not been discovered.
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The toy company Hasbro is doing a repeat recall of one its most popular toys – the Easy- Bake oven. In February, the company recalled 1 million of these toys after they got reports of more than 250 children getting injured by getting their hands or fingers stuck in the ovens.

But as it turns out, the incidents have hardly stopped. Since February, there have been about 25 incidents involving serious injuries of a similar nature. Now, Hasbro is recalling 1 million more Easy-Bake ovens, according to an article posted on ABC News’ Web site. According to the ABC article, in the original recall in February, 77 incidents involved burns – 16 involving second and third-degree burns. One 5-year-old girl even had to have her finger amputated as a result of one of these injuries.

But there is also another problem. Consumer Product Safety Commission officials say that consumers have not turned in the defective ovens. Hasbro is saying that one of the reasons Hasbro is reissuing the alert is because it was not heeded the first time. According to the CPSC’s Web site, the latest recalled models include purple and pink Easy-Bake ovens, Model Number 65805. These toys were reportedly made in China and sold after May 2006 at Toys “R” Us, Wal-Mart, Target and other major retail outlets.

Officials say that a lot of parents don’t realize that these toys are not safe for children under 8 years old. The greatest danger of these toys is to smaller children. That’s where they say they see a lot of injuries happen. I am wondering if this is a case of younger siblings playing with a toy intended for their older siblings.
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General Electric is recalling about 2.5 million dishwashers because of a fire hazard. Company officials said last week that the liquid rinse-aid in the dishwasher can leak from its dispenser on to the dishwasher’s internal wiring thereby causing an electrical short and overheating, posing a fire hazard.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, GE has received 191 reports of overheated wiring including 56 reports of property damage. There were 12 reports of fires that escaped the dishwasher. Damage was however limited to the dishwasher and the adjacent area. No injuries have been reported involving the defective products.

This recall includes GE built-in dishwashers sold under the following brand names: Eterna, GE, GE Profile, GE Monogram, Hotpoint, and Sears-Kenmore. These dishwashers were reportedly sold at department and appliance stores from September 1997 through December 2001 for about $400. Company officials ask that consumers immediately stop using the recalled dishwashers and contact General Electric for a free repair, a $150 rebate towards the purchase of a new GE dishwasher, or a $300 rebate towards the purchase of a new GE Profile or GE Monogram dishwasher. For additional information, contact General Electric toll-free at (877) 607-6395 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET Monday through Saturday. Consumers also can visit GE’s Website.
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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have recalled 450,000 Evenflo Embrace Infant Car Seats and Carriers because the infant in the seat can unexpectedly fall causing serious injury, according to ConsumerAffairs.com.

According to this article, Evenflo has received 679 reports of the handle on the car seat and carriers unexpectedly releasing, resulting in 160 injuries to children. These injury reports include skull fracture, concussions, cuts, scrapes and bruises. The two agencies said the problem with these defective car seats is that “when used as an infant carrier the handle can unexpectedly release causing the infant seat to rotate forward.”

The recall involves Evenflo Embrace Infant Car Seat/Carriers made before April 8, 2006. The recalled car seat/carriers have model numbers beginning with 317, 320, 397, 398, 540, 548, 549, 550, 556, 597, 598 or 599. The model number and production date information can be found on a white label on the bottom of the carrier and on the top of the convenience base. Models beginning with “5” are units sold with the travel system (compatible stroller). “Evenflo” is on the carrying handle and car seat base. Embrace infant car seat with carriers made on or after April 8, 2006, are not included in this recall.

Stores nationwide sold the car seat and carriers from December 2004 through September 2006 for between $70 and $100 when sold alone and between $140 and $200 when sold with a compatible stroller. The seats are manufactured both in the U.S. and China. NHTSA and CPSC are warning consumers that they not use the handle until the repair kit has been installed, but the product can be used continually as a car seat when secured in a vehicle.
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In a class action suit against American Honda Motor Corporation, an Illinois man charges that a design defect  in certain Honda CR-V and Element models makes them prone to fast-spreading engine fires, according to an article posted on ConsumerAffairs.com.

The lawsuit charges that the vehicles’ oil filter is dangerously close to the exhaust manifold on 2003, 2004 and 2005 model CR-Vs, and is mounted vertically, creating a situation where leaking oil can spray directly on the hot exhaust manifold. The suit also alleges that this reported defect occurs in Element models equipped with the 2.4-liter DOHC i-VTEC engine as well. According to the consumer watchdog Website, they have received complaints about this problem from consumers since 2004.

Hal Pilger, the Illinois man who filed the recent lawsuit, alleges that Honda has known about the supposed defect, but has failed to issue a recall. According to the complaint, Pilger’s 2003 CR-V burst into flames while he was driving it. Honda has denied all of the allegations and says the fires were caused as a result of improper installation of the oil filter.
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The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Mega Brands America have recalled more than 4 million units of Magnetix Magnetic building sets after one death and 27 intestinal injuries were reported after small children swallowed loose parts, according to an article posted on the Watchdog Website.

Not included in this recall are the company’s products sold since March 31, 2006 that are labeled 6+ and sets that contain the warning: “CAUTION: Do not ingest or inhale magnets. Attraction of magnets in the body may cause serious injury and require immediate medical care.”

Several children were reportedly seriously injured before the company launched the recall. Emergency surgical intervention was needed in all but one case. At least 1,500 incidents of magnets separating from the building pieces have been reported. Although the hazard was initially thought to be a problem primarily for children younger than six, it has since been learned that at least 10 injuries involved children between the ages of 6 and 11.
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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.
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