California Injury Blog

What do parents need to watch out for when they buy Christmas presents this year?

Just when we thought we’ve seen the end of the Mattel toy recall, the world’s largest toy maker on Wednesday announced yet another massive recall involving 800,000 Barbie accessories, Fischer Price train locomotives and bongo drums. Again, the reason for this recall, the third large one for Mattel just this summer, is the presence of unacceptably high quantities of lead in the paint used to brighten these toys.

Early in August, the company recalled 1.5 million toys featuring Elmo and other popular characters. Later the same month, “Sarge” toy cars from the hit Disney movie “Cars” as well as 9 million other toys containing tiny magnets were recalled. The total number of toys recalled by Mattel is now a whopping 19 million. The latest recall is being announced jointly by the toy company as well as the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Consumer watchdog Web site Consumeraffairs.com published an article earlier this week about a study conducted by a national nonprofit called Kids in Danger which showed that injuries among children more than doubled in the last five years compared to the preceding 10 years.
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BY: A Staff Writer
Tenacity and persistence are two qualities that can make or break a personal injury attorney or firm. Because, without these qualities it is impossible to win cases or more importantly, to get justice for those people who have been seriously injured or killed because of someone else’s negligence.

Take for example the San Francisco product liability case against Ford Motor Co. The case was brought by parents of Walter White, a 3-year-old boy who died 13 years ago because the parking brake on his father’s Ford truck failed, rolling down the hill and running him over. According to an article by the Associated Press, the case is still not over although a jury in a second retrial had already awarded $52 million to the deceased child’s parents. A judge threw out that award last week agreeing with Ford’s lawyers that mistakes were made during the last trial in jury instructions.

The Whites sued both Orscheln Company, the maker of the brakes and Ford for not warning consumers in spite of knowing that the brakes would allow the truck to roll. Ford issued a recall in connection with the defective brakes two months after little Walter died.
In the first trial in 1998, Ford was found negligent and the jury awarded the parents $2.3 million in compensatory damages and $150.8 million in punitive damages, meant to punish Ford. But that didn’t hold on appeal and the district court reduced punitive damages to $69.2 million finding it “excessive.” The case was sent to a new trial because both parties appealed that decision.
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BY: A Staff Writer
A new study has found that the number of children who have been injured by dangerous toys has more than doubled in the last five years compared to the preceding decade, according to an article in the watchdog Web site, www.consumeraffairs.com. The study, which was conducted by a nonprofit group called Kids in Danger, reports that more children are being hurt by products recalled for fire- and burn-related dangers.

The study looked into 40 products recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in the last five years. The study found that 40 products were recalled in the last one year whereas only 42 products were recalled in the 10 years before that! Does that mean toy makers are putting profit over our children’s safety by handing over manufacturing operations to some sweat shop in the Third World where quality control doesn’t exist? That does seem to be the big question this study poses.

Despite modern technological advancements, which one would think might help enhance safety, the report found that toys were recalled for defects such as electrical and battery failure, flammability and exposed heat surface/substance. In the last one year alone more than 5 million defective toys were recalled. According to the report, the product that caused the most injuries was Hasbro Inc.’s Easy-Bake Oven, which caused 82 burn injuries, one so severe as to require the amputation of a 5-year-old’s finger.
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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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