Defective & Dangerous Products

• Seatbelts On School Buses - A Public Debate Needed

  Bob Carroll | November 30, 2005 4:23 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Should there be seatbelts on school buses? A Texas jury has answered with a resounding yes. From Waco, Texas, comes word of a verdict in what may be the first trial in the United States involving the lack of seat belts on a bus. The jury returned a $17.5 million verdict on Nov. 4. Plaintiffs alleged that the bus was defective in part because it did not include seat restraints. (David...

• Autistic Man Dies After Being Hit By Taser

  saunders saunders | November 21, 2005 9:53 PM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  A man with autism is dead after a scuffle with northwest suburban police, who used a Taser gun in a struggle to subdue him.The man had just bitten his caregiver at a group home in Des Plaines. CBS 2's Mike Parker reports the Taser was just one way the officers tried to get the victim under control.Police around the country are now using Taser guns to subdue suspects with electric shocks.The...

• An Alternative to the Defective and Deadly Taser

  saunders saunders | November 21, 2005 9:46 PM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL

  Arizona Sheriff Announces Test of Alternative to Taser Stun GunDate Published: November 21, 2005By Steven DiJoseph Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, has announced that his deputies will begin testing 30 new stun guns as an alternative to Tasers. The new electric stun guns are being donated by Stinger Systems Inc., and will be evaluated for safety, price, and risk factors.According to Arpaio:...

• Unstable Ford Explorer Causes Rollover And Teenage Death

  Bob Carroll | November 18, 2005 4:52 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  The stability and handling of the Ford Explorer was the focus of the recent trial of a wrongful death case brought by the parents of a teenager who was killed in a vehicle rollover crash. In the eyes of the Ford attorneys a sleepy driver was the cause of the rollover. I go with the tires or the design of the SUV itself as the cause. Nobody has been reporting large numbers of rollovers in...

• Dow Dioxin Class Action Moves Forward

  Staff Writer | November 04, 2005 9:32 AM | 0 CommentsMiami, FL

  A class-action lawsuit against Dow Chemical Co. has swept over the Tittabawassee River, now encircling about 2,000 properties. People once detached from the dioxin debate suddenly find it at their fingertips. Those undecided about Dow's culpability now must make a decision. Saginaw County Chief Circuit Judge Leopold P. Borrello decided Oct. 21 that a class-action lawsuit against Dow Chemical Co....

• No-Injury Product Liability Lawsuits Likely To Find No-Jurisdiction Federal District Courts

  Bob Carroll | October 29, 2005 4:50 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Product manufacturers increasingly face the phenomenon of 'no-injury' lawsuits: lawsuits commenced by plaintiffs who have suffered neither a personal injury nor property damage as a claimed result of their use of a manufacturer's product. Such plaintiffs sue because they, or their attorneys, believe that some or all of the products may contain an as-of-yet unmanifested safety defect.Yet US...

• $3.5 Million Settlement For Pesticide Poisoning Of 3-Year Old

  Bob Carroll | October 26, 2005 6:05 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  A Virginia Judge has pproved a $3.5 Million compromise settlement of a claim of pesticide poisoning of a 3-year old boy. The child was a resident of U.S. Army housing at Fort Lee, Va., when he was exposed (Callos McCallum v. United States of America, No. 3:04cv442, E.D. Va., Richmond Div.). A Virginia Judge has approved a $3.5 Million compromise settlement of a claim of pesticide poisoning of a...

• McDonald's To Serve McFacts With Its Burgers

  Bob Carroll | October 25, 2005 9:27 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  The wrapping is sometimes as important as the product. After pressure from civil trial lawyers and consumer groups the nation's largest restaurant chain will begin printing nutritional facts on the packaging of its burgers and fries. McDonald's said the labelling would include the fat, salt, calorie and carbohydrate content of its foods. We learn this news from the BBC. Critics have accused...

• The King Can Do No Wrong - Immunity For Gun Manufacturers

  Bob Carroll | October 20, 2005 4:17 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  When there were kings and subjects nobody could mess with the king. Sovereign Immunity was the rule of the land. You could sue your neighbor or a business or a manufacturer, but you could never,sue the king. He could do no wrong. Soon our government will bestow upon gun manufacturers immunity from suit for acts of negligence. Once again, the king can do no wrong.Once upon a time when the...

• The Unfortunate Stain Of The McDonald's Spilled Coffee On All Plaintiffs

  Bob Carroll | October 17, 2005 11:01 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  The adjectives most often used to describe the case include outrageous, ridiculous, insane and stupid. But, the evidence established a gross and deliberate violation of the industry safety standard for the temperature of coffee that caused a painful and permanent injury of a customer, an injury that was entirely predictable by McDonald's.Try to select a jury from almost any group of citizens...