Hawaii Personal Injury Blog - bailout

Hawaii Consumer Alert: GM and Isuzu Truck Recall Raises Concerns Because Bailout Eliminates Product Liability Claims For Injury or death

Wayne Parsons — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:41:04 GMT

In a report in U.S. News & World Report a pickup truck recall is initiated by automakers.

A brake light defect in General Motors trucks could lead to an an accident. GM is recalling about 185,000 small Chevrolet, GM and Isuzu pickup trucks to correct the defect.

Affected vehicles include the 2004-2009 Chevrolet Colorado, the 2004-2009 GMC Canyon, the 2006 Isuzu I-280, the 2006 Isuzu I-350, the 2007-2008 Isuzu I-290 and the 2007-2008 Isuzu I-370.

GM filed a defect notice with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):

"Some of these vehicles have a brake lamp switch that may not work as designed due to contamination in the switch. This could cause the simultaneous loss of all brake lamps, or cause all of the brake lamps to stay on continuously. Both of these conditions could fail to warn others of the driver's intentions and could lead to a vehicle crash."

Hawaii is on the list of sates affected by the recall: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Utah.

If you own such a vehicle the dealer will replace the brake lamp switch free of charge. The automaker is designing a better part to fix the problem and predicts having it available early next year. So for now the defective switch will be replaced and then in February 2010 Dealers will contact owners for replacing that switch with the new improved switch. According to a GM spokesman

"A special coverage for vehicles registered in all other states will be implemented in the same time frame. In the interim, owners who experience the failure can obtain a free repair, however they will be required to return with the new design part becomes available."

To get more information contact Chevrolet at (800) 630-2438 , GMC at (866) 996-9463 , and Isuzu at (800) 255-6727.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

GM agrees to take responsibility for future liability claims.

Wayne Parsons — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:57:10 GMT

The AP (6/28, Fowler) reported General Motors "has agreed to take on responsibility for future product liability claims, removing what could have been a sizable roadblock" on the company's way to a "quick sale of its assets" and emergence from bankruptcy. GM "wants to sell the bulk of its assets to a new company and leave behind unprofitable assets and other liabilities such as product-related lawsuits." But in a "concession to consumer groups and state officials who had threatened to block the sale because of product liability concerns, the new company will now assume responsibility for future claims involving vehicles made by the old company."

The Wall Street Journal (6/29, A4, Spector) reports that the agreement "represents a partial victory for more than a dozen state attorneys general and several consumer-advocacy groups."

The Washington Post (6/29, Tse, Marr) reports, "Those with past claims would have to pursue the GM left behind in bankruptcy with nothing but unwanted assets, debts and other liabilities. That means these consumers are likely to recover little, if anything." On Friday "Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.) introduced legislation that would require automakers to purchase liability insurance if they are owned by the federal government or have federal loans. This insurance must protect against past and future claims, even after a bankruptcy filing." Bloomberg News (6/28, Lui) also covered the story.

The New York Times (6/28, A20, De La Merced) reported GM and the Obama Administration's auto task force "have been negotiating with more than a dozen state attorneys general who have objected" to GM's asset sales plan.

The Washington Post (6/27, Dennis, Tse, Marr) reported earlier on the talks leading to the agreement.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Questions about automakers' liability loom during bankruptcy process.

Wayne Parsons — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:53:47 GMT

Bloomberg News (6/4, Andersen) reports, "Plaintiffs in personal-injury and product-liability lawsuits against Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. are pressing members of Congress to ensure that their cases will be heard in court or an alternate form of compensation is found." Now, "consumer groups are appealing a New York bankruptcy court's decision on Chrysler, saying it relieves the new company of responsibility for old losses." Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, said, "Either the bankruptcy system has to take care of victims or the Obama administration needs to come up with a victim's fund much as we did in 9/11." In addition, "plaintiffs' lawyers in the Chrysler case objected to the sale of the company's assets because 'they may suspect that there won't be any money left, even if they were to win their cases.'"

CNN's (6/3) Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer details some stories of plaintiffs injured by vehicles whose lawsuits have been put on hold due to the bankruptcy. The plaintiffs are looking for a fund to be established that will help pay the money they are due. In a segment on NPR's (6/3) All Things Considered, the story was also covered.

MSNBC (6/4, Weisbaum) contributes to the coverage with personal stories of people who will be affected by GM and Chrysler's bankruptcy. "There are other victims who are not as visible: the customers who were injured in defective vehicles made by these companies." Consumer groups are outraged because "when a company reorganizes under Chapter 11 protection, it can shed negative assets and break free of past obligations, such as lawsuits." In addition, at present, "all GM lemon law claims are on hold until the bankruptcy court decides how the company should handle them." Weisbaum says, "The Obama administration's Auto Task Force and the bankruptcy judges must prevent these companies from shirking their moral obligation."

ABC World News (6/3, story 5, 2:30, Gibson) reported that bankruptcy attorney Barry Bressler said, "The government seems to be pushing this through to streamline the procedure to the point where individual's rights may really be minimalized."

The Philadelphia Inquirer (6/2, Gelles) reported, "Once the restructured companies emerge, all the legal protections that consumers rely on, including their ability to enforce warranty claims by invoking state 'lemon laws,' will apply to cars or trucks that the 'new Chrysler' or the 'new GM' sell." The Obama administration said it would "stand behind both automakers' warranties." Even so, "consumers who buy a new Chrysler or General Motors vehicle today, or who bought vehicles before or since the companies filed for bankruptcy, may enjoy fewer protections and face some extra risks, according to consumer advocacy groups such as Consumers Union and the Center for Auto Safety." Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, said, "The immediate impact on the consumer is that if you have a pending product-liability lawsuit, or if you're in a crash tomorrow that gives rise to a product-liability lawsuit, your claim is extinguished - you're not going to recover." The Washington Times (6/4, Prudy) also ran the story.

GM CEO wants tax payers to get "fantastic return on this investment." ABC News (6/1, Gomstyn, Jaffe, Herman) reported, "As the country's largest automaker works to emerge from its newly-declared bankruptcy, it will aim to make money for the U.S. taxpayer, General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson told ABC News today." He said, "I want them to get a fantastic return on this investment." He added, "It's our job to deliver that."

Creditor committee includes two plaintiffs. Bloomberg News (6/3, Larson) reported, "Bankrupt General Motors Corp.'s official committee of unsecured creditors includes the United Auto Workers union, owed $20.6 billion; Wilmington Trust Co., representing bondholders owed $22.8 billion; the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. and three GM dealerships." The committee was "selected today by U.S. Trustee Diana Adams" and includes "two lead plaintiffs from asbestos and product liability cases pending against the bankrupt automaker were also appointed to the committee."

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Lawyers Voice Objections to Chrysler Bankruptcy Plan.

Wayne Parsons — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:24:22 GMT

The Detroit News (5/21, Priddle, Shepardson) reported, "A flurry of objections in the Chrysler LLC bankruptcy case continue to be filed in advance of a hearing next week to approve a tie-up with Fiat SpA." A motion was filed by attorneys for "Public Citizen and other plaintiffs...seeking to prevent Chrysler from dropping personal injury lawsuit and product liability claims in bankruptcy." In addition, they "argue that the inability to sue over vehicle problems could drop the resale value of Chrysler vehicles."

Injured customers speak out on potential terms of Chrysler bankruptcy. ABC-TV (5/21, Stark) reported that lawyer "Scott Nealey...fears that the terms of Chrysler's bankruptcy proceedings may mean the lawsuit" by his client against the car company "could get thrown out." His client, Farbod Nourian "is speaking at a news conference designed to put pressure on the government to ensure he and others like him do not lose their day in court." Nealey said, "Chrysler has asked for the sale to be free and clear." He added, "They take all the assets and they have no obligations to people who have Chrysler vehicles right now. So if you have a design defect with Chrysler and it is something the company would normally fix, or you have a personal injury, you would be left with no remedy whatsoever."

The Indianapolis Star (5/21, Mcfeely) reported, "Jeremy Warriner's legal battle against Chrysler -- over an accident that cost him his legs -- seemed about to end this month." However, "just six days before a May 5 mediation date in his personal injury case, the struggling company filed bankruptcy under a plan brokered by the Obama administration -- a plan that could prohibit Warriner and hundreds of others from pursuing legal claims." He plans to testify against those terms "before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington." He said, "My message is that people who have been injured deserve the opportunity to face Chrysler in court or in mediation."

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Legal Article Review: Attorney Andrew Cohen of CBS On: "Made in America: Corporate Gall"

Wayne Parsons — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:36:57 GMT

Like the child who kills his parents and then begs for mercy because he is an orphan, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce now is begging President-elect Barack Obama to protect corporate interests in the nation’s civil litigation system as a way of restoring jobs and bolstering an economy shattered largely (as we now know) by corporate greed and misfeasance.

Talk about your gall.

Here is what the president of the Chamber’s legal arm wrote in an open letter to Obama: “We understand the critical necessity of revitalizing the economy by restoring American jobs, encouraging the growth of U.S. businesses, and protecting the savings and investments of millions of Americans. However, we are concerned that the potential expansion of legal liability significantly impairs these much needed steps toward a national recovery.”

The quote may be roughly translated this way: “Now that corporate America has helped screw everything up and led us into the greatest economic crisis since the Depression, we need to make sure that corporate America isn’t aggressively punished for its misdeeds or legitimately thwarted from misdoing them again.”

This is either an astonishing hypocrisy - Is corporate America unaware that the rest of us are in on the secret of the causes of the recession? - or the clearest indication there can be that Big Business is, always has been, and always will be about protecting Big Business.

The Chamber has been pushing tirelessly for decades to rein in plaintiffs’ attorneys (who look to punish corporate negligence or fraud with civil lawsuits), deregulate industry and commerce (we all know how well Wall Street did with its freedom), and nullify important consumer protection laws (like the one in Maine which is allowing smokers to go after tobacco companies for false advertising). The lobbying effort has been national and local, highly-public and super-secret, and devastatingly successful.

Thanks in part to the Chamber and its Orwellian-named Institute for Legal Reform, the Securities and Exchange Commission backed off its scrutiny of screwy deals and schemes, the Congress was lax in its oversight of the mortgage industry, litigators were thwarted or punished, and the White House and Justice Department pushed a legal doctrine ("preemption") that almost always helped employers over employees.

All of these things, and more policies and practices endorsed by the Institute, helped unshackle the savageries of corporate America and left individuals less protected against an ever-freer and more predatory market.

Indeed, aside from the occasional Supreme Court decision that has helped the little guy, and the heroic efforts of states to help protect consumers and the environment, the history of our “litigation system” (as the Institute puts it) over the past 20 years is one of unremitting advances for the Chamber and its fellow travelers in law, politics and governance.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been reduced to a shadow of its former self so that polluters have gone unpunished, the Madoffs of the world have been nurtured and coddled and thus have flourished, and the brutal Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s has been made to look like a bake sale compared to the trillions of investment dollars lost and the hundreds of billions soon to be spent by our government.

Even the Web site for the Institute reads like a cruel parody. Not surprisingly, it does not highlight the personal stories of the millions of victims of corporate greed or managerial incompetence. It does not measure the number of lives saved, and fortunes protected, and pollution cleaned through these lawsuits. Instead, under the banner of “lawsuit abuse,” it tracks the lives of people who believe for one reason or another that they have been unfairly sued.

[Now, tell me, have you ever known someone who believed that he or she had just been fairly sued?]

Plaintiffs’ attorneys aren’t responsible for the mortgage-fueled economic meltdown. Class-action litigation isn’t, either. And don’t blame overzealous regulators or greedy employees who want better pay or conditions in their own factories. The people with whom the Chamber and the Institute do battle are not the people who invented or allowed the great pyramid schemes which brought down Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. They did not force consumers to spend more than they earned or save less than they should. Corporate America is directly responsible for what has just happened to corporate America, and if you don’t believe me, ask the folks at Ford, GM and Chrysler.

The economic meltdown came about because business interests were able to greatly decrease the vital tensions between industry and regulation, between oversell and oversight. And it will take the restoration of those tensions by government leaders not just to help bring us out of our slump but to help ensure that the next downturn doesn’t come again for a long time.

So it seems to me that the last things the Obama administration ought to do once it takes over is further shackle lawyers, or stifle well-meaning state laws, or make it easier for businesses to avoid liability and culpability for their actions.

The Chamber and the Institute want us to believe that one of the problems which created our misery also happens to be one of the solutions to it. They call it “reform.”

I call it nonsense.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Wall Street, Main Street and Mean Streets

Wayne Parsons — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:57:49 GMT

Yes Mean Streets is one of my favorite movies and the financial crisis is overusing the first two street names so I threw my version of what is happening out for your consideration.

Are you confused by the latest financial news? The first question is where do you get your news? Fox News you say? a lot of people like the colorful commentary but doesn't it seem to you that Fox is nothing more than a voice of the neo-conservative movement and the politicians they support? No one would consider their coverage to be fair or up to any journalism standards. And even CNN and MSNBC only offer talking head newscasters with no credentials giving their opinions or panels of political operatives spewing out slogans and not answering questions about what is really happening in the world. The internet is a good resource but where do you go to get the truth?

Recently I discovered Campaign for Our Future to have informative articles that uncovers ome facts that you'll never find in normal television or radio media. In an article dated September 22, 2008 Robert Borosage explains the after the Dot Com bubble3 burst Alan Greenspan manipulated the Fed to keep interest rates low and the unregulated mortgage market fueled mortgage backed security speculation around the world. This was like loading dynamite under the bridge buttresses before the train rolles across. Were you shaking your head at the housing bubble? well it burst and then everything came tumbling down.

So who pays for it? You and I to the tune of a $1.3 Trillion gift to the banks who say pay us or we'll crash the world financial markets.

The culprits? Those powerful Wall Street billionaires who paid congress to look the other way, eliminate regulation and then did what put the most money in their pockets.

Public Citizen is championing something for consumers in all of this: A Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights in H.R. 5244 that each of us should get behind by writing our representatives in Congress. Public Citizen makes that easy at the website.

Both Public Citizen and Campaign For Our Future are great resources for getting the truth that Wall Street and the polkiticians don't want you to know.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons