Articles Posted in Product Liability

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September is a time of the year to take joy in the bounty of our nation’s agricultural sector. However enticing fresh-from-the-farm produce may seem this month, though, we need to be aware that food-borne illnesses can crop up just as easily in late summer and early fall as in any other time of the year, and our food safety law firm continues to call attention to the pitfalls of contaminated food as well as serve as a top advocate for the rights of those who have been sickened or who have died as a result of consuming tainted food.

Bacteria-Linked Disease Outbreaks a Major Problem in U.S.
Unfortunately, food-borne illnesses are fairly common in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every year 48 million Americans – roughly one in six of us – will fall ill due to eating contaminated food. Furthermore, CDC data show that during the period from Jan. 1, 2009, through Dec. 31, 2010, public health departments reported 1,527 food-borne disease outbreaks, which resulted in 29,444 cases of illness, 1,184 hospitalizations and 23 deaths. Of the 790 outbreaks with a laboratory-confirmed illness, norovirus was responsible for the most reported infections, followed by salmonella, which was linked to 30 percent of outbreaks. In the most severe cases, however, listeria was the most deadly agent, as 82 percent of those sickened by the pathogen were hospitalized. Indeed, among the 23 deaths during the two-year timeframe, 22 were due to a sickness caused by a bacteria such as listeria, salmonella, E. coli, Clostridium perfringens or shigella.

Vine-stalk vegetables are a major source of food-borne illnesses and hospitalizations due to contamination from such pathogens as salmonella or listeria. Just this month, a Wyoming man refiled a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against a Sheridan, Wyo., Walmart, claiming that his wife died after she consumed a contaminated cantaloupe that was purchased at the big-box retailer, according to the Sheridan Press.

Sicknesses Traced to Cantaloupe Have Hurt Sales of Melons
Contaminated cantaloupe has been a problem that has devastated the melon-growing sector of agriculture, especially in California, where 75 percent of all the cantaloupes consumed in the United States are grown. While neither of the two biggest cantaloupe-linked bacteria outbreaks in the country – a listeria outbreak in 2011 that sickened 147 people and killed 33 in 28 states or a salmonella outbreak last year that caused 261 people to fall ill and three to die in 24 states – were traced to melons grown in California, sales of cantaloupes from all states have dropped significantly in the U.S. And according to Food Safety News, cantaloupe growers in the Golden State decided in June to adopt a mandatory food safety plan as a measure to restore confidence among consumers of their product. The new standards will include government audits of all stages of cantaloupe production and require handlers to pass the program’s audits, which will be run by inspectors from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
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There are multiple reasons for workers in California to be somewhat pleased this Labor Day. For one thing, the number of Californians in nonfarm and salaried employment continues to grow while the state’s unemployment figure remains well below its double-digit recession high, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS numbers also show sustained growth in employment in key sectors of the Golden State’s economy, including construction, trade, transportation, utilities, finance, professional and business services, education, health care, and leisure and hospitality.

Workplace Deaths Down in California
While the employment landscape has improved in California, one might think that the opportunities for workplace injury or death would increase. However, according to a report in the Orange County Register, the opposite trend has occurred in the state, at least with respect to workplace fatalities. In 2012 there were 339 workers who died on the job in California, down 13 percent from the 2011 total of 390, and well below the recent high of 537 workplace deaths set in 2006. The improving numbers have been recorded in California despite the fact that one in three workers in the state continue to be employed in construction, manufacturing, and trade and transportation, three often dangerous industries.

California’s relatively strict workplace safety regulations may very well have played a role in reining in the number of deaths of workers on the job and allowing the state to record a lower than national average per-worker death rate. The Golden State’s figures stand in stark contrast to states with a relatively laissez-faire attitude toward businesses. Indeed in 2012, Texas – a state with few business regulations – once again held the dubious distinction of reporting the nation’s highest number of workplace deaths at 531, a figure that was 23 percent higher than the year before and one that gave the Lone Star State a per-worker death rate more than double that of California.

Workers Face Array of Potential Sources of Harm
In California, as in most states, workers who are injured or killed due to incidents that transpire during the course and scope of their employment are covered for their injuries by workers’ compensation. As a form of strict liability, workers’ compensation essentially is a no-fault system established by the state in which contributory negligence is not a factor – a legitimate workers’ compensation claim must be covered. And the gamut of injuries suffered on the job is a wide one, including all manner of construction accidents, accidents involving motorized equipment, slip-and-fall injuries, chemical burns, lung damage from inhalation of chemical vapors, hearing loss from loud noises or vibrations, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.

While workers’ compensation laws have largely precluded lawsuits between injured employees and their employers, a worker who has been hurt on the job may still be able to file a lawsuit against a third party who may have caused or contributed to the worker’s injury. These third-party actions usually involve firms whose services have created unsafe working conditions or those that manufactured a defective product that was instrumental in the worker’s injury.
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It is reasonable to expect that consumers should be able to use everyday household products according to product directions without falling ill, but as a lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court on Tuesday argues, even the use of as seemingly an innocuous personal care item as shampoo can prove hazardous to one’s health. And as the scope of the lawsuit becomes clear and gels, this case has the possible makings of a major products liability and toxic tort legal action.

As a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle explained, the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), which is an Oakland watchdog organization, filed the lawsuit accusing Walgreens, Lake Consumer Products, Vogue International and Ultimark Products of having products for sale that allegedly contain cocamide diethanolamine, or cocamide DEA, and for not labeling the products warning consumers that the shampoos, soaps and other care products contained high levels of a carcinogen. Cocamide DEA is a compound used to make the foam and bubbles in shampoo, but it was listed last year as a carcinogen under California’s Proposition 65 in the wake of an International Agency for Research on Cancer report fingering it as a possible carcinogen in humans. That state measure, formally known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 and which was easily approved by the voters that year, seeks to protect drinking water from toxic substances that cause cancer and birth defects. Prop. 65 also sets a general goal of reducing or eliminating exposure to such harmful chemicals in consumer products and mandates product labels warning consumers of the hazards of such chemicals.

The state had given companies a one-year grace period to comply with Prop. 65 after adding cocamide DEA to its list of possible carcinogens, but this summer the CEH purchased shampoos and other products from stores in the Bay Area and online retailers and then had them tested. The independently conducted tests demonstrated that 98 products contained unacceptably high levels of cocamide DEA. Now, the CEH has said that it plans to sue more than 100 other companies beyond the aforementioned group of four that manufacture or purvey such products, including such well-known firms as Colgate Palmolive, Kohl’s, Rite Aid, Sears, Sephora, Target, Trader Joe’s and Walmart.

With respect to products liability, a key basis for legal action is proving that a manufacturing or design defect was instrumental in causing harm to a plaintiff. In addition, the defect may be based on the fact that the product lacked sufficient instructions or warnings of potential safety hazards. Similarly, in the case of toxic torts, potential plaintiffs are exposed to harmful chemicals but may not have not been afforded the chance or opportunity to take steps to safeguard their health, usually because of the hidden nature of the problem.
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As we approach the third anniversary of the September 9, 2010, gas line explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people and destroyed and damaged more than 50 homes, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the utility whose gas lines exploded, has yet to complete an overhaul of its gas system in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to Bloomberg, the California Public Utilities Commission, which is the state agency responsible for regulating PG&E, also has yet to determine a punishment for the fiery catastrophe but expects to make a decision by the end of this year.

Utility’s Bill for Disaster Yet to be Tallied
Should the CPUC levy a $2.25 billion fine – commission staff recommended that penalty last month – PG&E’s total bill for the disaster would come to $4 billion, including funds already spent on infrastructure repairs and safety upgrades, according to company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tony Earley. In the meantime, the utility and its shareholders are concerned that the CPUC-imposed fine could push PG&E into its second bankruptcy in 12 years.

Concern over PG&E’s financial health notwithstanding, much work remains to be done on the Bay Area’s gas line network, with many infrastructure and safety issues that were raised by the explosion still unresolved or whose fixes are a work in progress. And, according to a recent report in the San Francisco Chronicle, PG&E has not been forthcoming enough on disclosing problems concerning transmission lines in its system and has employed records with errors to document maintenance. With natural gas such a volatile element and with the high-use winter months fast approaching, a less-than-safe gas network and an error-prone utility maintaining that system is hardly a reassuring combination for residents of San Bruno and other Bay Area communities to contemplate.

Poor Record-Keeping Bedevils Gas Network Still in Need of Key Fixes
Inaccurate records were a key factor behind the September 2010 disaster in San Bruno. PG&E failed to accurately describe the failed gas line’s characteristics, which in turn led to the utility not conducting tests that would have revealed the gas line’s fatal flaws. Furthermore, PG&E’s erroneous or outdated records led the utility to run a gas line at a pressure level that was dangerously too high for another urban area on the Peninsula. Indeed, government investigators have found that PG&E has inaccurate or even nonexistent records for much of the more than 1,000 miles of gas transmission lines in its system. These fundamental lapses in record-keeping procedures have come to light in the context of revelations that PG&E workers have found significant stretches of gas pipes with faulty seams in a major connector line on the Peninsula – contrary to what records kept by the company asserted – which could result in a major explosion similar to the one that rocked San Bruno three years ago.
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lenghtened-wedding-car-1198500-m.jpgIt’s reasonable to expect that a well-planned, memorable event such as a wedding day should unfold in a safe and enjoyable manner. However, as we were reminded in the case of the ill-fated limousine ride over the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge on May 4, even the best laid plans can, unfortunately, end in tragedy. Our San Francisco automobile accident attorneys have been carefully combing through this incident’s unresolved issues, especially in the wake of the California Highway Patrol’s briefing Monday on the fiery and fatal disaster that captivated the nation.

As reported by the San Jose Mercury News, after a three-month investigation the CHP revealed in a press conference Monday that it was a “catastrophic failure of the rear suspension system” that triggered the deadly fire inside a limousine crossing the San Mateo Bridge. As a result of the blaze, the bride and four other women, who were on their way to a wedding party, lost their lives. It’s still unclear why all nine women aboard the limo couldn’t emerge safely from its passenger compartment doors.

According to the CHP representative at the news conference, Commander Mike Maskarich, the limousine’s rotating metal driveshaft came in contact with the limo’s frame, generating friction and enough heat to ignite the fire, which turned Neriza Fojas’ wedding celebration heading for a party at a Foster City hotel into a fiery nightmare. “This unfolded very, very rapidly and the overall nature of this tragedy was not something that was foreseeable,” Maskarich said.

While the general nature of the tragedy may have been unforeseeable and, officials have stated, no criminal charges will be filed in connection with the fatal crash, outstanding liability issues are yet to be determined. Foremost among them are those concerning common carrier law found in California Civil Code Sections 2100-2104, which governs the operation of limousines, including why the limousine was carrying more passengers than its licensed limit. As stated in Civil Code 2102, “A carrier of persons for reward must not overcrowd or overload his vehicle. The limousine company will be fined $7,500 for the excessive number of passengers.

In addition, the fact that the 1999 Lincoln Town Car stretch limo’s suspension system failed and therefore placed it into catastrophic contact with its driveshaft could raise products liability issues in this incident. While the limousine had up-to-date maintenance records and was in compliance with state rules, according to officials, there remain some key questions to be answered. Of primary concern is whether the limousine became unreasonably dangerous as the result of a defect. More specifically, the failed suspension system may have been the result of a faulty product design, which, should a court determine existed, would have made the limousine inherently dangerous. Alternatively, the limousine may have become unreasonably dangerous as a result of an error in product manufacture or assembly, which also would be grounds for products liability.
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Americans are obsessed with all things Extra Large, from pizza to popcorn and from sodas to café mochas (with extra whip cream, of course). This, in turn, leads to another American obsession: Weight Loss. While some turn to the time-tested method of diet and exercise, others look for a shortcut that makes the process easier and faster. Sadly, many of these quick fixes involve dangerous diet pills. If you took a product looking for a weight loss solution (pill or powder, “cure” or supplement, or even just a little help in the process, and it made you ill (or if a diet pill claimed a loved one’s life), our San Francisco and Sacramento diet drug danger attorney.

Overview of the Diet Pill Debate

pills2.jpg As discussed in a recent San Francisco Chronicle piece, there is an increasing tendency to treat obesity as a medical disorder that should be treated as such. The drugs are almost always intended to be used in conjunction with diet and exercise and the majority of doctors still prefer those approaches. Two new drugs are gaining attention, notably following on the heels of “a rash of prescription weight-loss lemons” that have led the Food and Drug Administration to view the treatments with a cautionary eye. Both of these new drugs, Belviq and Qsymia, were approved last year after having been initially rejected and with the requirement that longer-term trials be performed to check on stroke and heart-related risks. One doctor said he’s wait to see results over 3 to 5 years, stating: “At this point, any benefits are outweighed by unknown risks.” However, others believe even a small weight loss can lead to major benefits and see the drugs as necessary treatments.

Sometimes it seems like a comedy of errors. Construction projects reveal error after error, each issue posing a major safety threat and each repair carrying an even heftier price tag than the one before. Reports of roadway defects are particularly frightening when they involve bridges since even a small miscalculation can lead to a tragic bridge collapse. Given the potentially devastating toll of such events, our San Francisco bridge collapse law firm feels relief when an error is spotted upfront, but we are also left pondering how these errors can occur in the first place. Should a bridge collapse strike the Northern California region, we are prepared to fight for the victims and to help them win money damages from any and all parties responsible for the tragedy.

Caltrans Reports Finding Leaky Shocks on Bay Bridge’s Western Span

bridge.jpg In April, we reported on defective rods that shattered as crews building the Bay Bridge’s new eastern span (see report in the San Francisco Chronicle). Late last week, the San Francisco Chronicle carried another frightening report as Caltrans discovered that some of the 96 seismic shock absorbers used in the bridge’s western span are leaking lubricant. The problem arose a mere three years after the shocks were installed and carries a $13 million repair price tag.

In advance of the recent Independence Day holiday, we noted some of the particular dangers associated with the celebration and with summer gatherings in general, a post intended to help ensure happy holiday memories. Sadly, we’ve learned that fireworks malfunctions at two community events have left many with injuries and memories more akin to nightmares than joy. Our San Francisco injury law firm knows that no lawsuit can erase such an experience, but a successful claim can help victims of fireworks injuries recover compensation following such a terrifying ordeal.

Defective Fireworks Eyed as Two California Displays Turn Tragic, 39 Report Injuries

fireworks1.jpg According to The San Francisco Chronicle, fireworks malfunctions occurred at two different shows put on by Bay Fireworks last week. At a Simi Valley event, located northwest of Los Angeles, 39 people were injured when shrapnel was sent flying across the field where thousands had gathered to view the display. Organizers planned to include almost 2,500 shells in the show. Initial reports suggest a firework prematurely exploded in its mortar, knocking over other devices and aiming them toward the crowd. Bruce Sussin, the pyrotechnic operator, said that everything had checked out okay in a pre-show inspection. He added that as soon as they saw a catastrophic failure had occurred, they immediately turned off the computer and shut down the show. Sussin did not know how many of the shells were fired at the crowd.

Summer memories are made of barbeques, ice cream treats, and days by the swimming pool. These days can be filled with fun and magic. However, it is important to remember that swimming pools can also be the site of terrible tragedy. Our Northern California swimming pool lawyer knows that these tragedies leave unspeakable scars on the families that experience them. While money damages cannot bring back the children lost in these events, bringing a civil claim may be appropriate in some cases and can provide resources that allow the families to move forward from a terrible loss.

Boy Drowns in South San Jose Swimming Pool

This weekend, The Oakland Tribune covered the death of a young child in a California community pool. At around 5:40 P.M. on Friday, emergency officials were called to the County Fair Mobile Estates, a South San Jose mobile home park located off Senter Road at 270 Umbarger Road. Prior to their arrival, Dianne Ranteia and her 23 year-old daughter had pulled 4 year-old Michael Trinh from the water after spotting him at the bottom of the pool. Officials found Trinh unresponsive and, despite transferring him to a local hospital, later pronounced the boy dead.

Last fall, our San Francisco food safety law firm called attention to a marked increase in the number of Americans falling ill or even dying as a result of contaminated food. Foods recalled in 2012 included mangoes, cantaloupe, meat, and nut butter. This disturbing trend endangers public health and threatens our ability to trust in the safety of our food supply. It continues to do so in 2013, as evidenced by a recent Hepatitis A outbreak, and it demands the attention of our nation’s food industry.

berries.jpg Contra Costa Woman Falls Ill, Frozen Berries Eyed as Culprit

As detailed in the San Francisco Chronicle, an outbreak of hepatitis A tied to frozen berries has reached our region. Last month, a 62 year-old East Contra Costa County resident was hospitalized due to a hepatitis infection. According to Kate Fowlie, a health services spokesperson, the woman had purchased frozen berries labeled Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend. Fowlie said the woman’s illness was likely tied to the berries. Thankfully, the woman has thankfully recovered and been released from the hospital.

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