Bergen County Personal Injury Lawyer - Defective & Dangerous Products

Dangerous Flammable Products - Mattresses

Donald Caminiti — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:00:00 GMT

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of approximately 6,100 Serta Zipper-Covered Foam Core Mattresses. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Manufacturer: Serta International Mattress Co., of Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Hazard: The mattresses fail to meet the mandatory federal open flame standard for mattresses, posing a fire hazard to consumers.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Donald Caminiti

Tainted Milk Powder

Donald Caminiti — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:15:00 GMT

The Chinese Health Ministry announced that more than 1200 infants have become ill from tainted milk powder, and a second child has died, according to a story in the USA Today. Investigators believe melamine was added to the milk powder to increase the milk’s volume and increase its protein levels. The Chinese company that produced the milk, Sanlu, is partially owned by a New Zealand dairy cooperative, Fonterra, which alleges Sanlu ignored Fonterra’s calls for a recall for more than six weeks when concerns first surfaced. USA Today, USA Today 09/15/2008

Read Article: USA Today

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Donald Caminiti

Cancer Doctor Warns of Cell Phone Risk

Donald Caminiti — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:13:48 GMT

A University of Pittsburgh doctor warned university faculty and staff Wednesday that cell phone use may cause increased risk of cancer. In a memo he sent to about 3,000 faculty and staff, Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, cited unpublished data in advising children to avoid cell phone use altogether and adults to use speakerphones or wireless headsets. The warning is the first regarding cell phone use by a major academic cancer research facility.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Donald Caminiti

Crib Mattress Presents Entrapment/Choking Hazard

Donald Caminiti — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:25:00 GMT

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission today announced a voluntary recall of approximately 20,000 Simmons Kids Crib Mattresses becausesome of the crib mattresses can measure smaller than the 27 1/4 inch minimum width requirement for cribs, creating a gap between the mattress and crib side rails, posing an entrapment hazard to infants.

Simmons Kids and CPSC have received areport of a 6-month old baby becoming wedged between the mattress and crib's frame. The baby was removed from the crib by the parent without injury.

The recalled mattresses involve open coil crib mattresses manufactured between July 1, 2006 and March 23, 2008

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Donald Caminiti

Bush Administration Hellbent on Protecting Wrongdoers

Donald Caminiti — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:08:58 GMT

In its continuing effort to pander to big corporations, the Bush administration has found another quieter, more subtle way to make it more difficuilt for consumers to hold corportate wrongdoers accountable for the personal injury and death they cause.

Limits on lawsuits to shield corporations from accountability for their wrongdoing have been included in 51 rules proposed or adopted since 2005. Such regulations have been ordered or proposed, for example, for drug labeling and packaging; mattress flammability standards; automobile rollovers; school bus passenger safety.

The Bush administration relies on the doctrine of federal pre-emption, upheld in recent court decisions, which asserts that federal rules both supersede stricter state rules and absolve companies that comply with them from liability, even if their products ultimately prove dangerous or defective. The biggest stealth tort reformers? The Food and Drug Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which together account for 41 of the new rules.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Donald Caminiti

Dangerous children's toy recalled

Donald Caminiti — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:15:39 GMT

Fun ‘N Games Magnetic Dart Boards

Henry Gordy International Inc., of Plainfield, N.J., in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPS), is voluntarily recalling more than 800,000 Fun ‘N Games Magnetic Dart Boards. Small magnets at the ends of the darts can detach and can be swallowed or aspirated by young children. If more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract each other and cause intestinal perforations or blockages, which can be fatal.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Donald Caminiti

Seniors injured on escalators

Caminiti Donald — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:03:00 GMT

More than 2,500 elderly people are injured while riding escalators each year, according to a new study. The report, published in the March issue of the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, found that between 1991 and 2005, injuries and hospitalizations among people older than 65 more than doubled. Researchers speculate that the rise in injuries may be caused by an increased exposure to the devices among active seniors

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Caminiti Donald

Girl's Bicycles' recall - frame failure

Donald Caminiti — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:15:13 GMT

Trek Recalls Girls Bicycles Due To Frame Failure

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in
cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary
recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using
recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Trek MT220 Girls Bicycles

Units: About 49,000

Importer: Trek Bicycle Corp., of Waterloo, Wis.

Hazard: The bicycle's frame can break during use, causing the rider to
lose control and suffer injuries.

Incidents/Injuries: Trek has received 13 reports of frames breaking,
including four minor injuries.

Description: This recall involves Trek girls' bicycles model MT220 and
model years 2005 (light metallic blue), 2006 (metallic silver and
metallic purple or pink and pearl white), and 2007 (pink and white pearl
or metallic purple). The model name is printed on the frame of the
bicycle. Model year 2008 bicycles re not included in this recall.

Sold at: Authorized Trek dealers nationwide from April 2004 through June
2007 for about $300.

Manufactured in: China and Taiwan

Remedy: Consumers should take the recalled bicycle away from children
immediately and return it to a Trek dealer for a free replacement MT220
girl's bicycle or a $100 discount on a different size Trek bicycle.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, consumers can contact Trek
at (800) 373-4594 between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. CT Monday through Friday
and between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Saturday, or visit the firm's Web site
at www.trekbikes.com

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Donald Caminiti

Antidepressants: Are Doctors Being Given Accurate Information

Karen Gatlin — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:36:19 GMT

The Food and Drug Administration has determined that doctors and patients are receiving inaccurate information as to the effectiveness of antidepressants. Published data indicates that drugs such as Effexor and Zoloft are very effective in treating depression; however, unpublished data is contrary to the published information. Antidepressants are hugely profitable for the pharmaceutical companies which manufacture them, and there are concerns that the data reported is being manipulated to promote sales. Physicians rely on the published data in making decisions in prescribing these drugs; there is concern that the some antidepressant drugs may not be all that helpful, and, in the case of adolescents, may be harmful.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Karen Gatlin

Damage CAPS

Donald Caminiti — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:12:17 GMT

The Toledo Blade recently reported that, In a 5-2 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court Thursday morning upheld the constitutionality of a 2004 law capping damages for pain, suffering, and other non-economic claims in personal injury and other lawsuits.

In a response to a question posed by U.S. District Court in Toledo, which is considering a federal lawsuit stemming from Johnson & Johnson's Ortho Evra birth-control patch, the court's majority found that the General Assembly had the authority to enact the law.

"Some may think limitations on certain damages to be unwise legislative policy-making, but it is beyond the authority of any court to write into the Constitution that which was not installed there by the framers and ratified by the people," wrote Chief Justice Thomas Moyer.

He was joined in the majority by Justices Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, Maureen O'Connor, Judith Lanzinger, and Robert Cupp. Justices Paul Pfieifer and Terrence O'Donnell dissented.

"If a damage cap of $250,000 is constitutional -- the majority opinion mentions the amount but never discusses it, apparently giving it no significance -- why can't the General Assembly limit damages for claims they do not favor to $100,000? Or $1,000? Or $10?" asked Justice Pfeifer, part of the now long-gone 4-3 majority that struck down a similar law in 1999.

"Under the court's reasoning, there is nothing in the Ohio Constitution that restrains the General Assembly from limiting non-economic damages to $1...," he wrote. "After today, what meaning is left in a litigant's constitutional right to have a jury determine damages?"

Justice O'Donnell opined that the General Assembly has unconstitutionally substituted its judgment for that of a jury through Senate Bill 80, opening the door for further encroachments in the future.

Melisa Arbino, of Cincinnati, suffered a series of potentially fatal blood clots in her brain and lungs in 2005 that she maintains were the result of side effects from the hormonal patch. Ortho Evra remains on the market, but its label warns that it could lead to serious side effects.

The law does not limit damages in catastrophic cases, such as those involving paralysis or loss of limb.

It also does not limit economic damages -- lost wages, medical costs, and other measurable out-of-pocket damages -- in less serious cases.

The law, however, does cap harder-to-quantify non-economic damages for such things as pain, suffering, and mental anguish at $250,000, or three times the economic damages up to a maximum of $500,000 arising out of the injury, $350,000 of which could go specifically to the injured person.

The law was backed by Ohio's business community, which cited prior decisions striking down such caps as reasons to remake the court through elections. Four justices have joined the court since the 1999 ruling.

Although not a part of this case, the ruling is likely to bolster the argument that different caps put in place under a medical malpractice tort-reform law are also constitutional.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Donald Caminiti