Category: Defective Products
Keating, O’Gara Attorney Gary Young Fights for Safety of Public Employees
Posted by Jeff Downing in Defective Design, Defective Products, Employment Law, Labor Law, Product Defect Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Product Liability, Product Recall Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Safety Friday, 6 May 2011 09:24 No Comments
From the Lincoln Journal Star:
Police: Allegations in city mower death inconclusive
By Peter Salter, Lincoln Journal Star, May 6, 2011
The months-long police investigation into last year’s lawn mower death of a city worker is done, delivered — and largely inconclusive. And it will likely do nothing to quell complaints that the city’s street maintenance department fosters fear, intimidation and unsafe practices.
“When an investigation about whether they protected employees from safety hazards comes back inconclusive, it doesn’t speak well about the management of the organization,” said Gary Young, attorney for the union representing the city’s blue-collar workers.
Young called the street maintenance department “the worst-managed division of any public employer” of the unions he represents. ”The accident that happened, if it’s going to happen, this is where it’s going to take place.”
On Aug. 16, Eric Kohles was found crushed by a 1,200-pound riding mower at the bottom of a grassy ditch. The 37-year-old worked for the city’s storm water division but had been helping mow that day — first near 56th and Sumner streets, and, after lunch, near 56th and Seward in northeast Lincoln.
The husband and father died four days later.
Keating, O'Gara Attorney Doug Peterson Files Tort Claim for Defectively Designed Roundabout in Southwest Lincoln
Posted by Jeff Downing in Auto Accident Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Auto Accidents, Car Crash Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Defective Design, Defective Products, Defective Signage, Nebraska Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer, Nebraska Wrongful Death Attorney, Personal Injury, Product Defect Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Wrongful Death Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska Monday, 28 June 2010 11:56 No Comments
Attorney Doug Peterson of the Keating, O’Gara Law Firm has filed a tort claim on behalf of a seriously injured client regarding an accident that occurred at a poorly designed roundabout in southwest Lincoln.
From the Lincoln Journal Star:
WOMAN SAYS COUNTY IS PARTIALLY LIABLE FOR MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT
By Algis Laukitis
Lincoln Journal Star
Posted: Sunday, June 27, 2010 5:22 pmA woman who was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in May 2009 has filed a $1 million tort claim against Lancaster County.
An attorney for Lycebeth Loy alleges the county is partially liable because of inadequate warning signs and street lights at a roundabout in an undeveloped area of Lincoln.
Lycebeth Loy was a passenger on a motorcycle driven by her husband, Robert, when it struck a median as he approached the roundabout at Southwest Fourth Street on May 6, 2009.
Police say Robert applied his brakes, but lost control of the motorcycle and his wife was thrown to the concrete. Both Loys were wearing helmets.
As a result of her severe head injury, her attorney, Douglas Peterson of Lincoln, says Lycebeth Loy required emergency medical treatment and long-term medical care and therapy, the cost of which currently exceeds $300,000. She also asks to be paid for future medical care and past and future wages.
Tort claims are required by state law and are a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit in district court. A political subdivision can approve or disapprove a claim. Lycebeth Loy is asking for not less than $1 million, the maximum amount under the state’s Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act.
The County Board is scheduled to vote on the tort claim on Tuesday. Such claims are routinely denied.
The Hallam couple filed a tort claim against the City of Lincoln in March because it was involved in the “design, maintenance and control” of the Denton Road detour along Amaranth Lane, which leads to the roundabout.
Peterson alleges Amaranth Lane was created for a proposed development of a Walmart shopping center and other commercial property. He says the lane was designed to be fully illuminated with a roundabout in the middle. The development was never built.
“Once the project went dormant, the road became a dark cornfield with an unlit roundabout in the middle of darkness,” Peterson wrote in the tort claim.
Peterson said the couple were unfamiliar with the road, did not know it had a roundabout, and could not see any reflective markers or any warning signs.
“We contend that it was very foreseeable that drivers would be completely unfamiliar with this area since the road has never been open to the public,” Peterson wrote.
“Drivers would be completely unfamiliar with a roundabout contained in the darkness of this road.”
If you or a loved one have been injured on a Nebraska road or highway due to improper signage or defective highway design, call the experienced lawyers of the Keating, O’Gara Law Firm for a free consultation: 888/234-0621.
Jury Awards Damages of $2.46 Million Against Supplier of Defective Chinese Drywall
Posted by Jeff Downing in Defective Products, Product Defect Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Product Liability Monday, 21 June 2010 13:39 No Comments
The first jury to consider a defective Chinese drywall claim has come down hard on the supplier. A Florida jury awarded 2.46 million to a Miami couple who claimed their house was ruined by gas emitted from the defective product.
Fla. Jury Finds Domestic Distributor of Chinese Drywall Negligent
Jose Pagliery
06-21-2010A Florida jury on Friday awarded $2.46 million to a Miami couple who claimed their house was ruined by gas emitted by imported Chinese drywall in the nation’s first trial against a domestic distributor.
Jurors concluded that Miami-based Banner Supply knowingly sold defective wallboard that was installed in the Coconut Grove, Fla., home of Chevron attorney Armin Seifart and Lisa Gore, who asked for $4.4 million in damages for repairs and the inconvenience of temporarily losing access to their $1.66 million home.
“It’s a strong victory in favor of consumers,” said family attorney Ervin Gonzalez of Colson Hicks Eidson in Coral Gables, Fla. “The American public won’t tolerate companies that cheat.”
Jurors decided Banner was negligent, knowingly sold defective wallboard and violated Florida’s deceptive and unfair trade law, and that its product will reduce the home’s resale value.
The couple’s lawsuit is similar to thousands nationwide by homeowners with Chinese drywall installed in their homes. Homeowners complain noxious gases released by the wallboard leave homes smelling like rotten eggs and corrode metal pipes and electronics . . .
If you or a loved one have been injured due to a defective product, talk to one of the experienced Nebraska defective product lawyers at the Keating, O’Gara Law Firm at 888/234-0621.
Near Fatal Medication Error Results in Lawsuit by Actor Dennis Quaid
Posted by Jeff Downing in Defective Products, Keating O'Gara Law Firm, Medical Malpractice, Medical Malpractice Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Medication Errors, Nebraska Medical Malpractice Attorney, Product Defect Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska Wednesday, 26 May 2010 12:10 No Comments
Actor Dennis Quaid has sued Baxter Healthcare Corp., the manuracturer of Heparin, for negligence in not properly labeling its product. From the Contra Costa Times:
Actor Dennis Quaid sues drug maker
Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberly have filed a lawsuit against a drug maker alleging similar labels for the blood thinner Heparin and a less potent drug caused a mix-up at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center threatening the lives of his newborn twins in 2007.Quaid filed the lawsuit Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of his children against Baxter Healthcare Corp. The suit seeks unspecified damages.
Both Heparin and the lower dose version, Hep-lock, are packaged in similar vials with blue backgrounds and very small print on both labels, according to the complaint.
Quaid’s twins, who were born in November 2007, were both administered multiple near-fatal doses of Heparin to treat staph infections, according to the lawsuit.
The children, Zoe Grace and Thomas Boone, were given 10,000 units of Heparin, rather than the 10 units of Hep-Lock they were prescribed, according to the complaint.
Baxter Healthcare should have recalled the vials of Heparin containing 10,000 units because the company knew infants had died because of similar medication errors, according to the lawsuit.
The company also was obligated to warn healthcare providers of the previous medication mistakes, the suit states.
The children suffered internal injuries and shock, but the extent of what happened to them will probably not be known for years, according to the suit.
Newborns and infants are often given Hep-Lock to flush their prevent clotting because their intravenous lines are so small . . . .
The twins’ overdose is just one of the estimated 100,000 fatalities stemming from medical errors that occur every year in American hospitals and from pharmaceuticals. If you or a loved one have been injured by medical malpractice or through a medication errorand would like to talk with an experienced Nebraska defective drug lawyer, call the Keating, O’Gara Law Firm at 888/234-0621 for a free consultation.
Failure to Provide Three Point Restraint for Rear Seat Passenger Leads to Verdict Against Ford Motor Co.
Posted by Jeff Downing in Auto Accident Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Car Crash Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Defective Products, Personal Injury, Product Defect Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska, Product Liability, Safety, Spinal Cord Injury, Wrongful Death Lawyer Lincoln Nebraska Monday, 4 January 2010 15:15 No Comments
From Law.com
Already on the hook for the lion’s share of a $17.7 million judgment and waiting for a decision from a jury that was out considering punitive damages, Ford Motor Co. decided to settle with a couple who sued following a Christmas 2005 wreck that left the woman paralyzed.
The agreement came after a Clayton County, Ga., jury ordered Ford on Dec. 18 to pay more than $16 million of the judgment to compensate for what the plaintiffs argued were design defects in the 2002 Explorer sport utility vehicle in which the woman was a passenger.
Lynn Wheeler, then 58, was seated in the back seat between her two grandchildren, who were in booster seats, as her son drove to church that morning along Noah’s Ark Road in Clayton County . . . Wheeler, who was restrained only by a lap belt, slammed forward and down as the rear seat latch failed, and it collapsed on her.
“As a result,” says the pre-trial order, “Lynn Wheeler’s head and neck were driven down and forward into the front seat and/or center console, catastrophically injuring her spinal cord.”
* * *
The complaint asserted that the automaker’s design for both the rear seat latch and decision to install a lap belt rather than a three-point shoulder belt constituted negligence, and it also said Ford should have warned the Wheelers and the general public “of the dangers in a reasonably foreseeable collision presented by the design of the Ford Explorer rear seat, occupant restraint system and surrounding structures.”
If you or a loved one have been injured due to a product defect such as a poorly designed restraint system, please call the Keating, O’Gara Law Firm at 888/234-0621 for a free consultation.
