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 pm

A 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.

Fla. Jury Finds Domestic Distributor of Chinese Drywall Negligent
Jose Pagliery
06-21-2010

A 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.

From the Wall Street Journal:

BP Doesn’t Deserve a Liability Cap
By RICHARD A. EPSTEIN

Our national frustration continues to rise with each new drop of BP oil that leaks into the Gulf of Mexico. Everyone knows we can’t legislate away environmental risks without consigning ourselves to the Stone Age. What’s needed going forward is a comprehensive legal strategy that addresses the risks though a combination of regulation before the fact and tort liability (and criminal sanctions where appropriate) afterwards.

Tort remedies are essential to protect people (and their property) who do not have contractual relations with defendants from harms such as air and water pollution. The legal system should never allow self-interested parties to keep for themselves all the gains from dangerous activities that unilaterally impose losses on others—which is why the most devout defender of laissez-faire must insist, not just concede, that tough medicine is needed in these cases. The fundamental question here is one of technique: What mix of before and after sanctions will do the job at the lowest cost?

The first element in the mix is a no-nonsense liability system that fastens full responsibility on the parties who run dangerous operations, no excuses allowed. Accordingly, we have to be especially wary of statutory caps on tort damages, including the current law, under which, in the case of the oil industry, the “total of liability . . . with respect to each incident shall not exceed for an offshore facility except a deepwater port, the total of all removal costs plus $75,000,000.” That $75 million is chicken feed. Fortunately, the law removes that cap if the incident was caused by “the gross negligence or willful misconduct” of any party, or its failure to comply with any “applicable Federal safety, construction, or operating regulation.”

To truly have a “system of justice”, you can not have liability caps–for BP or any other negligent actor.

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.

Fatal Houston crash leads to lawsuit against Toyota
By Mary Flood
Feb. 1, 2010, 10:40PM

The family of a Houston woman whose car sped through a stop sign and smashed into a cement wall, killing her on impact a week before Christmas, filed what is likely the third acceleration-related wrongful death lawsuit against Toyota in the nation Monday.

Trina Renee Harris, a 34-year-old mother of two, died on impact when her 2009 Toyota Corolla slammed into an East Hardy Toll Road cement divider at Barry, leaving no skid marks, Houston police reported.

Her husband, Michael Harris, filed a lawsuit Monday against Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., gas pedal maker CTS Corp. and Fred Haas Toyota World, which leased her the car. Lawyers involved in the lawsuit said it’s likely the third such case filed in response to acceleration problems that prompted Toyota to recall millions of vehicles and halt some production.

“I want those who were negligent to be held responsible. This problem was there before Dec. 18 when she died,” Michael Harris said. The U.S. Navy petty officer first class had recently completed a stint on an aircraft carrier in the Middle East and was in San Diego when he learned of his wife’s death. He returned to Houston, where the family opened Christmas gifts Trina Harris had bought . . . .

If you or a loved one have been injured in Nebraska due to a defective Toyota accelerator pedal, call the Keating, O’Gara Law Firm at 888/234-0621 for a free consultation.

For helpful advice on what to do if the accelerator sticks, watch the following video:

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.

BAKERSFIELD – A New Jersey importer of Chinese-made tires is asking the federal government for help in recalling almost half a million defective tires that may have already contributed to one death.

The tire recall follows other major recalls of Chinese-made products, including pet food, toothpaste, and toy trains, prompting widespread consumer concerns.

Now consumer groups wonder if Chinese-made products are safe, given the recalls made in recent months.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said a New Jersey company—Foreign Tire Sales—has announced a recall of at least 450,000 tires made in China, although who is going to pay for the recall and tire replacements remains in question.

The defective tires, used on light trucks and SUV’s, have been sold under the names of Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS.

Lawyers are blaming the tires for a fatal accident last year near Philadelphia.

“Check your tires,” said Jeffery Killino, a lawyer for accident victims. “Make sure that you’re not riding on these tires!”

This tire recall follows several other recent recalls of Chinese-made products, including toothpaste containing a poisonous chemical, contaminated pet food, and Thomas the Train Engine toys decorated with lead paint.

If you or a loved one have been injured due to the negligence of another, please call Keating, O’Gara, Nedved & Peter at 888/234-0621 or fill out the contact form on this site. Your first consultation is free and we handle cases on a contingency fee basis.