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 . . . .

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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.”

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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.

The NY Times article on the debate includes the following sobering statistics:

In a nation of 8.6 million pools and 5.6 million hot tubs, according to industry estimates, every summer seems to have a spate of drownings. State and federal health agencies reported that about 260 children younger than 5 died underwater in 2006, including 2-year-old Shaan Pathak of Hicksville; Jolie Annecco, also 2, who lived in Lindenwood, Queens; and Isha and Ahmad Faniel, 4-year-old twins from Union, N.J.

A 2003 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics estimated that for each drowning, up to four more children suffer near-drownings serious enough to require hospitalizations, many resulting in permanent disability.

Year in and year out, drowning is the second-leading cause of accidental death for children under 14, behind traffic fatalities, according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. For children under 5, pools account for far more drownings than bathtubs and natural bodies of water, according to the National Safety Council and the National Center for Health Statistics.

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.

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.

Arielle Newman, a cross-country runner at Notre Dame Academy on Staten Island, died after her body absorbed high levels of methyl salicylate, an anti-inflammatory found in sports creams such as Bengay and Icy Hot, the New York City medical examiner said Friday.

The medical examiner’s spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said the teen used “topical medication to excess.” She said it was the first time that her office had reported a death from using a sports cream.

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.

In 2004, there were 3,308 unintentional fatal drownings in the United States, averaging nine people per day. This figure does not include the 676 fatalities, from drowning and other causes, due to boating-related incidents (CDC 2006; USCG 2006).

For every child 14 years and younger who dies from drowning in 2004, five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries. More than half of these children were hospitalized or transferred to another facility for treatment (CDC 2006).

Nonfatal drownings can cause brain damage that result in long-term disabilities ranging from memory problems and learning disabilities to the permanent loss of basic functioning (i.e., permanent vegetative state).

Boating carries risks for injury. In 2005, the U.S. Coast Guard received reports for 4,969 boating incidents; 3,451 participants were reported injured, and 697 died in boating incidents.

If you or a loved one have been injured around water 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.