Personal Injury Law News & Recall Articles - Fourth Quarter 2008

Rocky Mountain News, "Continental Crash at Denver Airport: Passengers likely will receive reparations; Experts say many on jet could suffer stress disorder"

Passengers on the Continental Airlines flight that crashed Saturday night likely will get monetary compensation - even if they weren't physically injured, aviation experts and lawyers said. "I think it would be fair to say that everyone on the plane will recover something," said Robert Lieff, an attorney in San Francisco who focuses on international aviation cases. "There is clear liability in this case, and now it's an issue of determining fair amounts of compensation." More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "3 adults, 5 kids hospitalized: carbon monoxide"

Eight people in an unincorporated part of San Mateo County near Redwood City were rushed to hospitals Wednesday night suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, firefighters said. The three adults and five young children were inside a home on the 200 block of Fourth Avenue. The home's electricity had been turned off, said acting Battalion Chief Glenn Grant of the Menlo Park Fire District, and the house was being powered by a gas generator placed in the basement. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Three Squaw Valley workers found dead in car"

Three female employees of the Squaw Valley USA ski resort were found dead in their car Tuesday in what Placer County sheriff's officials believe was accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. The engine of the women's older American-made sedan was still running at 1:05 p.m. when a resort security guard found the woman's bodies slumped inside the vehicle in an employee parking lot at the resort, according to Placer County Sheriff's Sgt. John Giovannini. More...

Law360, New York, "CPSC Mulls Standards As Rhino Plaintiffs Seek MDL"

As the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission considers new standards for Yamaha Motor Corp. USA's Rhino off-road vehicle and other currently unregulated "utility terrain vehicles," plaintiffs suing over injuries they blame on the Rhino have asked the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to centralize their cases. The Rhino has caught the attention of the CPSC, a spokeswoman for the commission told Law360 on Thursday. "We can confirm that the CPSC is investigating the Yamaha Rhino. There have been a number of incidents and that is a product we are looking into right now," CPSC spokeswoman Sonia Hayes-Pleasant said. More...

Law360, New York, "Medtronic's Bone Graft Product Caused Death: Suit"

In the latest blow to Medtronic Inc. over its bone graft product, the medical device maker is reportedly facing wrongful death claims by the family of a woman who died after the Infuse Bone Graft was used during her neck surgery. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claims that a Medtronic sales representative urged Shirley Nisbet's surgeon to use Infuse in her neck surgery despite the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't signed off on using the product for such purposes, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. More...

Wall Street Journal, "Medtronic Is Sued Over Bone Product"

The family of a California woman who went into respiratory arrest and died after neck surgery filed a lawsuit blaming her death on the use of a fast-selling bone-growth protein made by Medtronic Inc. The case of Shirley Nisbet comes amid a Justice Department investigation and a separate U.S. Senate inquiry into use of the bone-growth product -- called Infuse Bone Graft -- for purposes not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. More...

Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Feds investigating Medtronic over bone graft product"

Medtronic Inc. said Tuesday that it has received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice regarding use of its popular bone graft product in ways not approved by federal regulators -- a practice that could lead to serious injuries in patients with back problems. More...

Associated Press, "Toy-related accidents killed 18 children in 2007"

At least 18 children younger than 15 died in toy-related accidents in 2007. Most of the deaths were caused by blocked airways, drowning or accidents involving motor vehicles, according to Consumer Product Safety Commission data. Many of the incidents were not caused by the toys but occurred while the children were playing. Fourteen of the 18 children were boys.

Law360.com, "Yamaha Facing More Suits Over Rhino Accidents"

Days after it was revealed that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission was investigating the Yamaha Rhino off-road vehicle, two new lawsuits have been filed against Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. alleging that design flaws in the vehicle make it dangerously unstable. One of the suits was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and involved an 11-year-old girl injured in a Rhino accident, while the other, filed in state court in Georgia, involved a 47-year-old former Air Force captain. There currently more than 200 lawsuits in state and federal court over the Rhino, and more than 30 deaths related to the vehicle have been reported. More...

Associated Press, "SUV Collides With Taurus. Fiery Crash - 4 Tennessee High School Cheerleaders Die"

A rural East Tennessee community was grieving Saturday for four high school cheerleaders who died in a fiery car crash hours after they had been cheering on their football team. A sport utility vehicle carrying the cheerleaders collided with an oncoming car late Friday night on a wet, foggy highway in Scott County, northwest of Knoxville, authorities said. A passenger in the car also was killed. More...

Memphis Commercial Appeal, "Families, schools mourn girls killed in Yamaha Rhino ATV crash"

The families, friends and schools of two 11-year-old girls killed over the weekend in an ATV accident struggled to deal with their deaths Monday. Emily Bates and Lauren Dilworth were killed shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday when the Yamaha Rhino four-wheeler they were riding in flipped as it went off the pavement in the Southern Trails subdivision off Miss. 305 in the Lewisburg community near Olive Branch. More...

Reuters, "U.S. manufacturer recalls 1.59 million cribs"

Delta Enterprises recalled almost 1.6 million cribs, made in China, Indonesia and Taiwan, on Monday after it said two babies died. The company did not provide any details on the deaths of the two infants and declined to answer any questions. The family-owned company that sells cribs, strollers and other products for babies, said the recalled cribs were no longer available in stores. More...

WESH.com (Orlando, FL), "5 Killed When SUV Rolls Over On Turnpike"

Five people died and three others were injured after a sport utility vehicle rolled over on the Florida Turnpike Friday night. The five people died after the crash at about 11:30 p.m. near Southern Boulevard in West Palm Beach. The Florida Highway Patrol said the 2000 Ford Expedition blew a tire, which caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle and roll into a 15-foot-deep canal. More...