Richmond Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer - Defective & Dangerous Products

Does Your Home Contain Foul Smelling Chinese-Made Drywall?

Michael Phelan — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:02:43 GMT

This issue was first brought to my attention by fellow blogger, Wayne Parsons, in a January 2, 2009 blog, "Drywall From China Causes Concern Over Sulfur Odor in Homes." Apparently, health department and building officials across the Southeast have been getting a lot of reports about Chinese drywall which, according to the National Organization of Remediators and Mold Inspectors, emits much higher levels of sulfur, methane, and other volatile organic compounds than is considered safe for humans.

The Engineering News-Record reported this week that the foul-smelling Chinese drywall has been linked to corrosion of mecanical and electrical systems and has raised health concerns. Robert Kraus, president of the southwest chapter of the American Society of Homebuilders, stated that moisture triggers the Chinese-made drywall to emit an odor that smells like firecrackers. He also stated that replacing the drywall alone may not correct the problem because the drywall may have caused corrosive damage to electrical and/or mechanical systems in the home. Florida officials have received reports of problems with air conditioning systems, plumbing, electrical outlets, and tarnished jewelry and other metal items caused by corrosion from the chemicals in the drywall.

Under Virginia law, the parties who may be liable for damages to home and health caused by this drywall include the manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of the product. Manufacturers may be liable under theories sounding in negligence and/or breach of warranty, while merchants (the distributors and/or sellers of the product) may be liable for breaches of either warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, express warranties, or other applicable warranties.

If your home has a noxious sulfur smell, call your builder or home renovator and determine if your drywall was made in China. If so, your builder/contractor should remove the drywall, check your wiring, plumbing, and mechanical systems for corrosion, and replace the drywall with non-Chinese-made drywall, preferably drywall made in the USA. You made need to call your local building official and ask him or her to encourage your builder to take responsibility for the problem.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

Victoria Secrets Thong Case is Ridiculous

Michael Phelan — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:21:05 GMT

Have you seen the Today Show piece on the brand new lawyer and his 52 year-old, thong wearing client who are suing Victoria Secrets? The plaintiff alleges that a metal clasp connected to a decorative metal heart broke off and injured her eye as she was stepping into her thong. Her lawyer showed the thong on television, and the metal heart is on the back of the thong. The plaintiff must have the proverbial eyes in the back of her head. I wonder if she also got her contact lense stuck in her backside. This lawsuit is a joke which her lawyer should never have filed. This is the kind of garbage that the bad guys who want to take away the Constitutional right to trial by jury use in their "tort reform" propaganda pieces. What the tort reformers don't tell the public is that the system usually works. Suits like this thong suit or the pants suit are usually thrown out of court by the judge. It turns out that the lawyer who filed this suit has not been at the bar very long. Let's hope that he has a mentor who steps up and convinces him to dismiss this law suit.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

Asbestos Verdict in California

Michael Phelan — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:17:08 GMT

A San Francisco jury Monday returned a $20 million verdict in favor of an asbestos victim. The jury determined that the sole remaining defendant at trial, Georgia Pacific Corp., was responsible for 30% of the verdict. The plaintiff was a former film actress and singer who toured the world seven times entertaining our troops as a USO singer. The plaintiff and her husband started a part-time home remodeling business and used Georgia Pacific compounds to fill cracks in drywall. The plaintiffs showed that GP continued making this dangerous compound long after it learned that the asbestos-containing compound caused cancer and long after GP's competitors removed asbestos from their compounds. The plaintiff, who has about nine months to live, was grateful to have had the opportunity to effect GP's corporate behavior. GP announced it would appeal the verdict.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

$30 Million Asbestos Verdict

Michael Phelan — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 13:00:17 GMT

Mesothelioma is an aggressive lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. A New Jersey jury recently returned a $30 million verdict in favor of a 50 year old advertising executive who died from mesothelioma. The decedant's exposure to asbestos was when he worked summer jobs at GM warehouses handling asbestos-containing automotive parts. The decedant's father also worked full-time at the warehouse and brought asbestos fibers home on his wok clothes. The verdict was against Asbestos Corp. Ltd. of Canada, which provided material for the GM brakes, and BorgWarner Inc. of Michiga, which made clutches.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

Your Stryker Hip Implant Could be Defective

Michael Phelan — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:57:25 GMT

According to an FDA Warning issued on November 28, 2007 and released to the public on January 15, 2008, some models of Stryker hip implants may be defective. The FDA has received numerous complaints concerning Stryker hip implants from patients experiencing fractures, pain, wear particles, fragments, and broached bones resulting in bone fractures. Many of these problems required revision surgery. This is the second stern warning issued in 2007 by the FDA to Stryker about its http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/s6627c.htmhip implants. The most recent warning letter followed an inspection by the FDA at Stryker's Mahwah, NJ plant which took place on June 12 and July 1, 2007.

An earlier letter issued in March followed the inspection of a Stryker plant in Ireland where Stryker knee implants are made. According to the FDA, the inspection of the New Jersey plant uncovered problems directly linked to the manufacture of defective hip implant components. Those problems included failing "to establish and maintain procedures for identifying all of the actions needed to correct and prevent the recurrence of nonconforming product and other quality problems" related to complaints Stryker received between January 2005 and April 2007, and "verifying or validating the corrective and preventive action to ensure that such action is effective." The FDA also said that the four responses it received from Stryker regarding the problems found during the NJ inspection were inadequate.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Drugs, Medical Devices and Implants.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

Contaminated Heparin Syringes Recalled

Michael Phelan — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:30:33 GMT

Manufacturers of sterile medical products are supposed to follow strict sterility standards. Unfortunately, there has been a growing number of reports and recalls of contaminated medical products caused by poor quality controls by manufacturers of products required to be sterile. The latest recall involves heparin IV flush syringes found to be contaminated with Serratia marcescens, a potentially dangerous bacteria. The details of this heparin syringe recall are as follows:
Manufacturer: Sierra Pre-Filled, Inc., Angier, North Carolina
Recall initiated by: AM2PAT, Inc., Angier, North Carolina
Product Description: Heparin Lock Flush Solution USP, 100 units/ml, 5ml in pre-filled syringes
Lot #: 070926H

The product was distributed nationwide. One may ask, "why worry about bacterial contamination in a supposedly sterile solution?" The answer is that bacteria such as the kind the CDC confirmed was growing in this lot of heparin syringes can cause serious health consequences that could lead to life-threatening injuries and death. One such adverse health risk is systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), which results in inflammation throughout the whole body and can lead to death. A cause of SIRS is exposure to high levels of endotoxins, such as those produced by certain bacteria as the bacteria dies.

Any adverse reactions experienced after heparin therapy should be reported to the FDA's MedWatch Program at 1-800-FDA-1088 (phone), 1-800-FDA-0178 (FAX), www.fda.gov/medwatch (web), or Medwatch, HF-2FDA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787 (mail).

If you or a loved one has been injured by this product, do NOT return the product to the manufacturer. For more information, please feel free to contact us through the Ask a Lawyer feature on this blog site.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

Toy Fingerprint Kit Contains Deadly Asbestos Powder

Michael Phelan — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 01:00:01 GMT

No sane parent should buy a toy made in China. As if the lead paint crisis was not bad enough, a children's toy modeled after the popular television series CSI tested positive for tremolite, a deadly asbestos powder. Shockingly, the toy is a "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Fingerprint Examination Kit" and the fingerprint powder contains asbestos. The directions instruct the kids to blow on the powder or dust it away. This increases the risk of inhaling the asbestos. When asbestos fibers are inhaled, they reach the deep recesses of the lung where they are deposited permanently. These fibres may cause a deadly cancer , such as mesothelioma, or a terrible lung disease called asbestosis. These injuries can manifest several decades after exposure. There is on safe level of exposure to asbestos fibers. These dangerous kits have been on the market for as long as three years and are currently being sold at Toys R Us., eToys, QVC, and Walgreens. Kudos to Public Justice for taking action on this issue.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

Dennis Quaid and Wife Sue Drug Maker

Michael Phelan — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:04:00 GMT

In a lawsuit filed today, actor Dennis Quaid and his wife sued Baxter Healthcare Corp., the maker of the blood thinner, heparin. The Quaid's newborn twins and a third patient at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center were mistakenly given doses of heparin that were 1,000 times stronger than the intended dose. The product liability lawsuit, filed in Chicago, alleges the heparin was unreasonably dangerous because the large dose vials were packaged and sold with labels that were difficult to distinguish from the labels on the small dose vials. A similar dosage killed three infants at a hospital in Indianapolis last year. The Quaids did not sue the hospital (which admitted the error) and are not looking for money from the lawsuit. They hope to save other children from this preventable error.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Drugs, Medical Devices and Implants.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan

Crib Recall Post Sparks Defective Trailer Comment From Concerned Citizen

Staff Writer — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 12:27:43 GMT

Fellow InjuryBoard Blogger, Milwaukee accident attorney David Lowe, recently posted a notification that 1 million Simplicity baby cribs were recalled. A reader here in Virginia found David's post and contacted us regarding his concern about another dangerous product - unsafe trailers on Virginia highways. We are publishing his letter at his request:

Dear concerned:
With regards to the baby crib recall, we now have a massive problem with another breakdown. This situation took 2 years to follow through and I believe less than 5 children died as a result. The delay is a direct result of the lobby interests that erode our government agencies oversight.
I guess that Mattel must have designed the crib and what will happen the company will travel to china and apologize. The same situation exists with the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration. In this case I have been able to determine that over 400 people a year are killed due to utility trailers that come unhitched and are in disrepair I.E. non working taillights. They are so powerful that in Virginia the law states that all trailers over 3,000 pounds need to be inspected every year. So what do they do? They make them just under 3,000 pounds so they range between 2,990 and 2,998. They are also so powerful that they pay Delegate Pollard $3,200 in campaign money and Delegate Whitman $5,000 over the past two years to destroy my law and prevent further requirements to these trailers.
What ever happened to doing good; why do we have to wait so long for something to be done? They are even so powerful they can suppress an accident that happened on the Bay Bridge on May 10, 2007 that killed 3 people and injured 7 that tied up traffic for 8 hours. Two of the victims were a Father and Son who were volunteer fireman. Why else would our government ignore a quote from the VCU Crash Team that was published over 1 and 1/2 years ago? Go here to view the report. Here is the quote:
"In Summary, this crash was caused when a homemade trailer detached from the pick up that towed it. It struck a Cadillac traveling in the opposing lanes of traffic, fatally injuring the driver. Trailers are a special class of vehicle and all are subject to some requirements regarding lights and chains. While the Code exempts some smaller trailers, those designed to carry over 3000 pounds are required to have brakes and to be inspected beyond the initial visual confirmations of a VIN plate."
However, Virginia state code is silent as to any design or construction specifications for those vehicles or for towing chains and hitches. The purpose of this technical alert is to draw attention to the potential dangers of unsafe trailers on roadways in the Commonwealth. In many cases, towed trailers may be in OBVIOUS violations of safety codes that relate to lighting, braking and inspection requirements. Wherever possible, Law Enforcement Officers should be trained in ways to quickly and easily identify such vehicles. In other cases, a trailer may meet all legal requirements but still be hazardous when used in transportation.
The team recommends that the department of motor vehicles, the department of state police and or members of the Virginia General Assembly review the current administrative code and consider ways to improve safety with regard to trailers operated on Virginia roads.
I did not write this; the crash team did. Can you guess what's been done so far??? NOTHING!!!!!!! Except to push me away. I asked for help and all I get in return is a revision to my law trying to undo it. This is not the way it should be.
Then why should we expect anything more from our government except pandering to the lobby interest? Oh by the way I'll keep doing the job that our government agencies are suppose to do with no funding. At least I'm not wasting taxpayers' money trying to build a bridge to nowhere. In closing we let babies die in cribs, we let lead paint enter our homes in the form of toys and we let these utility trailers keep coming unhitched and kill our citizens. They even let you build your own with no knowledge on what you are doing so long as it is under the magic 3,000 pounds limit. Isn't that a gas?
Sincerely, Ron J. Melancon

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer

All I Want For Christmas Is a Toy That Won't Cause Brain Damage

Michael Phelan — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:46:31 GMT

Mattel has now announced its third recall in six weeks because certain toys were found to contain dangerously high levels of toxic lead paint. As with all of the 16 recalls of various toys this year, the products were made in China. Why? Because the cost of lead paint is up to 30% cheaper than non-toxic, lead-free paint. A sales manager at a Chinese toy company recently told a NY Times reporter that her company does use lead paint, but that it discloses this fact to its client (i.e., Mattel and other US companies). The sales manager said:

It depends on the client's requirement. If the price they offer make it impossible to use lead-free paint, we'll tell them that we might have to use leaded paint. If they agree, we'll use leaded paint. It totally depends on what the client wants.

One hopes that this statement is not true with respect to U.S. companies. Lead paint causes permanent brain damage in children. Can companies like Mattel really be turning a deaf ear when their Chinese manufacturers tell them that in exchange for the cheap cost of off-shore production, the manufacturer will have to use lead paint?

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to our section on Defective and Dangerous Products.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Phelan