Missouri Injury Lawyer Blog

With holiday gift-giving just behind us, I was pleased as a Missouri product liability attorney to see that the federal government is still concerned about toy safety. According to a Dec. 29 article from the Associated Press, toy maker RC2 Corp. has agreed to pay a $1.25 million civil fine for allegedly knowingly importing and selling Thomas & Friends toys with lead paint. Tests showed the toys, made in China and intended for young children, had lead levels above those set by federal law. The company and its Learning Curve Brands Inc. subsidiary admitted no wrongdoing. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency that handles safety of toys and other products, has provisionally agreed to accept the settlement.

Lead paint on toys is a problem because lead can poison developing children who ingest or inhale it over time. Lead interferes with the body’s absorption of minerals necessary for health and development, such as iron, calcium and zinc. In children with chronic lead poisoning, this leads to irreversible damage to the central nervous system, causing learning and developmental disabilities, aggression, hyperactivity, emotional control problems, loss of short-term memory and more. These effects are thought to be irreversible in children, which is why public health efforts focus strongly on prevention. RC2 recalled 1.7 million units of the Thomas & Friends toys for lead paint in 2007. The CPSC’s fine was so high because it believes the company knew its toys didn’t meet standards but sold them anyway.

As a southern Illinois defective product lawyer, I hope the CPSC is wrong -- but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was right. You may recall that 2007 and 2008 saw multiple recalls of toys with lead paint, many of them made in China. At that time, media reports explained that Chinese-made products are cheaper, but Chinese safety standards are relaxed and easily broken. This allows U.S. companies to make their products overseas for very cheap, but their products may not meet basic safety standards in our country. An unscrupulous company might be happy to make that trade-off if profit is its only goal. Unfortunately, the series of lead recalls showed that too many companies either did not pay attention to this issue or cynically chose to place profits over the safety of small children.

Continue reading "Illinois Manufacturer Agrees to Pay $1.25 Million Fine for Selling Toys With Lead Paint" »

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Posted In: Product Liability

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With holiday gift-giving just behind us, I was pleased as a Missouri product liability attorney to see that the federal government is still concerned about toy safety. According to a Dec. 29 article from the Associated Press, toy maker RC2 Corp. has agreed to pay a $1.25 million civil fine for allegedly knowingly importing and selling Thomas & Friends toys with lead paint. Tests showed the toys, made in China and intended for young children, had lead levels above those set by federal law. The company and its Learning Curve Brands Inc. subsidiary admitted no wrongdoing. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency that handles safety of toys and other products, has provisionally agreed to accept the settlement.

Lead paint on toys is a problem because lead can poison developing children who ingest or inhale it over time. Lead interferes with the body’s absorption of minerals necessary for health and development, such as iron, calcium and zinc. In children with chronic lead poisoning, this leads to irreversible damage to the central nervous system, causing learning and developmental disabilities, aggression, hyperactivity, emotional control problems, loss of short-term memory and more. These effects are thought to be irreversible in children, which is why public health efforts focus strongly on prevention. RC2 recalled 1.7 million units of the Thomas & Friends toys for lead paint in 2007. The CPSC’s fine was so high because it believes the company knew its toys didn’t meet standards but sold them anyway.

As a southern Illinois defective product lawyer, I hope the CPSC is wrong -- but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was right. You may recall that 2007 and 2008 saw multiple recalls of toys with lead paint, many of them made in China. At that time, media reports explained that Chinese-made products are cheaper, but Chinese safety standards are relaxed and easily broken. This allows U.S. companies to make their products overseas for very cheap, but their products may not meet basic safety standards in our country. An unscrupulous company might be happy to make that trade-off if profit is its only goal. Unfortunately, the series of lead recalls showed that too many companies either did not pay attention to this issue or cynically chose to place profits over the safety of small children.

Continue reading "Illinois Manufacturer Agrees to Pay $1.25 Million Fine for Selling Toys With Lead Paint" »

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Authorities in Madison County are investigating a crash that’s particularly unusual, in my experience as a southern Illinois auto accident lawyer. As the Belleville News-Democrat reported Dec. 15, Madison County Transit bus driver Danny Floyd Senior veered into a private home on St. Louis Street early on Dec. 13. One of the six people home at the time suffered a minor injury, and Floyd refused treatment at the hospital. The one bus passenger was also taken to the hospital, but transit authorities are withholding that person’s name during the police investigation. However, the Willeford family’s home sustained structural damage significant enough to force them to move temporarily to a motel.

The accident occurred just after midnight on Sunday. According to the News-Democrat, Floyd’s bus left the road, traveled through the parking lot of a tire store and over a chain link fence before hitting the Willefords’ side porch. Other media sources reported that Floyd fell asleep behind the wheel, though that explanation was not given in the newspaper. Police are still investigating and have not said whether they plan to file charges. Six of the home’s eight residents were home at the time, including homeowner June Willeford. She told the News-Democrat that after the crash, she heard her son screaming in the basement about what turned out to be a cut lip from flying debris. No one else was hurt, but the damage was significant enough that the family turned the power off for safety reasons and relocated to the Drury Inn in Collinsville.

I’m pleased that nobody was hurt. But as a St. Louis motor vehicle crash attorney, I know that expenses in a crash like this can add up quickly, even without the added expense of medical bills. A motel stay for eight people is likely to cost well over $100 a night. The family will also have to rebuild the affected walls and structural supports, a task that’s likely to include electrical work. These costs can add up quickly for ordinary people. Homeowners’ insurance may cover the costs -- but even if it does not, legal responsibility for the crash almost certainly lies with the bus driver who caused it and his transit agency. (Employers are generally held responsible for the actions of employees who were performing employment duties during an accident.) That means that the family may be able to recover compensation from them for all these costs and others, through an auto accident lawsuit.

Continue reading "Injuries Unclear After Southern Illinois Bus Driver Swerves Off Road and Into Home" »

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As a St. Louis car accident attorney, I have written several times on this blog about the dangers of texting and driving. Last summer saw several reports on research showing a link between text-messaging behind the wheel and an increased rate of accidents. In fact, one study found a 23 times greater risk of crashing. The Missouri Legislature was slightly ahead of the curve when it passed a ban on texting and driving that took effect in late August -- but that ban applied only to drivers under 21. Now, according to a Dec. 2 article from the Associated Press, members of the Legislature have already filed several bills for the 2010 legislative session that would extend that ban to drivers of all ages.

The ban on texting by drivers under 21 allows exceptions for medical or roadway emergencies, reporting crimes and emergency responders acting as part of their jobs. The bills the Legislature will consider next year would continue those exceptions, but for drivers of all ages. One measure would also allow texting on private and public gravel roads. Sen. Ryan McKenna, D-Crystal City, said he plans to file a bill to ban texting and driving after he nearly drove off the highway while texting. He called the practice “a bad idea at any age.” The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that in 2010, more than half of states will have a ban on texting by at least some drivers; 18 states will have a universal texting ban. The Missouri Department of Transportation has already banned texting and driving on the job by employees and supports a universal ban for Missouri drivers.

As a Missouri car crash lawyer, I agree completely. As a spokeswoman for MoDOT implied in the article, texting takes the driver’s eyes and attention away from the road, where they belong. In fact, a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study found that truck drivers took their eyes off the road for as long as five seconds while texting. That was enough time, the study said, for a semi truck traveling at highway speeds to cross the length of a football field. While texting is certainly not the only distraction for drivers, it’s one of the fastest-growing distractions and one that not enough drivers take seriously until they have a close call -- or a crash. A ban on texting is one way to reduce the wrongful deaths and catastrophic injuries that will surely result -- preferably followed by vigorous enforcement and public education campaigns.

Continue reading "Missouri Legislature Considers Banning Texting and Driving for All Ages in 2010" »

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Posted In: Traffic Safety

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As a St. Louis miniblinds injury attorney, I was disappointed to see that a child’s death has prompted yet another recall of a brand of window blinds. According to a Nov. 30 article in USA Today, two-year-old Thapelo Kwofe died in Maryland after he got tangled up in window cords. The newspaper said the incident prompted a safety alert by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency responsible for the safety of most consumer products. In the November alert, the CPSC recommended for the first time that parents, grandparents and others install cordless window treatments everywhere that children live or might visit. If this isn’t possible, the agency recommends cutting cords that form a loop, raising cords out of children’s reach and moving furniture away from windows.

The danger of window cords is so well established that the CPSC lists them among the top five dangers in the home. The agency estimates that one child a month dies by strangling in window coverings, and a spokesman said that manufacturers have recalled five million window treatments in the past few months. The problem stems from the cords that connect blind slats as well as the cords used to operate window treatments. Young children who don’t understand the danger can easily become entangled in the blind cords. Once they are, they are often unable to cry for help, which means adults in the next room may not notice until it’s too late. The CPSC has issued at least three safety alerts in the past, as well as two retrofitting programs in cooperation with the Window Covering Safety Council, an industry group. Unfortunately, those retrofitting programs did not always eliminate the danger, and the window covering industry did not stop making products with dangerous cords.

I hope this most recent safety alert changes that trend. Window blind strangulation accidents are easily preventable, yet we lose one American child a month this way. Parents certainly can and should take action of their own to prevent strangulation accidents, but manufacturers could easily fix the problem in newer treatments by changing their designs to eliminate loops and make strings hard for toddlers to reach. Like all manufacturers, window treatment manufacturers have a legal responsibility to offer only products that are safe to use for their intended purpose. When products don’t measure up, and someone is killed or seriously injured as a result, victims have the right to sue the manufacturer for all of the costs and damages the shoddy product caused. As a Missouri dangerous window covering attorney, I have handled numerous such cases on behalf of families who lost children or suffered serious injuries because of dangerous miniblinds.

Continue reading "Toddler’s Death Prompts Another Recall of Window Blinds Posing Strangulation Hazard" »

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