Oklahoma Injury Lawyer Blog

The Cars Blog on ConsumerReports.org has an excellent video and article on How to stop a runaway car: Don't pump the brakes.

The video, with Jake Fisher driving a Toyota Venza and a Volkswagen Jetta, simulates what happens when a car has sudden runaway acceleration. Mr. Fisher mentions some "do's and don'ts":

Don't:
1) Don't pump your brakes. This will cause your power brakes to go out.
2) Don't try to turn off your car. You risk locking up your steering wheel.

Do:
1) Put your foot on the brake hard, and continue pressing it.
2) Put your car in neutral
3) Once stopped, turn off your car.

Mr. Fisher also recommends first trying the braking procedure in an empty parking lot or other safe location. The Volkswagen Jetta is interesting because it can actually override the gas pedal.

Here's the video:

A recent Bloomberg article states "Birth-control pills containing desogestrel, cyproterone acetate or drospirenone carried about 1.5 to 2 times the risk of clots." Bayer's birth-control pills, Yaz, Yasmin, and Yasminelle contain drospirenone. With the exception of a recently approved generic version, Ocella, no other birth control pills contain drospirenone.

Reported side effects include:
- Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
- Pulmonary Embolism (PE)
- Heart Arrhythmia
- Heart Attack/Myocardial Infarctions and
- Stroke and Transient Ischemic Attacks

The AP reported yesterday that swine flu vaccine makers will be immune from any potential lawsuits.

I'll personally take my chances though. Being that I have asthma, I'll still get one if given the chance to get the new flu shot.

The acne medication, Accutane, is being pulled off the U.S. market. The AP article states that:

The decision was made for economic reasons, not safety reasons, the company said. The drug has a rocky safety history, having been linked to birth defects if taken during pregnancy, along with depression and suicidal thoughts. The company said costs for personal-injury lawsuits are high, but it continues to "rigorously" defend the drug.

Accutane has been linked to causing inflammatory bowel disease and the Accutane manufacturer, Roche, has lost several lawsuits on the claim. Bloomberg reports Roche Pulls Accutane Off Market After Jury Verdicts.

Last week the Wall Street Journal Law Blog ran a story titled "Plaintiff's Lawyers, Here's Your New Asbestos: Denture Cream!"  The article (with a touch of sarcasm), looks at the potential for the next "category of potentially huge personal injury lawsuits."  Considering that denture cream is used by about a third of the 34 million Americans currently wearing dentures, the number of potential lawsuits is huge.

The problem with the denture creams is that the products contain zinc.  Excessive zinc intake can be harmful.

Denture cream lawyers are arguing that the zinc in the products, such as Poligrip and Fixodent, is causing neurological damage.  One of the main theories of liability is that the manufacturers have known for years that excessive zinc is harmful yet added zinc to the products anyway. 

The ABC News story mentions a 2008 study published in the Journal of Neurology.  It theorizes that long-term denture cream overuse was the culprit in the cases of four patients who had unexplained limb weakness and poor balance. 

A 13 year old boy in NY was riding his new Rhino ATV when it rolled over (which he had received hours earlier).  The boy was not wearing a helmet or his seat belt.  The WTEN article states:

What makes the tragedy weigh even heavier on James Spencer was the fact that the Yamaha Rhino 450 had actually been recalled by the federal government this past March after reports of more than 40 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

"I was not aware of any deaths or any injuries with this machine," he told NEWS10.

The Wall Street Journal (5/23, Miller) reported, "Johnson & Johnson faces civil lawsuits regarding the antibiotic Levaquin [levofloxacin] filed by one of the most prominent plaintiff's attorneys involved in the suits over Merck & Co.'s Vioxx [rofecoxib] painkiller." The suits, filed "on behalf of three plaintiffs from around the US," alleges "that J&J and its Ortho McNeil unit promoted Levaquin as a safe treatment for bacterial infections despite allegedly knowing for years that it could cause a higher incidence of severe tendon ruptures and tendonitis." The suits "comes nearly a year after the Food and Drug administration, responding to pressure from consumer groups, requested that black-box warnings be added to the antibiotic...regarding the risk of tendon ruptures." Lead plaintiff lawyer Mark Lanier, claimed that "Johnson & Johnson and Ortho-McNeil have succeeded in convincing physicians to prescribe a more dangerous drug which, in turn, makes these drug companies more money."

From the American Association of Justice News Brief

Consumeraffairs.com reports that two class action lawsuits have been filed in response to the recall of Hydroxycut.  The respective suits were filed in Tennessee and Canada.  The lawsuits accuse the manufacturer of failing to warn of the drug's dangers. 

The FDA has received 23 complaints of liver damage apparently caused by the product.  The drug can also cause heart failures, seizures, and rhadomyolysis.  "The [Tennessee] suit alleges counts under negligence, breach of express and implied warranties, fraud, failure to warn, unjust enrichment and violations of the Tennessee Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, among others." 

The recent recall of Yamaha Rhino ATVs is not extended to Yamaha Australia.  The AU News article contrasts this to the Yamaha US press release stating that owners should "not operate your Rhino until it is modified with these repair parts." 

The article adds:

• Up to 150,000 Rhino ATVs repaired in the US
• Involved in 46 recorded deaths
• Yamaha facing 200 current lawsuits
• Most of the 200-odd claims facing the US manufacturer from American buyers revolve around crush injuries from arms and legs exiting the vehicle in such rollovers.
• The US Product Safety Commission found that "of the rollover-related deaths and hundreds of reported injuries ... many appear to involve turns at relatively low speeds and on level terrain".
• Yamaha is facing at least one claim so far involving the Rhino ATV in Australia
  

The Trial Lawyer Resource Center posted yesterday that two personal injury lawyers in Georgia have filed the first Hydroxycut lawsuit in State Court.  The current suit is not a class action lawsuit (yet).  

I've heard of Hydroxycut, but I didn't realize how popular it is: "It accounts for about 90 percent of the market for weight loss supplements, with sales of about 1 million bottles a year."

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning today to consumers to stop using Hydroxycut because it has been linked to serious liver injuries. 

The Huffpost article mentioned that dietary supplements are not as tightly regulated by the government as medications and that manufacturers don't need FDA approval ahead of time to market the products. 

Yesterday I posted information about the Yamaha Rhino ATV Recall.  Yamaha recalled the ATVs based on findings of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).  What is this commission?

The CPSC is an independent agency of the US goverment that protects "against unreasonable risks of injuries associated with consumer products."  According to Wikipedia:

CPSC fulfills its mission to protect consumers against unreasonable risk of injury by developing voluntary and mandatory standards, banning dangerous consumer products, issuing recalls of products already on the market, and researching potential hazards associated with consumer products. CPSC learns about unsafe products in several ways. The agency maintains a consumer hotline and website through which consumers may report concerns about unsafe products or injuries associated with products. The agency also operates the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, a probability sample of about 100 hospitals with 24-hour emergency rooms.  NEISS collects data on consumer product related injuries treated in ERs and can be used to generate national estimates.

Here is the offical site for the CPSC: http://www.cpsc.gov/

Yamaha Motor Corp. USA has recalled Rhino 450, 660, 700 ATVs.  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission determined that at least 46 deaths have been reported due to the faulty product design.  Even at low speeds, the ATVs are prone to rolling over.  The LA Times article states that:

The two-passenger Rhino has a built-in roll cage, but a narrow wheelbase and an anti-sway bar that can lift the rear tires off the ground during slow turns have caused many accidents.

More than two-thirds of the reported accidents were rollovers, many involving turns at low speeds and on level terrain, the commission statement said.

CPSIA is the new Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act that's scheduled to go into effect on February 10th. 

It was passed in response to lead, phtalates and the other current issues recently occuring with toys from China.  Under the new Act, any product that's intended for use by children under 12 years of age is supposed to be certified by an official laboratory as not having more than a certain amount of lead and phtalates.  No new product may be sold without the certification. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ran a story yesterday about the 32nd Annual Great American Smoke that started today. 

The article states that approximately 43.4 million Americans currently smoke cigarettes.  That's about 1 in 5! 

Evidently, the third Thursday of November is the Great American Smokeout.  Participation consists not smoking for the 24 hours of the Smokeout.  The goal, of course, is to completely quit smoking, but the Smokeout helps show that it can be done for one day. 

I can't remember if I saw this recently on a news show or a commercial, but it's quite telling concerning the mindset cigarette companies: 7 cigarette execs say nicotine is not addictive.

The video is from the Hearing on the Regulation of Tobacco Products, House Committee on Energy and Commerce, on April 14, 1994.  The people testifying in the video are: the President of Philip Morris U.S.A, Chairman and CEO of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, President of U.S. Tobacco, Chairman and CEO of Lorillard Tobacco Company, Chairman and CEO of Liggett Group, and Chairman and CEO of Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company.