Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Last week, an eighty-eight year old female was killed while riding an escalator at a train station in Lindenhurst, New York. Initial reports indicate a broken escalator handrail prevented the elderly woman from grasping the handrail. The woman's clothes then got stuck in the escalator while she was on the ground, causing the woman to slowly choke to death. Just minutes before the woman's apparent wrongful death, an elderly man had a similar incident on the same escalator but seemed to escape serious personal injury.

In the United States, there are approximately 35,000 escalators providing about 105 billion passenger trips each year. Most escalators are located in commercial and public buildings like malls, hospitals, airports, and train stations. Although escalators speed up passenger travel from one point to another, escalators can cause serious injury or death if they are defective or improperly maintained.

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Last month, Goodyear Tire recalled about 41,000 Wrangler Silent Armor tires made in 2009 based on concerns some could tear and lead to auto accidents. The recall comes on the heels of a fatal roll over crash in Texas involving a vehicle equipped with the tires. According to a Goodyear spokesman, there are approximately 27,000 of these tires still in service on various pickup trucks, vans and SUVs. In a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Goodyear said during severe weather a small number of its Wrangler SA could experience tread separation and cause vehicle damage or a vehicle crash.

Goodyear and other tire manufacturers have faced hefty lawsuits involving serious personal injury and wrongful death for allegedly defective tires. In 2004, four people were killed in a Utah auto accident equipped with Goodyear tires. The surviving family members filed a wrongful death, product liability lawsuit alleging the deadly crash was caused by a Goodyear tire that blew out, resulting in the family van overturning on the highway. Last year, the Nevada Supreme upheld a $32.2 million dollar verdict for the family and against Goodyear.

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In recent years, manufacturers of baby food and energy bars have been increasingly turning to perceived healthier sweeteners like brown rice syrup for their products. Despite this well-intended endeavor, there are potentially serious unintended consequences to this sweetener. According to researches from Dartmouth College, brown syrup rice contains alarming levels of arsenic that are up to six times higher than the acceptable arsenic levels in water. These high levels of arsenic may cause serious personal injury or death.

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element found in soil and water. At very high levels, arsenic can be deadly. Even in lower levels, arsenic can cause various medical symptoms like nausea and vomiting. Arsenic also decreases the amount of red and white blood cells produced in the body. Further, arsenic can cause abnormal heart rhythms and may damage blood vessels as well as cause abnormal sensations in hands and feet.

Less is known about the impact of long term and continuous exposure to low levels of arsenic. However, arsenic is associated with higher rates of skin, bladder, and lung cancer, says Navas-Acien, assistant professor of environmental health sciences and epidemiology at John Hopkins in Baltimore. "When a substance is a carcinogen, it's generally a carcinogen through the whole range of exposure levels," says Acien.

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Choking hazards are leading cause of unintended wrongful death and serious personal injury in small children. Every year, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issues recalls for toys that can pose a risk of injury to children, including choking hazards. Just recently, the CPSC and Health Canada announced the recall of the Colorful Hearts Teddy Bear By Build-A-Bear. The recall was announced because the teddy bear's eyes could loosen and fall out, creating a choking hazard for small children. For additional information on this recall and other recalled toys, visit the CPSC website at http://www.cpsc.gov/.

Choking is the fourth leading cause of unintentional death in children under 5. The size of a small child's trachea is about the diameter of drinking straw. Thus, any small item can pose a serious risk of choking. Common sources of choking hazards include toys, household products and foods. Toy manufacturers often label their products as choking hazards. However, just because product manufacturer does not provide such a warning is no guarantee the product poses no choking hazard, particularly if it breaks. Indeed, there have been many product liability lawsuits that involve a failure to warn by the manufacturer, including those involving choking hazards.

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The holidays are a wonderful way to spend time with family and friends. Part of the holiday fun for many includes buying toys for children. In the fast passed holiday season, it is important to take time purchase toys that are both fun and safe. Every year thousands of children suffer serious personal injury or are killed by toys. Having handled product liability cases including those involving children's toys, I have combined my thoughts on toy safety with some excellent advice offered by Cincinnati Children's Hospital and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Buy Age Appropriate Toys: Virtually all toys these days have a label indicating the minimum age recommended for the toy. This is important for not only how likely the child will enjoy the toy given their age, but also whether the toy is safe for the child. Some toys for older children are dangerous younger children. This is particularly true for children under the age of two who are at higher risk for choking on toys.

Buy Sturdy Toys Without Sharp Corners: Purchase toys with sturdy construction. Flimsy, cheap or otherwise poorly constructed toys can break easily and injure a child. Likewise, toys with sharp corners can be dangerous especially for very young children. The biggest concern with sharp corners is the risk of eye injuries.

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On November 19, 2009, an infant under four months allegedly died from suffocation in a baby sling. The Illinois family hired a Chicago personal injury lawyer who filed suit against the manufacturer, Eddie Bauer, and others. According to the suit, the baby sling was defective because it failed to provide a safety mechanism to prevent infant suffocation and failed to adequately warn about these dangers. The suit alleges the baby sling forced the baby's chin to her chest causing "positional asphyxia" or oxygen deprivation from breathing difficulty.

The lawsuit filed by the Illinois family is a type of product liability, wrongful death case. A product liability lawsuit is a type of personal injury case. In a product liability lawsuits, there are several theories from which a party may recover, including strict liability, negligence, and breach of warranty of merchantability. However, the primary argument for any product liability case is that the product is unreasonably dangerous. On occasion, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (or CPSC) investigates reports that a product has caused serious injury or death.

A baby sling is a popular product that allows parents or caregivers to literally wear their infants as they go about their busy lives. In March 2010, the CPSC issued a warning regarding the dangers of baby slings. The warning was issued after at least three babies died in baby slings in 2009 alone.

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About three-quarters of the world's total population uses cell phones. No doubt, the percentage in US is even higher. As a Chicago personal injury lawyer and cell phone user, I have often wondered whether cell phones present any dangers to consumers in terms of cancer. After all, cell phones are usually no more than a few inches away from most US users. A Danish group recently completed extensive research on this issue and found no evidence of a link between cell phone use and cancer rates.

Cell phones work by sending signals to nearby cell towers through RF waves. These waves are a form of energy located between the spectrum of a FM radio wave and a microwave. According to the America Cancer Society, "like FM radio waves, mircrowaves, visible light and heat, [RF waves] are a form of non-ionizing radiation. They cannot cause cancer by directly damaging DNA. RF waves are different from strong types of radiation such as x-rays, gamma rays, and ultraviolet (UV) light, which can break the chemical bonds in DNA."

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