Toyota and runaway vehicles made the headlines in the beginning of 2010. Now the class action lawsuits are slowly moving through the courts, but a problem has presented itself- where are the injuries?
When some consumers got behind the wheel of their Toyota Prius, Lexus, or Camry, and it took off uncontrollably, sometimes hitting other vehicles, there was property damage but often little human damage besides a good scare. Not everyone got off so easily. Remember the case of California Highway Patrolman Mark Saylor and his family who plunged off a San Diego cliff and perished when their loaner Lexus experienced sudden acceleration?
But that was the exception.
Plaintiffs claim, and rightly so, that their car has lost value because of its problem. But courts have so far rejected economic injuries suffered by Toyota owners. This stacks the deck against the plaintiffs who don’t feel they can drive their vehicles. At the same time, no one with a conscience wants to pawn off a “lemon” vehicle that could injure others.
There are more than 200 lawsuits pending in a class action in California. Toyota cases are being pursued with several arguments. Not only do they fall under consumer fraud statutes in California, but they also can be considered a defective product, falling under product liability law.
The Toyotas that experienced sudden acceleration are now worthless and lawyers will have to argue the property loss from this defective product. That argument is easier to make in California that has strong consumer fraud statutes.
If your Toyota has experienced sudden acceleration, you are advised to stop driving it, take it to the dealer, or if it has already gone in for repairs, call an experienced Florida product liability attorney to help you seek out the responsible party that can compensate you for your economic loss.
The Ford Motor Co. has been ordered to pay $131 million to the estate of the late baseball player, Brian Cole, who died in an Explorer rollover accident in 2001.
The amount represents a settlement reached before punitive damages were considered by the jury in the trial filed by Cole’s estate.
Cole, 27, was a New York Mets minor league player who was heading home to Mississippi after attending spring training with the Mets in Florida in March 2001. His family says he was ejected from the Ford Explorer during a rollover accident because the car’s seat belt was defective. Cole was traveling more than 80 mph when he drifted off to the side of the road and the vehicle overturned. His cousin was also in the vehicle and awarded $1.5 million for his injuries from the accident. According to Bloomberg, the verdict is the eighth-largest jury award in 2010 and the ninth biggest against an auto company in the U.S.
Ford had argued that Cole was not wearing his seat belt.
When Cole died, he was an outfielder in the AA minor leagues, very close to the majors and had been named player of the year in the Mets organization. The jury considers his earning potential when deciding what amount to award the family.
If you have had a problem with an airbag, a defective seat belt, defective tires, or any mechanical failure of your automobile, you would be well-advised to consult with a Florida auto product liability attorney to help determine to what extent the failure may have contributed to your injuries. An investigation will need to be launched, including research into the past recalls that your vehicle may have bypassed.
When you purchase an automobile, new or used, you are entitled to get all you pay for – a safe functioning car without any product defects. Automakers are responsible for designing and manufacturing automobiles that live up to their promises and promotions.
The federal government is issuing a warning about public pools this summer. About 314 million visit pools in the summer months and in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) weekly report, CDC researchers find that one out of every eight pools inspected in 13 states two years ago had to be closed for serious code violations.
The violations included improper pH levels and disinfectant which can cause norovirus, Shingella and gastroenteritis. It should come as no surprise that child care facility pools had the highest number of closings at 17.2%. Bacterial contamination came from dirty diapers, poor hygiene, and people swimming who are ill or fail to rinse their bodies before getting into the pool.
Hotel and motels had closures at 5.3% and apartment/condo pools at 12.4%.
CDC has some safety tips among them – don’t swim if you have diarrhea and don’t drink pool water. Shower with soap before entering the pool or using the bathroom or changing diapers. Check diapers often. Wash your children thoroughly including wiping their bottoms with soap and water before they go swimming.
As for what you can do on your own – you can use a test strip to test the pool water quality on your own. Check the latest pool inspection results and know the pH levels and chlorine levels from the latest test. The pH measures the relative acidity or alkalinity of the pool water. pH is measured on a scale of 1 to 14 where 1 is extremely acidic and 14 is extremely alkaline. A pH reading of 7.0 is neutral – below 7.0 is acidic – above 7.0 is alkaline.
Toyota is vowing to win back customers “at all costs” to reverse the tide of plummeting sales and an unprecedented series of safety recalls. Automotive News reports the automaker will offer the best extended new car warranty in the industry and offer a warranty for used vehicles as well. Customers will be offered cash to buy a Toyota vehicle and dealers will get help from Toyota on their overflow inventory and in dealing with repairs outside of those covered by the various recalls.
Toyota has already fallen to third behind Chevy and Ford among truck sales and 80,000 automobile sales will be lost this year.
Last fall, Toyota recalled more than five million Toyota and Lexus models following complaints of unintended acceleration caused by floor mats trapping accelerator pedals. In January, another 2.3 million cars were recalled because of unintended acceleration. This time though it was blamed on a sticky gas pedal. The more recent recalls have included the Prius hybrid and the Tacoma pickup, affecting about 8,000 four-wheel trucks that will be fixed for a defective front drive shaft.
Personal Injury Claims
We certainly hope that you or a loved one has not experienced a runaway Toyota. A few individuals have lived to tell about it and even experienced drivers who tried everything in their power to stop the vehicle, could not. As a result, there are individual lawsuits and class action lawsuits that have been filed against Toyota. Unfortunately, sometimes that is the only thing that will get the automakers ear and attention. While automakers typically try to block class actions, Toyota will not have much opportunity this time around. A suit has already been filed in federal court in Florida on behalf of over 5 million Toyota owners who have had their vehicles recalled. A lawsuit in Texas alleges a woman was killed in a December accident driving a 2009 Corolla.
It is very likely that Toyota will have to settle rather than try each case individually in open court. Expect charges of wrongful death, breach of warranty, fraudulent concealment, unjust enrichment, and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. As more information comes forward about what Toyota knew and when it knew it, expect more accusations of a cover-up. Then the question arises, why leave other similar vehicles that do not have a brake over-ride system unrecalled?
If you own a Toyota, you would be well-advised to contact a Florida auto product liability attorney, even if you have not been involved in an accident, to stay up to date with your rights, the possible diminished value of your car, and the latest news on this huge defective product action.
The national Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is telling consumers to put a full line of Hydroxycut products back on the shelf in a recent addition to their online consumer safety resource site.
The FDA has established a link between these products and a range of liver conditions, including several fatalities, according to an internal Web page urging consumers to stop using Hydroxycut products. The list includes caplets and tablets for fat burning, carb control and other dietary uses. The FDA qualifies their warning with the disclaimer that there is not yet any specific links and that some of the associated conditions are relatively rare. However, the recall stands as a needed safety measure for stopping the sale of these products while officials conduct further assessments.
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It looks like trouble for pharmacy company Matrixx Initiatives: A Federal Food and Drug Administration warning has SEC officials looking into reports over a drug called Zicam that could be responsible for an unintended side effect called “Anosmia.”
For the uninitiated, anosmia refers to a loss of the sense of smell. According to an original Wall Street Journal story cited by several online news sources, the FDA received over 100 reported incidents involving anosmia in Zicam users, prompting the issuance of an “alert” to the public regarding the Zicam products used for controlling symptoms of the common cold.
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Along with the national agencies that regulate auto product liability, smaller local partners also keep an eye on automobile safety standards. One such local agency is the Automotive Product Liability Resource Center (APLRC.com), located in sunny Santa Barbara, CA.
The goal of APLRC.com is to persuade the automobile manufacturers that it is more cost-efficient to manufacture safer automobiles than to pay the high costs of product liability litigation. To that end, the agency serves as a nationwide collaboration of attorneys, experts and victims to increase successful plaintiff verdicts in automobile safety lawsuits.
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Because of the May 1 recall of the popular diet supplement Hydroxycut, Farah & Farah, P.A., created Hydroxycut-RecallAttorneys.com as an internet resource for those injured by Hydroxycut side effects.
Discover the latest news about Iovate products affected by the recall and stay informed with updates about the potential and documented side effects of Hydroxycut.
According to the FDA, over 20 cases of liver damage have been reported among users of the diet supplement. These reports of liver damage lead the FDA to call for a recall of the product and an urgent plea for consumers to stop taking Hydroxycut products.
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California is the latest state to notice wallboards that are emitting a noxious sulfur or rotten egg smell from this defective product. It’s a problem that originated in Florida, where high humidity is causing people to move out, their electronics and appliances to corrode, and people coughing and concerned about their health.
There may be 65,000 homes nationwide that were built with substandard wallboard during the building boom. A German manufacturer, Knauf, apparently used contractors in China to create the wallboard. No one has established that the smell is hazardous to your health, but it sure is consistently corroding wiring across the country.
A number of lawsuits are underway in Florida, the most recent filed in Miami claiming that a rotten egg small is corroding wiring in homes and electronics. A Florida product liability class-action has been filed on behalf of residents here. Plaintiffs want to repair the homes or replace them, and to receive relocation costs, as well as to be reimbursed their personal property and for medical monitoring.
Medical monitoring is the only way to know whether we have more than a massive inconvenience here.
The wallboard in question reportedly reacts in high humidity and isn’t that what Florida is known for? The builders in question Lennar Corp, a major builder in Florida appears to be cooperating to the best of its ability, but it’s a terrible problem for all around. If you have any questions regarding this faulty drywall or any other defective or failing products, please contact the experienced Florida personal injury attorneys at Farah and Farah.
By Eddie Farah on November 8, 2008 -
You know the Vytorin commercials – comparing eating fettucini alfredo with your Uncle Alfredo – both are sources of high cholesterol, the ads said. Food and family are both to blame.
Now the lawsuits against the drug are piling up higher and Merck & Co and partner, Schering-Plough Corp have to answer questions to the Justice Department about whether the promotion of Vytorin made false claims. Read the rest »
