Philadelphia Injury Lawyer Blog

Four Pharmaceutical executives are scheduled to stand before a judge in Philadelphia this Monday regarding their part in a wrongful death case that claimed the life of three elderly victims between the years of 2003 and 2004. Michael D. Huggins, Thomas B. Higgins, Richard E. Bohner, and John J. Wash, formers executives of Synthes Inc. have been charged with violating a “responsible corporate officer doctrine” after having knowingly promoted the use of a potentially dangerous product.

Synthes Inc., who operates out of West Chester, PA, is a medical device company whose corporate operations are headed up overseas in Switzerland. A subsidiary of the firm began producing the bone cements SRS and XR, which were created to fill the gaps in the vertebrae of millions of older people, in the early 2000’s with the hopes of selling it to hospitals worldwide.

Synthes actually began testing the products in hospitals during a specific back procedure without prior approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for human trial. The court found that patients were directly and proximately harmed by the conduct of the defendants and others at Synthes after they exposed patients to SRS and XR without their full informed consent without the FDA’s authorization. Three elderly patients died after exposure to the compounds. Although patient autopsies could not definitively confirm that SRS and XR compounds caused the deaths, they did reveal that all patients suffered a serious drop in blood pressure moments after the bone cement was injected into their vertebrae.

Each of the defendants has pleaded guilty and hopes for nothing more than probation but could be sentenced to up to a year in jail and $100,000 each in fines. The case is scheduled to be heard by Philadelphia Judge Lagrome D. Davis next week. If you live in the Philadelphia area or anywhere in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, contact expert injury lawyer Edith A. Pearce if you or your loved one has been injured in a products liability or medical malpractice case.

In a recent press release, it was announced that the toy manufacturer G.A. Gertmenian and Sons have recalled the Toy Story 3 Bowling Game due to violation of lead paint standard. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with G.A. Gertmenian and Sons announced on May 5, 2011 that it would voluntarily recall the toy bowling set. Consumers should stop using the particular Toy Story 3 Bowling Game immediately. It is now illegal to resell or attempt to resell the recalled consumer product.

G.A. Gertmenian and Sons, LLC is based out of Los Angeles, California. The Toy Story 3 Bowling Game was sold in stores throughout the US, possibly near Philadelphia and throughout the country. Six hundred units of the game were manufactured and distributed.

It was found that the red paint used on some bowling pins has been measured to be in excess of the maximum allowable level of 90 ppm, a violation of the federal lead paint standard. The sets were manufactured in China and sold at Walmart Stores throughout the US for $18.

The set contains batch marking of JA 148. The set contains six white plastic bowling pins with two red stripes painted on the necks, one black plastic ball, and one nylon game rug with a print of Buzz Lightyear. The batch marking will appear just above the barcode. Consumers can get a free replacement product by calling 888-224-4181.

If your child or loved one suspected they have been injured by a defective or recalled toy, contact a Philadelphia injury lawyer right away. Philadelphia injury lawyer will be able to immediately assist you with your case.

Philadelphia personal injury attorneys are calling it a bizarre case of deja vu. Toyota Motor Corp. has just announced a recall of 2.17 Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold in the U.S., warning that carpeting and floor mat flaws could jam vehicle gas pedals and result in serious personal injury car accidents. Last month Toyota recalled 1.7 million vehicles, mostly in Japan but including Lexus luxury models sold in the U.S., for defects that could cause fuel leaks. This newest recall comes exactly one year after Toyota company president Akio Toyoda testified before Congress in the wake of a massive 2009 vehicle recall for a disturbingly similar problem. The new recall expands Toyota's November 2009 recall to fix shifting floor mats that could jam under pedals.

While Toyota's woes seem to be leading the news, most vehicle manufacturers are forced to issue recalls from time to time to correct potentially dangerous flaws. Last month, Ford Motor Co. recalled 425,000 Windstar minivans in midwestern and northern states to correct faulty subframe mounting brackets. That recall was sparked by 7 vehicle accidents that occurred when mounting brackets separated from the frame of the car. Last month, General Motors expanded a December recall of Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC pickup trucks and SUVs for a rear axle problem that could cause the axle to lock and drivers to lose control of the vehicle.

Fuel leaks, faulty breaks, steering problems, stalling and design flaws -- all with the potential to cause serious personal injury accidents and even death -- result in major vehicle recalls in Philadelphia and across the U.S. every year. In 2010, motor vehicle complaints topped the list of most frequent consumer complaints received by state and federal reporting agencies. In 2010, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported receiving more than 64,000 vehicle complaints, nearly double the 35,000 complaints typical of the past few years.

Today we continue our February 8, 2011 post on food recalls.

A recent recall of salad products in Philadelphia highlighted the increasing personal injury risk posed by contaminated food products in the U.S. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the number of contaminated food incidents has tripled over the past 20 years to 350 incidents annually. Last year, Philadelphia personal injury lawyers noted, contaminated salad greens, ground beef and eggs prompted massive food product recalls, caused broad-spread illness and several wrongful deaths. A number of grocery chains implemented more-stringent food-safety requirements than those imposed by the government and began conducting independent food safety tests.

Public hew and cry over the number of food safety problems last year put pressure on Congress which overhauled the federal food-safety system for the first time since the 1930s. The $1.4 billion bill signed by President Obama emphasizes preventative measures geared to stop contaminated foods from reaching stores. The new law, for the first time, gives the FDA the authority to issue mandatory food recalls, mandates increased inspections of food-processing facilities, and places responsibility on food producers and suppliers to implement procedures to protect the safety of the food chain. While the law does not affect meat, poultry and certain egg products, which are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it does affect 80% of America's food supply.

Concern about the increasing incidence of food-bourne illness has also led to these interesting developments:

> Some grocers are using loyalty cards to locate and alert consumers who have purchased recalled products. Federal investigators are also using card data to track contaminated food outbreaks and were able to pinpoint the source of a salmonella contamination last summer using card data.

> Some egg farms are beginning to inject their poultry with a salmonella vaccine that prevents hens from passing the bacteria to their eggs. Mandated poultry vaccination in the United Kingdom has made Britain's egg supply one of the safest in the world.

Salad products in Philadelphia and along the East Coast were recently recalled after listeria contamination was discovered in salad greens processed at a State Garden, Inc. facility in Rhode Island. The recall affects prepackaged salads with a use by date of January 15, 2011 that were sold at Wegmans, Giant, Shop & Stop, Shaw's and other major grocery store chains. Potentially contaminated salads products, packaged both in bags and ready-to-eat plastic clamshells, were sold under the brand names Gold Quality, Hannaford, Nature's Place, Nature's Promise, Roche Bros, Northeast Fresh, Noreast Fresh, Olivia's Organics, Signature and Wegmans.

While no food poisoning cases were reported in connection with this most recent food recall, Philadelphia personal injury lawyers note that food-borne pathogens sicken 48 million people in Philadelphia and across the country every year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), food-borne bacteria sicken 1 in 6 Americans annually. Every year 3,000 Americans die from food-borne illness and another 180,000 are hospitalized.

Listeria-contaminated celery from the San Antonio, Texas SanGar Produce & Processing Co. plant was linked to four deaths in October. Last summer, discovery of listeria and E. coli in its prepared salad mixes forced Fresh Express to recall more than half a million salad products nationwide. Listeria can cause high fever, severe headaches, nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain and life-threatening infections in young children, the elderly and people with weak immune systems. E. coli, one of the common food contamination bacteria, can cause severe abdominal cramping, diarrhea, nausea, lethargy, dehydration and, like listeria, can be life-threatening, particularly to the very young and old and anyone with a weak immune system.

Next time: What's being done to solve the problem

In a bizarre case of unintended truth in advertising, Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars may actually be toxic. Clearly designed to appeal to the "dare you" attitude of prepubescent boys, the super-sour chewy candy is sold in wrappers reminiscent of hazmat warning signs. Emblazoned with the words "Toxic Waste" in giant type, the packaging warns consumers of the "lethal" product inside. Unfortunately, to the alarm of Philadelphia parents, what was certainly intended to be a clever advertising ploy now appears to be true. Testing by the California Department of Public Health found toxic levels of lead in cherry-flavored Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars.

When notified of the health department findings, U.S. distributor Candy Dynamics issued an immediate voluntary recall of all flavors of the Nuclear Sludge Bar. Introduced to U.S. markets in 2007 and promoted as "hazardously sour," Toxic Waste candy is imported from Pakistan. Other candies in the Toxic Waste product line have not been recalled as the distributor does not believe them to be affected.

In 1977, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission banned lead paint because of its damaging physical and mental effects, particularly in rapidly developing infants and children under the age of 6. Until the ban, lead was commonly added to paint products to improve paint performance. Exposure to lead has been proven to stunt children's growth, cause serious nervous system damage, result in developmental delays, and seriously damage kidneys and other organs. In adults, lead can also negatively impact reproductive ability. Children are typically exposed to lead by putting toys painted with lead paint in their mouths or ingesting chips or flakes of lead paint from painted walls or furniture.

Newer research, however, has discovered that lead does not have to be ingested to cause serious personal injury. Lead-laced dust from deteriorating paint chips or home improvement projects that expose old lead-painted walls is just as toxic.

When you carefully squeegeed a shiny coat of tar-black sealant over your Philadelphia driveway last summer, it's unlikely you knew you were creating a serious health and environmental hazard. Neither did millions of other responsible American home owners, churches, schools, groceries, apartment managers and business owners who for years have regularly resealed asphalt driveways and parking lots to improve appearance and increase pavement life. Now, Philadelphia personal injury lawyers warn, disturbing results of a recent study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) indicate that coal tar driveway sealants, the kind most frequently used in Philadelphia, can create health and environmental hazards on a par with toxic dump sites.

A toxic byproduct of the steelmaking process, coal tar contains high concentrations of known cancer-causing chemicals, most prominently benzo(a)pyrene. When coal tar sealant spread on Philadelphia driveways and parking lots starts to crumble and break down, the USGS study found that particles form a toxic dust that is easily transported into homes, schools, churches and businesses by summer breezes or on shoes and clothing. When rain or runoff from lawn watering mixes with this toxic dust, the poisonous chemicals are carried into local waterways where they pose a serious environmental threat to fish, plants and wildlife.

Philadelphia personal injury attorneys warn that, as reported in the Chicago Tribune,
the toxic level of benzo(a)pyrene USGS researchers found in sealant dust "was 5,300 higher than the level that triggers an EPA Superfund cleanup."

"Such high concentrations usually are found at Superfund sites, but this could be your church parking lot or your school playground or even your own driveway," USGS researcher Barbara Mahler told the Tribune.

Philadelphia personal injury attorneys warn that anyone who has applied coal-tar sealants or who lives or works in a building where pavements have been treated with coal-tar sealants may be at risk.

The Grinch appears to be alive and well this Christmas, Philadelphia personal injury lawyers warn. A new study shows that the majority of holiday light strands sold in Philadelphia and across the U.S. may contain more lead than federal product safety standards permit in children's products. That's not news Philadelphia parents want to hear after decorating their homes and Christmas trees with holiday lights.

In a study of 68 holiday lights sold under popular brand names in Philadelphia stores, researchers found that 79% contained detectable amounts of lead. Even more disturbing, warn Philadelphia personal injury attorneys, 54% of the lights tested contained 30 times more lead than the federal children's safety limit of 600 parts per million (ppm). Because holiday lights are not marketed to children, they are not required to meet child safety standards. Philadelphia personal injury attorneys warn parents that the potential risk to their children could be significant and that the high levels of lead found in some holiday lights could also pose a risk to adults. Lead is known to cause serious neurological and reproductive injuries.

Holiday light testing was conducted by the Ecology Center, a nonprofit environmental organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Lead is a manufacturing component of the vinyl used to coat holiday light wires and bulb sockets. Researchers at the center tested popular varieties of holiday lights for several hazardous metals and chemicals, including lead, cadmium, arsenic and PVC. Test results found detectable lead in 4 out of 5 holiday light products. Nearly a third of the lights tested contained lead levels greater than 1,000 ppm, enough to make them illegal in Europe. California requires a warning label on electrical cords that contain a lead level of 1,000 ppm or greater.

Philadelphians are urged to keep holiday lights out of children's reach and wear gloves and wash their hands after handling holiday lights.

After 32 tragic deaths and years of lobbying by heart-sick parents and consumer advocates, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission yesterday banned the manufacture, sale and resale of drop-side cribs. In the past decade, 32 infants and toddlers in Philadelphia and across the country have been tragically suffocated or strangled to death in drop-side crib accidents. These cribs are also implicated in the entrapment deaths of another 14 children. Philadelphia personal injury lawyers urge parents of young children to immediately stop using drop-side cribs and make sure that these hazardous cribs are not in use by their child's day care provider.

A long-time industry standard, drop-side cribs have a kick plate connected to one of the side crib rails. When the plate is kicked, the crib side drops down, allowing parents to easily lift a child out of the crib. Investigations following infant deaths have found that the stress of repeatedly raising and lowering the crib side can cause hardware to weaken or break, allowing the drop side to separate from the crib structure and come off its track. Babies and toddlers can fall into the resulting gap and hang or suffocate to death.

A 2007 investigation by the Chicago Tribune led to the recall of one million drop-side cribs with several subsequent recalls eventually affecting more than 7 million drop-side cribs. As their dangers received increased publicity, the cribs began falling out of favor with parents; and manufacturers began offering more cribs with fixed sides. New safety standards proposed last year threatened to ban the use of drop-side cribs in hotels and day care centers. In response, major crib manufacturers voluntarily agreed to halt the manufacture of drop-side cribs earlier this year.

Yesterday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission finally enacted proposed safety standards and banned the manufacture, sale and resale of drop-side cribs. The ban will affect more than 59,000 day care center and 43,000 hotels which have 2 years to comply.

A $5 million settlement is expected unleash a flood of wrongful death lawsuits against the makers of chewing tobacco, say experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorneys. This week, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. agreed to pay a $5 million settlement award to the family of a North Carolina man who died of mouth cancer in 2003. A tobacco chewer from the age of 13, Bobby Hill of Canton, NC was 42 when he died of cancer of the tongue. Hill's wife filed the wrongful death lawsuit against the maker of popular Skoal and Copenhagen smokeless tobacco products in 2005. Philadelphia personal injury lawyers say the $5 million award is the first wrongful death settlement won against a chewing tobacco company.

Lost in the harsh media spotlight shown on the connection between cancer and cigarettes, the dangers of smokeless tobacco products have drawn little press and few legal battles. Philadelphia personal injury attorneys expect this week's hefty settlement award to change that overnight. Smokeless tobacco products carry significant cancer risk. Chewing tobacco is addictive; users absorb twice as much nicotine as cigarette smokers. Smokeless tobacco use can cause cancer of the mouth, throat, lips, larynx and esophagus. According to American Cancer Society, tobacco use is responsible for 1 in 5 U.S. deaths.

While cigarette use has declined since 1964 when the U.S. Surgeon General first linked smoking to cancer, use of smokeless tobacco products has inched up. Erroneously considered less lethal than cigarettes, chewing tobacco is believed to be nearly risk free by many, particularly teens and young adults. According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, the average age of first-time chewing tobacco users is 10. Young women who use chewing tobacco to control weight gain are the fastest growing user group.

If you use chewing tobacco and have been diagnosed with cancer, consult a Philadelphia personal injury attorney for a free case evaluation.

Despite the fact that Johnson & Johnson, maker of the faulty DuPuy replacement hip, has recalled 93,000 DuPuy ASR hip implants and admitted that its hip implant is a "bad product," Philadelphia patients could get stuck paying the bill to correct the problem, warn Philadelphia personal injury attorneys. More than 300 hip replacement patients in Philadelphia and across the U.S. have complained to Johnson & Johnson about severe pain and difficulty walking, sitting and standing following recovery from hip replacement surgery in which the DuPuy ASR hip implant was used. Hip replacement surgery is considered a relatively uncomplicated procedure with a very good recovery rate and has become one of the more common surgical procedures performed in the U.S. today.

In issuing a voluntary product recall, Johnson & Johnson admitted that "a high than expected number of patients required a second hip procedure." Statistical data indicates that the DuPuy ASR hip implant has a 12% rate of failure. However, despite its admission of fault, Johnson & Johnson is now attempting to hold patients liable for implant failure, warn Philadelphia personal injury lawyers. To the frustration of hip replacement patients, Johnson & Johnson is refusing to pay the cost of a second hip replacement surgery to remove the faulty DuPuy implant and replace it with a different product.

Considered one of the most significant medical achievements of the last century, hip replacement surgery has allowed people crippled by severe arthritis to walk comfortably again. Hip replacement surgery can dramatically improve the comfort and mobility of patients whose hips have been damaged by disease or broken during a fall. First introduced in 1960, more than 193,000 hip replacement surgeries are performed in the U.S. annually.

Philadelphia residents who have undergone a hip replacement that used the DuPuy ASR hip implant are urged to contact a Philadelphia personal injury attorney.

Just in time for holiday baking, tainted eggs are back in the Philadelphia news. Sparked by a new outbreak of salmonella, Philadelphia personal injury lawyers note that the most recent egg recall was ordered when regular testing discovered salmonella in a barn at the Central Ohio farm of egg producer Ohio Fresh Eggs. Cal-Maine Foods, the country's largest egg distributor, recalled 288,000 eggs purchased from the Ohio farm. So far no cases of salmonella poisoning have been linked to this batch of contaminated eggs. However, earlier this year 1,600 reported cases of salmonella illness were traced to two Iowa egg farms resulting in the August recall of 550 million eggs.

Nationwide epidemics of food-borne illness, most commonly caused by salmonella, E. coli or listeria, are usually traced to worker or manufacturer negligence, unsanitary conditions or diseased animals. While food poisoning can occur at any point in the manufacturing, packaging, preparation or food-handling process, nationwide recalls are generally traced to farm conditions or practices. In the most recent egg recall, farm workers negligently included questionable eggs in a shipment of uncontaminated eggs. A few years ago, a nationwide E. coli outbreak was traced to a California farm where workers were using the same truck to haul manure and lettuce.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC), food-borne diseases sicken 76 million Americans every year, 325,000 seriously enough to be hospitalized. More than 5,000 Americans die from food-borne illness every year. Philadelphians are warned not to consume uncooked eggs. (Yes, this means no licking the beaters or snacking on uncooked cookie dough while you're doing your holiday baking!)

When food-borne illness causes serious illness or death, a Philadelphia personal injury attorney can protect your rights and fight for the compensation you deserve from negligent food producers, packers or distributors.

Philadelphia parents are understandably upset by the recall of 11 million defective Fisher-Price highchairs, tricycles and toys sold for use by young children. Infants and toddlers were injured in 24 reported accidents before Fisher-Price initiated the voluntary product recall under pressure from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The majority of the personal injury accidents involved children falling from highchairs or tricycles with a number of the injured toddlers suffering injuries severe enough to require stitches.

Philadelphia personal injury attorneys joined Fisher-Price and the Consumer Product Safety Commission in warning parents to stop using the recalled products immediately and contact Fisher-Price at 1-800-432-5437 (9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday) for a free replacement or repair kit. A complete list of the recalled items can be found on the company's website at www.fisher-price.com.

This is the largest Fisher-Price recall since 1998 when the company recalled 10 million Power Wheels cars after it was discovered that the wheels could come off and present a choking hazard to young children. Nationwide, the current recall is the largest since 2008 when toy manufacturers were forced to recall millions of toys painted with lead paint by Chinese suppliers. That recall cost Mattel, Fisher Price's parent company, $2.3 million for violation of U.S. laws prohibiting the use of lead paint. It was the largest civil fine ever meted out by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The lead paint recall led to enactment of tougher federal safety laws for children's toys.

Too often, manufacturers and federal watchdogs fail to act until after children are seriously injured. If your child is injured while playing with a toy, contact an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney to protect your rights and fight for compensation. Product liability lawsuits serve to inform the public of product defects and help get dangerous products off store shelves before they injure others.

Sleep positioning products for infants are marketed to Philadelphia parents as safety aids, but they can actually be killers, warn Philadelphia personal injury attorneys. Federal product safety regulators say more than a dozen infant suffocation deaths have been linked to these products over the past decade. Widely available at Babies R Us, Toys R Us, Target and other retailers, the products are particularly popular with safety-conscious Philadelphia parents who are unaware that the suffocation potential of these products poses a serious products liability issue that can result in the death of their child. Major retailers told the FDA they will stop selling the faulty products.

Most baby sleep aids use foam bolsters to hold infants firmly in position while they sleep. Tragically, as infants squirm around or roll over, they can become trapped with their faces pressed against the foam and suffocate. Purchased by Philadelphia parents to protect infants from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), which some sleep positioning products claim to prevent, the products have never been approved for that use by the FDA.

SIDS is the leading cause of infant death among babies 1 to 2 months of age and the third leading cause of death in children during their first year of life. In the U.S., one baby dies from SIDS every hour. More than 7,000 infant deaths each year are attributed to SIDS, although death rates have declined slightly since 1994 when the American Academy of Pediatrics began recommending that parents put babies to sleep on their backs. Researchers have yet to determine the cause of sudden and unexplained infant death. Infants appear to be healthy before they die. Research suggests that a variety of minute development problems in the infant's nervous or respiratory systems may play a role.

If your baby's death was attributed to SIDS and you used an infant sleep positioning aid, consult an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney about your rights.

The tiny button batteries that power many popular children's toys can cause serious personal injuries when swallowed by Philadelphia children and can be fatal. A new report from a Utah hospital tracked an increasing incidence of button battery injuries and fatalities among young children. If swallowed, button batteries pose not only a choking risk to Philadelphia children but trigger a chemical reaction that can burn through internal tissue in only a few hours.

Philadelphia personal injury lawyers say the use of button batteries in children's toys creates a potentially hazardous product liability issue that could lead to defective product claims. Last week, family restaurant and game franchise Chuck E. Cheese recalled more than 1 million children's toys that contained button batteries. While the restaurant had received no reports of injured children, it chose to take proactive action by recalling potentially harmful toys sold at its restaurants.

Ranging in size from 1/8 to o1/2 inch, button batteries have become a staple of daily life. The small, compact batteries power a broad range of common household items, including toys, games, cell phones, watches, hearing aids, lighted shoes, musical greeting cards, remote controls and calculators. In any Philadelphia home, there are ample opportunities for curious children to run across button batteries. Because infants first explore their world with their mouths, the younger the child is, the more apt he is to put a discovered battery in his mouth. Once in the throat, "The window for safely removing batteries is only two hours," Dr. Toby Litovitz, director of the National Capital Poison Center, told the Associated Press in a recent interview. Swallowed button batteries must be removed immediately to prevent children from incurring serious personal injuries.

If you believe your child's health or life has been threatened by a hazardous toy, contact an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney for a free case evaluation.

Toyota is back in the news, this time as one of 13 defendants charged in a wrongful death and product liability suit filed in Philadelphia this week. Personal injury attorneys are suing Toyota, BP America Inc. and others on behalf of a Camp Hill, Pennsylvania mother whose teen-aged son died in a gas pump fire last March. Nineteen-year-old Luther Byers suffocated when static electricity ignited gasoline fumes at a Harrisburg BP gas station where he was pumping gas into his Toyota Yaris. According to fire department investigators, hot gas created by the fire robbed the air of oxygen, causing the teen to suffocate. In addition to Toyota and BP Philadelphia personal injury attorneys are suing the gas station franchisee and the manufacturer of the gas pump nozzle, among others.

Wrongful death occurs when a company or individual's act, omission or misconduct is responsible for an individual's death. Poor design, defective manufacturing or inadequate usage instructions can result in faulty products that can potentially cause serious personal injuries or, as in the case of Luther Byers, wrongful death. Product liability cases can be complex to litigate and require intense investigation and preparation by personal injury attorneys.

Product defects can occur during any phase of the manufacturing process with most product issues involving multiple contributing factors. Among the many variables that can contribute to the defective performance of a product -- all of which must be thoroughly investigated by personal injury attorneys before a case goes to court -- are raw product suppliers, product design, the manufacturing process including manufacturing equipment and facilities and worker training and oversight, parts or technology provided by suppliers or subcontractors, effectiveness and availability of product use instructions, and the degree of human direction or oversight provided during the product's use. For example, in the Philadelphia gas pump case described above, personal injury attorneys are exploring design and use of the gas pump nozzle as one contributing factor to the accident. The fact that the gas station did not have an attendant on duty at the time of the accident is another issue in the wrongful death suit.

When personal injury or wrongful death occurs during use of a defective product, Philadelphia personal injury lawyers can protect your rights and obtain just compensation.

In a victory for Philadelphia breast cancer patients, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a $2.75 million jury award to an Arkansas woman who claimed hormone replacement drugs caused her breast cancer. Donna Scroggin was diagnosed with breast cancer after taking hormone replacement drugs widely-prescribed to ease menopause symptoms. On Scroggin's behalf, personal injury product liability attorneys sued drug makers Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Upjohn Co., both now subsidiaries of Pfzier Inc., claiming that hormone replacement drugs they manufactured were responsible for Scroggin's breast cancer.

The jury agreed, awarding Scroggin $2.75 million in compensatory damages and $27 million in punitive damages. On appeal, the punitive damage award was struck down by a federal judge who ordered a partial retrial solely to address punitive damages. In a victory for Philadelphia cancer victims, the Supreme Court upheld the decision to limit the partial retrial to punitive damages, rejecting the drug company's argument that the retrial should review all aspects of the cause, including the court's finding that hormone replacement drugs contributed to Scroggin's cancer.

After taking hormone replacement drugs for 15 years, Scroggin eventually lost both breasts to mastectomy after the discovery of cancerous lumps. More than 6 million women in Philadelphia and across the U.S. have been prescribed hormone replacement drugs to relieve menopause symptoms that can include night sweats, hot flashes and mood swings. Prescribed for decades, hormone replacement therapy was standard medical treatment for menopausal symptoms until 2002 when researchers discovered a 26% higher incidence of cancer among women taking the drugs. Scroggin's successful product liability suit sets the stage for more than 8,000 personal injury lawsuits related to menopause drugs that have been filed against drug maker Wyeth to date.

Philadelphia women who develop cancer after taking hormone replacement drugs are urged to consult a knowledgeable Philadelphia product liability attorney about their rights.

Concerned about the potential personal injury risk posed by millions of cadmium-laced Shrek Forever After promotional glasses sold in their stores, McDonald's in Philadelphia and across the U.S. have started offering $3 refunds to Philadelphia consumers to return the glasses. Sold by McDonald's stores for $2, more than 7 million of the colorfully-painted glasses have been purchased by Philadelphia and other American consumers since going on sale May 21.

Last Friday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the voluntary recall of 12 million defective product Shrek glasses when painted designs were found to contain the toxic substance cadmium which has the potential to cause injuries to children. This week, the burger giant started offering $3 refunds. Philadelphia consumers can return the defective glasses to any McDonald's.

A known carcinogen, cadmium has been implicated in several recalls of metal jewelry since the first of the year. In January, laboratory tests ordered by the Associated Press revealed the potential personal injury risk of cadmium-tainted products made in China. Christmas-themed and best friends charm bracelets marketed to young children were found to contain up to 90% cadmium. More recently, Miley Cyrus jewelry marketed to teens and young women was recalled when it was found to contain cadmium.

Used in the production of batteries, metal coatings and plastics, cadmium can also be used in paint to produce the colors red and yellow. Long-term exposure to cadmium is known to cause cancer, bone softening, severe kidney problems and may hinder brain development in young children. The McDonald's recall is the first cadmium incident involving American-made products. The glasses were made by Arc International at its New Jersey plant. Previous cadmium recalls have involved Chinese-manufactured consumer products. The CPSC is currently developing consumer product standards to limit the use of toxic metals in U.S. consumer products.

Kitchen accidents are a common occurrence in Philadelphia. But when dinner is over and you plunk that last dish into the dishwasher and press the start button, most Philadelphians think they've gotten safely through another meal. Unfortunately, a new recall indicates that turning on the dishwasher could just be the start of your problems.

Today, Philadelphia personal injury attorneys warned that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of 1.7 million Maytag dishwashers sold in Philadelphia and across the United States. Maytag-manufactured dishwashers have been implicated in 12 reported electrical failures that have caused fires resulting in significant property damage. While no serious Philadelphia personal injuries have been reported, the potential for disaster exists. Many Philadelphians turn on their dishwashers on their way to bed. Should a fire break out while a family is sleeping, smoke inhalation and flames could cause severe personal injury and even death, say concerned Philadelphia personal injury lawyers.

The recall applies to Maytag dishwashers sold under the following brand names: Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, Admiral, Magic Chef and Performa; as well as Crosley brand dishwashers with plastic tubs. The recalled dishwashers were sold at Philadelphia and other U.S. appliance and department stores between February 2006 and April 2010. Maytag is a division of appliance manufacturer Whirlpool Corp.

Philadelphia product liability lawyers advise Philadelphia consumers to immediately stop using recalled dishwashers and disconnect the appliance from its power source by turning off the circuit breaker or fuse that governs the dishwasher. Philadelphia consumers can call their local Maytag service center to schedule a free in-home repair. Whirlpool is also offering affected Philadelphia consumers rebates toward the purchase of a new Maytag dishwasher. To find out if your dishwasher is among those recalled serial numbers of the defective dishwashers are posted on the CPSC website.

If you have suffered damage or personal injury from a defective product, ask a Philadelphia personal injury attorney to review your case.

When pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson recalled a laundry list of the most popular children's liquid pain and allergy medicines on April 30, frightened Philadelphia parents were told that generic substitutes for children's Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl were safe to use. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reassured Philadelphia parents that the drug recall affected only over-the-counter children's medicines manufactured by McNeil Consumer Healthcare for Johnson & Johnson. The federal agency said Philadelphia parents could safely substitute generic alternatives sold by pharmacies, grocery stores and discount chains for the recalled brand-name drugs. Apparently, the FDA was wrong.

This week, Perrigo, the country's largest maker of generic drugs, received a warning from the FDA citing significant manufacturing violations. Metal shavings, one of the dangerous contaminants found in recalled children's Tylenol and Benadryl, were discovered in ibuprofen tablets produced at Perrigo's Michigan plant. Fortunately, this time the defective drug was recalled before reaching consumers. Perrigo supplies generic equivalent drugs to many of the nation's biggest pharmacy chains, including Walgreens and CVS. While the FDA's warning letter did not specifically mention children's medicines, parents and Philadelphia personal injury attorneys are understandably concerned that contaminants found in one of the company's products may also be contained in other medicines manufactured at the firm's Michigan plant.

Consumer advocates are pushing the FDA to institute stricter pre-market quality control measures to insure that defective medicines do not reach consumers. Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hear testimony by Johnson & Johnson and FDA officials on what is becoming a disturbingly more frequent problem. The House committee is expected to investigate the cause of drug manufacturing defects and evaluate the response of federal regulators.

Yesterday, Wal-Marts in Philadelphia and across the country started clearing their shelves of Miley Cyrus brand jewelry. The metal necklaces and bracelets were found to contain high levels of the toxic substance cadmium in laboratory tests performed for the Associated Press. A joint statement issued by Wal-Mart, Cyrus and jewelry designer Max Azria said that although the jewelry was not marketed specifically to children, precautions were being taken because young fans of the Hanna Montana pop star could purchase the jewelry or receive it as a gift. While cadmium jewelry is not known to be toxic when worn, it presents a significant personal injury danger if sucked on or bitten, common behaviors in young children and a common nervous habit among elementary and middle school-aged children.

This is the latest of several cadmium scares to worry Philadelphia parents since January when the Associated Press first exposed the potential personal injury risk associated with children's jewelry manufactured in China. Laboratory tests have revealed high levels of the toxic metal cadmium in the metal chains and charms of children's jewelry made in China for sale in Philadelphia and across the U.S. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recently began testing for cadmium and has recalled several children's jewelry products sold at Wal-Mart, Claire's and other retailers. Some recalled jewelry, including a popular Best Friends charm bracelet sold exclusively at Claire's, was found to be 91% cadmium.

A known carcinogen, extended exposure to cadmium can cause serious personal injuries in young children, including kidney failure, brain development problems and bone damage. Philadelphia personal injury attorneys recommend parents remove suspicious metal jewelry from their children's possession. If your child becomes ill or you notice behavioral changes, seek medical attention and contact a Philadelphia personal injury attorney for a free case evaluation.

From a Philadelphia Injury Lawyer perspective, injuries to children can be very devastating. A child's toy dart game that was sold between September 2005 and January 2009 by Family Dollar stores caused the death of two children, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in issuing a recent warning on its website. Two young boys, a 9-year-old in Chicago and a 10-year-old in Milwaukee, suffocated to death while playing with the Auto Fire target set. In separate incidents, both boys were asphyxiated when the colorful 1-inch darts lodged in their throats. The darts were designed to be shot from plastic toy guns at a target board. In issuing a recall of 1.8 million Auto Fire dart-gun toys, the Consumer Product Safety Commission urged Philadelphia parents to immediately discard the toys.

With summer coming, children will soon be out of school which means more time for play. When parents purchase toys for their children they should be able to anticipate a summer full of fun, not tragedy. Philadelphia parents who purchase age-appropriate toys should be able to rely on manufacturers' and distributors' packaging and marketing. Toys marked as appropriate for children of a certain age should not present a personal injury risk or possibility of wrongful death to children in that age group and older who play with them.

Tragically, too often hazardous toys are not removed from the market until after several children suffer serious personal injuries or die. Often Philadelphia personal injury lawyers ring the first warning bell when they pursue legal damages for victims injured by a toy or for their families when a child dies. Money talks. When corporations refuse to act on consumer complaints about their products, the cost of personal injury lawsuits often gains their attention and forces them to initiate proper safety measures.

A pain pump designed to alleviate pain may be the cause of serious chronic pain suffered by athletes and active adults in Philadelphia and across the country, charges a defective product liability lawsuit. Implanted in the knee by orthopedic surgeons to control pain following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery, pain pumps manufactured by Breg, Inc., a California medical device maker, were never approved for use in knees or joints by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), despite being marketed for that purpose. Philadelphia surgeons estimate that thousands of orthopedic surgeons across the country have used Berg and similar pain pumps in joint surgery with most patients achieving full recovery. However, for a number of knee surgery patients, recovery has been illusive. These former women athletes report chronic, constant joint pain that limits their ability to walk comfortably or sleep through the night without being awakened by severe pain.

Last November the FDA issued a warning to doctors citing 35 reports of chondrolysis and intimating a possible association with pain pumps used in orthopedic surgery. The most severe cases of cartilage destruction occurred in shoulder surgeries. In all 35 incidents, healthy young adults experienced debilitating cartilage destruction in the joint following orthopedic surgery and implantation of a pain pump. While the FDA noted that the cause of chondrolysis had not been proven, the agency did specify that pain pump medical devices had not been approved for use in joints.

Five Midwestern women in their 20s, former college athletes, have filed personal injury lawsuits against Berg, charging the pain pump manufacturer with product liability and medical malpractice issues, including misleading marketing. One Ohio orthopedic surgeon who uses pain pumps told a reporter that doctors don't commonly read FDA approvals but rely on sales representatives for product information.

If you have had a pain pump implanted during joint surgery and suffer chronic pain, talk to an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney about your rights.

Philadelphia personal injury lawyer, Edith Pearce recently negotiated a million dollar settlement for the victim of a dangerous and defective machine that caused a severe injury to his hand. The case involved a 16-year old boy at that time, who was temporarily placed by his employer, a staffing company, to work at a sheet metal forming facility outside Philadelphia. The facility had been cited previously by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, of the U.S. Department of Labor for safety violations within the plant. While temporarily working at the facility on a machine used to bend sheets of metal, the boy's glove and hand were drawn into the rollers causing severe injury to his hand. The matter become quite complex as there was a dispute as to whom, if anyone was in control of the premises and who, if anyone, could be considered Plaintiff’s employer at the time of the accident. Also, since the Plaintiff was under 18 years old and considered a child, there were additional violations of the child labor laws.

Edith Pearce, a well-known Philadelphia injury attorney sued both the temporary agency for placing the Plaintiff at the dangerous factory without any training and the owner of the dangerous machine. Through discovery, Edith obtained records showing that the machine had been cited by OSHA for various safety violations. Because Edith specializes in the Philadelphia area as both a personal injury lawyer and an employment lawyer, she was able to understand all the claims and pursue a large settlement. Not only was a Pennsylvania workers’ compensation settlement obtained earlier for over $100,000, but Edith negotiated a settlement with the owners of the property and the machine for $975,000, making the total settlement over a million dollars.