Sacramento Injury Attorney Blog

According to the Los Angeles Times, Infantino has recalled more than 1 million baby slings after three infants suffocated.

If the slings are determined to have a design defect, a manufacturing defect or a marketing defect, the manufacturer, distributor, or even retail seller could be held liable in a products liability case.

Earlier this March, the Consumer Product Safety Commission stated that it was investing 14 deaths over the last 20 years related to the use of baby slings. The CPSC has now advised consumers to stop using the slings with infants younger than four months and not to try to fix the carriers, but to replace them instead. Because young babies have little motor control of their head, they are at risk for suffocation.

Liability for a defective product is established in one of three ways:

•The product is designed defectively. A product has a defective design when the foreseeable risks of harm could have been reduced or eliminated by using a different design.
•The product has a manufacturing defect. An error in the manufacturing process causes a few or many of a particular product to be defective. A product is also considered defective if the manufacturer fails to provide adequate warnings regarding the dangers of improper use.
•Marketing defects. A distributor and seller of a product may be held strictly liable in a case where the marketing is misleading.

The slings were sold from January 2003 through March 2010 at Target, Walmart, Babies R Us, Amazon.com and many other children's stores throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Continue reading "Massive Baby Sling Recall Could Affect Thousands of California Families" »

Earlier this week Honda announced a recall of over 410,000 Odyssey minivans and Elements due to braking problems that could create problems stopping. According to NHTSA, at least three car crashes have been linked to the defect causing minor injuries.

Car accidents are one of the leading causes of personal injury and wrongful death in California.

The defect is linked to Honda's electronic stability control system, which brakes all of the car's wheels in an emergency and allows some air to enter the hydraulic brake line. As a result, drivers are forced to apply excessive pressure while braking.

According the California New Car Dealers Association in Sacramento, the Odyssey was rated as the best-selling minivan California.

The Honda recall follows the massive recalls issued in recent months by Toyota for accelerator defects and Ford Motor Company for power steering defects.

Continue reading "Honda Recalls Thousands of California Minivans" »

5 years have now passed since S.B. 899, worker's compensation "reform," was enacted. Since that time, payouts for those injured at work have significantly decreased. In fact, benefits for permanently disabled workers have been reduced on average by 50 to 70 percent.

While employers laud the savings, injured employees in Marin County and all of California have suffered the consequences. These consequences include the failure to receive benefits, strict limitations on the benefits one can receive, and restrictions on doctor's visits and medical attention available. Recently, I had a client in need of knee surgery as a result of a work place accident. However, despite the orthopedic surgeon's recommendation that surgery was necessary, it was denied by the employer's insurance company because it was not "life altering."

Unfortunately, an insurance company's denial of a surgical procedure is not uncommon. The real cost of worker's compensation reform has been to those injured California workers who suffer serious, often long-term, work related injuries and are denied the medical attention they need.

Many times hiring an experienced worker's compensation attorney will greatly improve your chances of receiving adequate benefits by helping you file your claim, and providing crucial advice throughout your claims process. Further, if your claim is denied, an attorney can prepare your appeal, increasing your chances of a positive outcome.

Continue reading "California Worker's Compensation - Benefits Too Often Denied Or Inadequate" »