Announcements | 
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Share with your FB friends: Perils of ‘Bounce Houses’ |
| NY accident, other mishaps illuminate perils of inconsistently regulated ‘bounce houses’, AP 6-7-11. They look like harmless fun — fluffy, inflated castles, ships and slides filled with children jumping around carelessly, their parents letting their guard down a bit during playtime. But an accident that sent three of the huge toys aloft on a breezy afternoon on New York’s Long Island, left a woman seriously injured and hurt 12 other people is drawing attention to the little-known hazards of the inflatable playthings sometimes called “bounce houses” and the inconsistent regulations covering them. |
Products |
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Small Number of iPad2 Tablets Recalled |
| Apple has announced it is recalling an "extremely small number" of iPad2 tablets on the Verizon network. The company reported that the recall was issued after it was discovered that the tablets had trouble connecting to the Verizon Wireless network. The tablets affected by the recall were manufactured with duplicate identifying numbers, which prevents them from connecting to the Verizon network. Shan Li, LA Times 06/10/2011 | Read Article: LA Times |
Government Says Formaldehyde is Cancer-Causer and Styrene May Be |
| The strong-smelling chemical formaldehyde causes cancer, while styrene, a second industrial chemical that’s used worldwide in the manufacture of fiberglass and food containers, may cause cancer, the National Institutes of Health says. The NIH said that people with higher measures of exposure to formaldehyde are at increased risk for certain types of rare cancers, including those affecting the upper part of the throat behind the nose. The government says styrene is a component of tobacco smoke, and NIH says the greatest exposure to the chemical is through cigarette smoking. Associated Press, The Washington Post 06/13/2011 | Read Article: The Washington Post |
Laws/Cases |
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Procter & Gamble to Settle Pampers Diaper Lawsuit |
| Consumer products maker Procter & Gamble says it has agreed to settle a lawsuit by parents who claimed a new version of Pampers diapers caused skin rashes and other problems for their babies. P&G will pay attorney fees, estimated at $2.7 million, and $1,000 to each child of 59 plaintiffs, under terms subject to final approval in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. The company also will spend $400,000 to create a pediatric resident training program and provide skin rash education, including on the Pampers website. Associated Press, The Washington Post 06/13/2011 | Read Article: The Washington Post |
Suit Over Utah Crash to be First of Toyota Accelerator Lawsuits |
| After years of legal wrangling, the first of hundreds of lawsuits over acceleration problems against Toyota Motor Corp. has been scheduled for trial. A crash that killed two people in Utah will be the first lawsuit to be weighed in court, a federal judge said Friday. U.S. District Judge James Selna told attorneys the case of 38-year-old Charlene Jones Lloyd and 66-year-old Paul Van Alfen, whose Toyota Camry slammed into a wall in Utah in 2010, is scheduled to go to trial in February 2013. Associated Press, The Washington Post 06/13/2011 | Read Article: The Washington Post |
OH Judge Orders Ford to Pay $2B to Dealerships |
| Ford Motor Co. must pay nearly $2B in damages to thousands of dealerships in a 2002 class-action lawsuit that said the automaker violated dealer agreements, an Ohio judge ruled Friday. The judge issued the ruling based on a jury determination that the company overcharged dealers for commercial trucks over an 11-year period. The $2B award covers more than 3,000 dealerships and about 474,000 trucks. It includes a judgment of about $781M and about $1.2B in interest. Associated Press, The Washington Post 06/13/2011 | Read Article: The Washington Post |
Man Kicked Off Plane May File Lawsuit |
| A Brooklyn man has told the Detroit media that he is considering a lawsuit after he was kicked off a Delta Airlines airplane in Detroit for using the F-word. The man said he was speaking to the passenger sitting next to him during a 45-minute delay on the runway, asking "What the [expletive] is taking so long?" A flight attendant, hearing the curse word, called the police and had the man escorted off the plane. The man denies his comment was directed toward anyone and said he was not being drunk or unruly. Tammy Stables-Battaglia, Detroit Free Press 06/13/2011 | Read Article: Detroit Free Press |
$100,000 Awarded to Students Hazed in Tennessee |
| A Tennessee jury awarded $100,000 each to two local families in a lawsuit filed against the Wayne County school system over bullying at a local middle school. The lawsuit claimed that in 2008, two members of the boy's basketball team were sexually harassed and hazed in the school's locker room. The students found responsible for the hazing were sent to an alternative school for 11 days and put on probation with the school. Brandon Gee, Tennessean 06/10/2011 | Read Article: Tennessean |
Abbott Labs Sued Over Humira |
| Abbott Laboratories was sued by a TN advertising executive who claimed its top-selling arthritis drug Humira caused a life-threatening fungal infection. Frederick Delano, 69, was diagnosed in February 2009 with disseminated histoplasmosis, according to a complaint filed a TN federal court. In a May 2010 warning letter to doctors, Abbott said some Humira patients are at risk of developing the fungal infection. “But in 2008, Fred and his physicians got no warning whatsoever that the medication which he thought would help could, in fact, kill him -- and nearly did,’’ Delano and his wife, Frances, said in the complaint. Laurel Brubaker Calkins & Margaret Cronin Fisk -, Bloomberg 06/13/2011 | Read Article: Bloomberg |
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