2009 June Archive

The California personal injury lawyers at Bisnar | Chase have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against General Motors, GMC Truck Division; Takta Restraint Systems, a seatbelt manufacturer and Dave Smith Motors, a Wyoming car dealer. The auto product liability lawsuit we have filed on behalf of our client alleges that General Motors and the co-defendants acted with callous disregard for the safety of Joanna Campbell, who died in a rollover car accident while riding in a GMC sport utility vehicle. We have filed this lawsuit on behalf of Paula Savino for Campbell's surviving adult children. We are seeking compensatory and punitive damages on the family's behalf.

The fatal rollover accident occurred July 10, 2007 when Carmen L. Todd lost control of her 2002 GMC Yukon Denali on Interstate 90 in Wyoming. The SUV rolled over, crushing its roof and causing it to cave in. Campbell, who was a passenger, was partially ejected. She suffered a severe skull fracture, which proved to be fatal. Our auto product liability attorneys are alleging in the lawsuit that the seatbelt manufacturer and car dealer sold this SUV without warning consumers about its defective and unsafe seat restraint system. Read the rest »

Brandin Lee Zantop, 30, was killed in a Joshua Tree motorcycle accident early morning on June 25, 2009, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports. Zantop was riding his 2006 Yamaha bike south on Quail Springs Road when he missed a turn, went off the road crossing a dirt shoulder and hitting an 18-inch berm, California Highway Patrol officials said. Zantop and his motorcycle were thrown into the fence of a nearby home's backyard. Residents said they heard an "unusual noise" when Zantop is believed to have crashed.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of Brandin Lee Zantop for their tragic and heartbreaking loss. I offer them my deepest sympathies and prayers during this difficult time. Read the rest »

DEWALT is has issued a product recall on about 9,000 defective framing nailers that could cause serious injury to consumers. According to Consumeraffairs.com, the bump action trigger on the framing nailers could have been incorrectly assembled during production, which would allow the nailer to eject a fastener unexpectedly or cause the trigger lock-off not to function. This defective product apparently has the potential to cause serious injuries to users or bystanders.

Consumers are urged to immediately stop using DEWALT Clipped Head Framing Nailers with model number D51825, and DEWALT Full Round Head Framing Nailers with model number D51850, which were sold throughout the United States between January 2008 and September 2008 for approximately $280. Read the rest »

Applica Consumer Products Inc. is recalling 584,000 Black & Decker Spacemaker Coffeemakers because of a serious burn hazard. According to a consumer alert released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Applica Consumer Products issued a voluntary product recall for these defective coffeemakers because its brew basket can shift out of alignment allowing hot water to overflow. This poses the risk of serious burn injuries and scalding to consumers. So far, the company has received 235 reports of hot water overflowing and burning consumers. There were 10 reports of consumers suffering second-degree burns. Read the rest »

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement on June 22, 2009 warning consumers about salmonella-contaminated pistachios that were packed and distributed from a plant in Anaheim. According to a news report in The Orange County Register, FDA issued a food-borne illness alert cautioning consumers not to eat California Prime Produce and Orange County Orchards brands of pistachios repacked by Orca Distribution West Inc. located in Orange County. Orca reportedly received and repacked pistachios recalled by California-based Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc.

Federal officials believe that these pistachios may be contaminated with salmonella bacteria. The contamination was found after FDA inspectors visited Orca as part of their audit checks to follow up on Setton's product recall. Although Orca repacked and distributed products subject to Setton Pistachio's recall, Orca had not made a public announcement regarding the products, which is why the FDA issued the news alert to warn consumers. These recalled products were apparently distributed to retail locations in airports and hotels nationwide. The California Prime Produce and Orange County Orchards brands of pistachios were packaged in clear 6-ounce flexible plastic Ziploc bags, UPC Number: 8 10826011162 with Sell By Dates of 7/30/09 and 8/30/09. Consumers who have bought these salmonella-tainted pistachios are urged not to eat them. Read the rest »

Nestle has voluntarily recalled all varieties of its popular brand of prepackaged and refrigerated Toll House Cookie Dough due to the risk of contamination with E. Coli 0157:H7 bacteria that cause serious food-borne illnesses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, through an alert, is warning consumers who have any of these cookie dough products in their home to discard them. Cooking the dough is not recommended because consumers can still become sick by getting the bacteria on their hands and other cooking surfaces. Read the rest »

A 4-year-old boy was hospitalized the evening of June 17, 2009 after a swimming pool accident at a Palm Springs resort and spa, The Desert Sun reports. Joe Cahalan, a hotel guest from Orange County, apparently saved the child's life and carried him from the swimming pool at the Spa Resort Casino, after he spotted the boy underneath the water. Cahalan told the paper that the boy was at least a foot underwater and that he may have been there for 30 or 60 seconds. The child was conscious when firefighters arrived and he was taken to an area hospital for treatment.

It's not known where the child's parents were. Apparently, the boy was with two other children, including a teenager. This is the second time in a month that a child has nearly drowned in a local hotel. On May 15, 2009, a girl was resuscitated after nearly drowning at Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage. Read the rest »

James Hayward Julian IV, 26, was killed in a San Bernardino County motorcycle accident after he was rear-ended by a suspected drunk driver on the 215 Freeway the night of June 14, 2009, the San Bernardino Sun reports. Julian was riding a 1991 Suzuki motorcycle south on the 215 Freeway when 28-year-old Daniel Palmer, who was driving a 1999 Ford pickup truck, struck him from behind near Second Street, California Highway Patrol officials said.

Both Julian and his female passenger were thrown off the motorcycle. The motorcycle hit a freeway barrier and landed in the center divider. The woman suffered a broken elbow and several abrasions to the right side of her body. Palmer kept driving on the freeway and hit a tractor-trailer. The driver of the big rig truck was not injured. Read the rest »

Airline negligence attorneys were astounded to learn that two young children traveling on their own was mistakenly put onto wrong Continental Express flights over the last weekend. According to an Associated Press news report, an 8-year-old College Station girl erroneously ended up in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and a 10-year-old Massachusetts girl was mistakenly sent to Newark, New Jersey after boarding planes operated by ExpressJet, which is under contract with Continental Express Airlines. After the airline accident Continental apologized to the children's families in a short statement that said the mix-up was simply "a miscommunication among staff."

What did the girls' families have to say? Wendy Babineaux, one of the moms, was livid, justifiably so. Her daughter, who was involved in this airline negligence case, was on a Continental Airline flight headed to Charlotte, North Carolina to see her dad. She was sent to Arkansas, back to Houston, then to Charlotte. Jonathan Kamens, the father of 10-year-old Miriam said he put his daughter on a Cleveland-bound flight in Boston to visit her grandparents. The girl ended up in New Jersey. Read the rest »

An elderly woman drove in the wrong direction for about 3 miles on the southbound 5 Freeway in Irvine the afternoon of June 13, 2009 before getting assisted off the freeway by California Highway Patrol officials, The Orange County Register reports. Thankfully, there were no collisions and no personal injuries. No one, including the elderly driver, was hurt during this scary episode. Apparently CHP officials began getting calls about the wrong-way driver who was driving a red Toyota or Honda. The woman was headed north at about 45 mph in the carpool lane and center divider shoulder of the southbound I-5 near Alton Parkway and then continued past Barranca Parkway, the 133, and Sand Canyon Avenue. Officers got her off the freeway within minutes of stopping her car. It's not clear whether the elderly woman was cited or arrested.

Of course, I'm extremely relieved that no one was injured or killed as a result of this elderly woman's wrong-way driving. This incident could have easily resulted in a catastrophic Irvine car accident. I trust CHP officials who are investigating this case are looking into who this woman was, whether she had a health condition or mental condition that caused her to become disoriented. Whatever the cause of her disorientation, this was a frightening incident and it is very fortunate that no one was injured. Read the rest »