Defective products

Safety Ratings Vital When Choosing New Vehicle

January 13, 2022 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

An overlooked but critical component of your safety on the road is what type of vehicle you are in.

If buying a newer vehicle is in your 2022 plans, our car accident attorneys in Fort Myers and Cape Coral urge you to make safety ratings a critical part of your selection process.

Safety has come a long way in just a few short years. Take automatic emergency braking (AEB), which is now standard on 2021 vehicles produced by 12 major automakers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The technology has already been proven to reduce collisions and force of impact by stopping or slowing a vehicle when a collision is imminent. Nearly all automakers have agreed to voluntarily include the equipment in nearly all new vehicles by Sept. 1, 2022.

IIHS estimates AEB could prevent 42,000 serious crashes in the next three years.

Dangerous and Defective Product Claims in Southwest Florida

December 8, 2021 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

We bring more products into our home during the holidays than at any other time of the year. That means the risk of dangerous and defective products injuries peak each December and January.

Our defective product attorneys have posted recently about the risks, including those posed by the global marketplace and online shopping services such as Amazon, as well as the risk of toy-related injuries.

However, some products are inherently more dangerous than others. Understanding the risks before you choose to bring a product into your home can go a long way toward keeping you and your family safe as we head into the new year.

Stay Safe This Holiday Shopping Season

November 19, 2021 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Most of us start with the best of intentions each holiday shopping season. We set a budget. We make a plan. We resolve to slow down and enjoy ourselves.

There is every evidence the holiday season is in full season as early as ever in Southwest Florida this year, to the joy of most as we continue the fight to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic that has cast a shadow over the world for nearly two years. More events are planned. More family gatherings are happening. Legions of people have made positive changes to their work-life balance that are likely to endure well after we put the pandemic behind us.

At Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Attorneys for the Injured, we wish each of you a peaceful and joyful holiday season full of family, friends, good times and lasting memories. Understanding the risks, talking with friends and loved one, visiting elderly relatives, teaching your children, and resolving to stay safe will all help ensure a great end to 2021 and a hopeful start to 2022.

Here is our best advice when it comes to staying safe.

COVID Impacting Dangerous and Defective Product Risks

September 1, 2021 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

The holiday season is typically the most dangerous time of the year when it comes to bringing dangerous or defective products into the home. But, like most aspects of life, COVID has also changed the risk of product injury. Pandemic quarantines have found all of us spending much more time at home. Online shopping has further complicated the picture when it comes to holding companies accountable for endangering consumers.

The Government Accountability Office reported last fall that the government’s watchdog for dangerous and defective products, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, needs to do a better job of protecting consumers and addressing the risks of today’s diversified online marketplace. Our defective product lawyers want consumers to know that anyone involved in marketing, supplying, manufacturing or delivering a dangerous or defective product can be held responsible for resulting damages under federal law.

Specifically, the agency found:

Dangerous Products a Holiday Risk

December 27, 2020 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

What did you get for Christmas?

Traditionally, the year-end holidays have been a time for family, gathering with friends, and exchanging gifts with those in your life with whom you are closest. COVID-19 has limited gatherings this year, but there is every indication Americans are making every effort to exchange gifts, albeit more often by mail.

The extra volume has inundated the postal system at a time when online purchases were already at record highs. The acceleration to a predominately online economy will continue to play out in the years ahead. But one risk that should not be forgotten is the risk of dangerous and defective products.

Our product injury attorneys in Fort Myers know more dangerous and defective products are brought into homes during the holidays than at any other time of the year. While some injuries may be no fault of a product, others are caused by defect or by products that are inherently dangerous, such as trampolines and all-terrain vehicles.

Amazon Accused of Ignoring Dangerous or Defective Product Warnings

September 2, 2019 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Giant Internet retailers like Amazon are coming under increasing fire for selling defective products to American consumers.

The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is among the media outlets reporting U.S. regulators are reviewing anti-trust concerns amid allegations the company is misleading consumers about product safety.

Fort Myers defective product lawyers know today’s Internet economy continues to vie with big box stores like Wal-Mart and Costco for consumer dollars. Each owes a duty to consumers when it comes to product safety, regardless of whether a purchase is made online or at a brick-and-mortar retailer.

Product Liability Lawsuit Ends With Endorsement of Innovator Liability Against Brand Name Drug Makers

January 15, 2018 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

The state supreme court in California has ruled that makers of brand name medications first of all owe a duty of reasonable care to make sure product labels have adequate warnings (regardless of whether the end user is exposed to the brand name drug or the generic version) and also that liability for failure to warn could be found even if the product maker stopped making the drug and no longer owns it.

That ruling, which relied on a previous decision by a federal appellate court, could have big implications for product liability litigation in California. Although it doesn’t directly impact Florida cases, it’s common for state supreme courts to rely on their sister courts’ reasoning when faced with similar dilemmas. The decision is likely to open the doors to more product liability lawsuits against brand name drug manufacturers.

The case involves a woman who was prescribed a generic version of the brand name drug Brethine, which is prescribed to curtail premature labor. She was pregnant with twins at the time. The drug was originally an asthma medication, but was given for the off-label use of halting or slowing the potential for preterm labor. Both boys were born seemingly fine, but were diagnosed with developmental delays at age 3. By age 5, they were diagnosed with autism. A lawsuit filed on their behalf against the brand name drug manufacturer, Novartis, alleged the company was aware or should have known about the drug’s potential risk of adverse effects to fetal brain development. Continue reading ›

Daubert Standard v. Frye Standard for Methods of Experts Testifying in Injury Cases

December 23, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Several years ago, Florida lawmakers decided to enact a measure that would alter F.S. 90.702 (testimony by experts) and F.S. 90.704 (basis of opinion testimony by experts), forgoing the so-called “Frye standard” (so named for the 1923 case of Frye v. U.S.) and instead adopt the more stringent and widely-used “Daubert standard”(so named for the 1993 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc.). Then earlier this year, the Florida Supreme Court in the per curiam ruling of In re: Amendments to the Florida Evidence Code, decided NOT to adopt the Daubert standard – even though the legislature had passed a law enacting it – for two reasons:

Concerns regarding the constitutionality of the amendment;
Procedural concerns with the law creating a section that isn’t part of the state’s evidence code.

So why does any of this matter when it comes to your personal injury lawsuit? The truth is, it may have a significant impact in the type of evidence you are allowed to present in your case. The federal courts and most other states now follow the Daubert standard, while Florida is one of the few states that still follows Frye. Continue reading ›

Potential Product Liability Claims as Vehicle Defect Reported in Chrysler Vans

November 20, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

While the majority of auto accident injuries are the result of negligence by one or more motorist involved, crash victims shouldn’t overlook the possibility that a vehicle defect may have been a contributing factor, if not the sole cause.

The auto industry hasn’t garnered a great deal of public trust in recent years, as numerous class action lawsuits have revealed a long-standing pattern within the industry to conceal vehicle defects from unsuspecting members of the public. Last year, as noted by Automotive News, auto makers recalled a record 53.2 million vehicles for defects ranging from seat belt failures to malfunctioning airbags to non-working breaks. These are serious deficits that, even if they don’t cause a crash, may result in one suffering injuries that far worse than they otherwise would have been.

Now, we receive news of the latest reported problem, which involves an alleged defect wherein Chrysler Pacifica vans are shutting off suddenly in mid-travel. The New York Times reports one man in San Francisco was driving at 70 mph down the highway in his brand new van when the vehicle shut off without warning. As she explained, “It just died.” In the middle of a congested highway, the van slowed to a crawl with no power steering or electrical power. The driver edged his way over as far to the right as he could, trying desperately to get to the shoulder with what little juice was left as vehicles whizzed by. He was barely missed by a semi-truck that laid on the horn and was forced to swerve. Continue reading ›

Comparative Negligence Not a Factor in Crashworthiness Product Injury Lawsuit

June 16, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Comparative negligence is the legal theory that a plaintiff is at least partially to blame for his/ her own injuries. In some states, that fact alone can prohibit a person from collecting any damages whatsoever (pure contributory negligence). In other states, a plaintiff’s own negligence can’t be more than the negligence of other parties (modified comparative fault). In Florida, which follows a pure comparative negligence standard, any amount of comparative negligence won’t bar the claim, but it will proportionately reduce damages (per F.S. 768.81).

Recently, the South Carolina Supreme Court weighed a case that asked whether the doctrine of comparative negligence applied in a crashworthiness product liability lawsuit against a vehicle manufacturer. That state follows a modified comparative fault model.

Although this is an out-of-state case, it’s worth examining because state supreme courts will often consider the rulings of sister courts in weighing similar circumstances. In this case, the court ruled that comparative negligence does not factor in a crashworthiness case. Further, public policy in that state doesn’t prohibit a plaintiff who was allegedly intoxicated at the time of a crash from bringing a claim of crashworthiness against the manufacturer of the vehicle. Continue reading ›