Forced arbitration is in most consumer contracts

Civil Actions Promote Safety

New survey highlights need for representation in civil suits

More problems for Toyota

Toyota Motor Corp. has stopped all sales of its 2010 Lexus HS 250h hybrid after government tests showed it could leak fuel in a rear-end collision.

The Japanese automaker said it was also recalling roughly 13,000 HS sedans that have already been sold and 4,000 that are still on dealership lots.

A remedy for the problem has not yet been determined, Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in a recall filing Friday, said that the defect "could result in a fire." A similar problem in the Ford Pinto that has been blamed on 27 deaths led to one of the most publicized recalls of all time, in 1979.

Fixing Iqbal: Restoring Americans' Access To Justice

Interesting discrimination suit against cable giant Comcast

Timothy Morrison, a Naples resident, had worked for Comcast for 10 years when he was fired by the company in October 2009. Morrison, who is black, alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that from the moment he transferred to Naples from Chicago in 2006 he received discriminatory treatment from his white supervisors and was retaliated against when he complained.

Feds recall another 2 million drop-side cribs

In a sign of the lingering danger posed by a common baby product, federal regulators on Thursday recalled another 2 million drop-side cribs for deadly hazards.

The moveable sides that raise and lower on such cribs make it easier to whisk away crying babies without straining parents' backs. But the sides repeatedly malfunctioned in ways that were hard to spot, leading to horrific scenes in nurseries around the nation.

When the sides separate from the crib, babies' bodies can slip into the resulting gap. Their heads get trapped, and they hang to death or suffocate. At least 32 children died when their drop-side cribs malfunctioned, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said another 14 babies' deaths may be linked to drop sides.

Now, after years of missed warnings, regulators and companies are taking actions that signal the end of the line for the drop-side crib.

Thursday's sweeping recall put to rest the idea that these problems were isolated to a couple of companies that mass-produced cheap cribs in China. The recall included cribs made in the United States, Italy, Canada and seven other countries. Some cost as much as $500.

"Don't use a drop-side crib. Period," said Nancy Cowles, who for years has pushed for stronger safety rules for cribs as executive director of Kids In Danger, a Chicago-based advocacy group.

The Tribune first exposed the dangers of these faulty cribs in 2007 as part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning series. That prompted the first of the big drop-side crib recalls. Thursday's recall includes certain models under the Child Craft, Delta Enterprise, Evenflo, Jardine, Bona Vita, Babi Italia, ISSI, Million Dollar Baby and Simmons brands. The action brings to 9 million the number of drop-side cribs that have been recalled in recent years.

More than 250 consumers reported that the drop sides failed on these cribs, which were manufactured between 2000 and 2009, the safety commission said. When the sides separated, 44 babies fell from their cribs or were trapped but freed in time, the agency said. One baby was knocked unconscious and had to be hospitalized. Another broke a collarbone, the agency said.

Six of the manufacturers offered their customers kits designed to immobilize the moving sides of their cribs, and another offered a $25 to $50 rebate on the purchase of a new crib. The head of the CPSC has vowed to include a ban on drop sides in mandatory crib rules likely to be enacted before the end of this year.

New Employment Case Filed September 7, 2007

Interesting Article on Nursing Home Liability

New whistleblower protection blog

A guide for investigating toxic chemicals

 The following is an excellent protocol for online investigation of  toxic chemicals devised by Janabeth Fleming Taylor, a well known litigation paralegal from Corpus Christi, Texas:

1.   Get the CAS number for the chemical.  This can be obtained by doing a Google search for "CAS number [insert chemical name]"

2.   Go to the news tab of Google and see if any news articles have been published for the chemical.

3.   Do a search on http://www.chemfinder.com/ using the chemical name or chemical number.  This site links to other sites which discuss exposure and other issues.

4.   Do a search on PUBMED found at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi and do a search for "chemical name AND morbidity", "chemical name AND mortality" and see what pops up. You can also search for chemical name and particular condition your client experienced after exposure.

5.    Do a search of the NIOSH online guide to toxic chemicals found at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0000.html.

These searches will provide you basic information about the toxic chemical in question and possible consequences of exposure.