Tennessee Injury Lawyer Blog

Tennessee residents and people all over the country have been giving their kids Fisher-Price toys and using their baby products for years. We put our trust in these companies to many safe, reliable products for our children. Unfortunately, sometimes products can be defective or have dangerous parts and need to be recalled. If you have questions about whether or not, your children’s Fisher-Price Toys are included in this massive recall; you may want to speak with a Tennessee defective and dangerous products lawyer right away. They will help you figure out if your toy is involved in the recall and let you know what your choices are if personal injuries occurred.

Fisher-Price has decided to recall more than ten million tricycles, toys, and high chairs due to various safety concerns and some personal injury reports, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. About 7 million Fisher-Price Trikes and Tough Trikes featuring Dora the Explorer or Barbie have a plastic ignition key that sticks out near the seat that children can sit on or fall on causing injuries including genital bleeding, according to the commission. There were ten reports of injuries, six of needed to seek medical help.

Also included in this recall are 1 million Fisher-Price Health Care Easy Clean and Close to Me High Chairs after receiving fourteen reports of problems. The high chairs contain pegs on the back of them that can be used to store the tray but children can possibly fall on them causing cuts and other injuries. Seven of the reports included children who needed stitches. Other items included in this recall are more than 2.8 million Baby Playzone Crawl & Cruise Playground toys, Baby Playzone Crawl & Slide Arcade toys, Baby Gymnastics’ Play Wall toys, Ocean Wonders Kick & Crawl Aquarium toys, 1-2-3 Tetherball toys and Bat & Score Goal toys. These toys contain a valve on the inflatable ball that can come off and possibly be a choking hazard. There were fifty reports of the valve coming off, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission stated that manufactures need to do more to make sure that safety is built into their products, but commented that Fisher-Price was, "taking the right steps by agreeing to these recalls and offering consumers free repairs or replacement."

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Anderson County, Tennessee has found itself with two lawsuits for $1.5M. This is in response to the dismissal of a medical malpractice suit due to improper serving of legal action. The dismissal claims that a notice of legal action was not given personally by the deputy serving the papers to the doctor that was being sued, instead it was left with a office manager.

The doctor was being sued for leaving a twelve inch retractor in Paul Koczera's abdomen and sewing it up. The retractor was allegedly left in the man for four days.

Koczera and his wife have brought suits against the county and the Sheriff's deputy who served the papers. Another complaint was filed against the office manager who accepted service.

Unfortunately, items left in the body after a surgery are not as rare as one would hope. Often they cause severe infections that can in themselves be life threatening.

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It would be difficult to think of anything more traumatic than the injury of your child. Too often that injury occurs at birth due to incompetent or uncaring medical care. When this tragedy occurs it often causes lifelong implications for both the child and its family. Along with the injury comes an untold number of medical and care bills.

The last thing a grieving and bewildered family wants to think about is legal proceedings. All that is often on their minds is the uncertainty of the future, the prognosis of their baby and how life will never be the same. With not only the parents but the whole family suffering intense psychological pain, they can be reluctant to drag everyone through the emotional turmoil that they think a trial would entail. However, if those responsible are not brought to justice it is entirely likely that they will ruin the lives of an untold number of families.

The full implications of injuries sustained at birth are almost impossible to determine. It is imperative that families obtain the necessary monetary funds to pay what could be a lifetime of bills. Having an experienced attorney can make the difference between getting the care your baby needs and your child never receiving the proper care. A good attorney will handle most of the details of the proceedings and let you give your baby the attention it deserves

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Recently, three surgeons made a recomendation to stop using certain Knee replacement deviceds made by Zimmer Holding, Inc. (ZMH). Specifically, the doctors stated they have encountered "unacceptably high" rates of loosening following the surgery. The product in question in known as the Zimmer NexGen knee. The specific problem involve a component that is attached to the thighbone without any cement to keep it in place.

You may recall the name Zimmer as they recently recalled a hip recplacement for unacceptable failure rates. This product is known as the Zimmer Durom Cup.

If you had a NexGen total knee replacment don't panic. Some people dont have any problems with the product. However, if you are having problems contact your doctor to discuss your options. If a new surgery is necessary please contact a products liablity lawyer so all evidence can be preserved.

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Every day innocent people here in Tennessee and across the country are injured through no fault of their own. And every day insurance companies give their all to avoid having to pay legitimate claims to those victims. Using a variety of tricks, they attempt to limit the amount of money they have to pay to those who are entitled to it.

No one is under the illusion that insurance companies are in the business of anything other than making a profit. One of the ways the insurance industry attempts to maximize their profits is by shifting the blame off their client.http://www.hhpfirm.com/lawyer-attorney-1041327.html No blame means no payout. If that is not possible then they will try and minimize the level of fault in order to minimize the loss. This is called "comparative negligence" and is the criteria used by Tennessee law. Under comparative negligence more than one person can be at fault in a situation. The one with the higher burden of fault has the higher burden of penalty put on him. If it can be shown that their client was only 40% to blame then they only have to pay 40% of the penalty.

This split is relatively easy to differentiate when there is straight and easily calculated figures to work with. Things like lost wages, damaged property, and medical bills are concrete numbers that are hard to dispute. Where things get murky is when abstract ideas like pain and suffering or emotional distress. This makes the insurance companies work even harder to keep their payout at a minimum.

All of this legal wrangling is easy for the insurance companies. They have countless numbers of lawyers on staff whose sole function is to do just this: keep the company's losses as low as possible. They have the resources to fight and battle and prolong a situation until the victim is bewildered and desperate. That's why it's vitally important to have a good lawyer in your corner fighting for your rights.

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Medical malpractice laws in many states and here in Tennessee are put in place to help protect the patient and their rights. When something goes wrong in a hospital or during a visit with a doctor, these laws allow the residents of Tennessee to file a claim of medical malpractice and to be compensated appropriately for any pain and suffering, the error or medical negligence caused them. Now, the state of Tennessee is considering making some changes to these laws. If you have questions about these changes or have suffered due to medical malpractice, you should consult a Tennessee medical malpractice lawyer right away to have your case heard and find out if you are entitled to compensation.

Tennessee legislature is considering two bills that would change medical malpractice claims. The first bill is about changes to the liability standard from negligence to gross negligence in cases that concern doctors and other medical staff treating patients in the emergency room. The liability standard that is in place now is for regular negligence which means that the medical staff failed to proper care to a patient according to the standard of care for their profession, and these actions or lack of actions, resulted in an injury of the patient. Gross negligence is considered more difficult to prove and it has been defined as a “negligent act done with utter unconcern for the safety of others.” Other states have defined it as “the failure to exercise even the slightest care”. If these changes are made, it will make it harder for patients claiming medical malpractice to file a claim and successfully sue the medical staff of an emergency room.

The second bill being considered is one that would place a $1 million cap on non-economic damages in these particular cases. Non-economic is described as damages “for pain and suffering as well as inconvenience, discomfort, physical impairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of the enjoyment of life, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium, injury to reputation, and punitive damages”. However, in Tennessee each year, less than seven cases ever even reach the $1million mark or higher.

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Many people across the country and right here in Tennessee have heard about the recent hip replacement recalls either on the news, in the newspaper, or on the Internet. This recall started after many complaints were reported about problems with hip replacement and a need for more surgery to fix the problems. As with many other recalls of a widely used product or device, we knew lawsuits would start being filed. If you or someone you know has suffered after a hip replacement surgery, you should contact a Tennessee defective product lawyer right away to see if you may be entitled to compensation.

In this case, Kathleen Margenau from Florida has started the first lawsuit against DePuy Orthopedic, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, because of her hip implant failure. The lawsuit claims that Margenau received a DePuy ASR acetabular cup in March 2008 and started experiencing “extreme weakness in her hip and quadriceps” following her surgery. A little more than a year after her surgery, Margenau had to have a second surgery to remove the implant and the doctors claimed that the device had,” catastrophically failed." After the surgery for another hip replacement, Margenau was not able to return to her once active lifestyle.

The lawsuit also claims that during this time, Depuy knew about the high failure rate of their ASR cups but failed to provide Margenau or her surgeons with this information and because of this, “her surgeon had little reason to believe that her pain or weakness was a result of the ASR cup”. The manufacturers decided to phase out the Depuy implant earlier this spring after realizing that reports showed a “higher than expected” rate for failure than traditional implants, which last fifteen years or more, and showed that people with small bodies or weak bones were more at risk for an implant failure.

These hip replacements have been criticized for having received more than three hundred complaints and for the company being slow to remove the product from the U.S. Market. The DePuy issued a brochure in 2009 about proper ASR positioning but the brochure did not specifically state concerns about the ASR until March of this year. Margenau lawsuit was filed in the United States Federal District Court for Middle District of Florida the Ft. Myers Division.

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All summer long and even on Labor Day, there were parades, picnics, and amusement park rides such as a super bounce or an inflatable moonwalk ride. Many of us all across the country have played in these as kids and have allowed our children to do the same, even right here in Tennessee. However, unfortunately sometimes tragic accidents happen that result in a serious injury or even death from one of these rides. If your children have been on these rides and have gotten injury as a result, you may be able to speak with a Tennessee personal injury lawyer about your case. They will help you get the compensation you deserve.

In this particular case, Sarah Ruggiero, the mother of Matthew Branham, a five year old boy that was killed on March 22,2010, after falling from an inflatable moonwalk ride and hitting his head on the concrete floor, filed a lawsuit in Sedgwick County District Court against Moonwalks for Fun Inc which is operated by Pure Entertainment. Other names in the lawsuit include Jesse Zogleman, the manager of Pure Entertainment and Tyler Tucker an employee of Pure Entertainment.

Ruggiero is asking for “an amount in excess of 75,000” for personal injury and wrongful death. She alleges that the company operated its equipment in a dangerous manner and also violated the Kansas Consumer Protection Act and so she is also asking for $10,000 for each violation. Her attorney, Todd Shadid said, “Our basis for this lawsuit is that the company takes some responsibility or accountability for what they did. So far they have refused to do so.” According to the details of the lawsuit, Ruggiero had her son’s 5th birthday party at Pure Entertainment on March 18, 2010. One of inflatable rides or units used for the party was called King of the Hill and was a large mattress, flat except for a bulge in the middle and surrounded by a two-inch high inflatable barrier.

At the party, Tucker, the Pure Entertainment employee, told the guests to place a child in the center which caused it to sink in then he jumped to one side of the ride and told the adults to jump to the other, which then caused the child in the center to go up into the air. Four days later, Matthew and his family visited Pure Entertainment again, using passes given to him for his birthday, and followed the same instructions on the King of the Hill ride again, only this time, Matthew flew over the barrier and landed headfirst on the concrete floor.
The lawsuit also claims that the ride was underinflated, and did not follow the manufacturer’s guidelines of allowing only children eight years old and older ride. In May, the city suspended their license for ninety days, claiming that the owner, Duane Zogleman, did not have his rides properly inspected. However, according to their website, the business planned to reopen on September 1. The lawsuit goes on to claim that Jesse Zogleman, “committed deceptive and unconscionable acts” which violate the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.

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Justice - 6, Boy Scouts - 0 could have been the score for a recent Oregon court ruling that settled a years' long sexual abuse case. Six men who accused their leader of sexual molestation agreed to a settlement that may figure in the millions. A need to have it over and to get on with their lives was part of the motivation to settle.

These men, all members of the same troop, claimed that they were abused by a former leader back in the 80's. Their attorney says he hopes the ruling will give other victims of abuse the courage to speak up and be heard. One of the plaintiffs was awarded $20 million back in April for compensatory and punitive damages with The Boy Scouts of America to pay the vast majority of that amount. A jury found that the Boy Scouts failed to protect the plaintiff from a pedophile assistant scoutmaster. This was the largest award to a single victim of sexual abuse in the nation's history. The likelihood of an appeal by the BSA led to the settlement.

One bright note, six weeks after the verdict, the BSA implemented major changes to their youth program designed to keep children safer. These changes include volunteers undergoing mandatory youth protection training and hiring a former San Antonio police detective with experience in sexual abuse investigation to oversee the youth protection program.

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Getting a hip replacement once is bad enough, but for many people who'd received implants from Johnson and Johnson once was not enough. The need for replacement of the replacements prompted Johnson & Johnson to recall two types of implant devices: ASR XL acetabular system, a hip socket used in a traditional hip replacement; and DePuy ASR hip resurfacing platform, an implant that is intended to preserve more of the patient's bone.

All the components of the implants have been recalled. Studies show that 13% of patients who received the acetabular product needed a replacement within 5 years. The resurfacing product hasn't been approved for use in the US.

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Here in Tennessee we have laws that protect citizens from overzealous private security guards. Luckily for one woman at the shore, New Jersey appears to have similar laws.

One woman claims she has a scar from a gashed chin she received from an incident involving four private security guards employed by MTV's hit reality show "Jersey Shore". She's suing MTV's parent company Viacom, 495 productions and the cast of the show. The woman claims she was thrown to the ground following a disagreement with Snooki. Interestingly, the incident occurred on the same night that another cast memember knocked out another man. Her lawyer has stated that if she wins the suit it could force "Jersey Shore" off the air.

This lawsuit comes one month after Snooki was arrested for being a public nuisance after becoming quite drunk on the beach one night.

Public figures certainly are entitled to protection from overzealous fans. What they are not entitled to are thugs that act outside of the law. Tennessee law states that an employer of a private security guard could be liable for his actions if the action was taken with the consent of the employer, went beyond the scope of duty of the guard and was with the direction of the employer, or even if it did occur within the scope of the guard's duties.

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