June 23rd, 2010 Roberts & Roberts
By Problem Partner Kristin Samuelson | The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Suntech Enterprises, Inc. on Tuesday announced a voluntary recall of approximately 8,400 baby walkers because the walkers can fit through standard doorways and “fail to have sufficient stair-fall protection to prevent falls down stairs,” according to a June 22 CPSC press release. No injuries have been reported.
Come Dec. 21, 2010, all baby walkers will be required by law to be either too wide to fit through standard doorways or “have features, such as a gripping mechanism, to stop the walker at the edge of a step,” according to a mandatory rule the CPSC issued in May 2010.
“The baby walkers have a plastic frame supported by four wheels and eight brake pads,” according to the CPSC. “The walkers were sold in blue, pink, and green with a white activity tray and patterned, vinyl seat. Item number WK110 or WK112 is printed on the side of the packaging.” See a photo below, courtesy of the CPSC.
The recalled walkers were manufactured in China and were sold at children’s product stores in California, Illinois, New York and Texas from Jan. 2007 through Dec. 2009 for between $25 and $30. Suntech and the CPSC are advising consumers to immediately stop using the recalled walkers and bring them to the store where purchased for a full refund.
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June 23rd, 2010 Roberts & Roberts
SANTA CRUZ – A jury has awarded $15 million to the parents who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Enterprise Rent-A-Car of San Francisco after their daughters, Raechel and Jacqueline Houck of Santa Cruz, died in a fiery crash in 2004.
Enterprise, the nation’s largest rental car company, and its corporate parent contested the lawsuit for five years, then admitted in May they were negligent and that “their negligence was the sole proximate cause of the fatal injuries,” according to a document signed by their attorneys.
The jury awarded damages June 9; the defendants have 30 days to decide whether to appeal.
Company attorneys at Yukevich Calfo & Cavanaugh in Los Angeles were not available to comment. Enterprise spokeswoman Laura Bryant, in St. Louis, said the company would have a statement today.
“This is a consumer issue of vital importance,” said Carol “Cally” Houck, mother of the two young women, citing a deposition from a company official indicating Enterprise had no plans to change policies regarding recalled cars in their fleets.
Raechel Houck, 24, who worked at The Catalyst, had rented a 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser on Oct. 7, 2004, at Enterprise’s Capitola location for herself and her sister, 20, who worked at Little Tampico in Soquel.
The previous month, Daimler Chrysler sent out safety recall notices for 435,000 PT Cruisers from 2002 through 2005. The notice said the power steering hose could leak, resulting in a fire.
Enterprise records showed the PT Cruiser in which the Houck sisters died had not been repaired, it had been rented four times since the recall and the Houcks were the fourth.
In a sworn declaration, Mark Matias, manager of Enterprise’s Northern California area including Capitola from 1994 to 2004, said that before the accident, he was not aware the PT Cruiser was a recalled vehicle.
Furthermore, he said the Enterprise corporate philosophy was “you’ve got to keep booking, because you don’t know when you are going to get a car back. But then of course, you run short on vehicles, and if all you have are recalled vehicles on the lot, you rent them out. It was a given. The whole company did it.”
His statement explained his understanding of the policy: If a priority recall appears on the computer screen in the rental office, the employee is required to write the word “recall” on a Post-it note and place it on the key in an area designated for non-rentals, but nothing prevents an employee from renting that vehicle.
The Houck sisters were on Highway 101 near Bradley, returning from their mother’s home in Ventura when the PT Cruiser, headed northbound, crossed the grass median and hit a southbound big rig, bursting into flames.
“Within a month following the crash, we learned that the vehicle rented to my daughters from Capitola Enterprise was recalled,” their mother said. “After digging further, their dad Chuck discovered that the recall had not been resolved and the repairs were never made.”
They filed the case in Alameda County because Enterprise Rent-A-Car of San Francisco has its corporate headquarters there.
Experts hired by the parents’ law firm concluded Raechel Houck lost steering ability because of a power-steering fluid leak.
Enterprise argued the crash was due to Raechel’s driving.
The parents’ attorney, Lawrence Grassini of Grassini and Wrinkle in Woodland Hills, said Enterprise offered the parents $3 million if they would keep the matter confidential.
They refused.
“We didn’t want Enterprise to silence us,” Cally Houck said. “When you cause harm, you have to suffer the consequences of your actions.”
She noted a 2009 Kansas City Star investigation found Enterprise arranged with General Motors to exclude air-bags from thousands of Chevrolet Impalas purchased for its fleet, then sold hundreds of them while advertising the cars online as having side air bags when they did not.
She also cited a lawsuit filed in Tulare County by Teng Chu, 16, left paralyzed after a Ford Expedition rented at Enterprise crashed, killing three passengers. The lawsuit, which alleged the vehicle lacked Ford’s factory-installed anti-rollover system, concluded in a confidential settlement, according to a court staffer.
Although the Houck jury did not hear testimony about the company’s policies on renting recalled vehicles, “all that material is part of the public record,” Grassini said.
When any funds are divided up, Houck said the RageJax Foundation, which she started to further her daughters’ dreams of helping others, would receive a part of the proceeds.
“Any recall is a safety-related recall,” said Sean Kane of Safety Research & Strategies in Rehoboth, Mass., which examines vehicle safety issues. “It needs to be handled before the customer gets a car. It shouldn’t be the consumer’s responsibility. It should be the company’s responsibility. That’s what missing in this equation.”
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June 8th, 2010 Roberts & Roberts
A faulty tire caused a fatal crash involving nine Ed White High School students last year, a lawyer for four of their families said Monday before suing on behalf of a Jacksonville teen injured in the wreck.
“It’s a horrible tragedy that could have and should have been avoided,” attorney Eric Block said about the Interstate 295 crash that killed four students and injured four more on the last day of school.
According to an investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol, the Ford Explorer the teens were riding in rolled after the tread on its left rear tire, a Cooper Cobra, separated.
Among the injured was Shannon Broome, 16, one of Block’s clients. He filed a negligence lawsuit on her behalf Monday against Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and three other defendants.
Block cited Cooper’s “outrageously high number of tread separations” and blamed the company’s manufacturing process. He cited numerous lawsuits filed against the company and said despite the litigation, Cooper hasn’t cleaned up its act.
“People have been dying all over the United States for a number of years because of Cooper Tires,” Block said.
A Cooper executive responded that the crash had nothing to do with the tire’s design or safety.
“The tire line involved has an excellent record of performance and we look forward to defending our product,” said Curtis Schneekloth, Cooper’s director of investor relations.
Schneekloth pointed out in a written statement that the Explorer, designed to seat five, was carrying nine people, only one of whom was wearing a seat belt. That was the unlicensed driver, Brandon Hodges, who, Schneekloth noted, has been charged in the accident.
Hodges, 16, is awaiting trial in juvenile court on a charge of driving without a license causing death, but Block said his investigation showed the accident would have happened even if an experienced driver had been behind the wheel. Block has supported Hodges since the teen’s arrest and said most of his clients’ families believe his prosecution is absurd.
Block said he expects the issue of whether Cooper can use Hodges’ age as a defense to be contested before trial.
As for the contention that the Explorer was overloaded, Block said that wasn’t unforeseeable and he’s happy to let a jury decide that question.
Killed in the crash north of Pritchard Road were Erin Hurst, John Kiely and Kimber Krebs, all 15, and Dennis Stout, 17. Injured were Broome, Timothy Adam and Jimmy Gracia, all 15, and Rebecca Pilkington, 16.
Other lawyers said they are working with Block on the tire litigation. Attorney Steve Pajcic, who represents Kiely’s family, said his firm hasn’t completed its investigation and evaluation of the case.
Block noted that Highway Patrol investigators found no indication the tires weren’t properly inflated and no nails or other objects that might have damaged it. He said the Explorer’s owners, Pilkington’s parents, had taken it for service and replaced two tires two weeks earlier at Big Chief’s Tire Co., a Cooper distributor.
If the Cobra needed replacing, Big Chief’s clearly would have suggested it, Block said.
“That’s their job, to sell new tires,” Block said. He said he has turned the tire over to Cooper for examination.
The lawsuit also names Big Chief’s, Ford Motor Co. and Imagine Cars of Orlando, where the Explorer was purchased.
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June 3rd, 2010 Roberts & Roberts
(Reuters) – Whirlpool Corp is recalling 1.7 million dishwashers sold at its U.S. stores from February 2006 through April 2010 due to a potential fire hazard.
U.S.
The recall, made by the company and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, covers Maytag, Jenn-Air, Amana, Admiral, Magic Chef, Performa by Maytag and Crosley branded dishwashers.
An electrical failure in the dishwasher’s heating element could pose a serious fire hazard, the top appliance maker said in a statement on Thursday.
The company received 12 reports of dishwasher heating element failures that resulted in fires. No injuries have been reported.
The affected units were sold at various U.S. stores for between $250 and $900.
(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
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