Product Liability Articles

On March 20, a trip to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo ended in tragedy when a 47-year-old man died after falling from a roller coaster ride. He had been riding in the first car of the coaster when he plunged 28 feet to the ground below. The ride operator had looked away from the…

In February in this space we highlighted a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which allowed a lawsuit to proceed against an automobile manufacturer for a negligent or defective design of a rear seat belt. That case arose after a tragic accident in which the passenger in the center rear seat was killed. Now the…

In 2008, the Consumer Products Safety Commission was informed that an eight-month-old girl was killed when the sliding side of her drop side crib entrapped and suffocated her. The crib, manufactured by Delta Enterprise had been re-assembled without the safety pegs that are designed to keep the crib side from disengaging with the track on…

The Food and Drug Administration is warning women of child-bearing age that taking the drug Topamax has been associated with a higher rate of cleft lip and cleft palate in their newborn infants. The warning is based on data showing that the birth defects occurred in 1.4 percent of infants that had prenatal exposure to…

The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that pharmaceutical manufacturers cannot bring claims based on injuries arising from vaccines in regular courts. The opinion asserted that the special vaccine court system, created by Congress in 1986, is the exclusive remedy for those seeking recovery for defective or dangerous vaccinations. Nineteen years ago Hannah Bruesewitz was brought…

In January, a Midwest manufacturer of alcohol wipes and swabs recalled all of it alcohol prep products due to potential contamination by a bacteria called Bacillus cereus. The bacteria can cause acute bacterial meningitis. The notice of the recall of this dangerous product appeared on the Food and Drug Administration website on January 5th. One…