Illinois Injury and Mass Tort Lawyer Blog

Published on: October 22, 2015

Another Table Saw Product Liability Case Filed in Alabama Involving SawStop Technology

Each year, roughly 35,000 to 40,000 individuals sustain serious injuries while using table saws. Due to the nature of how these products are used, one of the most common types of injuries involves the operator’s fingers, hands, and arms.

In the recent case of Ingram v. Sears, a man from Alabama filed a lawsuit against Sears Roebuck & Co. after he lost several fingers while using a Craftsman table saw when his fingers came into contact with the saw blade. Ultimately, the plaintiff required the amputation of several fingers on his left hand.

Asserting claims for relief under product liability, negligence, and breach of implied warranty theories, the plaintiff’s complaint states that the man was using the product in a reasonable manner and exercising all due care to ensure his own safety. Additionally, the plaintiff alleges that the defendant knew the table saw was dangerous when it designed, manufactured, marketed, tested, approved, inspected, and sold the device.

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Published on: October 20, 2015

Six-Vehicle Chain-Reaction Accident Caused When Semi-Truck Rear-Ends Van

By Moll Law Group

Earlier this month near Springfield, a six-vehicle accident sent several people to the hospital with varying injuries and backed up traffic for hours. According to one local news source, the accident occurred at around one in the afternoon on Interstate 55, between Sixth Street and Toronto Road.

Evidently, a semi-truck was heading southbound on I-55 when he collided with the rear of a van that had slowed down on the highway. The truck skidded off the road and rolled over onto its side before coming to a complete stop. The collision between the truck and the van caused a chain-reaction accident that ultimately involved a total of six vehicles. Police told reporters that there were several other smaller accidents involving just a few cars that were caused as a result of the slowing traffic on the highway.

The drivers of the truck and the van were both taken by ambulance to Memorial Medical Center, where they were treated for serious injuries. One other person involved in the accident was also taken to the hospital. All hospitalized parties are expected to make a full recovery.

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Published on: October 20, 2015

California Federal Court Dismisses First Product Liability Case Involving 3D Printed Medical Device

By Moll Law Group

In Buckley v. Align Technology, Inc., a plaintiff brought product liability challenges against the defendant regarding its Invisalign teeth straightening system. This device is a 3D printed product that helps users straighten misaligned teeth. The user receives a customized series of 3D printed mouth inserts that fit snugly around his or her teeth, encouraging the teeth to move in a direction that will help keep them straight. The device is only available by prescription from a dentist.

In this case, the plaintiff saw her dentist for treatment for malocclusion, which is a condition caused by wearing down of the teeth. The plaintiff claimed that the dentist who prescribed her Align product also took the dental impressions of her teeth that are needed to form the custom devices. The defendant received the impressions and created 3D printed molds for the plaintiff to wear. According to the plaintiff, after wearing the product for nearly two years, her condition had not improved.

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Published on: October 18, 2015

Congress Calls for Withdrawal of Approval for Bayer’s Essure Birth Control Device

By Moll Law Group

Since the Essure sterilization device was approved in 2002 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), over 5,000 reports have been made about injuries stemming from the use of the device. In a recent NPR report, a representative from the National Center for Health Research indicated that Bayer, the manufacturer of Essure, may not have provided the FDA with all the information it had regarding the device’s potential complications at the time Bayer sought approval of the device. Some of this research indicates that the device may fail up to 10 percent of the time.

The pressure to address Essure’s complications heightened earlier this month when Congress drafted a bill calling for the FDA to remove the device from the market within 60 days after numerous women testified at a Congressional hearing about how the device had negatively affected them.

Recently, the FDA’s Obstetrics and Gynecology panel convened to discuss the device and how patients can best assure their safe use of the product. The device is particularly popular due to its status as the only non-surgical and permanent birth control method that the FDA has approved.

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Published on: October 18, 2015

Fatal O’Fallon Truck Accident May Have Been Caused by Medical Emergency

By Moll Law Group

Earlier this month in O’Fallon, a truck driver was killed when the truck he was operating crashed on Interstate 64 near mile marker 19. According to one local news source, the accident occurred on a Thursday evening, and no other vehicles were involved.

Evidently, the tanker truck was traveling westbound on I-64 when witnesses reported seeing the truck swerving from side to side. After a few moments of swerving, the truck toppled over onto its side. By the time emergency responders arrived at the scene of the accident, the truck driver had died.

The tanker truck was carrying some kind of liquid. It is believed to have been liquid nitrogen. It took several hours for emergency crews to clear the wreckage while police were conducting their investigation into what could have caused the accident. Police told reporters that it is unclear if the driver was killed in the accident or if he suffered some kind of medical emergency prior to the crash.

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Published on: October 16, 2015

California Court Dismisses Plaintiff’s Claims Alleging Food Company Products’ Labels were Misleading

By Moll Law Group

In Guttmann v. Nissin Foods (USA) Co., Inc., a California federal court dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that the defendant had engaged in false advertising regarding the safety of its noodle products, based on the presence of trans fat in the product. More specifically, the plaintiff indicated that he had assumed the defendant’s products were safe for consumption based on the product’s label, while also contending that he suffered economic damages as a result of being deprived of the benefits of the product that he thought he was purchasing.

After the plaintiff filed his lawsuit, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a document stating that partially hydrogenated oils, or trans fat, no longer carry the agency’s “GRAS,” or “generally recognized as safe” approval. Based on this document, food producers and manufacturers must now remove any trans fat from their food products by the year 2018.

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Published on: October 16, 2015

“Dram Shop” Case Filed Against Local Illinois Bar

By Moll Law Group

Earlier this month, a trial began on the issue of whether an Illinois bar served a patron to the point of intoxication before he went on to cause serious injuries to one of the bar’s other patrons. According to one local news source that reported on the case, the incident occurred back in May of last year, when the plaintiff was at the establishment having a drink at the bar.

Evidently, one of the other patrons started to get rowdy and made some sexually inappropriate remarks to the bartender, who asked the man to leave. The man refused to leave, and the bartender then enlisted the help of other customers to get the intoxicated man out of the bar. The plaintiff was one of the men involved in confronting the intoxicated man, and when he attempted to get the man out of the bar, a fight broke out.

While the plaintiff claims all his attempts were peaceful, the interactions eventually turned violent, and the plaintiff was hit, causing him to fall into a pool table. He suffered serious and permanent injuries as a result, and he filed suit against the bar under a Dram Shop theory of liability.

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Published on: October 14, 2015

California Court of Appeal Upholds Summary Judgment in Favor of Defendant Pipe Manufacturer in Fatal Product Liability Action

By Moll Law Group

In a recent case, the California Court of Appeal for the Second District upheld a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a defendant pipe manufacturer on the basis that the plaintiff’s exclusive remedy was through the workers’ compensation system.

In Melendrez et al. v. Ameron International Corp., one of the defendant’s employees, who had been employed with the defendant for nearly 25 years, was authorized to take home pipes that had been rejected at the manufacturing plant so that he could use them for improvements to his patio at home and to create flower pots. Sometime in 2011, the man was diagnosed with mesothelioma, and he unfortunately died one year later.

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Published on: October 14, 2015

Police Officer Killed in Oak Brook Car Accident by Drunk Driver

By Moll Law Group

According to police, a 27-year-old off-duty police officer was recently killed in an auto accident by a drunk driver. The officer was in the passenger seat of a vehicle driving north on I-294 near Oak Brook when a 22-year-old woman traveling south in the northbound lanes struck an oncoming car and then spun into the officer’s vehicle. The police officer’s car was traveling north in the northbound lanes.

A news report about the accident indicated that the officer was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred at about 3:45 in the morning. The driver that caused the accident suffered only minor injuries, as did the driver of the vehicle carrying the police officer. Illinois State Police announced that the driver is being charged with reckless homicide and aggravated DUI involving death.

A Driver Guilty of a DUI May Be Liable for Civil Damages

Under Illinois law, when a driver’s blood alcohol level (BAL) is above .08%, the driver is automatically guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). The level of alcohol in a driver’s blood can be proven by either a breath test or a blood test. In Illinois, first-time offenders can face jail time, even if the driver doesn’t cause an accident or injure another party.

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Published on: October 12, 2015

Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal Revisits Rules on Scientific Evidence

By Moll Law Group

In mass tort cases, one of the toughest elements for plaintiffs to prove is that the product’s harmful nature caused the plaintiffs’ injuries. This is especially true in cases involving exposure to harmful chemicals. In our modern environment, there are a host of chemicals that we encounter on a daily basis, whether we know it or not. Determining whether a chemical is harmful and whether that chemical was the cause of the plaintiff’s alleged injuries can be a challenge.

The recent case of C.W. ex rel. Wood v. Textron, Inc. touched on this subject and provided the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal with an opportunity to review the types of scientific evidence that parties may offer in relation to proving both specific and general causation in a mass tort case.

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