Boston Injury Lawyer Blog

February 11, 2015

Products Liability Lawsuit Sues Babies R Us, Manufacturer, for Sisters’ Furniture Defect Deaths

The family of sisters Ryeley Beatty, 3, and Brooklyn, 2, are suing Babies R Us and Baby Cache Inc. for wrongful death. The two toddlers died from asphyxiation after a 124-pound dresser fell on them in their home.

According to the furniture defect case, the store sold the dresser, which was a floor model, at a discounted price. The plaintiffs contend that the product did not come with the proper warning labels or instructions and lacked an anchoring device that should have kept it from tipping over.

Per the wrongful death lawsuit, the dresser did not comply with American Society for Testing and Materials standards, including the requirement that they stay upright when opened and 50 pounds is applied to the front of it, such as when a small child tries to climb a dresser. This furniture item should also ideally with a label warning that the dresser is at risk of tipping over or an anchoring strap, which this one lacked.

February 9, 2015

Wheelchair Lift Manufacturer Faces $1.75M in Penalties for Selling Knowingly Selling Defective Lifts

by Altman & Altman

Wheelchair manufacturer Ricon Corp., is being forced to pay $1.75 million in civil penalties and has agreed to increased oversight by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after it continued to sell defective wheelchair lifts, despite having issued a recall due to a potential fire hazard.

The company has agreed to a consent order including the penalty and an admission that it violated the Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act by selling the defective equipment and violated federal safety regulations by failing to promptly notify NHTSA that it had done so.

“This company’s failure to protect the public from a product known to be a safety risk is absolutely unacceptable,” NHTSA Anthony Foxx said. “Manufacturers must meet their safety obligations, and when they don’t, we will be there with strong enforcement action.”

Ricon has recalled more than 4,000 wheelchair lifts that it sold to manufacturers of vans and buses since September 2012. The recall was issued to fix a defective cable had the potential to spark a fire. In June of 2013, the NHTSA began contacting bus and van manufacturers who used Ricon wheelchair lifts to make sure they were aware of the recall. According to the NHTSA, Ricon was asked when it had ceased producing the defective lifts, but the company had allegedly failed to respond to repeated requests for the information.
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February 6, 2015

New Rules Allow Frail Elders to Continue Residing in Massachusetts Assisted Living Facilities

by Altman & Altman

New regulations unveiled by Massachusetts regulators will let frail elderly residents continue to live in assisted living facilities. The regulations include the protections for these residents, including a mandate for expanded facility staff training and detailed facility evacuation plans in the event of extreme weather or some other emergency situation.

The decision by the state accommodates the very elderly who once would have moved to a nursing home because of their frail health. Now, however, many of them have been opting to stay at assisted living facility. This has resulted in an increasingly frail population in communities that are loosely regulated.

There had even been a provision under consideration that would have barred assisted living facilities from taking in residents or allowing them to stay if they needed over 90 days of skilled, consecutive nursing care. Currently, there are approximately 14,000 residents living in some 225 assisted living facilities.

February 3, 2015

Selfies by Pilot May Have Played a Role in Deadly Plane Crash, Says NTSB

by Altman & Altman

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, a pilot’s propensity to take selfies while operating an aircraft likely played a part in causing the small plane crash that killed him and his passenger in Colorado last year. The government agency issued its full probable cause report this week, saying that evidence shows that distracted piloting may have been a key factor in the fatal aviation accident.

The Cessna 150 crashed just four minutes after taking off on May 31, 2014. The pilot was Amritpal Singh. NTSB investigators said they discovered a GoPro camera among the wreckage. The camera had stored various recordings of the pilot and different passengers taking selfies with their cell phones. Camera flash function was used in certain instances during take off periods up through to flight times. Even though none of the videos found on the GoPro were taken during the flight that killed Singh and his passenger, investigators say that the pilot may have been taking selfies that night, too. They believe that this distracted him, resulting in spatial disorientation and loss of control.

Federal Aviation Administration regulations bar commercial pilots from using personal wireless communication devices or laptops for personal use while on the flight deck during aircraft operation. Pilots, however, are allowed to use cameras during the flight, just not cell phone cameras.

January 31, 2015

Auto Industry Faces A Heavy Blow After Another Airbag Recall

by Altman & Altman

The auto industry has faced a number of troubles this past year; troubles which have only deepened with this weekend’s recall of more than 2.1 million older vehicles from three major carmakers-Toyota, Chrysler and Honda.

The announcement comes only days after the family of Carlos Solis filed a lawsuit against Takata, the airbag manufacturer for Toyota. Solis, 35, was killed on Jan. 18 in a minor crash in Texas. The lawsuit alleges that as an air bag in his 2002 Honda Accord inflated, it sent a piece of metal into his neck. Solis was pronounced dead at the scene. His death has not officially been linked to the air bag, but officials are speculating the airbag played a role.

The vehicles are being recalled a second time to fix potentially faulty air bags that may inadvertently inflate while the car is running. Recalled vehicles include some Acura MDX, Dodge Viper, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Honda Odyssey, Pontiac Vibe, Toyota Corolla and Toyota Avalon models made from 2002 to 2004.

According to a statement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, all of the vehicles covered in Saturday’s announcement had already been under a recall for the defective air bags, but the carmakers’ original attempts to fix the defects worked only about 85% of the time. Since the initial recall, there have been about 400 reported cases of faulty air bag deployments in the recalled vehicles. The incidents resulted in minor injuries but no known deaths. The recall highlights the problems automakers and regulators face with increasing number of complex electronic systems.
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January 30, 2015

Slip and Fall Accident on Icy Sidewalk Renders $1.2M Personal Injury Verdict

by Altman & Altman

A jury has awarded Brenda Alcala $1.2 million for her slip and fall accident on a sidewalk. The 54-year-old woman shattered her right ankle during the incident while staying at the Courtyard by Marriott Bettendorf. Alcala had to undergo two surgeries. She says that she now has arthritis in that ankle and limps. Alcala may need more surgery in the future.

Following her slip accident, Alcala filed a premises liability lawsuit against Courtyard Management Corp. and Marriott International Inc. Following deliberations, a jury found her 2% liable for her injuries.

Alcala said that because of the slip and fall accident, she had to change jobs and take a pay cut since she could no longer continuing traveling like she did when she was consulting for Genesis Health System. When filing her complaint, Alcala noted that her injury caused her to sustain significant future income loss.

January 27, 2015

Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuit Blaming MIT for Student’s Suicide Moves Closer to a Civil Trial

by Altman & Altman

A Middlesex Superior Court judge has denied the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s request to dismiss the Cambridge, MA wrongful death case filed by the family of Han Duy Nguyen. The doctoral student, who suffered from mental health issues, killed himself in 2009. The plaintiffs, in their Cambridge, MA wrongful death case, are suing MIT for his suicide.

According to their complaint, Nguyen’s Sloan School of Management professors knew that he had mental health issues and would get very stressed out during exams, which is why they gave him more time to finish his tests. However, the plaintiffs allege, in 2009, minutes after a professor scolded Nguyen about a potentially offensive email that he sent to another faculty member he jumped from a campus building. His family says that the conversation drove him “over the edge.”Meantime, MIT and its professors have denied that they were responsible for Nguyen’s death or that they contributed to his mental health problems.

MIT has come under fire for its student suicide rate. The university even has a robust counseling program to help students cope.

January 26, 2015

Two Commuters Injured When Billerica Train Platform Collapses

by Altman & Altman

Two people were injured on Friday night when a platform overhand at the North Billerica commuter rail station collapsed as passengers exited a Lowell-bound train, The Lowell Sun reported.

According to MBTA Transit Police Lieutenant Richard Sullivan, the passengers sustained non-life threatening injures after being struck by falling debris from the overhang. Both victims were treated at area hospitals and the cause of the accident remains under investigation.
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January 23, 2015

Ex-Stevenson University Student Files $4M Hazing Lawsuit Against Kappa Alpha Psi

by Altman & Altman

Johnny Powell II, who recently graduated from Stevenson University, is suing the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity for $4 million. The 22-year-old claims that the members of the historically black fraternity house beat him so brutally that he needed hospital care for several days. He also is claiming false imprisonment and hazing, which allegedly occurred in early 2013.

Even though there are typically rituals that are considered traditional aspects of pledging activities in most fraternities, Powell said that the beating he was given was extremely severe and he was struck, “caned, and paddled” on numerous occasions. He also contends that he was forced to drink alcohol with garlic powder and perform push-ups while there were beer bottle caps under his hands, among other acts. Even though he eventually became a fraternity member at Coppin State University-Powell joined the chapter there because his initial intention was to start one at Stevenson University-he claims that other members alienated him.

He is seeking damages from the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, current and ex-officers with the Coppin chapter, as well as the alumni chapter in the Baltimore area.

January 22, 2015

Westford, MA Ski Accident Leads to Fatality

by Altman & Altman

A 44-year-old woman has died after she fell from a ski lift at a resort last month. Olga Filkin was riding up to a drop point on a ski slope when she fell at least twenty-two feet to the ground. She was transported to the ski resort’s first aid room where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy report shows that Filkin’s death was accidental.

U.S. ski lift operators are upheld to a high standard of care when it comes to the operation, maintenance, and use of lifts. While the majority of ski lift accidents take place while a skier is loading or unloading from a lift, falls from lifts also happen. Skier error, operator error, ski lift malfunctions, and inadequate maintenance are a few of the common causes of chair lift accidents. High winds may also cause ski lift incidents.

In Massachusetts, please contact our Boston ski lift/resort accident lawyers at Altman & Altman, LLP if you or someone you love was injured in a lift accident or in another kind of accident at a ski resort. Other common causes of injuries at ski resorts and ski lodges include: