Kline & Specter Personal Injury Blog

 Awareness has been growing in recent years over the danger of concussions suffered by football players, with lawsuits filed at every level of the game including the highly publicized case being pressed by thousands of former NFL players. In Colorado, a jury recently awarded an $11.5 million verdict in the case of a high school player who suffered brain damage and paralysis on his left side after he was injured at practice. Found liable in the case was helmet manufacturer Riddell, which, according to news reports, is responsible for paying $3.1 million of the jury award. A jury did not find the company’s helmet was defective, but it found Riddell liable for failing to warn players wearing its helmets about the dangers of concussions. The family of the injured player, Rhett Ridolfi, sued Riddell and the team coaches after the player suffered a concussion at practice and was not immediately taken to a hospital for treatment. News reports of the case said three parties to the lawsuit reached confidential settlements before the verdict was announced. Learn more about sports injury lawsuits.

Among the latest product recalls announced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) are the following products:

• PT Domusindo Perdana Recalls 73,000 Drop-Side Cribs Due to Entrapment and Suffocation Hazards 
• Bell Sports Recalls 2,500 BMX Bike Helmets Due to Risk of Head Injury 
• WRSI Recalls Kayaking and Rafting Helmets Due to Head Injury Hazard 2,000
• BabyHome USA Recalls 1,100 High Chairs Due to Strangulation Hazard 
• 3M Recalls 10,000 Filtrete Room Air Purifiers Due to Fire Hazard 
• Bugaboo Recalls 9,200 Cameleon3 Strollers Due to Fall Hazard 
• Definitive Technology Recalls 900 SuperCube 2000 Subwoofers Due to Risk of Shock
• iCandy World Recalls 830 Cherry Strollers Due to Strangulation Hazard

Click here to find an attorney to handle a Product Liability lawsuit or a Dangerous Toy lawsuit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and nationwide.

A review recently found that the Wisconsin Medical Board failed to severely discipline doctors who committed egregious errors, many in which patients suffered serious injuries or even death. The report by the State Journal reviewed 218 cases that led to board discipline from 2010 to 2012 and found that in more than half the cases doctors received only a reprimand – likened in many cases to a “slap on the wrist” -- and that in dozens of cases there was no disciplinary action taken at all. That included a case highlighted by the publication in which a patient suffocated and died after being administered at least 100 times too much epinephrine. In that case, the doctor was reprimanded and fined $1,200. Leaders on the medical board were quoted as defending their decisions, saying they preferred to try to rehabilitate doctors rather than punish them for mistakes. They also said limited money and authority sometimes prevented the board from taking more severe disciplinary steps. More about medical malpractice …

A woman who lost her leg and suffered other injuries when her car was struck by a drunk driver has won a $2.7 million jury verdict – against a bar at which the drunk driver was a customer. The accident occurred in 2011 in Medina County, Texas, when the intoxicated patron drove the wrong way down Interstate 35 after leaving the Southside Bar & Grill. A lawyer for the injured woman said the verdict “sent a message that overserving intoxicated patrons is a serious problem that bars will be held accountable for,” according to a news report of the case. Besides having her right leg amputated, Kelley Bitler, of San Anotnio, suffered fractures to her pelvis and left leg, foot and arm. Operators of the Southside Bar & Grill were accused of gross negligence for overserving the 29-year-old patron whose blood alcohol level was .34, more than four times the legal limit for driving. The drunk driver was killed in the crash, which occurred just 400 yards from the bar. Learn more about drunk driving lawsuits.