Airbag recalls are on the rise. Despite being designed to save lives, faulty or failed automobile airbags can cause serious injuries or even death.

Automobile airbags are designed to save lives, placing an instantaneous, physical buffer between a motorist’s body and a vehicle’s frame. But the sheer force with which airbags are deployed and common changes that can happen over time potentially can cause more harm than help, say auto accident attorneys with Jacksonville’s Harrell and Harrell.

In 2012, automakers hit a dubious record with 23 airbag-related recalls, according to statistics released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In just the past six months alone, there have been 23 recalls, 15 of them happening in 2013. At this rate, 2013 could be another record-breaking year for recalls.

Among the problems that lead to recalls are airbags that fail to deploy when a collision happens, airbags that deploy prematurely, and problems that arise as vehicles age, including ruptured airbag housing units and airbags with degraded or broken-off parts that can become shrapnel when a bag deploys. Potential consequences can include skin abrasions and lacerations; hearing or eye damage; broken noses, fingers, hands or arms; and head or neck injuries. The root cause of many airbag-related injuries is the force necessary for quick deployment. And studies show that in the United States, airbags typically are more forceful than those in other countries.

Though airbags are credited with saving upwards of 3,000 lives a year, the dangers they pose are real, potentially life-altering and all too common. If you or your dependents have been injured by an airbag’s faulty deployment or its failure to deploy, get medical treatment immediately. Then, call 800-251-1111 and schedule a consultation with an auto accident lawyer with Jacksonville’s Harrell and Harrell.

Triumph Motorcycles is recalling several 2012 and 2013 models including its popular Street Triple due to problems with the turn signal stems.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and its Office of Defects Investigation issued recalls of multiple consumer vehicles earlier this month. Each has a defect deemed potentially dangerous to drivers, passengers and others sharing the roadways.

Ford is recalling certain model year 2012 Taurus, Lincoln MKS, and model year 2013 Explorer vehicles manufactured July 19, 2011, through March 15, 2012. The fuel tanks may have a marginally sealed seam in the side of the tank, which can cause the fuel tanks to leak or to fail in the event of an impact, potentially causing a fire.

Triumph Motorcycles is recalling certain model year 2012-2013 Daytona 675, Street Triple, Speed Triple, and Tiger 800 motorcycles. Due to a manufacturing error, the turn signal stems on the front and rear of the motorcycle may crack or break. This means turn signals may not be visible to other drivers on the road, which can boost the risk of a crash.

Chrysler is recalling certain model year 2013 Dodge Challenger vehicles manufactured from December 3, 2012, through January 24, 2013 and equipped with a V6 engine. The battery positive cable at the starter motor may experience an electrical short circuit to ground, which can cause the vehicle to catch fire.

Nissan is recalling certain model year 2013 Titan trucks manufactured from January 22, 2013, through February 20, 2013; and model year 2013 NV vehicles manufactured from December 17, 2012, through February 20, 2013 and equipped with steering column-mounted transmission shift levers. Chemicals used in the manufacturing of the shift lever assembly may cause a malfunction of the brake shift interlock allowing the transmission shift lever to be shifted out of park even without the brake pedal being pressed. The vehicle then could roll away, placing drivers and passengers of other vehicles, as well as pedestrians in danger.

If you own one of these recalled vehicles and have not been injured as a result, head to your local dealer to find out what can be done to repair your vehicle and make it safe. You also can contact the NHTSA’s Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

If you or a dependent are injured by one of these recalled vehicles, seek medical attention immediately, then contact an experienced personal injury or product liability attorney with Jacksonville-based Harrell and Harrell. We have offices throughout Northeast Florida and in Orlando, and serve Brunswick and other areas of Southeast Georgia. Reach any of our offices at 800-251-1111.

Several popular LED light bulbs have been recalled after reports of damage and fire hazards.

LED light bulbs popular for their eco-friendly design have been voluntarily recalled because they can overheat and separate during use, posing a fire hazard. About 554,000 units are affected, after 68 reported incidents of product failures, eight of which were accompanied by visible smoke or fire conditions including damage to light sockets, melted fixtures, burned rugs and flooring, and damage to a lamp and a circuit.

Though none have been reported, there exists a risk of personal injury, attorneys say.

Satellite, Florida-based importer Lighting Science Group recalled the 120-volt LED bulbs, sold as 6- 8- and 9-watt bulbs marketed under the brand names Definity, EcoSmart, Sylvania and Westinghouse.  The model numbers A19, G25 and R20/PAR20 are found on the packaging and on the light-colored circular neck above the base of the bulb where the date code is also printed. The letters “CH” or “MX” may follow these affected date codes: L4010, L4110, L4210, L4310, L4410, L4510, L4610, L4710, L4810, L4910, L5010, L5110, L5210, L0111, L0211, L0311, L0411, L0511, L0611, L0711, L0811, L0911, L1011 and L1111.

If you or your dependents have been injured by one of these light bulbs, seek medical treatment immediately. Remove all bulbs from their sockets and keep the damaged parts and packaging intact, as they may be used as evidence should you file a personal injury or product liability claim. Expert personal injury attorneys Harrell and Harrell, with offices throughout Northeast Florida and Orlando, have successfully handled many such cases. Contact us at 800-251-1111 or via our online form.

Class action lawsuits allow for hundreds of plaintiffs to be represented in a single case.

If you’ve ever bought a cell phone, subscribed to cable TV or taken medication, chances are you’ve received a postcard on the mail notifying you of a class action lawsuit that you may be eligible to join. These cases typically are civil lawsuits filed in state or federal courts and involve more than 100 identifiable plaintiffs seeking compensation, often totaling in the millions, from a single defendant or class of defendants.

Though various state rules may apply, the overall process is governed by Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Among the primary requirements are:

• Certification: A state or federal judge must certify the plaintiffs as a class of victims for whom suing individually would be impractical. They all must share a common complaint against the defendants, and the defendants must share a similar defense against all plaintiffs. Only about 40 percent of lawsuits filed as class actions qualify for certification.
• Defining the class: A judge must define the scope of characteristics for the plaintiff class. For example, a plaintiff class in a lawsuit over injuries or potential injuries caused by a particular medication may be made up of patients who took that medication during a specified time period.
• Notification: All potential plaintiffs must be notified either by mail, newspaper advertisements, TV commercials, etc., depending upon the scope of the class.
• Opting out: If you fall within the defined scope of the class, then you are automatically included in the case and bound by the final judgment. However, if you prefer to file your own lawsuit or to skip participation altogether, you have the right to opt out of the class action suit. Your notice will include directions on how to opt out.
• Appointing counsel: The judge will appoint representative counsel for the plaintiffs. In most cases, this will be the same lawyer who filed the case. However, a judge has the final say on plaintiff representation depending upon whether the filing attorney is experienced in class action proceedings, is highly knowledgeable in the particular subject area, and will fairly represent the class.
• Distribution of damages: If the plaintiffs prevail, the judge will work with the appointed counsel to develop a plan for distributing any monetary damages awarded in the trial or agreed upon in a settlement. The judge also has a say in how and how much the attorneys are paid.

If you receive a notice indicating that you’re included in a class of plaintiffs, it’s always a good idea to contact an attorney independently. An experienced lawyer can help determine whether your interests will be best served in a class action lawsuit or by filing an individual case. Contact Harrell and Harrell, Jacksonville personal injury and product liability attorneys, at 800-251-1111.

Class action lawsuits involve four key components: Numerosity, commonality, typicality and adequacy.

When a large group of people collectively sues a particular defendant or class of defendant over similar injuries or losses, that’s a class action suit. A well-known example is the suit brought by people who had taken the drug combination fenfluramine/phentermine, commonly called fen-phen and marketed by American Home Products. The biggest diet pill craze of the 1990s was shown to cause potentially fatal pulmonary hypertension and heart valve problems and a class action lawsuit led to American Home Products agreeing to pay victims $3.75 billion.

Products liability attorneys with Jacksonville’s Harrell and Harrell explain the four key components in a class action lawsuit:

• Numerosity: Plaintiffs must show that the class of victims is numerous enough to make a class action suit the most practicable way to try the case. While not set minimum number of class members exists, most courts will require at least 100 members. Plaintiffs also must show that class members are identifiable via a specific criteria or information.
• Commonality: Plaintiffs seeking to file a class action suit must show that there exist questions of law and fact that are common to each class members’ claims and that the opposing party has engaged in some course of conduct that caused losses to the class members.
• Typicality: Plaintiff class members must show that losses are similar and arise from the same event or course of conduct by the defendant or defendant class, and that their individual claims all are based on the same legal theory.
• Adequacy: Finally, the plaintiffs must show that they and their attorneys are willing and able to fairly and adequately protect the interests of the full class of plaintiffs, including absentee members who may number in the tens or hundreds.

If you’ve been injured by a defendant’s product, service or course of action, contact a personal injury attorney with Jacksonville’s Harrell and Harrell at 800-251-1111.

Novartis recently announced a recall of certain lots of its popular Triaminic and Theraflu products.

Though the worst of the 2012-2013 flu season is over, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, risk of falling ill remains. In the United States, the flu season is considered October through May, and usually peaks in February. So, over-the-counter flu medications are kept handy in homes nationwide. But if you use Novartis brands, you’ll want to check the bottles before using them again, products liability and dangerous drug lawyers say.

Swiss-based Novartis International AG, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers, has voluntarily recalled certain lots of Triaminic Syrups and Theraflu Warming Relief Syrups that were manufactured in the United States before December 31, 2011. The child resistant feature of the bottle cap may malfunction, enabling the cap to be removed with the tamper-evident seal remaining intact. This means that there is no way to tell whether a bottle of medicine may have been tampered with, making it potentially unsafe.

Affected lots of the medications were sold in stores throughout the United States. A list of lot and NDC numbers of recalled units can be found here. A unit’s lot number is located on the bottom panel of the box and on the left side of the label on the bottle. The NDC number is located on the upper right corner of the front panel of the box for Triaminic products, and the upper left corner of the front of the bottle for Theraflu products. Lots reintroduced in October of 2012 are not part of the recall. They’re identified by a 7-digit lot number that has two letters as its second and third digits.

If you find an affected unit in your medicine cabinet and suffered no injuries from ingesting the medication, you can send the bottle back to Novartis for a full refund. However, if you believe that you or one of your dependents has been injured or made ill from taking doses of the recalled medications, see your doctor immediately and do not return or dispose of the bottle, cap or label. Call 800-251-1111 and talk with an experienced products liability or dangerous drugs attorney today.

The little known concept of statutes of repose can further restrict your ability to get compensation under statutes of limitations.

Most everyone is familiar with the concept of statute of limitations. But many in the general public have never heard of the statute of repose. The two are similar in that they each limit the amount of time that legal proceedings based on a particular event can be initiated. But a statute of repose takes a statute of limitations further, limiting the time allowed under the statute of limitation and in some cases, barring a claim being brought altogether.

Products liability cases in Florida are subject to both statutes of limitations and statutes of repose, often called nonclaim statutes. Products liability law allows victims to bring legal action for injuries caused by the defective design, manufacture, distribution, or sale of personal property. Here in the Sunshine State, the statute of limitation for products liability cases is four years from the date the victim knew or should have reasonably known that his or he injuries were caused by the product in question, unless a death results from a defective product. In such cases, Florida’s Wrongful Death Act imposes a two-year statute of limitations.

However, the statute of repose can further limit a victim’s ability to secure financial compensation for his or her injuries, depending upon when the product was originally made or sold.

Florida’s statute of repose provides that “under no circumstances may a claimant commence an action for products liability, including a wrongful death action or any other claim arising from personal injury or property damage caused by a product, to recover for harm allegedly caused by a product with an expected useful life of 10 years or less, if the harm was caused by exposure to or use of the product more than 12 years after delivery of the product to its first purchaser or lessee who was not engaged in the business of selling or leasing the product or of using the product as a component in the manufacture of another product.”

Thus, if the defective product that caused injury to you or your dependents originally was made or sold to the final retailer before 2000, you may be unable to secure compensation.

In any products liability case, time is of the essence. Contact an experienced products liability lawyer with Jacksonville’s Harrell and Harrell at 800-251-1111.

Children reaching for toys and other items are at risk for severe injuries or even death if furniture isn’t properly stabilized to avoid tipping over, personal injury and product liability attorneys with Jacksonville’s Harrell and Harrell say.

The year 2011 saw the highest 1-year number of fatalities caused by television sets, furniture or large appliances tipping over and toppling onto victims, personal injury and product liability attorneys with Jacksonville’s Harrell and Harrell say.

According to a recently released report by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 349 consumers were killed between 2000 and 2011. Of them, 84 percent were children age eight and younger. The year 2011 had the highest number of deaths at 41, up from 31 in 2010 and 27 in 2009. Injury numbers are much higher. The CPSC estimates that more than 43,000 consumers are injured each year in tip-over accidents involving dressers, entertainment centers, wall shelving units, large screen TV sets and the like. More than 59 percent (25,000) of victims are children and teens under age 18.

These accidents often happen when young children climb furniture or appliances in an attempt to reach items like toys, TV remotes or video game handsets. They can cause life-altering injuries including severe head and neck trauma or even paralysis. Young children are at particular risk of being trapped or crushed beneath heavy furniture or appliances. Such accidents increasingly are happening in bedrooms, as families purchase new, lighter weight flat-screen TV sets and move their older, bulkier and heavier sets into bedrooms without the proper stand or anchoring device that originally accompanied the pieces. In fact, of the fatalities reported during the time period studied, 40 percent occurred in bedrooms, compared to just 19 percent  in living rooms or family rooms.

To help protect yourself and your family from injuries caused by tip-over accidents, Harrell and Harrell and the CPSC recommend these safety measures:

• Anchor furniture to the wall or the floor using anchoring devices typically included in product packaging;
• Place television sets on sturdy, low bases;
• If placing TV sets atop furniture, anchor the furniture to the floor or wall and set the TV as far back as possible;
• Keep remote controls, toys, and other items that might attract children away from TV stands or heavy furniture;
• Keep electrical and connection cords for TVs, DVD players, game consoles, etc. out of reach of children and out of walkways where they pose trip hazards;
• Make sure freestanding kitchen ranges and stoves are installed with anti-tip brackets;
• Teach children to ask for items they cannot reach and to never climb furniture or appliances.

If you or your dependents have been injured by an appliance or furniture item, particularly one that lacked proper anchoring devices, seek medical attention immediately. Then, contact an experienced personal injury or product liability attorney. Reach Harrell and Harrell at 800-251-1111.

Slip and fall cases are among the top five most common personal injury claims, attorneys with Jacksonville’s Harrell & Harrell say.

Personal injury law is a complex multi-faceted legal field. And it’s a busy one! According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics, there are 32 million emergency room visits each year due to injuries – nearly 180,000 of which result in death.

When a person’s actions or negligence causes injury to or the death of another, it can be difficult to measure the losses. For injured victims, medical care and costs can persist for years. Lost wages and future loss of earning capacity also demand compensation, but a fair amount is not easily calculated. And of course, there is no dollar amount that can make up for the loss of a loved one.

Personal injury attorneys with Jacksonville’s Harrell and Harrell specialize in helping victims secure fair compensation for their losses in the event of a serious injury or death. Among the top PI claim types are:

• Traffic / Auto Accidents: More than 6 million traffic accidents occur annually in the United States. These involve not just motor vehicles, but bicyclist and pedestrians as well. And America’s growing addiction to their smart phones and other mobile devices mean roadway accidents are on the rise.
• Workplace Injuries: Upwards of 3 million non-fatal workplace injuries are reported each year. Another 5,000 are fatal. Today’s tight economy and scarcity of jobs mean the actual rate is likely much higher, as many employees are afraid to report injuries. But depending upon the severity and frequency, injuries to necks, backs and limbs can significantly reduce a victim’s ability to continue making a living.
• Assault: The U.S. Bureau of Justice reported more than 2 million simple assault cases in 2010 alone. Many of the resulting personal injury claims come in conjunction with other issues including domestic violence, drug or alcohol abuse or workplace violence. But it’s not just bodily injury that assault claims cover. Victims often can seek damages for emotional distress as well.
• Slip and Fall: Each year, more than 8 million slip and fall accidents happen, with upwards of 540,000 resulting in disabling injuries. They’re the single most common reason for emergency room visits and can cost an average $28,000 in medical and physical therapy bills, and lost wages.
• Products Liability: Unsafe medical devices, defective furniture and electronics, faulty children’s toys – all have led to product liability claims numbering an estimated 20,000 filed each year, and they’re among the costliest. Products liability cases have the second highest median damages awards, averaging $300,000 per claim.

If you or your dependents suffer bodily hurt due to the actions or negligence of another, contact an experienced personal injury attorney immediately. Jacksonville’s Harrell and Harrell, with offices throughout Northeast Florida, in Orlando and in South Georgia, specializes in PI cases of all types. Contact us at 800-251-1111.

If you plan to celebrate the start of 2013 with fireworks, make sure you’re aware of the risks and safety precautions.

Fireworks, both professional and personal, are an inevitable part of every New Year’s Eve celebration. But they can be as dangerous as they are beautiful if you’re not careful – especially if illegal or homemade fireworks are involved, say personal injury attorneys in Jacksonville and Orlando. Consider these statistics from the American Pyrotechnics Association, National Council on Firework Safety and Consumer Product Safety Commission:

• There were four fireworks-related deaths reported in 2011 involving illegal or homemade fireworks;
• Fireworks cause 9,300 serious injuries in the U.S. each year;
• 40% of fireworks-related injuries are caused by illegal fireworks;
• 400 Americans lose sight in one or both eyes due to fireworks each year;
• 46% of fireworks-related injuries are to the hands and fingers, 17% affect the eyes;
• Fireworks mishaps cause 20,000 fires nationwide each year;
• 14% of fireworks-related injuries are to children age 15 and younger.

Even seemingly harmless fireworks products can cause serious injury. The ever-popular sparkler can burn at 2,000°F – as hot as a blowtorch and high enough to melt some metals. Sparklers cause 17% of all fireworks-related injuries, and half of the victims are children four years old and younger.

To protect your family, make sure the fireworks you choose are legal in your area and are not homemade. Never allow young children to play with or ignite fireworks, and make sure that a responsible adult supervises teens using them. Light fireworks one at a time, back up to a safe distance immediately when a firework ignites, and never try to relight or pick up fireworks that have not ignited fully. What looks like a dud can simply take a little longer to ignite or blow than expected. Always keep a bucket of water or working water hose handy to quickly put out accidental fires. Be sure to douse all burned fireworks with water before throwing them away, as smoldering devices can re-ignite and set trash or debris alight.

If you or your dependents are injured by fireworks, get medical care immediately. If possible, have someone collect and preserve the firework, and contact an experienced product liability and personal injury attorney. Reach Harrell and Harrell, P.A. at 800-251-1111.

From the Harrell and Harrell staff, have a safe and happy New Year!