Defective & Dangerous Products

• Tennessee Supreme Court Hears Household Asbestos Exposure Suit

  Greg Webb | January 18, 2008 5:18 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  The Tennessee Supreme Court recently convened to decide a case in which a twenty three year old woman, Amanda Satterfield, filed suit against her father's employer, ALCOA Inc. and Breeding Insulation Company. Satterfield claims from the time she was born, she was exposed to harmful asbestos fibers and dust due to her father's use of the asbestos products. Unbeknownst to her father, the dust and...

• Children's Toy Shows Signs of Asbestos; Recall Investigation Underway

  Greg Webb | January 07, 2008 5:25 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  The CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit, made by Planet Toys Inc., has been removed from store shelves, four days before Christmas, after traces of asbestos were found by the nonprofit advocacy group, Environmental Working Group, in the kit's fingerprint dust. The manufacturer sent out the "stop sale" notice on December 21 and also put a statement on their website stating an investigation on the...

• $3,000,000 Verdict Against Ford in Georgia for Defective Seat Backs

  Greg Webb | December 20, 2007 2:41 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  The Atlanta Constitution Journal reported on December 13, 2007, that a Cobb County, Georgia jury handed down a $3,000,000 compensatory damage verdict against Ford Motor Company because of defective seats in a 1994 Ford Tempo that resulted in the death of a 76 year-old lady. Mary Reese's Ford Tempo was rear-ended by a gravel truck, driving her car down a steep embankment. She was hospitalized...

• Lead and Other Harmful Substances Found in Toys

  Greg Webb | December 17, 2007 8:55 AM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  In the last six months, more than 1,200 toys have been taken of the shelves of Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us, and Babies-R-Us to be tested for excessive amounts of lead and other harmful substances in toys. These tests, led by a Michigan-based Ecology Center along with help from eight other states and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, have shown thirty five percent of the toys tested...

• Ford Recalls 1.1 Million More Vehicles

  Greg Webb | December 11, 2007 10:20 AM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  Ford Motor Company is recalling 1.1 million more vehicles. This time, Ford is recalling more than 1.1 million heavy-duty trucks with diesel engines because of a problem that could lead to engine stalling. When an engine stalls, particularly when the vehicle is moving, this may present a safety problem for the driver and occupants because the driver may lose control of the vehicle. Ford's...

• Lexus Model Recall Annouced by Toyota

  Greg Webb | December 06, 2007 2:12 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  Over 264,000 luxury vehicles, made by Toyota, have been recalled due to faulty exhaust pipes. Forty thousand of these recalled vehicles are from the Lexus branch of the company. These flawed exhaust pipes on the recalled models could lead to fuel leaks, cracks, and corrosion. Although most of the recalls are being made in Japan, the Toyota company, along with the National Highway Traffic Safety...

• Ford Settles Lawsuits Involving Its Rollover Plagued Explorer

  Greg Webb | December 03, 2007 9:56 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  The Ford Motor Company has settled a class-action lawsuit in California, Illinois, Connecticut and Texas regarding its 1991-2001 models of the Explorer sports utility vehicle (SUV), which has come under fire for being prone to rollovers. The claimants have said the Ford Motor Company used false advertising to sell the SUV. They knew the automobile was prone to rollovers, but marketed it as a...

• Harmful Toys Bring New Safety Warnings

  Greg Webb | November 28, 2007 1:37 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  With the holiday season approaching, many toys are being inspected by consumer groups for potentially harmful manufacturing violations, including choking hazards and excessive amounts of lead. The Center for Environmental Health, for example, found nine out of one hundred toys purchased from stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart had illegal amounts of lead in them, reaching as high as nine...

• Toy Recall Due To Excessive Lead

  Greg Webb | November 26, 2007 5:34 PM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  Mattel Inc., Fisher Price, and eighteen other companies have been accused of having illegal amounts of lead in their products, the legal amount being 600 parts per million. Lead is a toxic substance that damages the nervous system and many other organs. There are many toy recalls each year, but this year's recall is especially damaging because it deals with very popular toys, such as Barbie...

• Potential Automobile Fires Cause Ford to Recall 3.6 Million More Vehicles

  Greg Webb | August 06, 2007 9:48 AM | 0 CommentsCharlottesville, VA

  Ford Motor Company has issued a recall of another 3.6 million automobiles that have a cruise control switch that has been associated with other Ford vehicle fires. Because the switch is powered at all times, it could cause fires even when the automobile is turned off because of a short circuit. http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/03/autos/ford_recall/index.htm?cnn=yes In 2005 and 2006, Ford recalled...