Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

The American Association for Justice is calling for a review of Bush administration regulations that it believes compromise the safety and rights of consumers who are injured in railroad accidents. The request was prompted by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee’s nomination hearing of Joseph Szabo as the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) new administrator. Though Szabo’s nomination is not controversial, many lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled Congress believe the regulations and policies put forth by the previous administration favor big business at an enormous expense to the consumer.

Read the rest of this entry »

After analyzing the events surrounding a 2008 Utah bus rollover in which nine people died and 43 were injured, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that two situations fundamentally contributed to the deadly accident: driver fatigue and the lack of federal regulations to protect bus passengers. The American Association of Justice (AAJ) responded to the report by calling for a close review – and a possible revision – of federal transportation safety regulations proposed during the Bush Administration and currently pending.

Read the rest of this entry »

Companies throughout the United States need to do a better job of providing safe working environments for their employees … or else. That’s the message the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is sounding this week in honor of Workers Memorial Day today.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) his issued a recall to consumers and pharmacists for 34 dietary supplements manufactured by ABC Beauty Supply following an FDA lab analysis that identified an undeclared substance that may present a significant risk for patients with a history of heart conditions or stroke.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last month we shared the story of Jason Stanley, an Auburn University student who sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI)when three other men ambushed and maliciously attacked him in an alleyway. Jason lost consciousness after falling and hitting his head on the concrete pavement, yet one of the assailants continued to kick him in the face, according to a witness. The attack left Jason with a spectrum of physical and psychological problems – a fractured skull, severed nerves, loss of hearing, dizziness, anxiety, confusion, anger, depression – all symptoms of a TBI that took doctors days to discover.

Read the rest of this entry »

In February, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety raised the bar on the auto industry, announcing that it would require automobiles to withstand 4 times their own weight in a static roof crush test to qualify as contenders for the institute’s highest vehicle safety ranking. The test, also known as strength-to-weight ratio, has made the IIHS “Top Safety Pick” rating a little harder to earn. But that is good news for the consumer, as the auto industry covets good IIHS grades. Car manufacturers generally will work harder and make the improvements they need to make in order to earn higher IIHS rankings.

Read the rest of this entry »

Consumer and safety advocates nationwide are praising President Obama’s reported nomination of Chuck Hurley to serve as the next leader of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – the government agency that sets the standards for automobile roof crush strength. Actually, setting roof crush standards is not something the NHTSA has done much of since 1971 — the year it established the alarmingly weak standards that are still on the books today. Safety advocates hope that Hurley will overhaul the weak standards, which were written so many decades ago, by the auto companies and for the auto companies.

Read the rest of this entry »

It seems bizarre that a man could be awarded millions of dollars after striking a wild pig while motorcycling along a road in California, but that’s what happened to Adam Rogers, a 45-year-old resident of Seaside. Rogers was biking along Highway 1 in 2003 when he struck the pig around midnight, whereupon he was thrown from his motorcycle, receiving several debilitating and permanent injuries. A former champion kick boxer and karate instructor, Rogers spent months in a coma after the wreck and is now wheelchair bound. He also undergoes intensive physical therapy to this day and will continue to require a great deal of medical attention for the rest of his life.

Read the rest of this entry »

Neither the U.S. Food and Drug Administration nor state health agencies require food manufacturers to test the safety of their products before they enter the market. Inspectors periodically visit the factories where food is processed to make sure their operations are up to code, but as we have seen in the recent past, even those rules can be insufficient and lax.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Food and Drug Administration and Medtronic Neurologic Technologies have issued a voluntary Class 1 recall on the Innervision Snap Shunt Ventricular Catheter, BioGlade and Snap Shut Ventricular Catheter, BioGlide. The ventricular catheter may become detached from the snap base assembly after implantation and may increase the need for emergency corrective surgery.

Read the rest of this entry »