News Tagged ‘bus

Chrysler, GM bankruptcy deals strip victims of legal recourse

capitol 100x100Dozens of accident victims and their lawyers made their way to Washington, DC, and the halls of Capitol Hill last week, urging lawmakers and the Obama administration to protect their ability to pursue medical claims against Chrysler and General Motors.

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Despite warnings and instructions, food safety may still be a gamble

pot pie 100x100Following an outbreak in October 2007 of salmonella poisoning linked to Banquet brand chicken pot pies, ConAgra, the manufacturer of the pies, immediately began talking food . But instead of assuming responsibility for manufacturing a contaminated product that sickened as many as 15,000 people, ConAgra suggested that killing any salmonella bacteria in its products before eating them was ultimately the consumers’ responsibility.

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Floridians press Congress for help with Chinese drywall problem

florida state seal 100x100For thousands of Florida homeowners, the Chinese drywall catastrophe couldn’t have hit at a worse time. A contracting economy and a worse-than-stale housing market have already caused home values to plummet. Add to that the likelihood that one’s house might have to be completely gutted before it’s once again safe to live in, and the picture is bleak indeed.

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Chinese drywall problem more widespread than originally thought

chinese wallboard 100x100If it’s not lead in paint or melamine in dog food, then perhaps it’s poisonous drywall? The latest batch of toxic Chinese imports – some 550 million pounds of highly sulfuric drywall – has found its way into homes throughout the U.S. and even Canada. The cheap Chinese drywall flooded into the U.S. during the building boom, beginning in 2004, and peaked as the bustling economy and Hurricane Katrina put a strain on domestically manufactured drywall. Most of the affected homes appear to be in Florida, but newly constructed homes in several states and beyond are also affected.

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Seat belts on commercial buses, a new NHTSA regulation

crashed buses 100x100Passenger seat belts will soon be a requirement on commercial buses – a measure that the National Transportation Safety Board has long advocated but didn’t have the authority to enforce. Yesterday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has the legal authority to establish transportation standards, told Congress that it will require commercial motor coaches to have belts for their passengers.

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Defective bassinets pose suffocation hazard

play yard bassinet 100x100The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissionand Health Canada announced a in conjunction with Dorel Juvenile Group, Inc. of Columbus, Ind., of approximately 77,000 Eddie Bauer “Sooth & Sway” Play Yards. The play yards function as all-in-one play pens, changing tables, and bassinets with various features designed to entertain children and help keep their diapers and other needs organized.

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Poll finds American voters oppose forced arbitration in contracts

contract fine print 100x100“Americans are sick and tired of a system that so strongly favors big corporations over consumers and … robs them of their constitutional right to their day in court,” Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) said in a statement concerning the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act. The act seeks to preserve our constitutionally guaranteed right to a jury trial should we ever need to settle a grievance in court with a company or an employer.

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Possible insulin pump defect sparks FDA recall

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a of some ACCU-CHEK Sprint insulin pumps manufactured by Disetronic Medical Systems Inc., to customers, distributors and health care professionals. The pumps may have a defect in the “up” and/or “down” buttons, which may present as an intermittent or complete loss of function of the buttons. If the buttons do not function, users may not be able to change any programmed setting on the pump. In the event of a failure, the pump may not respond with a vibration or acoustic confirmation signal to a button press and the display will remain unchanged.

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Preemption language must be removed from railroad regulations

train wreck 100x100The American Association for Justice is calling for a review of Bush administration regulations that it believes compromise the 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.

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Public urgently needs better bus and trucking regulations

utah bus 100x100After 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 regulations proposed during the Bush Administration and currently pending.

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