Philadelphia Injury Attorney Blog

Rick Santorum, a Republican candidate for President, blames lawyers and medical malpractice lawsuits for unnecessarily driving up health care costs. He claims that he will push to limit payments to medical malpractice lawsuit victims and has repeatedly spoken about caps on medical malpractice recoveries. What Mr. Santorum fails to mention in his campaign speeches is that he testified in support of his wife when she filed a medical malpractice lawsuit that allegedly sought $500,000 dollars in damages, which was twice the cap in his original legislative proposal. According to sources Karen Santorum, the wife of Rick Santorum, claimed that a chiropractor left her with a back injury that will result in a lifetime of pain medication and restriction of mobility.

On the campaign trail when questioned, Senator Santorum told reporters that he backed limits and that his wife did not sue for pain and suffering which is the area he thought should be capped. The Judge in the Santorum case stated that a majority of the $350,000 jury verdict awarded to the Santorum’s was largely for unspecific losses and pain and suffering which he concluded was excessive. It is unfortunate however, that after practicing as a Pennsylvania catastrophic injury and malpractice attorney for over 30 years, I often find that the people that complain the most about lawyers are the ones that are the greediest when it comes time to the resolution of their own claims. When they are the victim or a family member is the affected victim, they have a totally different view and yes, they too become “greedy for justice”.

I was regularly attacked by a prominent physician in Philadelphia who when dining with me or socializing with me would always chastise the efforts of myself and other trial lawyers committed to achieving justice for injured victims. When this doctor sustained a catastrophic injury as the result of medical malpractice, the sky was the limit for how much he wanted. He was no longer calling for the caps on damages that he was so arrogant and vociferous about before his accident.

Why is it that people will say anything to get them elected to office, yet when it comes time to a personal tragedy where they or their family member is a victim, it is a different set of standards?

I have always believed that a man should be judged by his actions rather than his words. I am not afraid to admit that yes, I am still “greedy for justice” when a wrongdoing occurs caused by the negligence of another or a defectively manufactured product.

I believe wholeheartedly in the American justice system and the average 500 year collective wisdom of American juries.

As an experienced automobile defect and car accident attorney for over three decades, I recognize one thing, cars should be designed safely for everyone whether they are adults or children. Unfortunately, when it comes to safety many of the large automobile manufacturers have sacrificed the interests of both children and those individuals that are above or below average sized individuals.

Each year, thousands of children are seriously injured and killed due to poor seat belt fit or improper restraint systems in the vehicle.

Many times child and infant car seats are improperly designed or have manufacturing defects presenting hidden dangers. Children between the ages of 4 and 8 under 80 lbs. are typically less than 48 inches tall and are exposed to a higher risk of catastrophic injury or wrongful death than an adult because adult safety seat belts are designed to protect adults and not children. When a seat belt fails to protect or fit an individual correctly, there is an excellent chance that in a catastrophic accident restrained individuals will sustain a submersion injury, rollover injury, or positioning injury leading to catastrophic injuries such as quadriplegia, paraplegia, or death.

The Pennsylvania automobile defect and product liability lawyers of Reiff and Bily understand that prevention of injuries must always be priority number one rather than profits for automobile manufacturers. Seat belt restraint systems are design issues and defectively designed or manufactured seat belts and seat belt buckles that lead to potential failures, unlatch, false latch, inadvertent latch, and retractor failures create a catastrophically dangerous situation that many people do not learn of until it is just too late.

The National Highway Safety Administration is charged with writing and enforcing safety, theft resistance, and fuel economy guidelines for motor vehicles. However, as an experienced Pennsylvania automobile product liability attorney who has handled a substantial number of catastrophic car accident cases, I am well aware that these are only minimal standards and guidelines.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, (FMVSS), are regulations written in terms of the minimum safety performance requirements for motor vehicles, motor vehicle items, and motor vehicle equipment. Many of the big auto makers take pride in announcing that their vehicles meet these “minimal” standards, however, a safely designed car should exceed these standards, especially if there is a safer design alternative.

In 1980, NHTSA recognized the need for safer interiors of vehicles and identified improvements to padding and cushioning in the event of an accident. In 1989, the application of one inch of padding was required to interior surfaces which was indicated to reduce head trauma by half as much. The Department of Transportation estimated the cost of padding all roof, rails, and areas likely to have an impact was approximately $33 per car.

Safety is not one thing, it’s everything. Understanding that NHTSA or FMVSS government standards are only minimal guidelines and applying conventional wisdom that cars and motor vehicles should be safe makes it intolerable and unacceptable when automobile manufacturers cut corners and emphasize safety over profits. While automobile manufacturers always speak about compliance with federal standards, standard testing typically does not call for all types of situations or applications.

Keeping this in mind, if you or a loved one has been involved in a serious motor vehicle accident, you may want to contact an experienced car accident and automotive product liability attorney to fully evaluate your claim and search the road less traveled for answers and proper compensation. The experienced Pennsylvania car accident and automotive product liability lawyers of Reiff and Bily always offer a free, no obligation consultation. Contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

When I was a young teenager in school one of my favorite books to read was “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Atticus Finch, the fictional protagonist of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel is a lawyer in a small Alabama county and has been named as one of the greatest heroes in American film. In a rousing speech given to the jury, Finch claims “There is one way in this country in which all men are created equal – there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college President. That institution gentlemen is the court”.

Although fictional, Atticus Finch has always been one of my heroes and one of the main reasons that I became a lawyer.

Every person is entitled to every presumption of reaching the heights of a lifetime without sustaining injuries that could have been easily prevented had it not been for the negligence of others, or a defectively designed product.

As an experienced Pennsylvania product liability and motor vehicle defect lawyer for over three decades, I have recognized that money, power, and greed often leads to ruthless and preventable catastrophic injuries and deaths that will greatly affect my clients and their families for the rest of their life. Many times when I visit a new case, I seethe with anger (which is not a bad starting point) as I search to put the pieces of the puzzle together which will shine a light on how my clients and their families were betrayed. In most cases the facts reveal that the victim suffered a wrong and is fully entitled to justice. One must always stand for something or you fall for anything.

I see how insurance companies and corporate defendants continue to turn their backs on catastrophically injured individuals or the victims of families who are wrongfully killed when the bills of life keep coming and the medical costs keep accumulating. I do believe that the right to enjoy one’s life in a safe and proper manner is not one thing, it is everything. Jeffrey Reiff is the founding partner of Reiff and Bily, a catastrophic injury and wrongful death law firm in Philadelphia, PA.

It has often been stated by legislators and lawmakers that greedy trial lawyers and their clients take advantage of the legal system by seeking large verdicts after they are injured by the negligence of another or by a defectively designed or defectively manufactured product.

For years, as an experienced catastrophic injury attorney, I would have friends talk to me about the famous “McDonald’s coffee case” when in fact they had no idea what that case was really about. In fact, the hot coffee propaganda campaign in the newspapers was funded by major corporations who have spent millions of dollars to distort the case promoting tort reform.

I urge all of my readers to view “Hot Coffee” which clearly reveals how large businesses and corporations aided by the media manipulated the public with lies to protect corporate interests. The film follows the lives of four individuals whose lives were devastated by the attacks on our courts, and challenges assumptions many Americans hold about “jackpot justice”.

For over three decades, I have recognized that the collective 500 years of wisdom of individuals comprising a jury have more common sense than anyone else in the courtroom. It is conventional wisdom that products, cars, amusement rides, and premises should be safe from defects. Occupy Wall Street began a worldwide movement protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, as well as corruption and the undue influence that corporations have. The 7th Amendment of the United States Constitution grants us all the right to a trial by a jury of our peers.

Many of the product liability cases that our office regularly investigates and litigates involves someone’s deepest and darkest fears coming true. Imagine receiving a phone call in the middle of the night notifying you that your child or another loved one has been wrongfully killed as a result of being involved in a car accident caused by a defective product design or mechanism that the manufacturers have known for years created an unsafe condition. Everyone has the right to expect that when they purchase an automobile, they are buying a safe car and that safety should never be an option. Yet, in many of our automobile product liability cases, we have been able to show that automobile manufacturers concealed known defects putting the profitability and greed of corporate interests above consumer safety. Simply put, cutting corners on product design or manufacture and not putting safety first is never acceptable. The prevention of an injury must always be priority number one. Cars should be designed to be safe for everyone, adults and children. Concealing safety issues with bold faced lies in the name of business and profits is simply intolerable.

The experienced Philadelphia product liability lawyers of Reiff and Bily understand that one must never be afraid to stand up to big business and corporations. If you or a loved one has been injured by the defective design or manufacture of a product, contact one of our experienced Pennsylvania product liability lawyers for a free, no obligation consultation toll free at 1-800-421-95959 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

For over three decades, I have been practicing catastrophic injury and wrongful death law and all too often a catastrophic injury or wrongful death is caused by a clear violation of laws that have minimal if any enforcement guidelines and “teeth”.
Recently the Concordia cruise ship disaster illustrated just how many deaths and catastrophic injuries could be caused in an industry guided by rules that were spottily enforced. Every time an accident happens whether it involves a cruise ship, bus accident, trucking accident, amusement park accident, or product liability claim, authorities and experts are quick to state that the event is a wake-up call that highlights longstanding safety concerns.

In Philadelphia, we continue to have an escalating hit and run car accident crisis due to the fact that there are several well-known loopholes in the laws and yet legislators refuse to take steps to change and enforce codes which should in reality punish violators.

The law firm of Reiff and Bily has handled many amusement park accident cases, and yet the enforcement of these safety regulations is spotty despite the volume of rules and amount of unreported amusement park and water park accidents. Many industries escape regulatory scrutiny and it comes as no shock that catastrophic accidents occur when safety protocols are not followed and enforced. Rules and regulations without enforcement are meaningless and if the rules and regulations provide a mechanism for enforcement, individuals or corporations in positions of power often think (as demonstrated by their action or non-action) that they are above these rules and think that they can escape liability by the use of a creative lawyer or legal system which fails to enforce said rules and regulations. If our system chooses to ignore rules and regulations, it fosters a system where it is easier for individuals and corporations to become and remain corrupt then to remain honest.

I have always believed that laws not enforced cease to be laws, and rights not defended may wither away. I believe that the courtroom with proper legal representation makes equals of all men and that an injured victim must ensure that laws are followed and enforced. While catastrophic injury and personal injury lawyers will continue to be bashed by corporations and insurance companies who continue to delay, deny, and defend rightful claims, I for one understand that enforcement of laws and prosecution of wrongdoers are necessary to protect the public and promote order which is the first requisite of liberty and justice.

I was recently discussing a catastrophic death case with my opponent who seemed most focused on learning about how my client’s daily life and activities were affected from the catastrophic accident that tragically took her husband’s life when he was 32-years-old.

My client was perfectly healthy when he went in for a simple and innocent medical procedure and died one of the most painful and horrific deaths after he languished for many weeks with what our skilled medical malpractice lawyers and experts considered to be a negligent medical diagnosis and treatment. Obviously the words that I communicated to my experienced opponent seemed to ring hollow as I described what life was like for the surviving widow and young children of the unfortunate victim. As an experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice and product liability lawyer who has shared the losses of loved ones with all too many families over the last three decades, and as one who has also suffered the loss of a parent and dear friends, I understand that it is hard to put into words the feelings and emotions that overcome an individual when they learn of another’s passing and have to deal with it on a daily basis.

Many years ago, while handling a mass catastrophic accident involving the deaths of five individuals and extraordinary life changing injuries to nine others, I attended many funerals and had occasion to embed myself with the families of the victims. The outpouring of grief and emotions is almost impossible to accurately describe and communicate, and therefore, I reached out to an experienced grief counselor who had worked with victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center catastrophe. The grief counselor assembled a group of psychologists and psychiatrists to interview and counsel the surviving family members and was able to document and explain to the defense and the parties that they represented the complexities of grief and emotional trauma suffered by the plaintiffs and their survivors. Experienced grief counselors and psychologists understand the normal path of bereavement and grieving. I have learned that bereavement and grief possesses many different stages for individuals and have learned that as chance favors the prepared mind, it is best to prepare for this type of questioning by defense in any catastrophic injury or wrongful death case. Whereas a widow or child will normally be extremely emotional and cry as they detail the grieving process, a grief counselor and psychologist can assist in demonstrating the emotional damage aspect of the legal claim and help jurors understand the true extent of a client’s suffering.

If you or a loved one has sustained a catastrophic injury or wrongful death, the experienced Philadelphia personal injury and Philadelphia trial lawyers of Reiff and Bily understand the heartbreak and sorrow and what it takes to recover the financial damages to which you are entitled. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation as well as a no recovery, no fee guarantee. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

I have been actively practicing law since 1979 and yet many times when I meet colleagues who are trial lawyers they cannot help but tell me how much they hate the profession and can’t wait to get out. Many of my colleagues drink to forget and eliminate the stresses of the profession. On the other hand, there are many lawyers such as myself and my partners who love to practice law and feel blessed to have the opportunity to represent so many wonderful clients in need of our services. The practice regularly gives us energy as rise to new and different legal and interpersonal client challenges.

Since 1979, I have vigorously represented clients who have been catastrophically injured or wrongfully killed due to the negligence of another or due to a defectively designed or defectively manufactured product. I have always been amazed at how insurance companies and their “hired gun” defense attorneys attempt to minimize the value of a life changing injury, disfigurement, loss of reputation, impairment of mental and physical capacity, frustration, humiliation, degradation and an non-inclusive list of other factors when these same people will purchase pieces of art at prices in the millions or hundreds of millions of dollars. I have often asked myself why is a piece of art worth more than the value of a lost life or worth more than the injuries sustained by one whose life has been catastrophically changed due to the negligence of profit seeking motives of another. I have understood that as an experienced Philadelphia trial lawyer, I deal with situations on a daily basis where we must face the value of our client’s lost hope or dreams and yes, while many of the cases involve some of the most depressing facts that one could conceive, I still believe that in representing seriously injured clients, the loss of their dreams is much more important than the intangible value of a piece of art and have always given of myself 110% percent to help my injured clients and their families recover compensatory damages necessary to keep their dreams and hopes alive. Being a lawyer defines my life and I look forward every day to giving the best counsel possible to my clients. I understand that the greatest use of a life is to spend your time doing something that will outlast it and I know that the finest trial lawyers that I work with love what they do and understand that the pursuit of justice is truth in action. We understand that every individual and corporate entity has a responsibility for injustice anywhere in life and everywhere in the community.

I was recently at an outdoor sporting event squeezing my way through people seated in the bleachers when I almost tripped and fell through one of the large gap openings. Although my wife many times tells me that I can be a “klutz”, on this evening I saw many other people fall forward as their legs and feet almost slipped through the large gaps. What immediately came to mind, particularly as a Philadelphia premise liability and slip and fall injury lawyer, was that there was a significant risk of harm to innocent and unknowing visitors at the game. Yes, similar types of bleachers are used for sporting events, graduation ceremonies, parades, and other activities and often are constructed very quickly without giving a thought to proper guardrails, violations of building codes, and more importantly proper lighting which would illuminate or warn potential victims of a danger. Many of the bleachers in use today are not required to comply with building codes. However, it is important for the operator of the event, and owner of the bleachers to provide a safe sitting and walking arrangement to all who occupy the bleachers with an emphasis on slip and fall protection.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission takes this so seriously that they recommend retrofitting measures for many bleachers currently in use. The CPSC retrofitting measures recommends details for proper placement and arrangement of railings to prevent falls.

If you or a loved one has sustained an injury or fallen from a bleacher, it is best to immediately contact an experienced premise liability and slip and fall attorney who will work with experienced architects, civil engineers, as well as warning, illumination, and product defect analysis experts to determine who should be held accountable for resulting injuries. As always, the experienced Pennsylvania slip and fall accident and premise liability lawyers of Reiff and Bily offer a free, no obligation consultation. If we are successful in a recovery, you don’t owe us a dime. For over three decades we have successfully represented victims and their families in Pennsylvania and throughout the country jointly with co-counsel assuring that justice is served. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Recently a young boy drowned while swimming at night in a swimming pool owned by a major hotel chain while attending a wedding reception. Although alcohol was involved, there were numerous other violations pointing to owner/operator negligence for swimming pool operations and premise liability which led to the tragic death. Recently I was a guest at another major hotel chain with an indoor pool and was surprised to notice that the hotel did not secure the pool at night by locking doors even though claiming it was closed during evening hours. The hotel’s actions indicated that guests were allowed to swim at night and the area was dimly and darkly lit. The hotel also had business and social functions ongoing in the lobby and bar areas and it was very possible for guests who were intoxicated to enter the pool.

In the hotel swimming pool drowning accident case where the boy drowned, an aquatic safety consultant was retained and stated that the hotel was negligent in that it failed to secure the pool at night with locked doors or gates even though they claimed it was closed during evening hours. Routine pool controls and patrols were not conducted for safety and the pool was lacking safety signs, rescue and resuscitation equipment. There was no one on staff ultimately in charge of the pool and in fact, many of the safety breaches which led to the finding of liability on behalf of the hotel chain were in violation of the company’s written policies.

As an experienced Philadelphia hotel safety and Philadelphia swimming pool accident lawyer for over thirty years, I understand that safety is priority number one and that hotels and motels owe the highest duty of care to those who visit the premises as customers to insure their safety and protect them from significant harm or death. If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of a swimming pool accident, please contact us for a free, no obligation consultation toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

I recently resolved a case for a confidentially significant amount of money for a young woman who sustained permanent injuries and severe scarring when she was struck by a heavy self closing corridor door in her school hallway. The young lady was walking with friends through the school hallway and a heavy glass paned corridor door closed quickly on her. She put up her hand to protect herself whereupon her hand broke through one of the “safety door” glass panes.

The experienced Pennsylvania premise liability and product defect lawyers of Reiff and Bily hired an engineer and architect to examine and analyze the circumstances of the glass failure and the results of the inspection and analysis were more concerning and alarming then one would believe. Each one of the “safety” doors had 15 rectangular glass panes with exposed areas of panes approximately 8" x 14". I remember being in school when doorway and window glass panes were a wired glass and hexagonal chicken wire pattern yet these doors were just clear unlaminated plate glass. Not only that, the doors were old, heavy doors with failing hydraulic closers mounted at the top that were leaking oil or fluid creating excessive force. Architecturally, there is a difference between safety glass and fire rated glass. Safety glass is intended to reduce the likelihood of severe cuts to people as well as resist breaking in the first place. Wired glass is not safety glass but many times individuals operate under the common misconception that it is. When the school doors were analyzed, they failed a closing speed and closing force test in that they closed in approximately two seconds versus the suggested five second minimum. Obviously, anyone attempting to prevent the door from closing on them would naturally put their hand in the air and the combination of the force of the door closing and the lack of safety glass presented a hazardous and grave danger of high magnitude to innocent and unknowing students. Of course, it is reasonably foreseeable for a student to instinctively put her hand up to block a door closing. Many times, doors have push plates which are fastened to doors for the purpose of providing a spot for pedestrians to place their hands to push a door open. In crowded conditions the chance of missing the plate inadvertently is great and not all students, especially younger ones, understand to use the plate.

Our case was successfully settled against the building owner and school who was determined to be responsible for safety and maintenance and should have noticed non-safety glass used on these doors and should have foreseen that a grave accident such as that caused to our young client. Our skilled premise liability and glass accident lawyers were able to prove violations of applicable property maintenance codes including those of BOCA, ICC, and City codes. The hazardous conditions were easily correctable at a minimal cost. Failure to take action fell below the duty of care owed by institutional facilities such as the school to students attending the school and their parents. Our skilled school accident lawyers were able to prove that the hazards and engineering and architectural failures created a grave danger to students resulting in a substantial confidential resolution prior to trial. For more information, please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

I remember walking with my parents and as I grew older, walking with my friends on brisk Halloween evenings wearing a close fitting Halloween mask with only two small holes for breathing, I remember distinctly the warm condensation building up under the mask as I went door to door “trick or treating”. What many parents never think of and should be on alert for is the risk of suffocation by your child under too tight a Halloween mask with spaces too small for proper and safe breathing. This risk can be even greater when children running with their friends up and down steps, doorway to doorway, exert themselves and the body has a greater need for oxygen.

Recently Target recalled thousands of frog theme Halloween masks citing just a suffocation risk. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall for children’s frog masks imported by Target Corporation citing that the plush frog mask lacked proper ventilation when secured in place across a child’s face presenting a suffocation hazard. Thankfully no injuries were reported at the time of the recall. The mask was manufactured in China and sold at Target stores nationwide from August 20 to September 2011 for approximately $1.00. Consumers have been advised to take the masks and return them to Target for a full refund.

I have read other blogs stating that you “get what you pay for”. However as an experienced product liability attorney who has handled many dangerous and defective toy cases where children have choked or suffocated due to a loose part, I believe that safety rather than profitability should always be priority number one and if there is a risk of suffocation or hazard to a child, it doesn’t matter what you pay. The product simply should not be on the market.

If you have one of these masks, it is probably best to simply throw it out to avoid your child accidentally putting it on as chance favors the prepared mind. The experienced Pennsylvania child injury and defective toy and product liability law firm of Reiff and Bily have been steadfast consumer stalwarts for product safety for over three decades and always offer a free, no obligation consultation to victim’s and their families of those catastrophically injured or wrongfully killed due to the negligence of others or product liability defectively designed or defectively manufactured products.

For more information, please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

As strange as it seems, surgery performed on the wrong side of a patient’s body is more common than one would think. In fact, due to a recent publication resulting from Freedom of Information requests, many more revelations of surgery performed on the wrong side of the body are being publicly acknowledged. While it is unquestionable that mistakes may occur during medical procedures, there simply is no excuse for wrong site surgeries. Simply stated, wrong site surgeries are always the result of carelessness, poor pre-operative planning, and an obvious lack of institutional control.

As an experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney whose law firm has successfully litigated wrong site surgery cases for over three decades, we consider this medical error to be the most outrageous type of insult to the patient due to the fact that it forever changes the patient’s life with irreversible injuries and is so easily prevented.
Surprisingly the reporting of wrong site surgery is not mandatory in most states.

Recently when I went in for a minor surgical procedure on my elbow, I met with a doctor briefly after an IV sedative had been introduced prior to entering the operating room. The doctor asked me what I was there for and I asked told him “Why don’t you tell me?” attempting to have him acknowledge the site of the surgery so that I could confirm the same. Obviously at this stage of the game, even I was in an intoxicated state and under the influence of a sedative. Wrong site surgeries account for almost 15% of all reported medical mistakes and in many of the wrong site surgery cases we have investigated and litigated, many of the defendants, doctors, and nurses point the finger at each other without immediately acknowledging a mistake or properly assuming responsibility.

If you or a loved one has been a victim of wrong site surgery, why not put a team of experienced wrong site surgery and medical malpractice lawyers to work for you. Of course, we always offer a free, no obligation consultation. Recently, the accomplished Philadelphia medical malpractice firm of Reiff and Bily have joined forces with the legendary medical malpractice team of the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Together our attorneys have been awarded billions of dollars since the mid-1950's. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

For over thirty years, I have worked closely with the medical community in my capacity as a lawyer investigating and litigating cases involving closed head traumas and mild to severe brain injuries, as well as intracranial hemorrhages. Many times individuals who do not possess proper medical insurance do not receive adequate or proper screening after an accident or violent impact to their head. Left untreated, a mild TBI or intracranial hemorrhage can have a considerable impact in the reduction of one’s quality of life and can many times lead to death if improperly diagnosed.

Studies and statistics have indicated that African-American and Hispanic children are less likely than Caucasian children to receive cranial CT scans in emergency departments following minor head trauma according to a study presented at the 2011 American Academy of Pediatrics national conference. Many physicians that I have discussed this situation with claim that those who sustain a minor head trauma “are probably at low risk anyway” for a clinically important brain injury. However, one’s socioeconomic status or lack of insurance or ignorance of the insurance and billing systems should not stand in the way of a proper diagnosis and the safe practice of medicine. Many times an impact to the head is the result of a car accident, product defect, or other type of negligence, and third party’s and third party insurance companies may be responsible for medical bills and resulting financial, emotional, and payment of medical bills. Simply stated, I have noted that many individuals contact our office with symptoms of traumatic brain injury and closed head trauma and have not received proper medical treatment because they were afraid that they would be responsible for paying the bills and did not have adequate personal medical insurance. In fact, many hospitals and physicians will not treat these people unless there is a letter of protection from a lawyer representing them or the lawyer’s office has done the ground work to secure funding for the diagnostic testing. What we do know is that individuals with a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury have a much lower health-related quality of life at times compared to others. It is important to immediately diagnose and effectively treat a brain injury.

Continue reading "Why Is It That Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries and Intracranial Hemorrhages Are Not So Readily Diagnosed. Is It A Patient Or Medical Issue?" »

How many times have you been driving down the highway and seen treads, shredded tires, or torn pieces of tires sitting on the side of the road on the shoulder. The sale of used tires and retreaded tires is booming. While a significant number of vehicle crashes are caused as a result of tire failures, and even though the purchaser believed they were getting safe tires based upon the visual conditions, many times the bargain leads to a catastrophic accident. Many times tires possess defects that cannot be easily detected visually. Oxidation or micro-cracks in tires can lead to a catastrophic tread or belt separation. However, unfortunately, the age of a tire does not prevent it from being sold at a cheap price on the used tire market or the retread market.

We recently successfully resolved a case where a tire experienced a belt separation causing the vehicle to lose control. The tire manufacturer claimed there was no defect on the tire. Most times, the tire installer or customer does not possess the ability to spot loose cords or belt separation in a tire, and unfortunately used tires are not subject to any federal standards. The road fitness of a tire is governed only under state tread depth laws.

Every year thousands of people will die and even more will be catastrophically injured due to the use of defective retread tires on vehicles. Environmentalists claim that retreading tires saves huge amounts of natural resources as opposed to replacing worn tires. However, safety should always take priority over profitability. Simply put, retread tires are second hand tires that have just been recoated with a tread veneer creating a potentially volatile situation.

Continue reading "A Tire Tread Separation Often Results In Lose Of Control Of A Vehicle With Tragic Consequences" »

Over the years, as an experienced catastrophic accident attorney , I have represented a number of clients who were injured at a gym, or on a ski slope and the business owner or operator attempted to deny coverage or liability due to an exculpatory clause in the contract, membership agreement, or lift ticket that stated that the facility waived any liability in the event of an accident.

Pennsylvania law provides that an exculpatory clause or a clause waiving liability is valid if it does not violate any policy of the law, the contract is between persons relating entirely to their own affairs and each party is a “free bargaining agent”, and is not in effect a contract or adhesion whereby one party simply adheres to a document which is powerless to alter having no alternative than to reject the transaction entirely. Even if a clause in a contract is determined to be exculpatory, the Supreme Court has established standards that must be met before it will relieve one from liability that the law would otherwise impose.

1) It must be strictly construed since it is not favorite of the law.

2) It must spell out the contention of the parties the greatest particularity so as to show an intent to release from liability beyond a reasonable doubt by express stipulation, no inference from words or general import can establish it.

3) It must be construed against the parties seeking immunity.

4) The burden to establish immunity is upon the party who asserts it.

Obviously if you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury or wrongful death at a business entity, property or recreational facility of another, a clause attempting to limit or extinguish their liability may not necessarily release the offending party from their responsibility for injuries and accidents. Many individuals and lawyers pay heed to the chilling effect of these clauses and do not understand that such communication must be understandable without ambiguity or deception and may often call for the involvement of an experienced catastrophic injury or wrongful death lawyer.

For over three decades, the experienced Pennsylvania personal injury and Philadelphia premise liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily have successfully tackled some of the nation’s toughest defendants and largest corporations on a no recovery, no fee basis representing the interests of consumers. We believe that safety and not profitability should be priority one, and our skilled catastrophic injury attorneys have a successful track record holding wrongdoers accountable. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

If you watch television or listen to the radio, there will be many advertisements boasting of successful outcomes with the newest fad diet. Many of us have tried these diets and bounced from one to the other only to recognize that you should not believe everything you read or hear. The truth of the matter is that the selection of the proper diet for oneself, like the selection of a lawyer, requires careful research and discipline. As I watch TV, I see many ads from lawyers, many who are even out of state, promising to recover “tons of money” and fight hard. Yet many of these people have never personally handled a case or litigated a case and are mostly engaged in marketing opportunities where the case could possibly be referred to another law firm for a percentage of the fee (known as a referral fee) or given to younger and inexperienced lawyers in their firm.

Choosing a lawyer, unlike choosing a diet, may be one of the most important decisions that a catastrophically injured person or the family or an injured or wrongfully killed person may make in their lifetime. Many victims who are catastrophically injured will sustain immeasurable economic, financial difficulties and loss, costs of medical rehabilitation, as well as emotional loss. Obviously this is where the experience of your lawyer counts. You should be careful in your selection of a lawyer to represent your all important legal interests making sure that he or she is actually in your state, that he or she will actually participate in the investigation or prosecution of your case, and that he or she will be available to answer your questions or concerns 24/7. Don’t be afraid to ask the lawyer how many cases like yours he and his law firm have handled, and inquire into the attorney’s disciplinary history and whether or not he had ever been sanctioned or received discipline. It is also not a bad idea to check independent and valid rating systems. Is your lawyer a Super Lawyer? Has your lawyer been highly ranked by Avvo? Has your lawyer been ranked independently by Martindale Hubbell with the highest possible ratings? Do you feel comfortable with your lawyer and his staff? Is this lawyer someone I can trust? Can you relate, is this someone you feel has the heart, soul, and mental capacity to successfully prosecute your claim? What does your “gut” tell you. Can he or she be trusted? Ask for references. Has your lawyer achieved a preeminent rating or been selected as one of the top attorneys in the state? Unlike a diet which people will quickly give up on or change after not seeing the promised results. When you select a lawyer, it is not so easy to change. Do your homework and research in the beginning before engaging in one of the most important journeys of your lifetime.

The past is often a great predictor of the future. Many times by carefully investigating and gathering evidence of other similar instances involving a product defect, manufacturing defect, or design defect, which results in a catastrophic injury or wrongful death an experienced and skilled product liability attorney will be able use this as the best weapon in the arsenal when taking on manufacturers who claim that the accident was a freak occurrence or unique situation.

The skilled and experienced auto liability defect lawyers of Reiff & Bily have worked with lawyers across the United States for over three decades sharing documents, discovery, as well as evidence of other similar instances. We have developed an extraordinary national network of talented counsel, investigators, and experts who have been involved in similar cases and take a team approach to resolving auto product liability cases that involve seat back defects, seat belt defects, tire failures, SUV rollovers, crashworthiness, airbag defects, and roof crush. Several times a year, we meet as a group of lawyers working on similar cases to brainstorm and discuss issues and concerns with particular vehicle manufacturers, as well as current trial strategies that have been successful. Obviously there are many common product design and manufacturing failures and information is the greatest commodity.

While gathering OSI or other similar instances in a product liability case may be difficult for a “lone wolf” attorney, the experienced product liability and auto defect lawyers of Reiff & Bily work with teams of investigators, experts, and experienced lawyers throughout the United States and possess the experience, knowledge, and documents to fight against some of the world’s largest manufacturers. We continue to practice law representing catastrophically injured victims and those wrongfully killed with a motto that adversity causes some men to break and others to break records. We have a passion for justice.

Reiff & Bily is a catastrophic injury and wrongful death law firm based in Pennsylvania with emphasis on product liability and automotive defect claims. The lawyers of Reiff & Bily have recently joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm and together our attorneys have been awarded over $2 billion dollars since the mid-1950's. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

The law firm of Reiff & Bily has joined forces with the Beasley Firm and together the Beasley Reiff Law Group now offers for free “My Lawyer - Travels With Me” iPhone and Android application to help Pennsylvania residents who are involved in a catastrophic accident.

The law firm of Reiff & Bily and the Beasley Firm are two nationally recognized law firms dedicated to serving those who have been catastrophically injured or wrongful death due to defective products, medical malpractice, premise liability, and amusement park or water park accidents. Together our lawyers have been awarded over $2 billion dollars in verdicts and settlements since the mid-1950's.

Our new “My Lawyer - Travels With Me” application will provide all of the tools to those injured in an accident to take timely and lawful action in order to protect their legal interests and financial future.

I received a call from an acquaintance whose elderly mother sustained a fractured hip and rapidly went into a severe physical and emotional decline requiring permanent assisted care and nursing support as a result of a slip and fall accident at a supermarket. The slip and fall took place at a retail store, and unfortunately, more than six months passed before the victim who has now entered a state of dementia as a result of the injuries, decided to contact a lawyer. A preliminary investigation revealed that surveillance films no longer existed, and it was impossible to secure independent witnesses or the identity of parties that caused the accident. In fact, it became extraordinarily difficult to even begin the basics of a proper accident reconstruction.

There is an important lesson to be learned here. When a victim’s life has been seriously altered due to a serious slip and fall or premise liability accident, it is important to immediately consult a serious premises liability and slip and fall injury lawyer who has a reputation for honesty and excellence that can honestly provide answers to questions. The proper preparation of a slip and fall or premise liability case requires immediate attention by experienced investigators, attorneys, and perhaps engineers. Premise liability injuries that occur on another’s person property often cause some of the most devastating injuries. Slip and fall or premise liability accidents are hard fought by insurance companies as they involve complex and difficult statements of facts and quirks in the law. Every case is unique with facts that must be applied to fact specific laws, and therefore, it is important to act immediately to get an independent evaluation by an experienced premise liability and slip and fall lawyer if you wish to properly protect your legal interests.

The experienced Philadelphia premise liability and slip and fall lawyers of Reiff & Bily have over 30 years of experience on their side and have had many multi-million dollar slip and fall and premise liability recoveries on behalf of their clients. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

As a Philadelphia car accident and catastrophic injury lawyer who has been representing catastrophically injured victims, and their families, for more then three decades, I worry that internet and television marketing by many lawyers has led to a high number of victims and their families receiving what many would consider to be improper and inadequate legal representation. Many lawyers just look for an “Easy A”. Too many times attorneys hoping to earn a quick and easy referral fee will spend tens of thousands of dollars even hundreds of thousands of dollars a month designing websites or TV advertising that inaccurately portrays their abilities. It is the goal of these attorneys to make perspective clients believe they are hiring experienced attorneys, who have recovered multi-million dollar verdicts, and are amongst the top car accident lawyers, truck accident lawyers, S.U.V. van rollover lawyers, medical malpractice lawyers, and Products liability lawyers in the field.

Lately I have received an alarming number of phone calls from seriously injured car and truck accident victims who were mislead by what I call a “parasite lawyer”. A “parasite lawyer” is a lawyer who oftentimes lacks experience but attempts to conceal this by purchasing “black hat” internet links and creating embellished website content to make prospective clients believe they are hiring an experienced lawyer or law firm to represent their legal interests when in reality they are hiring a lawyer who simply thereafter refers their case to another attorney for a fee. I call this the “Easy A” system whereby an inexperienced attorney, or an attorney who has no interest in representing you or your loved ones, tacks a fee onto your recovery for doing nothing more then referring your case to another attorney. Frequently many of these marketing attorneys operate their websites from out of state and have creative advertising joint and cooperative ventures with other lawyers and law firms creating the illusion that they are something more then they really are. Always pay attention to the disclaimers and small print at the bottom or end of the advertisement as it quickly passes you by.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, truck accident, tractor trailer accident, bus accident, boat accident, S.U.V roll over accident, 15 passenger van rollover accident, amusement park accidents, premise liability accident, slip and fall accident, burned in a fire, bitten or attacked by a dog, the victim of inadequate security, falsely imprisoned, sexually assaulted, injured on a cruise ship, injured on a plane, in a construction accident or injured as a result of a defective product or medical malpractice you may be eligible to recover for your injuries.

As an experienced and highly rated Pennsylvania Super Lawyer with decades of experience, whose law firm has handled and collected hundreds of millions of dollars in recoveries for catastrophically injured victims, and their families, as well as those who have sustained wrongful deaths, I strongly advise that you personally interview the attorney who will be handling your legal case. Do not be afraid to ask for references. Make sure that he or she is regularly available to meet and speak with you about your case as it develops. Make sure your case is not being handed over to a paralegal or newly graduated lawyer who might lack the required experience. Inquire whether or not the lawyer has ever had any disciplinary issues or is even licensed to practice law in your state. Inquire about independent and non biased reviews of your lawyer from third party ranking or rating organization. Check the attorney's ranking on Avvo or the Martindale-Hubble record of standing. Never be afraid to get a second opinion from another lawyer if you don't like what you are hearing or don't feel comfortable as the case develops.

After all you only get one bite at the apple, and the selection of your lawyer may be one of the most important lifetime decisions that you will ever make.
Chance will always favor the prepared mind.

I have been researching, investigating, and litigating amusement park accidents, water park accidents, and hayride accidents for over three decades. I have been attacked by many individuals stating that I am nothing but a greedy lawyer taking the fun out of life. Many individuals today who are riding on safer amusement rides or using safer products quickly point the finger at lawyers and without the fight of dedicated lawyers for consumer safety and protection many products manufacturers, or amusement park operators and amusement manufacturers would still be placing profitability ahead of safety concerns.

When I meet with parents of children who were catastrophically injured or died on an amusement ride or hayride and the owner/operator points the finger at an innocent child when in fact the amusement or attraction was improperly maintained, improperly inspected, or was operated by an individual with a questionable background who was improperly trained, I am astonished to see a public relations campaign attacking lawyers who only get paid if they are able to prove fault or negligence and win a case. I am astonished and surprised to read negative posts on blogs by people who don’t have a clue as to what really happened and who most probably would also seek legal representation and an independent investigation if they or their child was catastrophically injured or killed.

Our experienced amusement park and theme park accident attorneys always work only on a contingent fee basis and only charge a fee if we win the case. Many amusement parks claim that they regulate themselves and have proper motivation to insure safety and many state agencies that regulate amusement parks don’t have the budgets or technical expertise necessary to properly do their jobs. In fact, many theme parks and amusement park operators claim that state and local legislators lack budget resources and technical experience to carry out proper safety checks and investigate accidents and claim that they can do it better. I believe that if an amusement park or water park is operating safely and taking all steps to insure that amusement ride accidents do not occur, they should not be so afraid of a lawyer double checking the system. After all, a contingent fee amusement park and theme park accident lawyer will not take the case or get paid if, in fact, it can be determined that the owners and operators did nothing wrong. For those who complain that lawyers are taking the fun out of life and always blame the victims. Think about how you would feel if you were catastrophically injured or your child was killed at a theme park or amusement park that was said to be safe and carefully hid defects and problems from the public.

Checks and balances are a good thing.

Another hayride amusement attraction went awry when six people were injured, one critically, during an accident involving a horse drawn trailer occurred. According to news sources, a woman was critically injured and trampled when horses pulling the carriage were spooked during a farm hayride. The woman identified as Joan Perkins threw herself in front of the horses in order to save a group of people and remains in critical condition as a result of her injures.

The experienced hayride accident and defective trailer lawyers of Reiff & Bily wish the victims a speedy and healthy recovery.

For over three decades, the amusement accident and hayride accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily have been representing catastrophically injured victims and their families. For a free, no obligation consultation, contact us toll free at 800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

As an experienced aviation accident lawyer who has been investigated plane crash and commercial airline accidents for more then three decades I am shocked at the fact that commercial airlines have developed a class system where only members of an airline’s executive club could learn techniques to increase their chances of surviving a plane crash. Who would have thought that the airline would charge 125 British pounds per person to enroll in the course. It is my understanding according to news sources that the course will cover basics such as practicing releasing the seat belt and checking the location of life jackets and includes a simulation of emergency evacuation down an escape slide. I wonder what’s next – club members who get a priority exit from a downed aircraft in the event of a crash?

Safety must never be an option.

More and more businesses and health services are supplying medication offering injections or diagnosing and treating patients with doctors who really are not medical doctors but rather nurses with Ph.D.’s. Often these Ph.D. “doctors” are paid less than medical doctors. While there is no doubt that there are advanced practice nurses with Ph.D.’s that have excellent and fine medical skills, this is not always explained to individuals who seek medical advice or treatment and assume that the same is being provided by a medical doctor. Many clinics have nurse Ph.D.’s who are identified as doctors performing medical exams, and as an experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney for over thirty years, I predict that this is something that will become more and more common in a tightened economy and as big business has a greater role in providing healthcare.

Interestingly enough, researchers show that the new Ph.D. degrees maintained by nurses who call themselves doctors have not brought higher fees to these mostly lesser paid providers from insurers from seeing patients. Certainly and understandably one can understand the frustration from physicians with medical degrees who have spent years of intensive study only to have confusion over the use of the term doctor and services performed by someone using the term doctor.

As an experienced Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorney who has been intimately involved in claims of malpractice against the healthcare industry for over three decades, I believe that clear communications must be made to the consumer about the correct educational background and medical degree of the “doctor” administering the services and that legislators ought to be more involved in defining the roles of these healthcare providers.

If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of medical malpractice, contact one of our experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers for a free, no obligation consultation. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

On Wednesday, October 5, 2011, a highway worker was fatally electrocuted when he struck a power line while mowing a roadway at the seashore. Some of the most devastating and catastrophic injuries and deaths occur to workers as a result of coming into contact with an electrical source causing an electrocution. The second leading cause of death for construction workers, just behind slip and falls, is electrocution. Thousands of people will be catastrophically injured every year and over a thousand people will die by an electricity related accident caused by coming into contact with power lines or a source of electricity that can render a shock large enough to stop their hearts. While the majority of severe electrical shock accidents and electrocutions occur at a workplace, they also often take place in one’s home or the residential property of another while using a defective product, coming into contact with wires that are poorly insulated or exposed, and improperly grounded. Many consumer appliances such as hair dryers, power tools, blenders, and coffee makers have been recalled for posing serious electrical shock and electrocution hazards. Although one would think that an electrocution while working in the garden is a “freak” occurrence, many properties have electrical cables buried in the ground and special care must be taken when gardening or doing construction to avoid coming into contact with this source of electricity.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of this electrocution victim and it is strongly suggested that his family seek the services of an experienced electrocution attorney to properly and independently investigate this situation.

I was recently contacted by a client who was dancing at a wedding party and slipped on a puddle of liquid that had spilled on the dance floor and broke her leg.

As I have been handling slip and fall accident and premise liability cases for over 30 years, this was not the first time that I had been confronted with such a case scenario. The law of Pennsylvania states that the possessor or operator of land who holds it open to the public for business purposes is subject to liability to members of the public while they are upon the land for such a purpose or physical harm caused by the accidental negligence or intention harmful acts of third persons or the failure of the possessor to exercise reasonable care to discover such acts are being done or likely to be done or give adequate warning to enable visitors to avoid the harm or otherwise protect them against harm. It can be reasonably anticipated that anyone going to a resort, catering hall, hotel, restaurant, or place of wedding or party function would have a reasonable expectation that the operator or owner who invites those individuals there may reasonably expect that all those visiting may not behave in a proper and responsible fashion and therefore bears responsibility for injury that follows the absence of reasonable precaution against the common expectation. Taking this into account, our experienced Philadelphia slip and fall law firm has been successful in these cases in the past making the argument that the operator must exercise reasonable care to prevent liquids in areas where dancing activity is taking place or in high traffic areas and bears responsibility to take reasonable precautions to maintain and inspect the premises.

The Philadelphia slip and fall and premise liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily always offer a free, no obligation consultation to those who sustain serious injuries as a result of falling or slipping on the premise of another. Our skilled and experienced Philadelphia slip and fall lawyers have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars representing the interests of catastrophically injured victims and their families. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation. Contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

According to news sources, state officials in Florida agreed to spare Lego Land Theme Park from safety oversight due to the fact that it qualifies for a 22-year exemption that was initially written into Florida law for Walt Disney World and other theme parks. Accordingly, this will make Lego Land the fourth park owner in Florida to operate free of state ride safety regulation. The others are noted to be Walt Disney Company, NBC Universal, Sea World, and Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay. A Lego Land spokesman noted that “Within our industry, it is common practice for theme parks to govern themselves as far as ride inspections go.”

Under Florida law, if a theme park has a minimum of a thousand employees, they are exempt from the state inspection and permit requirements. Florida law requires exempt parks to employ full time in-house safety inspectors and to file affidavits with the state certifying that each of the rides has been inspected.

As an experienced amusement park and theme park accident attorney who has investigated and prosecuted a good number of amusement park accidents involving catastrophic injuries and death, I question the validity or integrity of the amusement park industry claims that they have proper motivation to take safety precautions due to the fact that negative publicity creates a public backlash which affects their profitability and stress that the state should focus on traveling fairs or carnivals rather than larger theme parks that are more sophisticated. Director of Maintenance of Lego Land stated that the parks in-house inspections will go well beyond what would otherwise be conducted by the state and he is quoted as saying, “I think we have more expertise. We surpass what the state is asking as far as inspections.” Lego Land also claims that it will contract with a third party recreational engineering company that will conduct certain types of tests and submit required documentation to the state.



Continue reading "When Roller Coasters and Other Rides Open At A Theme Park Next Month, They Won’t Have To Undergo Any State Safety Inspections - Amusement Park Attorney Weighs In" »

It’s the fall season and many churches, schools, and farms will be sponsoring hayrides. The normal hayride environment and atmosphere should lead to thoughts of smiles, laughter, cider and warm childhood memories for parents and children. Unfortunately, as an experienced defective trailer lawyer and hayride accident lawyer, what many individuals do not recognize is that there is a lack of safety standards and regulations for trailers of all kinds including hayrides which slip through many government safety and regulatory loopholes mostly because these events are sponsored on private property. In many cases there is no safety regulation at all!

Just last weekend six people were injured in a hayride accident when horses pulling a hayride were spooked and took off in different directions. One of the individuals, a 51-year old woman, sustained critical injuries and was helivaced to a hospital in Boston. Drivers of the wagon lost control of the hay wagon and horses broke free causing many passengers to fall off. In a separate hayride accident on the same weekend at a Michigan farm market, a woman fell off the hay wagon and was run over by it or was trampled while leading the wagon.

Every year our experienced Pennsylvania defective trailer lawyers and hayride accident lawyers learn of catastrophic accidents involving the death of innocent children and their parents because many people frankly do not understand the risks that accompany hayrides. Most hayrides are makeshift and although the operators claim that an accident was a freak occurrence, this is often not the case.

As an experienced Pennsylvania amusement park accident and hayride accident lawyer, I believe that many hayrides are accidents waiting to happen when proper control mechanisms are not in place, and when accidents do occur, the injuries are normally quite significant because of the number of people involved and the size and weight of the equipment. Many times these accidents are the result of inadequate supervision, improper training of ride operators, defective trailer design, inadequate site and safety crowd control.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a hayride accident, you should always speak to an experienced and accomplished hayride and amusement accident attorney. The accomplished hayride and amusement park accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily have successfully represented thousands of personal injury clients for catastrophic injuries since 1979 and have recently joined forces with the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Together our attorneys have been awarded over $2 billion dollars since 1957 representing the interests of those catastrophically injured or wrongfully killed. As always, we offer a free, no obligation consultation. Contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Pennsylvania law states that property owners have a duty to keep their sidewalks in a reasonably safe condition for travel by the public. Property owners must maintain their sidewalks so they do not present an unreasonable risk of harm to pedestrians or a passerby. A breach of duty by the property owner or any other reasonable party must be carefully defined on a case by case basis. Obviously the size of the evaluation, depression, or irregularity of the sidewalk must be taken into consideration and if it is trivial versus a large defect, a jury will consider whether or not the property owner was negligent. Obviously the deeper and larger the defect, the more likely the victim’s chance of winning the case. Also the plaintiff’s lawyer must consider whether or not the defect was open and obvious and if a reasonable person exercising prudent care could have avoided the defect or should have taken notice of the same as to avoid injury.

Over 30 years ago my wife tripped and fell on an elevated sidewalk pavement in her 8th month of pregnancy and sustained a comminuted fracture of the wrist which to this day gives her pain and successfully enables her to predict when a rain storm or thunderstorm is approaching.

The experienced slip and fall accident lawyers, and premise liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily have been successfully litigating premise liability and slip and fall accident cases since 1979 and have received hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of injured victims and their families. If you or a loved one has fallen on property of another or fallen on a sidewalk of another please, please contact us for a free, no obligation consultation and we will try to take the hassles out of your life as the relate to a slip and fall accident. As always we offer a free no obligation consultation. For more information, contact us toll free at 1800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

In mid-August 2011, a portion of the mast of Sea Dragon amusement ride at Morey’s Pier in Wildwood, New Jersey fell onto riders in yet another amusement park accident. Although the mast performed no mechanical or structural function, and was utilized solely as decoration, a danger was obviously presented to thrill seeking riders of the amusement attraction. According to the preliminary report issued by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Division and Carnival Amusement Ride Safety, the mast falling was caused by the failure of parent steel that connected the lower and top portions of the mast. The mast is constructed of two pieces of piping/tubing. The top of the mast was constructed with thin wall tubing while the lower portion was constructed of the heavier wall material, the report states that pieces were welded together about halfway up the height of the mast. The top half of the mast, the piece that fell, was sitting on top of the lower half and was welded with a filet weld to the plate. There was significant corrosion on the interior of both the thin walled section of the mast, as well as the plate that was used as a means to connect the lower and upper portion of the mast, the State concluded. “When the material above the weld failed, there was no secondary support to keep the mast from separating and fell”. The broken mast fell upon riders injuring 5 and the State has now only allowed similar rides to operate if the mast is removed.

As an experienced amusement park accident attorney who has handled a number of claims at seashore amusement park and resorts and an experienced sailor who has spent a great deal of time in salt water and ocean environments, I have always expressed concern for metallurgical failure and corrosion in salt air when the natural seaside environment elements comes into contact with metal.

I am concerned that many seashore amusement parks fail to properly inspect and train employees often placing profitability ahead of safety. Our experienced amusement park accident attorneys have investigated and successfully handled a number of claims in amusement and product failure, metallurgical failures due to corrosion, defective product design, and/or inadequate training and maintenance procedures. Safety should always be priority number one when it comes to thrill seekers who come to amusement parks.

The experienced amusement accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily have received top accolades for over three decades of representing catastrophically injured victims and their families who have been wrongful killed as a result of the negligence of others or defective product design or maintenance.

Recently we have joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm and together our attorneys have been awarded over $2 billion dollars since the mid-1950's. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

For over a decade and a half, an online database that anonymously tracked physician health records of malpractice, medical errors, and medical discipline was available online to researchers and policymakers, as well as others seeking access to this information.

As an experienced Pennsylvania medical malpractice and defective product attorney who has spent decades litigating these claims, I believe that the reporting of medical malpractice errors and healthcare should become transparent and available to those citizens who take the time to perform independent research in order to become more informed about making an important decision. Loss of access to this information presents a problem to patient safety experts, researchers, and public policy analysts who identify important trends and problems involving delivery of healthcare by physicians.

As an experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney, I believe patient safety and research should always be a priority and that consumers should always have the ability to perform research in order to make an informed decision. Additionally, the removal of this information makes it difficult to make informed public policy decisions concerning malpractice, or to perform peer review on medical licensing. I can think of no good reason to not make this information available.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, please contact one of our experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers for a free, no obligation consultation. We have been representing catastrophically injured victims and their families for over three decades. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

The Social Security and Supplemental Income Disability Programs are federal programs providing assistance to people with disabilities. Many times our clients sustain catastrophic injuries and are not able to work. The Social Security Administration has strict definitions of disability and an unskilled victim without legal assistance has a greater chance of being denied benefits if they are not represented by an experienced disability attorney skilled in handling social security disability cases. Of course, anyone can file for social security disability. However winning is not so easy unless you have the experience and understand the pitfalls and mistakes that can be made in the claim filing process.

Most experienced disability and social security disability lawyers will not charge a fee unless there is a successful recovery of benefits, and in fact, most times the fee is a minimal amount not exceeding 25% of whatever the total back payment a claimant receives. It never makes good sense to go to a social security disability hearing unrepresented by skilled and experienced social security disability attorneys.

If you believe that you may be entitled to social security disability, please contact one of the catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and disability recovery lawyers of Reiff & Bily for a free, no obligation consultation at 1800-421-9595, or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Recently a client presented to our office after she discovered that the place of her employment had a camera installed (without notice) in a toilet stall that she was using. In a similar case, according to news sources a Virginia family is suing Starbucks over a hidden camera positioned under the sink and pointed at the toilet in a unisex bathroom in Washington, DC. In both cases, it was determined that the camera was on and recording digital images. According to news sources, this was not the first time a camera was found hidden inside a Starbucks restroom. Recently several Pennsylvania businesses were noted to have secret cameras hidden in bathrooms filming employees or other business visitors.

As an experienced catastrophic injury and sexual abuse attorney for over 32 years, it is clear that placing hidden cameras in a bathroom without notice is a complete invasion of privacy and would be considered an abuse beyond the expected normal use and privacy boundaries of a surveillance camera giving rise to legal action for damages.

In general, it is illegal for a business owner or operator to obtain video surveillance in a place of expected privacy. The same constitutes a violation of specific privacy laws. Each state’s law is different with regard to the prohibition of unauthorized installation of security cameras in specific locations. In Pennsylvania, you are entitled to install a security camera in your home for purpose of safety or home security. However, you may not place one in a restroom. Individuals have a right to uninterrupted privacy in areas that they would not normally expect to be observed such as bathrooms or bedrooms.

If you have been the victim of a privacy invasion due to a hidden camera in a bathroom, you are entitled to recover financial damages. The experienced invasion of privacy and catastrophic injury lawyers of Reiff & Bily have successfully represented victims and their families for over 30 years with a successful track record. As always, we offer a free, no obligation consultation. Contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at case results.

Over the last 30 years the hayride accident law firm of Reiff & Bily has successfully represented victims of amusement park accidents and those that occur at carnivals and seasonal hayrides. Recently an amusement ride operator was jailed on charges that he was drunk and urinated in the sight of riders while operating such a ride at a Pennsylvania farm show. The amusement operator was charged with reckless endangerment, open lewdness, and public drunkenness. In another case in which our amusement accident and hayride injury law firm was involved, we represented the family of a victim who was run over by a tractor trailer hayride at a suburban Philadelphia farm during a school event. The background investigation of the tractor operator noted that he had less than a stellar history and was in fact was not even a licensed driver, yet he was entrusted to drive and operate a ride that would carry thousands of children throughout the amusement season.

In Pennsylvania, an amusement ride is legally described as any mechanical device or combination devices including electrical equipment which is the integral part of a device or devices which carry passengers along for the primary purpose of giving passengers amusement pleasure, thrills, or excitement. The same includes any tram, open car, combination of open car or wagons pulled by a tractor or motorized device which may not be licensed by the Secretary of State, and the operator of the same is defined as one who has a duty to control the operation of the amusement ride or attraction at a carnival or fair and any person who operates an amusement ride or amusement attraction at a carnival or fair must obtain a permit for the same. The operator of such amusement attractions or rides is obligated to perform a criminal history and perform a check of the national sex offender public registry at the time they are hired and annually thereafter if they are in continued employment. Unfortunately individuals who are under the age of 17 are exempt from criminal history background checks. Unfortunately, we have found some amusement parks, carnivals, or hayride operations keep shoddy records, fail to check for substance abuse, evidence of required criminal history, or sex offense information, and in fact, hire drivers of motor vehicles that are non-licensed.

The purpose of the carnival and amusement ride safety act obviously is self explanatory. If an amusement operator fails to pay heed to these requirements, taking shortcuts and placing profitability over safety, and if an accident happens, they can be held legally responsible for resulting financial and emotional injuries that may be sustained by catastrophically injured victims and their families or those who are wrongfully killed due to their negligence.

Since 1979, the experienced Philadelphia carnival, amusement lawyers, and hayride accident attorneys of Reiff & Bily have successfully represented victims and their families and those who have been catastrophically injured or wrongfully killed due to the negligence of others, defective products, or defective maintenance, or improper hiring procedures. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

To date there have been Eleven deaths reported as a result of a plane crash at the Reno Air Races in Reno Nevada on September 16, 2011. At this time the death toll is still uncertain as medical professionals are still conducting DNA testing on unidentifiable bodies. As the number of dead seems to increase everyday, a person has to wonder: how safe are air shows?

The cause of the crash is still undetermined. What is known is the plane that crashed, was a post World-War II P-51D Mustang, that had been heavily modified in an attempt to make it the fastest of its type in the world. The mother of one of the deceased told ABC News her son was there because he “loved planes” and “that’s why most people go to these things.” No one ever expects that a professional pilot will loose control of a plane and crash into the crowd.

The Reno plane crash is highly publicized because of the high death toll and the numerous spectators hospitalized with catastrophic injuries. Sadly, the day after the Reno air show crash, another plane, a T-28 war bird crashed at the Blue Ridge Air Show in Virginia. Luckily for spectators the T-28 warbird crashed far enough from the crowd that none of the onlookers were injured, however, the pilot was killed in the plane crash. These two incidents are not isolated events. There have been eleven air show accidents in 2011 alone. Unfortunately, most of these accidents resulted in at least one death.

Modified planes may be one of the reasons for the large number of accidents at air shows. Pilots who fly at these events make changes to the engines and bodies of the planes in order to excite the spectators. While these changes may be in violation of Federal Aviation Administration (F.A.A.) Regulations, and the experienced pilots are professional pilots, they are not professional engineers.

Regardless of the recent string of Air Show plane crash accidents, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University intends to hold the Wings and Waves Air Show in October of next year. The university had shut down the show for the past seven years. University officials assure air show spectators that “safety is [their] mantra” while further saying “until you know what caused things, its hard to draw a lesson from it.” Perhaps more effort should be placed into finding out why air show accidents keep occurring.

The experienced Philadelphia air show accident and aviation accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily along with the attorneys of The Beasley Reiff Law Group understand the complex process involved with investigating air show accidents. Our in house team of experienced aviation accident and air show accident lawyers include professional pilots as well as established relationships with top aviation crash experts. The aviation accident attorneys at Beasley Reiff Law Group know that proving the cause of an airplane crash can be difficult and that a tragic and unexpected accident can change your life. If you, or a loved one, have been injured at an air show accident contact the accidental injury attorneys at the Beasley Reiff Law Group at 1.800.588.0130 or at www.reiffandbily.com for a free consultation.

Imagine this scenario, you are visiting a friend or acquaintance’s home or a business and due to a defect, you fall down the steps. Even worse imagine it is your elderly parent who slips and falls down the stairs and suffers a serious injury.

Every year hundreds of thousands of people slip and fall down stairways due to worn out carpets, stairway design defects, slippery surfaces, improper height, or another problem creating a dangerous surface area that any reasonable person taking care of the property would have discovered, repaired, or removed. Many people run up and down stairways without a thought of an accident happening. However, a defective stair or stairway design can lead to catastrophic injuries such as spinal cord injuries, paraplegia, quadriplegia, broken bones, internal injuries, or a devastating hip fracture in elderly people which often leads to a premature death.

Many times these slip and fall accidents could have been prevented by the simple exercise of reasonable care or correction of the defect by the property owner or operator. Often steps and handrails are non-compliant with codes which means that property owner or operator can be held financially responsible for resulting injuries. When a fall down occurs to an elderly person, it ultimately often results in death.

The premise liabilityand stairway fall accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily have a successful track record representing individuals who have been catastrophically injuredand unfortunately wrongfully killed due to falls down stairways, or slip and fall accidents on another’s premises due to design defect or failure to maintain the property in a prudent manner. Our skilled Philadelphia slip and fall accident and premise liability lawyers have recovered millions of dollars on behalf of catastrophically injured victims and their families. If you or a loved one has sustained a fall on the property of another, or has fallen on a stairway of another, please contact one of our experienced slip and fall accident and stairway defect lawyers for a free, no obligation consultation. Recently the law firm of Reiff & Bily has joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm and together our attorneys have been awarded billions of dollars since 1957 representing the interests of thousands of catastrophically injured victims and their families. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation. For more information contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

As an experienced serious injury lawyer and wrongful death lawyer for over three and a half decades who has handled many significant and high profile cases, a factor that cannot be ignored in the thorough preparation of a case is what happens when individuals express biased views or attack you client on social media or public internet forums.

Recently, our firm was retained to represent the interests of a family who lost their daughter in a high profile accident. When the news of our law firm’s engagement was published in various newspapers, the client, the client’s family, and our law firm were attacked. Immediately without knowing many of the factors behind the accident, the cause of the accident was squarely placed on the victim and the lawyers were attacked as being money hungry greedy individuals stating falsehoods based upon facts that bore no reality to the actual factors surrounding this catastrophic accident.

I recently has the opportunity to discuss this tragic incident at a football game with a stranger who told me he was aware of the accident but based upon his reviews of onsite social network accounts, he clearly was convinced that the accident in question was the victim’s fault. As I reviewed many social forums and online posts, I could understand how one could easily reach this conclusion. However, after I carefully explained the true and accurate facts to this individual, he was surprised and quickly reversed his original, unsupportable position and opinion.

While social media has a valuable aspect to it, it also presents a challenge to lawyers and their clients who must overcome the intoxication of bias by forces of opposition. Unfortunately despite the best efforts to explain the truth, an ignorant critic or consumer can post relentless and unforgiving attacks on victims and their families when they are at their lowest point without any rights, responsibility, or retribution.

Unfortunately, the reality is that many who talk or post the most on social networks have the least to say and after 30 years of successfully representing victims and their families, I have learned that nothing is what it seems at first. If the truth doesn’t save us from the inequities and injustice of the world then what does it say about all of us?

Jeffrey M. Reiff is a catastrophic injury and wrongful death attorney with the law firm of Reiff & Bily who has successfully represented victims and their families as a result of catastrophic injuries and wrongful deaths sustained by the negligence of others and the use of defectively designed and maintained products since 1979. Reiff & Bily always offers a free, no obligation confidential consultation to those seeking unbiased and honest opinions about the merits of a legal claim. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com

When you purchase a child restraint car seats for your infant or small child, you trust that the child restraint car seat will protect them in the event of a car accident. Studies have revealed that a small child or infant in a car traveling at 30 miles per hour, can be hurtled forward with a force 30 to 60 times their body weight. The National Highway and Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommends that small children weighing less then 40 lbs be securely fastened into a child safety seat to maximize their safety should the car come to a sudden stop or is involved in a car accident. Since 2005 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) along with manufactures have recalled millions of defective child car seats designed to protect small children and infants traveling in cars. The child car seat and safety bench recalls included booster, convertible and infant seat models, as well as seat benches found to be improperly mounted in Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner Vehicles. A list of recently recalled seat benches and child car seats include but are not limited too;

- 2011 Sprinter 2500 Seat Benches

Seat benches were found to have inadequate latch brackets that were not properly welded.

- Dorel Infant, convertible and booster child restraints car seats

Child and infant car seats were were found to have a defective lock and release button that did not always return to the locked position.

- Chaperone Infant car seats

Chaperone Infant car seats were recalled due to findings that a number of harness chest clips came apart creating a potential choking hazard to infants.

While government standards set fourth the guidelines manufactures must follow in the production and design of child and infant car seats, oftentimes manufacture defects are not identified until a car accident or other tragic event catastrophically injures or claims the life of a small child or infant.

The experienced defective child car seat and product liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily have over 30 years experience representing generations of Pennsylvanians in product liability and defective child car seat cases. The lawyers of Reiff & Bily’s product liability litigation team have recently joined forces with the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Together our attorneys have been awarded over $2 billion dollars since 1958 representing the interests of catastrophically injured victims and their families. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation.  For more information contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com. 

When a catastrophic accident occurs, helicopter evacuation is often used to save lives. However, last year a record number of people died aboard helicopter medical evacuation aircraft.

In 2009, there was twice as many deaths as any other year and the accidents happened not only in bad weather but in good weather as well. Our office was recently contacted by an individual who was previously employed by a helicopter medical evacuation service where an investigation was commenced by the FAA and found numerous safety violations with one of the aircraft deemed unworthy and unsafe for flying. It is alleged that one of the Directors and mechanics is under investigation by the FAA and allegedly facing potential criminal charges.

As Pennsylvania catastrophic injury lawyers, we are familiar with heli-vac EMS programs and our lawyers have also litigated product liability and aviation disasters for many decades. I am somewhat concerned due to the fact that this industry has been slow to improve itself in the maintenance and safety arena and many operating shortcuts are being taken in the hopes of improving profitability and the bottom line. There are approximately 850 to 1,000 EMS helicopters operated in the U.S. privately and no doubt is a lucrative business as I have had many opportunities to review the bills and even pay the same on behalf of injured clients. A typical flight can cost in the arena of about $10,000 and each year approximately 500,000 people fly on EMS helicopters. Many pilots claim that the industry is “frustrated” that their emergency helicopters keep crashing killing people that they are trying to save as while operators and owners were advised continue to stress profitability above safety. Until the government mandates safety regulations with teeth, this is sure to be an area of growing concern. Nothing could be worse for the family of a catastrophic accident victim to learn of the death of a family member while being transported on a medi-vac helicopter that was designed to save their life.

Transportation and pilot experts claim that the FAA may not be moving as quickly as necessary and that this is an ever growing problematic situation. As emergency rooms in rural areas close down or are ill equipped to handle a catastrophic case, medivac use will be more and more common and safety should never be an option. The skilled catastrophic lawyers of Reiff & Bily have recently joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Together we have been awarded over $2 billion dollars in settlements, verdicts, and awards since 1958. For more information, please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Negligence or the use of a defective product on a work site around electrical components often results in serious consequences including but not limited to heart attacks, muscle and tissue destruction, burns, and unfortunately wrongful death.

Over the past weekend, two separate workers were killed in separate electrical-related accidents. One gentleman, 35-years old, died while installing cables at a camp for oil and gas workers and another individual was killed while working on a power transmission project. With the deluge of rain and water caused by Hurricane Irene and other abnormally huge weather moisture systems, power lines have been downed leading to injuries and deaths by workers and other innocent citizens who have come into contact with high voltage lines. In one case, a victim was killed by electrocution when he stepped out of his home and touched a railing that had been impacted with a high voltage line. If you are in the vicinity of a downed power line, do not take any chances as there is an extreme risk of electrocution injuries or death.

I live in a wooded area and numerous power lines seem to be tangled or down due to sustained gusty winds, fallen trees, and heavy rainfall. As I traveled into upstate Pennsylvania on a case last week, I saw more low hanging electrical wires than ever. It is important for parents to keep children and pets away from these wires and to always assume that they are live and energized.

If you or a loved one has suffered an electric shock injury or death, it is important to contact an experienced electrocution attorney who will immediately commence a proper investigation and assist you or your loved ones through the emotional, financial, and legal issues that may arise.

For over three and a half decades, the consumer product and safety and electrocution attorneys of Reiff & Bily have successfully represented generations of Philadelphians and Pennsylvanians who have sustained wrongful death or catastrophic injuries due to the negligence of others or use of defective products. As always, we offer a free, no obligation consultation. For more information, please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

For over three decades, our experienced auto and defective seat back lawyers have investigated and litigated auto product defect cases and those which involve catastrophic injury resulting from a defective seat back. Unfortunately many cars have defective seat design and in a low or medium speed collision the seat fails and allows the occupant to be thrust forward or rearward or even ejected from the vehicle. This type of action often results in a catastrophic injury including but not limited to paraplegia, quadriplegia and brain dysfunction. When a seat collapses or is thrust forward, the effectiveness of the restraint system notably fails and injuries may also be caused to passengers in the rear of the vehicle as the seat collapses upon them with increased load and forces.

Automobile manufacturers have been aware of seat back failures and defects for decades and have taken little steps to improve safety due to the fact that the governmental safety standards establish a weak minimum for safety.

Recently there has been a wake of recalls for defective seat backs. In the last year, Ford recalled many 2011 Explorers with allegations that the potential for defective seat backs may not provide required strength in a crash increasing the risk of injury. Unfortunately manufacturers of car seats are not required to test car seats in crash tests and our skilled auto product defect and seat back defect attorneys do not believe that safety standards are stringent enough to prevent fatalities and catastrophic injuries due to lack of proper seat strength standards.

Recently our experienced auto product defect lawyers have joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group and together have been awarded more than $2 billion dollars in settlements, awards, and verdicts since 1958. For more information, please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

On August 15, 2011, 18-year old Michael Knudsen was electrocuted while swimming at a marina. Attorneys representing the teenage youth in the swimming accident stated that improper electrical wiring in the floating dock area and shoddy workmanship presented danger of electrocution and that the death could have been prevented by exercising just a little care. The preliminary investigation indicated that there was a short in an electrical line which carried power to a section of the floating dock allowing electrical current to enter the water where the man was electrocuted.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of the victim and their family.

As an experienced swimming accident and electrocution accident attorney, I believe that the owners and operators of the marina, as well as any other responsible parties or contractors who may have performed alleged shoddy work or taken short cuts which resulted in this accident should be held accountable for this unfortunate tragic wrongful death.

When a vehicle is in a collision, the last thing that you expect to happen is that the fuel tank will rupture and that the occupants will be trapped in a fiery fuel fed explosion. The rupture of a fuel tank often leads to a catastrophic event when the escaping vapors mix quickly with the air and are ignited often times resulting in a fiery explosion.

Automakers and fuel tank manufacturers have known for years that fuel tank integrity is an important element if the vehicle impacts with another vehicle, rolls over or has another impact with a fixed object. Most people will remember the notorious Ford Pinto which almost always sustained a gas tank rupture in crashes over 25 mph. Typically in a Pinto rear-end collision, the rear-end of the car would buckle, ride up the seat back, and the tube leading to the gas tank would be ripped away from the tank itself and gas would immediately leak on the roadway around the car. The buckled gas tank would be jammed up against the different housing and protruding bolts would often gash holes in the tank and spill more gas on the road. All that was needed to spark an explosion was a cigarette, scraping metal, or an electrical spark and a flame would engulf the vehicle and the passengers inside. Added to the fact, if the doors were jammed, the passengers would be unable to get out and would burn to death. Lawyers were able to demonstrate successfully that Ford engineers put profits ahead of safety concerns and unfortunately even today, many vehicle manufacturers still place gas tanks and fuel lines in unsafe locations and use cheap materials to manufacture fuel tanks and fuel delivery systems and must be held accountable for the results of their actions.

Many times the placement of a fuel tank on the side or rear of a vehicle where it can be punctured is a recurring problem, as well as the use of cheap and unsafe materials connecting fuel tanks to fuel filter necks. Many times manufacturers of fuel tanks in vehicles utilize unsafe materials in the manufacturer of fuel delivery lines. When you pay your hard earned dollars for a motor vehicle, whether it be a motorcycle or automobile, you have every right to expect that it is crashworthy and will protect you in a foreseeable collision.

The experienced Pennsylvania automotive product liability and gas tank explosion and fuel fed fire defect lawyers of Reiff & Bily have dedicated their practice to representing those catastrophically injured or wrongful killed due to car accidents and auto product defects. Many of these claims have been referred to us by other lawyers who understand that we have years of experience in this complex legal arena. Recently the Philadelphia car accident and auto product liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily have joined forces with the Beasley Firm and together our attorneys have been awarded billions of dollars since 1957. As always, we offer a free, confidential no obligation consultation if you wish to discuss your claim. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

For over three decades my partners, associates, and I have investigated and litigated many claims against manufacturers of defective products. A defective product usually involves a design defect, manufacturing defect, or marketing defect. The law holds manufacturers, sellers, and distributors of products responsible for products that pose a danger to users or consumers as a result of a design or manufacturing defect.

Unfortunately many product defect legal cases involve allegations of fraud or unfair business practices and many manufacturers of defective products that cause catastrophic disfiguring injuries or wrongful death will go to great lengths to conceal the cause of an injury or death despite the fact that they knew for decades about root causes of a problem. Many large corporations employ systematic and exact strategies that are carefully hidden from public eye until a skilled and experienced product liability lawyers carefully investigate and dissect these claims based upon a catastrophic injury or wrongful death.

In many of our product liability legal cases, we have reviewed confidential intra and inter-company communications clearly revealing coverups and on many occasions whistleblower employees have come forward with knowledge of evidence concealment involving the manufacturer. Taking on major corporations for product defects litigation requires legal skill and experience that often takes decades to develop. Product liability litigation matters are generally intellectually challenging and complex.

Since 1979 the experienced Pennsylvania product liability attorneys of Reiff & Bily have been researching and litigating numerous product defect and design cases with great success. Recently our skilled product liability trial lawyers have joined forces with the legendary product liability lawyers of the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Together our job is to determine who is responsible for placing victims and their families in an unforeseen and unimaginable position when tragedy strikes. We believe that manufacturers must be held accountable for product defects and the lack of concern for consumer safety and always believe that safety should never be an option and always trumps profitability.

Since 1957, the combined forces of our lawyers have recovered over $2 billion dollars. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation to those injured as a result of a defective product. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

According to a recent story published in the Pennsylvania Business Journal, Pennsylvania ambulatory surgery facilities submitted 502 medication error reports to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority over a five and a half year period through the end of last year. Unfortunately, there is a lack of medical literature accurately quantifying or addressing medical errors that occur in ambulatory surgical facilities and according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Bureau of Health Statistics and Research, Pennsylvania had 265 ambulatory surgery facilities which performed more than 960 procedures between July 1, 2000 and June 30, 2009.

Ambulatory surgery facilities are often utilized for general surgical procedures including but not limited to ophthalmologic endoscopies, colonoscopies, orthopedic, gynecological, urologic, and cosmetic procedures.

Recently a national quality forum approved for endorsement a list of 29 serious reportable events in health care. All Pennsylvania hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities, and birthing centers are subject to reporting requirements under Act 13 and must submit with the authorities any “serious event incidents”.

Unfortunately, as an experienced Pennsylvania surgical and medical malpractice attorney for over three decades I all too often investigate and prosecute claims of negligence and malpractice involving outpatient or ambulatory surgical centers. I am concerned that many times Philadelphia and Pennsylvania regulatory establishments fail patients who suffer harm or unfortunately wrongful death in an ambulatory surgery center. There appears to be a systematic weakness in Pennsylvania’s enforcement of healthcare facility laws with regard to application or enforcement against many ambulatory surgery facilities. In the pure world, ambulatory surgical facility should offer high quality cost effective alternatives to in-patient hospital surgical services. Almost 90% of ASC’s are privately owned by physicians and are increasingly jointly partnering with hospitals.

Unfortunately many ambulatory surgery centers do not meet federal safety standards which could lead to serious and catastrophic consequences for patients. Many times we have seen single use items reused and medical supplies with expired expiration dates used. Common types of errors cited in Pennsylvania ambulatory surgical facilities include drug omissions, administration of the wrong drug, failing to monitor errors, documenting allergies, confusion or mixup involving ophthalmology products of different pharmacological categories, differentiating lookalike products, operation on the wrong body part or wrong patient, surgical site infections, wrong drug errors, and failure to prophylactically deliver antibiotics.



Continue reading "Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Lawyers Query The Safety Of Outpatient and Ambulatory Patient Surgery Centers Versus Inpatient Hospital Surgery Centers" »

As an experienced Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorney who is often surrounded by close friends, relatives, and family members who are physicians or members of the health care provider community, I often find myself on the opposite side of a discussion aimed towards lawyer hatred.

Unfortunately while many politicians and medical organizations speak against the legal profession using misleading statistics and boast about lowering insurance premiums, they fail to take into account that much medical malpractice is due to easily preventable and obvious medical errors that greatly impact the lives of patients and their families. Many times I find that a close friend who is a practicing physician or politician expressing disdain towards plaintiff medical malpractice lawyers will be the most aggressive plaintiff’s client against an offending medical facility or physician after medical malpractice occurs. Obviously they have now learned about the personal element of a tragic medical error.

Unfortunately in a tightened economy we see many more health care system failures due to cut backs and although many physicians or nurses never intend to harm a patient, often a breakdown in the system results in a catastrophic injury or death as a result of medical or hospital malpractice. Studies indicate over 33% of all hospitalized patients will experience some form of medical error. While politicians and the medical society speak of a widespread medical malpractice lawsuit crisis, what they fail to state is that the majority of the claims never lead to any plaintiff payments.

Our skilled Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyers screen many potential medical malpractice claims every week and pursue a small percentage of the cases that we investigate and probably less than 1% of those will end up in litigation.

Most respected and experienced medical malpractice trial lawyers are not opportunistic and will only prosecute a medical malpractice case that has a reasonable chance of return due to the high costs and resulting likelihood of success. Juries are smarter than what politicians and doctors give them credit for.

Continue reading "When A Medical Error Is Committed Someone’s Mother, Father, Child, Or Relative is Affected Or Often Tragically Impacted - Medical Malpractice Lawyer Opines" »

According to news sources, Morey’s Pier in Wildwood, NJ was the scene of yet another terrible amusement park ride accident. At just after 9 p.m. on Friday, August 19, 2011, emergency response staff responded to a report of a partial amusement ride collapse when the center mast of the sea dragon snapped, injuring five people at Morey’s Mariner’s Landing Pier. This is the second time in two months that young innocent and unsuspecting victims have been injured at a Morey’s Amusement park attraction in Wildwood. Recently 11 year old Abiah Jones tragically fell to her death while riding the Ferris wheel on June 3rd 2011. As one of the attorneys intimately involved in the investigation and litigation of the Abiah Jones death case tragedy, our hearts, thoughts, and prayers go out to the victims, and their families. Once again questions are raised as to the inspection, maintenance and operation procedures maintained by Morey’s. Safety must always be the utmost priority for all amusement park operators. We have repeatedly called for Federal oversight and reporting of amusement park accidents and safety concerns.

The experienced amusement park accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily in conjunction with the. Legendary Philadelphia trial lawyers of the Beasley Firm have joined forces to form the Beasley Reiff Law Group and are currently representing multiple victims of amusement park accidents. We strongly recommend that the victim’s and their family members do not talk to any insurance adjusters or attorneys for Morey’s Pier until they have consulted their own experienced and independent catastrophic injury, wrongful death, or amusement accident lawyer who will independently investigate the incident with experienced safety and Amusement operations experts.

At approximately 8:45 a.m. on Wednesday, July 27th, I was traveling southbound on a Philadelphia highway at approximately 50 mph when all of a sudden, a pickup truck marked prominently with the name of a landscaper and pulling equipment in a trailer went out of control, spun around, and crossed the lanes of traffic. Thankfully no one was injured in this accident and the trailer was slightly damaged, but as the driver pulled over, I noticed that the trailer did not appear to be properly attached and there were no safety chains. Furthermore, I did not notice operating brake lights working on the trailer. The trailer contained landscaping equipment that was not secured. Luckily it did not flip over. Believe it or not, the driver of the trailer pulled, resettled the trailer, and proceeded down the expressway at a high rate of speed, and in this detached and unhitched trailer attorney’s opinion, this situation represents an accident waiting to happen.

Unfortunately many such trailers may be homemade and are purposely made to be under the weight of 3,000 lbs. meaning they are not subject to regulation. Many state laws, including those in Pennsylvania, are silent as to the design and construction specification of such vehicles including towing safety chains or hitches. While this accident that I witnessed representing a situation of luck in terms of timing calls to attention the unregulated and un-policed state of the trailer industry and the trucks pulling trailers. Unfortunately there is no uniform system for reporting injuries or accidents and henceforth are many unreported dangers that will kill or catastrophically injure other innocent and unknowing victims.

The defective trailer accident and unsecured cargo lawyers of Reiff & Bily have decades of experience investigating and litigating unsecured trailer accidents and those accidents involving unsecured cargo that falls on a roadway. We have recently joined forces with the experienced defective trailer accident lawyers of the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group and employee a most experienced group of investigators and experts to determine how trailer and unsecured cargo accidents occur and who is liable. Since 1955, our skilled lawyers have together been awarded over two billion dollars on behalf of injured victims and their families. Our skilled unhitched trailer and unsecured cargo accident attorneys have been recognized as possessing the highest possible ratings in both legal ability and ethical standards and have been noted to be among the top attorneys in Pennsylvania and the nation. We always offer a free, no obligation and confidential consultation. Please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

As insurance carriers get more picky as to the comfort of their risk levels, some carriers are refusing to insure certain breeds of dogs and other animals. Many carriers however still do not inquire about dog breeds during the underwriting process. The Center For Disease Control has listed the following breeds as the most dangerous based upon fatal human attacks which could be particularly prone to insurance claims: Pit Bull, Rottweiler, German Shepard, Huskies, Malamute, Doberman Pinscher, and Chow Chow. Many insurance carriers claim that these dogs have a reputation of being intimidating and aggressive, particularly towards strangers.

Some states have a very specific definition of what constitutes a dangerous dog and may include but not limited to the following: aggressively bites, attacks, or inflicts severe injury on a human on public or private property; has more than once severely injured or killed a domestic animal on lawful owners property; has been used preliminarily or in part for dog fighting which when unprovoked chases or approaches another individual in a menacing fashion or attitude of attack.

As an experienced Pennsylvania dog bite lawyer and animal attack attorney for over 30 years, I am well aware that approximately 60% of all seriously injured dog bite victims are children. In Pennsylvania, dog bite injury victims can legally hold a dog’s owner responsible for their injuries. Pennsylvania dog owners are only legally obligated to restrain or control the dog to make sure the public is safe from harm. If the dog is not on a lease or properly secured on an owner’s premises or the dog owner knew that his or her dog was prone to violence yet did not take proper safety measures to prevent someone from being bitten, mauled, or killed, the owner can be held financially liable by a Pennsylvania court. The Philadelphia dog bite lawyers of Reiff & Bily understand that many involved in a dog bite situation may have permanent scarring or catastrophic and severe bodily injuries and unfortunately, sometimes a wrongful death.

Continue reading "As Insurance Companies Get Banged For Dog And Animal Bites, Many Carriers Maintain A List Of Dog Breeds They Won’t Insure" »

As a top amusement park accident lawyer and top hayride accident lawyer for over three-decades, I am always concerned but not surprised to learn when many innocent and unknowing victims are seriously injured as a result of a hayride accident.

Recently 44 members of a church group were injured during a hayride accident in Washington state when a tractor pulling a trailer jack-knifed ejecting passengers onto the roadway. According to news sources, the tractor was heading down the steepest hill on Shaw Island, Washington where the hill’s surface material was compacted gravel with a 5% downgrade. The hay bale trailer was loaded with hay and 50 people when the tractor gained speed. According to news sources, the trailer did not have brakes and was literally pushing the tractor down the hill and the front axle of the trailer failed spilling the passengers on the roadway resulting in broken bones, sprains, and lacerations to many of the victims. The accident remains under investigation and the police are also looking into a heavy load of people and logs that were placed in the trailer for seating, together with maintenance records for the tractor and trailer.

Hayrides are quasi-amusement rides and in my humble opinion as a hayride and defective trailer accident lawyer who has investigated and litigated these claims, many hayrides are simply accidents waiting to happen when proper control mechanisms are not in place. The operators of hayrides owe the highest duty of care to the passengers on the ride. They are often operated in dark and noisy environments frequently visited by children. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has estimated that a number of serious injuries resulting from hayrides and trailer malfunctions has risen dramatically. Unfortunately most hayrides involve the use of a trailer hitch to a tractor or truck pull and NHTSA has admitted that no standard exists for such trailer hitches. Many state laws, including Pennsylvania, are silent as to the design and construction specification for many of the trailers used in hayrides.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families of this accident.

The amusement and hayride accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily always offer a free, no obligation confidential consultation to victims of amusement park accidents and hayride accidents. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Recently a New York jury awarded $1.1 million dollars to a woman who was struck by a falling shelf in a Bronx grocery store. The jury found that the shelf was improperly stocked and had not been properly secured, and the victim claimed that the shelf fell on her while another worker was placing aluminum pans on the same. The victim claimed that the shelf dislodged, fell on her head, and activated an arthritic condition of her spine causing herniations of two discs. The defense denied negligence of the shop owner and also contended that the woman’s condition was not worsened by the accident. However the jury thought otherwise.

As an experienced Philadelphia premise liability lawyer for over three decades who has represented generations of injured victims, the law recognizes that when you enter a business premise, you are classified as a business invitee and are owed the highest duty of care. If a property owner neglected to correct an unsafe condition or caused an unsafe condition to exist which caused your injuries such as being harmed by falling merchandise or shelves, you may have a right to recover compensatory damages. If your injuries require you to take time off from work and undergo medical procedures, rehabilitation, and lost wages, an experienced Pennsylvania premise liability lawyer can help you recover the compensate that you deserve.

Since 1979, the experienced Philadelphia premise liability lawyer and store injury lawyers of Reiff & Bily
have protected the rights of injured people and their families throughout Pennsylvania. We always offer a free confidential, no obligation consultation. For more information, please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

As an experienced swimming and drowning accident lawyer who also happens to live on the beach, many times I often observe individuals going into the ocean with belly boards or rafts when there are strong currents and high winds. Many times conditions are simply unsafe, however individuals seemingly believe that the raft, belly board, or other personal flotation device will keep them safe.

Over the last weekend, two individuals drowned and died in water-related accidents while using personal flotation devices. Both individuals were experienced swimmers. As an experienced drowning and swimming accident attorney who also happened to be a lifeguard in his earlier years, I advise anyone using a body board or raft to use them only with a leash attached to the board and/or ankle or wrist. These are available in most shops where surf and body boards are sold and rented. With the leash, the user will not become separated from the flotation device. I also advise that one should not float where you can’t swim. Many times non-swimmers will use rafts or belly boards to go off shore and if they fall off, they may panic or get caught in the current and be unable to swim back to the raft or board even with a leash attached.

The water accident and drowning attorneys of Reiff & Bily are committed to water safety and recognize that even skilled swimmers often find themselves at risk for injury if they are not properly prepared. For more information, please contact us toll free at
1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

On the last day of a Bahama honeymoon, a tragic parasailing accident took the life of a newly wed wife of Victor Rodriguez, age 22. The 22-year old bride Crystal Rodriguez died after her parasailing harness apparently snapped while she was being towed sending her plunging more than 200 feet into the sea. Both Crystal and her husband were being towed by a speed boat with a parachute billowing behind them when the accident occurred on the final day of their 10 day honeymoon. Her broken hearted husband was wheeled onto a jet on a gurney with oxygen after spending the last five weeks with extensive internal injuries in a hospital in Orlando, Florida.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and their families and as an amusement accident and parasailing accident attorney, accidents like this are always the most hard hitting.

Parasailing has been defined as a sport or recreational activity where one soars while harnessed to a parasail. The words “while harnessed” are the key words. Fortunately more than one can imagine, many people are wrongfully killed or tragically injured due to faulty equipment of the owner or operator or the parasail operation’s negligence. There is very little regulation or oversight of many of the companies that operate parasailing operations and they tend to operate for profit instead of safety.

Most victims who survive parasailing accidents have their lives forever changed due to injuries such as traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, quadriplegia, paraplegia, or even wrongful death due to a defective product or negligence on behalf of the company providing the parasailing service.

Continue reading "Parasailing Accident During Bahama Honeymoon Results In Death Of Wife And Serious Injuries To a Broken Hearted Husband " »

In recent weeks, two catastrophic deaths took the life of two special Americans. One an 11-year old honor student at Morey’s Pier in Wildwood and the second an American war hero, Sgt. James Hackemer, 29, who died on the Ride Of Steel roller coaster at Darien Lake Theme Amusement Park located east of Buffalo, NY. Hackemer had lost both his legs in a roadside bomb explosion while deployed to Iraq in 2008 and had to be assisted on the coaster. Just 11 days after turning eleven, Abiah Jones was on a school trip to a Wildwood, NJ amusement park to celebrate students who attained honorary scholastic achievement. In both cases, the question arises why park employees of the respective amusement parks let these individuals on the rides, and both incidents have sparked a renewed effort to place fixed site theme parks under federal regulatory oversight.

U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA7) stated that local and state regulators who currently oversee amusement parks may lack budget resources and technical experience to carry out effective safety checks and investigate accidents. Rep. Markey plans to introduce legislation which he has proposed multiple times before the make fixed site amusement parks subject to regulatory authority of the CPSC, a federal consumer protection body, in an attempt to prevent future injuries. Owners of amusement parks as well as industry lobbyists oppose the legislation. Safety should be the number one concern, and as an experienced product liability and amusement park accident attorney who has fought for decades on behalf of catastrophically injured victims and those wrongfully killed due to the negligence of others and/or defectively manufactured and designed products. I believe safety should never be an option, and I believe that Federal oversight would most likely go a long way towards improving amusement park safety and question why the amusement industry is so opposed to it if they claim they are already operating safely and taking all steps to insure that accidents do not occur. I for one believe that the proposed check and balance legislation can only benefit rather than have a detrimental effect.

As an experienced Pennsylvania boating accident attorney, I want to thank Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett who signed into law last week new legislation which will now hold boat operators under the influence to the same penalties as driving a motor vehicle under the influence. The new law treats all vehicles similarly regardless of whether it is an air craft, water craft, or land vehicle. As an attorney who has investigated and prosecuted boating accident cases for over three decades, many times our investigations reveal that alcohol was a contributing factor. Common sense is all that is necessary to understand that sitting in the sun and alcohol is not a good mixture particularly when operating a boat. A boat is less controllable than a car and requiring one’s full facilities to properly and lawfully control and operate. Boats do not have brakes and the ability to stop or slow down quickly in an emergency or accident avoidance maneuver.

Several years ago, Pennsylvania state law reduced blood alcohol levels for operating under the influence to 0.8 down from 0.1 which now applies to boats. The newly signed law also recognizes that operating a boat while under the influence of alcohol will be treated as a second class felony. While many complain that the new law might impinge on the traditional boating and having a few cocktails on the water, this experienced Pennsylvania boating accident attorney has sat with victims and their families who were catastrophically injured or wrongfully killed believes that alcohol and the operation of any motor vehicle or machinery is a potentially deadly combination. If you want a drink, keep it at dockside or in the security of your home.

If you or a loved one has been a victim of a boating accident, boating explosion , or any other vehicle accident involving the use of alcohol, our skilled and experienced catastrophic injury lawyers always offer a free confidential, no obligation consultation. For more information, please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

I was recently contacted by an investigative reporter concerning swimming pool accidents and drownings in Pennsylvania and one of the issues discussed was whether or not there was a safety difference between in ground or above ground pools. Simply stated, drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4 and more children under the age of 12 will die or sustain a water submersion injury due to the failure of others to lock, look, and learn about pool safety.

As an experienced swimming pool accident, drowning, and water submersion injury lawyer for over three decades, one thing is for certain it really doesn’t matter what the size of the pool is or whether it is in ground or above ground, pools are still pools and it only takes a minute for a child to drown.

Researchers indicated that every 5 days across American, a child drowns in a portable swimming pool and almost half of these deaths happen in very shallow wading pools and according to the Mayo Clinic, a baby can drown in less than 1 inch of water. Most children’s drownings occur in the child’s own yard. Interestingly enough in many of the portable or above ground pool cases that we have investigated, many times there was the lack of a safety barrier or fence and the rationale explained by the defendant was that the small portable pool or above ground pool was not big enough to make expensive safety fencing necessary. Drowning remains the second leading cause of unintentional injury related death for children under 14 years of age. With the recent heat wave in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, we have seen an increased amount of water rescues, drownings, and water submersion injuries. Many times if one purchases a portable or above ground pool retailers never inform the customer of local restrictions requiring fencing. Many advertisements state you can be swimming in no time and are more interested in profitability and the bottom line return for store owners than the safety of those who buy the pool.

Continue reading "Experienced Swimming Pool Drowning and Water Submersion Injury Lawyer Weighs In On Which Is Safer - Above Ground Or In Ground Pools" »

In the beginning of June, unfortunately, Abiah Jones, age 11, tragically fell to her death at Morey’s Pier in Wildwood, New Jersey. On Friday evening, July 8, 2011 war hero, Sgt. James T. Hackemer, 29, who lost both his legs in Iraq died after falling from a ride on a steel roller coaster at the Darien Lake Theme Park resort.

As an experienced amusement park accident attorney who has been intimately involved investigating and litigating amusement park cases for over three decades, I am extraordinarily concerned that the amusement park industry is one of the most highly unregulated industries, yet we entrust our children to thrill rides confidently assuming that they are safe and have been inspected. Massachusetts Congressman Edward J. Markey notes that he has been trying for years to pass a bill entitled The National Amusement Park Rides Safety Act that would close the number of loopholes regarding oversight of amusement park rides. The Bill calls for restoration of the Consumer Product Safety Commissions ability to oversee fixed site amusement rides, a job that the Commission had until 1981 when an amendment to the Consumer Product Safety Act was passed removing language that gave the Commission responsibility over its rides. The change would also give the CPSC the authority to investigate accidents in amusement parks and then allow the CPSC to share information with operators of the same rides in other states before accidents occur and develop plans to correct problems and reduce risks of harm. The CPSC would also be able to compile comprehensive safety information for consumers.

In a tightened economy, many amusement parks seem to be taking short cuts on safety and putting profitability first. I for one believe that safety should never be an option and yet many amusement park owners and operators who are members of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions have issued several statements in response to Congressman Markey’s bill stating that it is not necessary as the Bill “seeks to address a problem that does not exist”. The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions cites the industry’s outstanding safety record, and as an experienced amusement park accident attorney, I am well aware that many accidents that occur at amusement parks are not reported and those accident situations that are resolved are generally resolved in a confidential manner. In my opinion, many amusement parks operate in an atmosphere where politicians and inspectors seem to take protective measures in favor of the amusement parks due to the fact that they contribute so much to local economies.

As I have been intimately involved as an amusement park accident attorney in several amusement park accidents where investigators found no fault, it has been quite mind boggling when our own independent experts perform an independent and non-biased analysis that seems to be completely at odds with those of the park with the amusement park owner and operator. One must ask themselves if these rides are so safe why not make them more transparent and promote the Bill which would insure their safety. My own personal opinion is that in many states, the situation is not so dissimilar to the fox guarding the hen house.

Continue reading "Experienced Amusement Park Accident Attorney Suggests That It Is Time For Lawmakers To Close The Loopholes In View Of Recent Amusement Park Accidents And Deaths - Calls For Transparency In Reporting Requirements" »

In the summertime I ride my bike almost 20 miles every morning as a way to get my juices flowing and pump up the endorphins before going to the office. This past weekend, I witnessed a terrible bicycle accident on the boardwalk in Ventnor City, NJ when a cyclist appearing to be in a zombie like trance listening to an iPod with music blaring violently collided with another walking person. In fact, what I found even more surprising was that in a highly congested area with bicyclists, walkers, and joggers, the striking bicyclist was weaving in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed indifferent to others as music played through his iPod. Obviously, the bicyclist was acting irresponsibly and posed a danger to himself as well as many other people.

Recently British authorities have noted that there has been a significant rise in the number of bicycle riders being seriously injured or killed while wearing iPods during cycling. I admit that I love music just as much as anyone and have been guilty of wearing an iPod during cycling. However one need not apply anything but common sense to recognize that if you are in traffic on a congested street area, it is just down right not safe. It is impossible to hear warning bells or horns as well as concentrate in a congested area.

As an experienced bicyclist for decades and as an experienced Pennsylvania bicycle accident attorney who unfortunately investigates the worst bicycle accidents involving catastrophic injury or death, I advise all bicyclists to focus their attention on the roadway and avoid distraction in an urban environment or on resort boardwalks that are crowded with people. When you investigate bicycle accident legal cases, just as I have for the past three decades, it is easy to recognize that many otherwise innocent people are catastrophically injured or killed due to the fact that they were distracted and unable to hear a hazardous situation.

Continue reading "Ipods and Cycling A Potentially Deadly Combination Advises Experienced Philadelphia Bicycle Accident Lawyer and Cyclist" »

Over the weekend, I had a chance to view an HBO documentary entitled “Hot Coffee”. The documentary examined the dangers of so called “tort reform” and its threat to our civil justice system. As an experienced Pennsylvania catastrophic injury
and wrongful death attorney who has personally grieved with clients and witnessed some of the most unimaginable tragedies involving my clients over the last three decades, I feel that it is important that individuals understand that tort reform would block one’s ability to access our civil courts and take away their valuable legal rights.

“Hot Coffee” examines the roles of corporations, government, and complicit media in promoting tort reform and was a selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The stories that are highlighted in the film are similar to many cases that any experienced catastrophic injury or wrongful death lawyer has handled over a long career. The title derives from the McDonald’s hot coffee case which shocked a number of people with a substantial verdict. The verdict was “spun” by many tort reformists and corporate entities into a tale of fright for a largely unknowing American populace. However what most people were not aware of was that McDonald’s acknowledged that there were 700 prior burns and the woman burned by the cup of coffee had quite devastating injuries and not merely a minor superficial burn as many were led to believe. “Hot Coffee” reveals how caps on medical malpractice awards affect those who sustain injuries and require medical care for the rest of their lives. The film also highlights a case regarding mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts and how that has prevented a Halliburton employee who was raped while in a bunker will all fellow male employees from obtaining justice after being raped.

Many are told that trial lawyers are greedy and in fact, I admit that yes I am greedy for justice and sick of the relentless attacks on our civil justice system by big business and the government who continue to emphasize profitability and shareholder return instead of safety. We must aggressively protect one of the greatest gifts of being an American, namely our civil justice system. It is imperative that many know the whole story so that the misconceptions that people have regarding tort reform can be properly addressed. I assure you that after watching the documentary “Hot Coffee” your mind will be changed and you will think differently.

Since 1979, the skilled boating accident attorneys of Reiff & Bily have been investigating and litigating boating and maritime accident cases. A good portion of these cases involve a catastrophic accident that occurred when the boat operator was intoxicated. Interestingly enough up until recently the Pennsylvania legislature did not address this issue. However, a Bill now sits on Governor Tom Corbett’s desk awaiting his signature which should toughen penalties for boating under the influence. Our hats go off to Rep. Mike Hanna who proposed an amendment to House Bill 78 which would allow prior drunken driving convictions to be factored into a sentencing for a drunken boating conviction. Surprisingly, Pennsylvania’s boating laws are considered pretty tough by national standards which really doesn’t say too much for the rest of the country. As an experienced boating accident attorney and boat skipper for over four decades, I do not think that Pennsylvania’s boating laws are tough enough and lack “teeth” when it comes to enforcement. However, as an experienced boating accident attorney who has dealt with the most catastrophic injuries and deaths that occur as a result of one operating a boat while intoxicated, I always felt there was a need for a tough criminal statute with teeth covering those who kill another while operating a boat while in an intoxicated state. Currently when a DUI accident by motor vehicle results in death, the sentences are significantly greater graded as a third degree rather than a second degree felony.

As Pennsylvania has more than 2,500 lakes and thousands of miles of rivers, intoxicated operation of a vessel is a serious problem. It is almost impossible for the small number of Pennsylvania marine police to enforce these laws, and this experienced boating accident lawyer argues that the stronger the penalty the more it will deter others from operating a boat while intoxicated and make Pennsylvania waterways safer for all.

Continue reading "Experienced Pennsylvania Boating Accident Lawyer Queries Why Someone Convicted Of DUI Operating A Boat Should Face Less Of A Penalty Than Those Behind The Wheel Of A Car When Boat Accident Victims Are Catastrophically Injured and Wrongfully Killed" »

I got to admit that I am a sucker for beautiful bikes and last weekend I was taking a ride with a friend of mine when all of a sudden and without warning the front wheel of his newly purchased bike collapsed due to a spoke failure. Thank heavens my friend was wearing a helmet as he tumbled over the handlebars onto the ground at a fairly descent speed. He informed me that he recently purchased a bike from one of the large discount mass market sports shops and when he called the shop they told him to bring it in and they would just give him a new one “no questions asked”. Of course as an  experienced Pennsylvania product liability and bicycle accident attorney, I was curious to determine how this situation could have occurred on a brand new bike and when I investigated the manufacturer, I found that although the product looked good and was great “eye candy”, it was actually rather cheaply manufactured in China and sold for a price well below what one would expect to pay for such a fine looking specimen. Of course the old motto goes, “you get what you pay for”; however, safety should never be an option. Of course my dear friend was very lucky. However, many other people and bikers may not be so lucky.

Many bicycle accidents are not caused by negligent drivers, many are caused by a product defect or design defect . Our experienced bicycle accident attorneys are avid bikers and have litigated cases involving defective brakes, defective tires, defective gear shifts, defective frames, as well as defective pedals and wheels. Bicycle manufacturers fight bicycle defect cases strongly due to the fact they wish to avoid recalls or negative publicity that will hurt their business.

Continue reading "Just Because The Beautiful New Bike You Purchased Looks Safe, It Doesn’t Mean It Really Is Advises Avid Cyclist and Experienced Philadelphia Bicycle Accident Attorney" »

As an experienced Pennsylvania swimming pool, drowning, and water accident attorney who also has investigated many amusement and water park catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases over the last three decades, I am always sad to learn of news concerning the death of a young child.

On Wednesday, July 6, 2011, a six year old boy was killed after jumping into a swimming pool at Knoebels Crystal Pool located in Elysburg, North Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. According to news reports, life guards found the boy under water and pulled him from the pool and performed CPR. He was then transported to Geisinger Medical Center where he later died. The cause of death is not known and is under investigation. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of the 6-year old. According to news sources, the boy was said to be in the shallow end of the pool, jumping in and out of the water.

It appears that the summer of 2011 is unfortunately proving to be one quantified by catastrophic injuries and wrongful deaths at local amusement parks, swimming pools, and water parks, as well as drownings at private and public swimming pools.

As an experienced Pennsylvania water park, amusement park, and swimming pool accident attorney, I am curious why the child was not spotted sooner and whether or not the water park had proper supervision and training of life guards and safety personnel, whether the pool was properly maintained, and whether or not there were breaches of any of the federal and state guidelines concerning the operation of the swimming pool and amusement attractions. We offer our deepest condolences to the family of the victim for their tragic and heartbreaking loss and we ask that all of our readers keep this grieving family in their thoughts and prayers.

Continue reading "Boy Dies In Pennsylvania Amusement Park Swimming Pool Accident - Experienced Pennsylvania Swimming Pool and Water Accident Attorney Weighs In" »

When we send our children to summer camp, we want to always think of the smiles and moments of joy and happiness etched in the minds of our kids. Unfortunately all it takes is a tragic overnight or day camp accident to turn a family’s life into a nightmare. Dreams are lost and hopes are vanished.

On June 19, 2011, Andrew Silvershein, 16-years old, of Davie, Florida drowned during a white water rafting trip during his first week at Camp Ramah Daron. As an experienced water accident and camping accident attorney who has also been involved in the camping arena, I recognize that safety should be the number one concern and priority when it involves kids, teens, and summer camps.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the Silvershein family, and this tragic accident should cause all summer camps to review safety measures. Unfortunately investigation reveals that Andrew Silvershein was wedged under a rock and was wearing a life jacket and helmet. I too have been an experienced white water rafter and had suffered a similar accident a number of years ago on the Pacuare River in Costa Rica when I was thrown from the boat and swept by the current and snapped my leg to break it between a rock. White water rafting can simply be dangerous under improper conditions and it is essential that summer camps properly train their staff in safety measures and out source to reliable trip providers that follow the safest of protocols.

The drowning drowning, and water submersion accident attorneys
of the Beasley Reiff Law Group
are committed to swimming pool and water safety. Our catastrophic injury and wrongful death
drowning lawyers have been awarded billions of dollars on behalf of victims and their families since 1958. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Earlier this year, a 32-foot fiberglass cabin cruiser boat exploded in Del Ray Beach, Florida killing a man and burning others on board the boat. The explosion took place when one of the individuals was working on the engine after the tank was filled with approximately 50 gallons of gas. Investigators concluded that gas leaks and vapors filled the engine room and I suspect that the engine must have started, igniting the fumes and triggering the explosion after the boaters stopped to refuel the vessel at a marina. The owner of the boat told investigators that after fueling, the smell of gasoline permeated the air after which point one of the victims on the vessel began to look for leaks in the engine compartment and thereafter heard a pop and saw flames. The day after the explosion, state investigators found a burned body in the charred hole of the boat. The headline of the newspaper indicated that the explosion that killed the man was deemed “accidental”.

As an experienced boater for over 50 years who has skippered just about every type of water craft, I also happen to have over three decades of experience as a boating accident lawyerinvestigating and litigating boating accident and boat explosion cases. There is one thing of which I am certain, that boating explosion cases do not happen on their own and always involve a proximate cause whether it be negligence or design or  manufacturing defect.

As an experienced Pennsylvania product liability lawyer who has worked on fuel fed fire legal cases both in the automotive, motorcycle, and boating arena, boat explosion accidents often lead to catastrophic injuries or death. Lately the United States Coast Guard has noticed a dramatic increase in boating fatalities and explosions. Most times injuries and deaths could have been prevented if proper safety procedures were followed.

Continue reading "Investigation Into A Florida Boat Explosion Concludes That Leaking Gas and Vapors In Engine Room Was The Cause - Boating Accident and Explosion Lawyer Weighs In" »

When one thinks of a baptism ceremony, we normally think of joy, smiles, and celebration. Unfortunately this is not always the case. As an experienced water accident and drowning attorney, I unfortunately learned of a tragic and sorrowful accident that occurred in Atlanta, Georgia over the weekend of June 25th when a church member drowned following a baptism ceremony at Lake Lanier. According to news sources, 37-year old Ciro Jimenez Beltron, age 37, was lingering in the shallows of the lake with a few congregants after a baptism ceremony and although it was noted Beltron could not swim and was not wearing a life jacket, he slipped in a lake drop-off where the water depth drops from 3 to 13 feet. Rivers and lakes are often popular settings for baptisms by submersion. Unfortunately rescuers from several law enforcement agencies and other parishioners were unable to locate Beltron’s body until the following Monday morning.

It is my understanding that a water baptism is symbolically an act of obedience that follows conversion to portray the symbolic washing away of sins. Obviously, if non-swimmers and church parishioners choose to participate in these ceremonies, proper safety measures must be taken to insure a tragedy such as this does not occur. Lakes frequently have drop offs and slimy bottoms and therefore without proper safety equipment or trained supervision, a person without swimming ability could easily sustain a water or drowning submersion injury. There have been an unusually high number of lake drownings this year and no matter what the situation, safety should always be the top priority.

Drowning remains the second leading cause of unintentional related death for children age 1 to 14 and males are 4 times more likely than females to drown. African American children age 5 to 14 are more than three times more likely to drown than Caucasian children of similar age. Almost all drownings are caused by failure to follow safe water front or swimming pool safety programs.

Continue reading "Believe It Or Not People Drown During Baptisms Advises Drowning Lawyer" »

It seems that 2011 is on its way to breaking records for drowning and boating accidents in the Pennsylvania Tri-state area. On the weekend of June 26th, two people died in separate boating accidents in Cecil County, Maryland. The boating deaths represent the 10th and 11th fatality in Maryland this year. According to news sources, the first death occurred at 8:30 Friday night when an individual fell into the water as he attempted to jump from his boat to a pier near the Chesapeake Inn. Two shipmates tried to rescue him but could not.

The other death happened at approximately 3:40 p.m. on Saturday afternoon when a boat capsized on the Elk River. Initial investigation indicates that the boat was rated for three people and 435 lbs. However, there were 4 people in the boat and the conservative estimate noted that the weight exceeded 700 lbs. Interestingly enough as an experienced boater and boating accident attorneys what these drownings have in common with other boating deaths is a lack of appropriate flotation devices and the failure to exercise proper care by overloading the vessels weight requirements.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of these victims and we note that these unfortunate deaths clearly reveal the need to wear flotation devices in and around a boating environment. The boating accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily boating accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily have recently joined forces with the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Most of our experienced boating accident lawyers are also boating skippers and have handled just about every type of water craft for decades. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation. For more information contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

As an experienced Pennsylvania trucking and commercial carrier accident attorney, I have noticed a disturbing trend in the past few years that has also been highlighted by the press resulting in recent governmental inquiries and investigations, namely that many individuals who have been operating trucks and buses have a disturbing history involving traffic accidents and reckless behavior in their past. A recent investigation has noted that the deaths of six people in last Friday’s Amtrak train and truck crash in the Nevada desert involved a truck driver who had a long history of speeding, using a cell phone while driving and causing other injury accidents. The history of his reckless driving also included that he was found to be at fault in a prior freeway crash in 2007 and received many traffic citations earlier as a school bus driver in California. Investigators remain mystified as to why the truck driver failed to stop at a railroad crossing despite the fact that all warning lights and gates were working at the crossing and were easily visible for up to a mile in the flat desert area in Nevada. As a result of the train’s crash with the truck, six individuals died and others were burned and others remain unaccounted for.

The Pennsylvania trucking accident attorneys of Reiff & Bily have recently joined forces with the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families and we hope that the government and trucking companies do not continue to drag their feet when conducting background checks and investigating those who driver their vehicles and are entrusted to have full knowledge of the laws and regulations governing our roads and highways. I question how an individual with such a prior record could have been hired by this trucking company and join forces calling for a careful analysis and investigation of the factors leading to this accident.

The Pennsylvania railroad accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily and the Beasley Reiff Law Group have together been awarded over $2 billion dollars since 1958 representing the interests of those catastrophically injured or wrongfully killed due to the negligence of others. We always offer a free confidential, no obligation consultation. For more information contact we online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

As July 4th officially kicks off the summer season many of us will be hosting or be guests at barbecues. Many of the newer barbecues utilize propane tanks to fuel the system. Propane is pressurized and put into the tank and safety dictates that one must make sure that the tank is not rusted or corroded and that all the fuel fittings are properly secured. Thirty liters of propane equals 750 mg of energy and 750 mega joules of energy is approximately equal to 170 kilograms of TNT or 8 millionths of a kilogram of nuclear grade uranium and has the energy equivalent and release of the force of 9 fully loaded semi-trucks being dropped from a kilometer high off the ground. Similarly enough energy is released to melt 2.25 tons of ice.

Typically propane tanks do not explode on their own. Generally human error or negligence is a primary factor contributing to any type of propane explosion and propane fed fire accident. If you are using propane to fuel your barbecue, make sure that you are using and storing it in accordance with NFPA requirements. You must fully understand that the integrity of the propane bottle must be maintained and one must always keep the propane cylinder away from an area where there is an extreme build up of heat or fire. Many times a fire or explosion can be caused by a leak near an ignition source such as a cigarette or spark. Many times propane fires or explosions occur due to negligent handling by an individual or refueling station or due to the defective manufacture and construction of the propane fuel. Obviously a propane explosion can cause catastrophic injuries
and wrongful death. Many times these injuries include amputations, blindness, loss of hearing, permanent scarring, spinal injuries, brain injuries, and paraplegia.

The fuel fed fire and propane explosion lawyers of the Beasley Reiff Law Group are stalwarts for consumer safety and suggest that if you are using a propane gas tank you should have it routinely inspected and maintained and make sure the tank is properly installed to reduce the risk of fire and explosion. If a propane tank is not properly maintained, there is a potential to suffer a tank and fuel delivery system failure and increases the risk of excessive heat or sparks coming into the tank which could ignite the gas and cause explosions.

Continue reading "A Defective Propane Tank Can Create An Explosion To Multiple Kilograms Of TNT Warns Experienced Pennsylvania Product Liability and Explosion Lawyer" »

Unfortunately bicycle accidents in Philadelphia are on a major up rise. As an experienced Philadelphia bicycle accident attorney and an avid bicyclist for over 40 years, I start every day in the summer with at least a one hour bike ride in an attempt to keep in shape and get the “juices flowing”. I notice more and more people on the highways on bicycles, and a recent survey also noted that more Philadelphians are ditching cars for bikes due to the tightened economy as well as the beautiful weather. While biking is one of the most pleasant forms of relaxation and good cardiac exercise, unfortunately recent statistics show that there are potential costs involved when it comes to personal safety. Bicycle injuries and deaths are on the rise.

Recently I have been contacted by several cyclists who were struck by motorists while traveling in designated bike lanes. The law tells you to ride as far to the right as possible and many times people exiting vehicles open their door right in front of the bicyclist or many people make turns across the bike lane striking the cyclist. If you are planning on riding your bike for transportation or just for the fun of it, you should always check to make sure the bike is properly maintained and properly fit. The bicycle accident attorneys of Reiff & Bily always advise using hand signals for riding, as well as wearing a properly affixed helmet.

I hate to say it, but as an experienced cyclist I always assume that many of the drivers are not paying attention and never see me and therefore, drive defensively. I recommend that all bicyclists in Philadelphia wear bright colors and at night never operate a cycle without a light or strobe light.

Continue reading "This Summer In Philadelphia More People Are Ditching Cars And Using Bikes As A Primary Means For Transportation – Unfortunately More Bicycle Accidents Are Occurring" »

A school trip to a water park by 9-year old Jeremy Molumba ended tragically after the young boy was swept toward the deep end by surging water in a wave pool. According to news sources, a classmate tried to grip his friends hand before a second wave pushed him below the water surface. According to sources, the 4th grader remained at the bottom of the pool for more than one hour before anyone came to his rescue.

As an experienced amusement park and water park accident attorney, the first thing that came to my mind was where were the lifeguards or other supervisors whose job it is to maintain safe watch over the guests of the park? The guests of the park are identified legally as business invitees and are owed the highest duty of care. Other issues should be explored such as: Was the water cloudy? Was the water so cloudy or dirty that they could not see the child laying on the bottom? Was the drainage and pump system working properly or was there too much force and suction which forced the young man under the water and to the bottom? Individuals in wave pools regularly sustain injuries ranging from lacerations, bruises, brain injuries, neck and back injuries, drownings, paraplegia, quadriplegia, and sometimes death. Many times they are the result of slippery surfaces, polluted water, and improper supervision. When water park employees, managers, or operators are negligent, it is all too easy for an otherwise innocent and unknowing individual to get in trouble and sustain a catastrophic injury by submersion or suffer death by drowning. Unfortunately many water parks are not currently regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and many water park and amusement park owners vehemently oppose federal oversight of safety regulations and reporting that many legislators seek to give the CPSC authority over water park and federal theme parks. Many water parks are not in conformance with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act which requires installing drain covers that meet ANSA/ASNE A112.19.8-27 standards on every drains or grates. It also requires the installation of an automatic shut off system, drainage gravity system, and a safety vacuum system, suction limiting vent system, or drain disabler. Many times loud music in a pool area or in a wave pool area prevents lifeguards from hearing calls of distress and many times the bottom of the wave pool is slippery due to the presence of algae. Crowd control issues and the adequate amount and training of lifeguards and supervisors and maintenance staff is an essential element of safety. It has been noted that there has been a sharp increase of drownings among children up through the age of 12 and although amusement parks and water park attractions appear to be safe, when you combine negligent supervision, premise liability defects, as well as a potential for defective design and manufacturing defects, many accidents occur that could have easily been avoided.

If you or a loved one has sustained an injury in anamusement park or water park, or has suffered a drowning or water submersion injury, the experienced amusement park and water park lawyers of the www.beasleyreifflawgroup.com offer a free, no obligation confidential consultation. We have been stalwarts of consumer and amusement and water park safety for over half a century and our attorneys and our legal team has been awarded over $2 billion since 1958. Contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

According to a report published on June 10, 2011 in the New York Times a citronella scented fire gel used to ward off insects on hot summer nights has a history of combusting causing disfiguring burns to the users face and body. The fire gel is manufactured by Fuel Barons Inc. and also contains a certification of safety from Fuel Barons who allegedly intended the communication to inform consumers that the fuel was environmentally friendly as it was made from recycled post-consumer waste and does not emit toxins when it burns. According to news sources, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has received at least 8 reported incidents of explosions involving fire gel and ceramic pots, although it is not clear whether these incidents all involve fire gel or other fuel gel products.

The experienced Pennsylvania product liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily recently learned of a situation involving a bad burn injury caused from a citronella urn distributed by Napa Home and Garden Inc. in Duluth, GA. The product is identified as Napa Fire and is marketed as pourable eco gel fuel. When a product is marketed with a certification of safety, the consumer has a reasonable belief to assume that it is safe for every day use and that it will not explode near a flame as victims are claiming.

Our skilled Pennsylvania products liability lawyers are working with other lawyers across the nation to further independently investigate this potentially dangerous product. If you or a loved one has suffered an injury resulting from the use of a fire-gel, please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com for a free, no obligation consultation.

According to the Coast Guard, nine people have died in the first two weeks of June in the waters of the mid-Atlantic due to boating accidents and a string of drowning accidents. Unfortunately most of the boating deaths could have been avoided due to the fact that some of the fatalities involved in boating accidents were not wearing life jackets. The failure to wear a life jacket resulted in 75% of all boating deaths in 2010 and of those drowning victims, 88% were not wearing life jackets.

Adding to these grim statistics is a report that many beach town resorts, including Delaware beaches, are struggling to fill lifeguard slots. The News Journal of Wilmington reports there are only 19 openings and 9 applicants for lifeguard duty at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware Seashore Park, and Fenwick Island State Park. Unfortunately part of the problem is due to the low salary of $10.00 per hour.

As an experienced boating accident and drowning accident lawyer, I am very much well aware that the summer season brings its share of tragedies. However most boaters and swimmers must be aware of the dangers and as beach resorts derive a significant portion of their revenue from visitors why not pay a little bit more to hire qualified lifeguards. A survey indicated that nearby municipalities pay only one to two dollars more for lifeguards and have no problem filling the spots. Never skimp on safety.

Continue reading "Nine Deaths By Drowning or Boating Accidents Before Summer Even Starts - Experienced Boating Accident and Drowning Lawyer Weighs In" »

The Pennsylvania inadequate security and premises liability law firm of Reiff & Bily has been representing individuals and their families who have been victimized as a result of inadequate hotel security for more than three decades.

In the last year, we have noted a dramatic increase in inquiries concerning hotel safety violations which we felt closely paralleled a tightening economy combined with a decrease in hotel occupancy levels necessitating cut backs on safety, guards, and concerns. Many hotels and motels failed to provide their staff even with the most minimal critical safety training. Failing to recognize that safety must always be a priority and that one headline incident or claim can result in a tremendous loss of business due to negative publicity is a fatal error for many hotel and motel operators. While many hotel chains advertise that the new comfortable bed is their number one priority, they never speak about safety or security.

Hotel operators and owners are obligated to protect the safety and lives of hotel guests and staff through their preventive security measures. Even today as I check in almost regularly to some fairly high end hotels, I note that many of the corridors are poorly lit and there are tunnels, nooks, or crannies in parking lots or building spaces where crimes can easily be committed. New or inexpensive technology is an important part of meeting hotel safety requirements such as closed circuit cameras in elevators, hallways, and parking lots. If a hotel or motel is located in an intercity or high crime area, the owner and operator has an obligation to take steps to secure the premises by hiring highly qualified security guards as well as training the staff and implementing safety procedures to ultimately insure the safety of their customers.

Continue reading "Hotel Security Lawyer Notes A Dramatic Increase In Hotel Inadequate Security Related Claims" »

According to a news release from Morey’s Pier in Wildwood, NJ a “young female” was injured as a result of an incident on one of the largest ferris wheels on the East Coast of the United States. Early news reports are indicating that witnesses state that she unfortunately died as a result of her injuries. The young female victim was flown by helicopter to a local hospital. A spokesperson for Morey’s Pier noted that the exact cause of the accident has not been determined and an investigation is underway.

Our hearts, thoughts, and prayers go out to the young victim, her family and friends and as an experienced amusement park accident attorney I would welcome an independent third party investigation and evaluation of what went wrong.

The lawyers of Reiff & Bily in conjunction with the lawyers of the Beasley Firm have joined forces to form the Beasley Reiff Law Group and are currently representing multiple victims of amusement park accidents at the New Jersey seashore. We also recommend the victim’s surviving family not talk to any insurance adjusters or attorneys for Morey’s Pier until they have consulted their own experienced catastrophic injury, wrongful death, or amusement accident lawyer who will independently fight for their rights and look out for their best interests. Many times the corporations that run large amusement parks have powerful legal defense teams on their side and will have their insurance people work on a case right away to protect their interests rather than those of the victims. It is important for amusement park victims not to sign any papers or agreements without consulting an experienced amusement park lawyer first.

As an experienced amusement park accident lawyer, I have a number of questions and concerns. Was this ride accident the result of negligence on the part of the amusement park? Was the ride maintained and inspected as required by state laws? Was the ride accident the result of defective parts or components of the ride? Was there an electrical, mechanical, or metallurgical failure? Was there a safety or system failure? Were the operators properly trained and given background checks? Was the accident caused by operator error? Depending on where fault lies, the appropriate parties can be held responsible for the accident and resulting injuries. An experienced Pennsylvania and New Jersey amusement park accident attorney will diligently investigate this claim with the best third party experts and accident reconstructionists to insure the victim’s rights are protected and that they receive just compensation for injuries and losses. For a free, no obligation consultation contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595. The skilled catastrophic injury and wrongful death lawyers of the Beasley Reiff Law Group have been awarded billions of dollars since 1958 representing the interests of catastrophically injured victims and their families.

As an experienced boating accident and jet ski accident lawyer, I can almost predict that when Memorial Day rolls around, the newspapers will be full of stories of boating and jet ski accidents. Unfortunately a 31-year old local woman was killed and became Delaware’s first boating fatality of 2011 when the jet ski she was operating collided with another jet ski on Rehoboth Bay.

In a separate accident popular entertainer Sean Kingston crashed his jet ski into a bridge with a passenger on the back and remains hospitalized in critical condition. According to news reports, Mr. Kingston's passenger stated that Kingston was going so fast that he lost control and crashed into a bridge.

As an experienced jet ski accident lawyer and jet ski rider for many years, I am compelled to comment that jet ski riding needs tighter regulations as it is all too easy for anyone to rent a jet ski with little or no training and drive forward at a high rate of speed only to become involved in a catastrophic accident. Jet skis do not have brakes, travel at high speeds, and can maneuver very quickly with an inexperienced and an uneducated rider. Unexpected injuries often come as a surprise. However all too many times fatalities occur.

The Pennsylvania boating accident and jet ski accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily recently joined forces with the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Our skilled catastrophic injury and wrongful death lawyers have been awarded over $2 billion dollars since 1958. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation. Contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

According to news sources, U. S. car maker Ford and a van conversion company that modified a Ford van were ordered to pay $2.78 million dollars and $775,000 respectively in a damage suit against Ford and the conversion company which left a South Korean Professor paralyzed. According to the news sources, the Ford van that Professor Lee Sang-mook was driving while participating in a geological survey rolled over and the roof collapsed causing the death of a student in the van and paralysis from the neck down to Professor Lee due to spinal injuries. Suit was filed in Los Angeles County, California claiming that Ford Motor Company was responsible as the roof was not strong enough to withstand a van rollover. Ford allegedly argued his injury occurred before the roof collapsed but the Court ordered Ford to pay Professor Lee $2.78 million dollars in damages. The Court ordered the automotive company that converted the van to compensate Professor Lee $775,000. In the opinion of this experienced van rollover attorney, conversion vans may be the most dangerous vehicle on the roadways today. Conversion vans are those vans that are made by another automobile manufacturer but modified by a secondary conversion company.

Often our experienced van rollover lawyers and investigators note that many of the conversions are performed without considering crashiworthiness concerns or technical knowledge necessary to create a safe vehicle. Fatalities, spinal injuries, and paraplegia are common injuries sustained in many van rollovers due to weak supporting structures and defective design.

The 15-passenger van and conversion van rollover attorneys of Reiff & Bily have recently joined forces with the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Our experienced van rollover attorneys and product liability attorneys together have been tackling manufacturers of defectively designed motor vehicles since 1958. The lawyers of both firms have been awarded in excess of $2 billion dollars. For a free, no obligation confidential consultation contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Summer is just around the corner and amusement parks are advertising rides offering “maximum fear”, “ultimate thrill”, “the tallest”, the fastest roller coaster”, “pulse quickening vertical drops”, and “white knuckled adventures while standing upside down”. It seems that many amusement park operators are constantly upgrading their offerings in the competition to attract new customers and increase profitability, but this experienced amusement park accident lawyer and consumer safety advocate asks at what cost to safety concerns?

Frankly, when I grew up in the 1960's, the most exciting rides were the salt and pepper shaker or the scrambler. Today I read about rides with “minimum confinement” and “maximum fear”. In the last year, there were many stories concerning amusement park disasters around the world. As an experienced amusement park accident lawyer, I probably see the worst scenarios involving catastrophic injuries and death that one could imagine and my sensors are alerted when I read about a new ride that is “scarier but less confining”. A visit to the website www.rideaccidents.com reveals just how dangerous many amusement attractions can be.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission over 7,000 people will visit emergency rooms in the United States this year due to injuries sustained in an amusement ride accident. Children have the highest risk of falls or ejections mid-ride. Unfortunately, the amusement ride industry is not regulated by uniform standards and reporting of accidents is poor to non-existent with many cover ups. Most amusement park safety is governed by local laws in jurisdictions where the amusement park has strong political clout and hence, laws may be one-sided in favor of the amusement facility. Rides at amusement and water parks are exempt from federal safety oversight. Surprisingly, only 24 states have implemented a program for amusement park accident investigations and 11 states rely on insurance companies or 3rd party inspectors to audit safety compliance issues. Many states have no established regulations for amusement ride safety.

In one of our cases, a woman and her son were on a coaster ride when the chain snapped while pulling the car up a steep incline. The insurance providers and adjusters were operated by the same company that operated the unsafe ride. In the same case, the amusement park was located in a municipality and state that had strong laws favoring the entertainment and amusement industry and an independent investigation revealed that the amusement park was a major contributor to the local political machine.

As an experienced amusement park accident lawyer, I welcome stricter federal and state standards and safety regulations for U.S. amusement rides and hope that we are not pushing the envelope too far in exchange for profits when it comes to the safety of newly designed amusement attractions.

On July 16, 2010, a gentleman was standing in line with thousands of other adventure seekers at the Calgary Stampede about to board the Scorpion amusement ride. The Scorpion holds 42 people with arms that splay outward from a central spinning hub and at the end of each arm sits a wheel of 7 cars attached front to back. When the ride is started the arms lift, the wheels tilt, and passengers spin in a counterclockwise direction as the center hub circles in the opposite direction. The operating manual for the ride instructs the operator at the control panel to start the ride at a slow speed and during the first revolution, he is supposed to check to make sure that all the passengers are seated with lap bars down and locked after which the cars speed up.

On the summer evening of July 16, 2010 just about everything went wrong. According to news sources what witnesses described was a noise that sounded like a car accident. The engineer’s report stated that a minimum amount of welding material was all that was holding the arm to the wheel and the ride snapped apart. Visible cracks and stress fractures had formed on the 17-year ride that was manufactured in Britain. It was stated that the owner of the ride should have shut down the ride, inspected the minimally welded metal and replaced it, but instead the expert report stated “the repair was so poorly done that the original cracks still remained and portions of the crack extended beyond the end of the repair”. Apparently, a report concluded that the owner’s inspection subsequent to the weld repair did not look at the failure area closely at all.

As an experienced amusement park and fairground accident attorney, I am well aware that many jurisdictions have different rules and regulations that govern traveling carnivals and tracking detailed safety records for the amusements is nearly impossible. Amusement park and carnival owners almost always blame the rider claiming that they disobeyed the rules and fight claims in the most aggressive fashion. While amusement park accidents are more frequent than one would imagine, it is important that municipalities and state governments maintain an aggressive approach with regard to inspection and maintenance of the amusement rides with strict penalties. When an accident happens on a fast moving amusement park ride, it is more than likely that the injuries will be serious and will call for the attention of experienced amusement park accident attorneys and investigators familiar with the tactics of amusement park owners and operators.

Continue reading "What Happens When Something Goes Wrong At A Carnival Or Midway Ride - Who Is Responsible?" »

According to news sources, a woman claiming she suffered emotional distress while attempting to help a boy who fatally fell from a roller coaster filed a lawsuit against the amusement park. The victim claims that she suffered emotional distress and anxiety when she attempted to help a boy killed on a roller coaster ride at an amusement park. In the incident, a 3-year old boy fell from a roller coaster at an indoor family entertainment center. The autopsy revealed that the young boy sustained multiple fatal injuries when he was struck by a roller coaster car and from falling from the roller coaster. The young boy was riding what was described as a “very small” Python Pit roller coaster when he freed himself from the safety bar and became wedged between two cars and then fell three to four feet from the moving roller coaster. The suit alleges that the observing victim was waiting in the “zone of danger” with her children when the anxiety happened causing her to sustain emotional distress and anxiety. The lawsuit further claimed that the Go Bananas Amusement Park failed to have an attendant operating the machine at all times, operated the roller coaster ride too fast, and didn’t have proper harnesses to secure the children. It also alleged that the amusement facility did not have an emergency stop on the ride. The issue presented in this lawsuit poses an interesting query of whether or not a person can recover damages because they were a witness to the accident.

As an experienced Pennsylvania wrongful death, catastrophic injury, and amusement park accident lawyer, I can state this is one of the most confusing areas of law for personal injury practitioners in Pennsylvania and in many other jurisdictions, and an experienced lawyer must generally investigate the following issues:

What are the basic elements of the cause of action?

Was there a “contemporaneous observation of the accident?

Must the plaintiff actually see the impact between the tortfeasor and the victim, or is
it sufficient that the plaintiff has some immediate sensory impression of the accident?

Must the plaintiff actually witness an accident to another person or is it enough to prove
that the defendant committed some negligent act without causing the accident which
caused emotional distress to plaintiff.

Is it necessary for claimant to show that emotional distress produced some physical
manifestation.

Is it necessary for claimant to seek medical treatment to legitimize the claim of emotional
distress.

Is it necessary to produce expert testimony or causation.

Continue reading "Does A Witness To A Fatal Roller Coaster Accident Have An Individual Cause of Action?" »

Spring season is upon us with warmer weather and many boaters are taking their first boating trip of the season. Unfortunately, I read of a tragedy that occurred when a boat sank in the Chesapeake Bay last week after encountering what was described as “somewhat rough water”. Sources describe that when the boat lost power, it began taking on water when one of the individual’s on the boat went to get life preservers. While this story by no means suggests that anyone is at fault in this particular situation, but unfortunately they were not readily accessible. What it does indicate is that accidents on the water can happen when you least expect it and chance favors the prepared man.

As an avid boater for over 50 years who has captained motor boats, speed boats, jet skis, and sail boats, I am well aware that the U.S. Coast Guard safety regulations state that all boats must be equipped with USCG approved personal flotation devices and how many and what type PFD’s you will need depends on the number of people on the boat, the size of the boat, and the kind of boating done. If a boat is 16 feet or longer, you must have any one of these wearable PFD’s for each person on board. Offshore life jacket type 1 PFD, near shore buoyant vest (Type II PFD ), flotation aid (Type III PFD), special use device (Type V PFD), plus at least one throwable device. For example, if there are four people on a 16 foot boat, you must have at least 5 PFD’s - 4 wearable PFD’s and 1 throwable device. Even if the boat owner or operator did not cause the sinking or tipping or accidental incident on a boat, he or she can be held liable if there is a lack of life preservers or he or she fails to comply with safety regulations and the upkeep and maintenance of the vehicle. Boat owners and operators can be liable for injuries that result from poorly maintained boats, or the absence of life preservers. While a boat owner may have little by way of boating insurance, in many cases damages may also be collected from a home owner.

Unfortunately water-related accidents and boating accidents happen all too frequently. The boating accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily have recently joined forces with the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Our skilled boating accident lawyers are also longtime boaters and have represented catastrophically injured victims since 1958 and have been awarded over $2 billion dollars for injured victims. Please contact us online at www.beasleyreifflawgroup.com or toll free at 1-800-588-0130.

As an experienced railroad crossing and train accident attorney, I am well aware that individuals often underestimate the dangers of oncoming trains and the dangers of railroad crossings. Obviously if you are traveling in a car, you don’t stand a great chance of surviving against a heavy train that is traveling at a high rate of speed. The stopping distance of trains is very long as they are very heavy and they will typically drag a car down the tracks for at least a mile. The odds are against surviving and if you are lucky enough to survive, a victim will most likely sustain permanent and life altering catastrophic injury. Nearly 2/3 of all railroad crossing accidents occur during daylight hours, and surprisingly 2/3 of these accidents occur at crossings equipped with automatic warning devices. The railroads will most likely claim that driver inattention is clearly the cause. However, as an experienced railroad crossing accident lawyer, I strongly disagree with the assertions set forth by the railroads. Our human factor and safety experts have been able to prove that many railroad crossings are inadequately designed and are not safe. Although there are approximately 25,000 railroad crossing fatalities in the United States (a number which seems to remain fairly constant with minimal increases) it appears that many of the railroad warning systems are inadequate and have severe limitations when it comes to safety. Additionally, sunlight can obscure a warning’s light low intensity signal and the narrowness of focus is compounded by reflections as well. In order to see if a train is coming, a driver must see a light flash. However, most of the lights do not blackout when the bulb is off. Light from the sun can reflect off the surface back to the driver’s eye which is known as a veiling light or veiling glare because it lowers the contrast as one looking through a veil. Black backgrounds can also make flashing lights harder to see. Surprisingly, in an attempt to increase visibility, many warning lights are mounted in front of a black metal backdrop. The designers thought that they were maximizing brightness of a light when it flashes which may be true at night as it has the opposite effect when there is significant reflection. However, our safety experts, human factor experts, and lighting experts experienced in catastrophic railroad accidents and fatalities will tell us that black surrounds impair detection of the light flashes because they mask contrast.

Continue reading "Railroad Accident Attorneys Warn Of An Increase In Vehicle And Train Fatalities" »

Greasy and slippery floors in areas frequented by customers of restaurants just don’t go together. Simply put, it is an equation for disaster. When there is grease or contamination on a floor surface from oil, soil, water, or a foreign material, the stage is set for a slip and fall accident. As an experienced Pennsylvania slip and fall lawyer who has handled thousands of slip and fall cases for decades, I am well aware that many restaurant operators and building operators fail to use the proper cleaners for breaking up and removing contaminants or take short cuts as part of an overall housekeeping program. In the restaurant environment, animal and vegetable fats used in cooking oils hydrolyze and fall to the floor as a grease contamination. Grease in the presence of water can produce a very slippery floor. Over a time period triglyceride molecules and grease can unite to form a long chain polymer called polymerization and form a hard grease on floors that is resistant to most detergents. Cleaning a restaurant kitchen floor with a mop and pail with hot water and detergent only partially cleans the floor.

Our experienced Pennsylvania slip and fall lawyers have been able to demonstrate through expert testimony that a restaurant hard surface floor is only clean when the polymerized grease film is also removed which means that a generous amount of the proper detergent must be applied to the floor in 160 degree water with a dwell time accompanied by vigorous brushing. The greasy residue must be picked up using a squeegee or wet vacuum or rinsed with hot water. Many times the proper way to clean the floor is by virtue of a pressurized steam cleaner with the proper detergent. Our Philadelphia slip and fall lawyers are well aware that many restaurants or buildings fail to have a proper training program for persons responsible for inspecting maintenance and cleaning which includes the definition of cleaning requirements, cleaning procedures, safe handling of disposable chemicals, and emergency conditions and operations. The proper maintenance involves regular record keeping or reporting related to maintenance issues. All floor surfaces should regularly inspected for wear, damage, debris, and contaminants, and occasional testing of floor surfaces should be utilized to monitor slip resistant levels and to determine effectiveness of floor cleaning protocol. Many lawyers will tell you that slip and fall claims are often difficult to prove and restaurants and other establishments will fight a slip and fall case as aggressively as they can.

Continue reading "Dirty And Greasy Floors At Many Restaurants, Including Fast Food Restaurants, Lead To Broken Bones Or Worse" »

As an experienced Pennsylvania catastrophic injury and wrongful death attorney for more than 31 years, I have dealt with all too many instances of families and children dealing with the challenges to be met after a catastrophic injury or the loss of a loved one. Every situation is different and there can be a range of emotions or reactions including but not limited to anxiety, depression, over-aggressiveness, changes in sleeping or eating patterns, abusive behavior, loss of self esteem, shyness, isolation, and complete psychiatric breakdowns.

When a family deals with a traumatic loss or incident, they are confronted with some of the toughest domestic and family situations that one can imagine. Unfortunately many times family members compete for financial damages bringing out the worst side of human behavior. As an experienced Pennsylvania catastrophic injury lawyer, I understand the full medical, legal, emotional, and economic implications of a catastrophic loss or wrongful death and recognize the emotional stresses that families will be put through. Most people who are involved in a traumatic or catastrophic event will normally have a period of difficulty adjusting and coping. Generally, the passage of time and healthy coping methods, coupled with proper legal and psychological counseling, will improve a debilitating family breakdown. In many cases however, if there is not a comfortable relationship with the professional advisor such as lawyer, accountant, or psychologist, symptoms can get worse and last for months or even years and sometimes become permanent. Many of the catastrophic injury and wrongful death situations that our lawyers deal with will most likely lead to a posttraumatic stress disorder. This is where our Pennsylvania injury lawyers’ decades of experience come into play in helping the family cope with such a situation.

If you or a loved one has sustained a catastrophic injury or wrongful death due to the fault of another, we always offer a free, no obligation consultation to discuss a successful resolution taking into account the personal and psychological factors that many other lawyers or health professionals seem to brush aside. Our skilled catastrophic injury and wrongful death lawyers recognize the impact that such an event has on the lives of individuals and families. We will do our best to associate with a caring team of healthcare professionals, psychologists, and attorneys to turn your life around from a financial, emotional, and legal standpoint. For a free, no obligation consultation, contact one of our skilled legal team members online at www.beasleyreifflawgroup.com or toll free at 1-800-588-0130.

On Saturday, April 2, 2011 a three-year-old Dolton boy died after falling from the Python Pit roller coaster at Go Bananas.

The young boy, who was riding the roller coaster with his twin brother, was somehow freed from the safety bar and stood up while the ride was still moving. The movement of the roller coaster caused the boy to fall backwards, hit his head, and then fall 10 feet to his death. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and was pronounced dead at the scene. It is believed that his mother and father witnessed the horrific tragedy and ran to help, but could not.

As an experienced Philadelphia amusement park accident lawyer, I am all too familiar with the fact that seemingly safe rides are often unknowingly dangerous forms of entertainment for riders. Amusement park owners at places such as Six Flags Great Adventure, Dorney Park, Morey’s Pier, Hershey Park, and Gillian's Wonderland Pier always advertise the newest roller coaster or thrill ride to increase popularity and revenue and many times the new thrill rides are not safe and cause many deaths as well as catastrophic injuries such as traumatic brain injuries, paralysis, quadriplegia, paraplegia, broken bones, broken legs, broken noses, whiplash, or brain hemorrhage. Many times, amusement park owners will fight these claims. It is important to consult with an experienced amusement park accident and wrongful death lawyer. The experienced Pennsylvania amusement park accident firm of Reiff & Bily as of January 1, 2011 has joined forces with the Beasley Firm and together have over $2 billion awarded on behalf of injured victims just like you or a loved one. For a free, no obligation consultation, contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

I wrote an article a few weeks ago entitled Recalls, Recalls, Recalls, What’s Going On?. Recently an abundance of recalls has been initiated by product manufacturers or by the government regulatory agencies. Typically a recall is only issued when evidence is presented that the product has a potentially dangerous defect that can cause a catastrophic injury or wrongful death to the customers. By the time of the recall, many innocent individuals have been catastrophically injured or killed by the product.

As an experienced Philadelphia product liability and defective product attorney who has successfully fought for the rights of injured consumers for over 3 decades, we welcome the fact that manufacturers are coming forth to recall a product once they are aware of the danger. However, there are still many dangerous products in the marketplace that continue to catastrophically injure and kill innocent children and other consumers.

Since 1979 when I first started to litigate product liability cases, manufacturers would go to great lengths to cover up any and all documentation concerning defects are they were more concerned with shareholders than consumer safety. I am not so sure that the situation is greatly different today due to the fact that most times when our skilled Pennsylvania product liability lawyers resolve a claim, manufacturers still insist on confidentially and no publicity.

Continue reading "Product Recalls Represent Only The tip Of The Iceberg Of Defective Products On The Marketplace" »

A peaceful Sunday afternoon picnic and barbecue kicking off the spring season in Charleston, South Carolina turned into a horrific scene of tragedy when a miniature train overturned in an amusement park. Benjamin Easler, age 6, was on the train with his father, Dr. Dwight Easler, a local pastor, and his mother and two brothers. The miniature train turned over and Benjamin was fatally injured. The accident happened at approximately 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 19, 2011, an hour after the train amusement had opened on the first day of the amusement park season. What appeared to be a simple and innocent amusement ride resulted in the ultimate nightmare. Basically, the track of the miniature train had circled the park’s playground area with speeds of no more than 10 mph. The train had been in operation since 1953 with no major accidents. The train derailed and came off the tracks, overturned, and people were thrown from the train. Sources indicate that pictures of the mangled wreckage showed huge chunks of metal lying around as if the train had been split in two. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.

Unbelievably I was a witness to a very similar accident a few summers back when a few children were killed as a result of another seemingly innocent amusement ride malfunction in Ocean City, New Jersey. In the Ocean City, New Jersey amusement park accident, the cars also jumped the tracks resulting in the deaths of several young and innocent children. Unfortunately with the downturn in the economy many theme parks have cut corners on safety, emphasizing profitability instead. Amusement park and carnival accidents often involve complex theories of law regarding experience and technical expertise. The families of the victims would be well served to contact an experienced amusement park accident attorney to fully investigate their cases to determine what parties are responsible and whether or not there was a product defect. Our experienced Pennsylvania-based amusement park accident lawyers are well aware of the new thrill rides, as well as the simplest of rides, are not safe and cause all too many catastrophic injuries and fatalities. We are also well aware that because of the high number of claims, amusement park owners aggressively fight claims.

Recently the Pennsylvania amusement park lawyers of Reiff & Bily have joined forces with the lawyers of the Beasley Firm to form the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Our experienced amusement park attorneys have been awarded over $2 billion dollars since 1955 and have secured hundreds of settlements, verdicts, and awards in excess of $1 million dollars. For a free, no obligation consultation contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 800-421-9595.

As an amusement park and theme park accident attorney who has handled some significant amusement park accident cases since 1979, a recent case highlighted what I have known for a long time - namely the safety of our children and unsuspecting innocent individuals is often left to the eyes, ears, and cautions of ride operators that are not always on the ball or paying attention.

In the case at hand, ride operator Charles Carnell, entered a no plea contest and was convicted on a felony charge (however he will not serve any prison time) due to the fact that when Mr. Carnell was the ride operator at Wisconsin’s Dells Thrill Park then 12-year old Teagan Marti was accidentally dropped 100 feet to the ground and severely injured. According to the police, Mr. Carnell failed to communicate with a co-worker that the ride’s safety net was ready to catch Marti before releasing the girls. The operator Carnell told investigators he “just blacked out at the time”. Under the plea, Carnell paid $200 in court costs and also had to submit a DNA sample. A seemingly small price to pay compared to the damage sustained by the 13-year old victim and her family. Operator error is often a cause for many amusement park accidents. Many times, particularly with the downturn in the economy, high school and college students or foreign exchange individuals working on a temporary basis are entrusted to operate amusement rides with minimal training. Many of the cases that the lawyers of the Pennsylvania amusement park accident law firm of Reiff & Bily we have found operators to be talking on cell phones, trying to pick up woman, under the influence of intoxicating substances including but not limited to drugs and/or alcohol. With the downturn in the economy, we have found that many theme parks and amusement parks have cut corners on safety and no longer properly supervise or staff unload positions of rides.

The accomplished Pennsylvania amusement park attorneys of Reiff & Bily have recently joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm and collectively together have been awarded in excess of $2 billion dollars since 1957. Our aggressive amusement park injury legal team will bring wrongdoers to justice and achieve the best results for you and your family. If you have been injured at an amusement park or theme park, please contact one of our experienced amusement park attorneys immediately at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

The driver of a 1998 Ford Winstar, Eric Polston, was paralyzed in December 2005 when his vehicle began to rollover. Although the driver was wearing a seat belt during the course of the a href="http://www.reiffandbily.com/lawyer-attorney-1325464.html">van rollover, he was ejected from the vehicle and sustained paralyzing injuries. A product liability claim was brought against the Ford Motor Company focusing on a defective design of the seat belt buckle and particularly the release button housed within the buckle of the restraint system. Plaintiff’s lawyers argued that the design utilized by Ford featured a protruding button. The top of the button was located above the top of the buckle permitting easier access to the button. The protrusion of the button renders the design of the buckle defective and unreasonably dangerous because it presents an unnecessary hazard for inadvertent release. By the late 1990's, the entire automobile industry including Ford moved away from the protruding buckle to a safer flush design.

If you or a loved one has sustained a catastrophic injury or wrongful death due to a defectively designed product, please feel free to contact one of the experienced Pennsylvania product liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily. Effective January 1, 2011, the Pennsylvania product liability law of Reiff & Bily has joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm and collectively since 1958, both firms have been awarded in excess of $2 billion dollars representing the rights of catastrophically injured individuals throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and United States. For a free, no obligation consultation contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

A recent news story published in The Philadelphia Inquirer on February 23, 2011 noted that PECO technicians found an illegal electrical hookup in a two story building at 503 West Dolphin Street which may have caused a fire.

As an experienced catastrophic injury and premises liability attorney who has represented victims and the families of victims injured or killed in fires, or have been burned due to illegal and improper electrical wiring, I am all too familiar with this scenario. Unfortunately, in a tightened economy, landlords and building owners try to take every shortcut they can take in order to save money. Our investigations in many cases has revealed that many times landlords or property owners retain the services of non-licensed electricians or contractors without giving a second thought to the safety of the residents. Believe it or not most fires are caused by improper (illegal) electrical connections or overloading. Pennsylvania, like most other states, has strict laws forbidding anyone from doing illegal electrical work. Most times electrical work in apartment houses or homes needs to be inspected, and a licensed and proper contractor is required to have insurance against damages caused by their work.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that there are over 50,000 residential home or apartment fires each year due to defective wiring resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths and thousands of catastrophic injuries, as well as a half billion dollars a year in property damage.

The defective product and catastrophic injury lawyers of Reiff & Bily have joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm on January 1, 2011 focusing on helping people with burn injuries caused by defective wiring, defective products, or defective or unsafe electrical systems. Since 1958, both The Beasley Firm and Reiff & Bily law firm have utilized extensive experience in handling catastrophic injury and death cases with the use of experts and investigators who are nationally recognized in fields of combustion and defective products.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of a fire or defective product, it is important that you seek the services of an attorney familiar with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a track record of success. The lawyers of both Reiff & Bily and The Beasley Firm has a tremendous success record fighting large manufacturing corporations and pursuit of justice for clients who have been burned and those victims and their families who died due to fires caused by defective and recalled products. For more information, contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

In an attempt to protect consumers from dangerous or potentially dangerous products, Ford Motor Company recalled more than 31,000 vehicles on Wednesday, March 2, 2011 due to the risk of possible fuel leak and electrical issues according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration website. Ford recalled 23,688 Ford Rangers stating that the protective layer of the engine line fuel line near the throttle body shield may not be properly installed. It was stated that this could eventually lead to a fuel leak but Ford stated it was not aware of any fires related to this problem.

In a separate recall notice, Ford stated it would recall 88,022 spanning 7 models from the model year 2011 because the electrical system may short and prompt fires. The models affected by the recall include Ford Edge Crossover, Lincoln MKX, and the F series line of pickup trucks F-150, F-250, F-350, F-450, and F-550. Consumers have the right to expect that the products they purchase are safe for use or consumption. Getting in a car accident is dangerous enough without having to worry about the possibility of your car being engulfed in flames due to a design defect. Fuel fed fires due to design or manufacturing defects are a real danger and often can do more harm than the actual crash.

The Pennsylvania fuel fed fire lawyers, automotive defect, and product liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily have been researching and handling numerous automobile defect design cases since 1979. The National Fire Protection Association reported that during 2004 fire departments responded to an estimated 266,500 highway type vehicle fires which claimed 520 lives and cost almost a billion dollars in direct property damage. Ford hit the headlines originally with fuel fed fires with Ford Pinto litigation. The Ford Pinto defect was in the design of a strap on the gas tank that made it susceptible to leakage and fire in a low to moderate speed collisions. We salute Ford’s effort in recall the vehicles in the March 2nd notice. The best way to prevent a fuel fed fire is to make sure the vehicle is inspected. Some of the causes of fuel fed or crash fires are poorly placed gas tanks, unshielded fuel systems, faulty wiring such as ignition system wires and other electrical system wiring which can short out and spark, fluid leaks from damaged fuel lines, hoses, caps, and filters, or exhaust system fires resulting from improperly installed muffler and exhaust systems. A car crash is not always necessary to cause a fire and the majority of fuel fed fires by poor manufacturing or car and truck design defects. These defects include filter cap neck separation, fuel fire from an added fuel tank that is not protected, fuel line tearing or separation of the fuel line from the carburetor, fuel pump, or fuel tank, fuel tank placement over the trunk floor, lack of barrier or shield to prevent a fuel tank rupture, lack of a fuel cutoff tank, lack of anti-syphoning device to prevent continued gas flows after a collision, puncture of a fuel tank because of poor design, protruding screw or object, or seam weld failure in the fuel tank.

Continue reading "Electrical Issues, Fuel Leak Risks, And Possibility Of Fires Prompt Another Ford Recall-Experienced Product Liability Lawyer Salutes Ford" »

According to news sources, House Republicans are trying to block the launch of a new database which is aimed at protecting consumers by giving them access to product safety complaints within weeks of their submission to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

As an experienced Pennsylvania product liability attorney who has represented individuals and families who have sustained catastrophic injuries and death as a result of using defective products, I find any attempt by lawmakers to kill the new public database to be outrageous. The purpose of the database was to help innocent consumers avoid the risks that follow the use of defective products based upon reports submitted from consumers, healthcare providers, death certificates, and media accounts. According to The Washington Post, language blocking funding for the database was added to a recent White House budget resolution by Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Kansas Republican. Pompeo claimed that the database would “drive jobs overseas”, increase the cost for manufacturers and consumers, and be a plaintiffs’ lawyers bar dream. I wonder if Rep. Pompeo or other advocates of the proposal to block funding for the database would feel the same way if they had lost their wife, child, or other loved one due to the rollover of a defectively designed vehicle that manufacturers knew was dangerous yet continued to market.

Unfortunately as a trial lawyer greedy for justice, I think it is time for lawmakers and manufacturers to recognize that safety should never be an option and that safety always triumphs profitability and the consumer’s safety should always come first. Lawmakers and manufacturers of defective products have a social and legal responsibility to the consuming public to manufacture safe products and to immediately inform them when a defect is noted. The blockage of such information to the public will lead to shocking stories of needless deaths and injuries caused by manufacturers and industries putting profits over people and avoids accountability.

Product liability lawyers and trial lawyers are the unsung heroes of society and many times the only voice for the vulnerable and powerless. We must do everything we can to insure that the consuming public is regularly kept informed of defective products within the market place when the knowledge becomes available.

If you or a loved one has sustained a catastrophic personal injury or wrongful death due to a defectively designed product, please feel free to contact one of the experienced Pennsylvania product liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily. Effective January 1, 2011, the Pennsylvania product liability law of Reiff & Bily has joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm and collectively since 1958, both firms have been awarded in excess of $2 billion dollars representing the rights of catastrophically injured individuals throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and United States. For a free, no obligation consultation contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

When I was a teenager, I had a chin up bar attached to a door jamb by an inferior and defective holder. The fastener was properly installed according to supplied directions and pulled away from the wall causing me to fall down, split my skull open, sustain a minor closed head trauma, and a permanent scar. Recently a defective product recall was made by Perfect Fitness Corporation when the handles of thousands of its perfect pull up exercise were cracking and breaking causing bodily injuries, bruises, strains, sprains, or serious injuries. A staggering amount of these devices broke, namely almost one-third. The recall of this Chinese made exercise equipment also included plastic handles on the “perfect pull up” and adjustable height pull up bar that attached to doorways via screws and holders. Just reading about this brings back chills as a similar device caused my injuries and trauma over 30 years ago. I guess that manufacturers of these products still seem to put an emphasis on profitability and flashy advertisements and promotion rather than consumer safety.

The perfect pull up bar had been sold since January 2008 for about $90 in sporting stores nationwide including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Sports Authority, and on retailers such as Amazon.com.

The Philadelphia defective product and product liability law firm of Reiff & Bily has recently joined forces with the legendary Beasley product liability law firm and collectively has been awarded in excess of $2 billion dollars to victims injured or killed by defective products. If you have been seriously injured or killed by defective home exercise equipment or in an exercise program, please contact one of our experienced product liability lawyers and let us put our team of investigators and attorneys at work for you. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com. As always, we offer a no recovery, zero fee guarantee.

As an experienced Pennsylvania product liability and automobile defect attorney who has litigated cases against major automobile manufacturers in Pennsylvania and throughout the United States, I applaud the unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court whereupon it agreed to let a lawsuit go forward in the State Court of California despite claims and complaints from the automobile manufacturer that Federal regulators gave the manufacturer an option whether to install lap belts or lap and shoulder belts in the middle seats in the back of a van. Justice Breyer, writing for the majority, stated that the only way Mazda would be immune is if the “significant objective” of the Federal regulation was to give auto manufacturers a choice of which seat belts to install.

The Transportation Department gave no indication that its safety goals required the mixture of seat belt types that resulted from the manufacturer’s ability to chose different options said Justice Sonya Sotomayor in a concurrent argument. Added Justice Breyer, the more important reason why the Department of Transportation did not require lap and shoulder belts for rear inner seats was that the thought that this requirement would not be cost effective. The agency explained that it would be significantly be more expensive for manufacturers to install lap and shoulder belts in the rear middle and aisle seats than in seats next to car doors. But that fact - the fact that DOT made a negative judgement in cost effectiveness - cannot by itself show that the DOT sought to forbid Commonwealth torts in which the judge or jury might reach a different conclusion. Justice Breyer cited the Geier case often pulling in back into the preemption argument. In Geier, then the regulations history, the agency explanation and its consistently held interpretive use indicated that the regulations sought to maintain manfacturer’s choice in order to further significant regulatory objectives. Here are the same considerations indicate the contrary. We consequently conclude that even though state tort suit may restrict the manufacturer’s choice, it does not stand as an obstacle to the accomplishment that the full purpose is an objective of Federal law.

Ikea Home Furnishing is recalling 26,000 baby cribs due to the fact that the four screws provided with some of the cribs to secure the mattress are not long enough which can cause the mattress support to detach and collapse creating a risk of entrapment and suffocation to the child inside of the crib. The cribs are marketed by Ikea under the name Sniglar cribs. The USCPS stated that the recall is voluntary and the recall involves Sniglar non-drop side full size cribs with model number 60091931.

Over the last year, there have been a substantial number of recalls of infant and child products. For an up to date notification, I urge you to go to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission homepage which lists the recalls by date of issue. Also of significance is that on February 11, 2010, Britax Child Safety announced the recall of approximately 14,000 Britax Blink umbrella strollers made in China due to the fact that the stroller’s hinge poses a fingertip amputation and laceration to children when the stroller is being unfolded or opened. Additionally on January 20, 2011 approximately 1.5 million strollers made by Graco Children’s Products were recalled after reports of children’s fingers were being cut when the canopy was opened or closed. These recalled strollers are Graco’s Passage, Alano, and Spree strollers and Travel Systems.

If you or your children has sustained a serious injury due to a defective product, the experienced Philadelphia product liability defect lawyers of Reiff & Bily have now joined forces with the legendary product liability lawyers of The Beasley Firm who have collectively been awarded in excess of $2 billion dollars since 1958 taking on some of the world’s largest manufacturers. In all of our defective product cases and child injury cases, we bring a team of experienced lawyers, investigators, and accident reconstructionists to assist you. As always, we offer a no recovery, zero fee guarantee. For more information contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

On January 10, 2011, a fire broke out at the Windermere Court Apartments, a four-story apartment building at 48th and Walnut Streets in the West Philadelphia area of the city. The fire quickly spread throughout the entire building and thick smoke could be seen as far as six miles away. It took over 140 firefighters, five hours to bring the five-alarm blaze under control.

Stories like this are not unusual. To make matters even worse, Philadelphia now has rolling fire department “brown-outs” or closures of certain fire departments, on certain days that could prolong the amount of time it takes for the Fire Department to reach a fire. Due to our recent large snow storm and unplowed or inadequately plowed streets, it could take the fire department even longer to reach a fire and when they do, they find the fire hydrants buried under feet of snow. All of those delays can cause the fire victims to remain trapped in a burning building even longer, causing significant burns, smoke inhalation or breathing problems, and even death.

Many older buildings do not have the strict fire safety codes that are currently in place in the newer buildings. Older apartments and buildings do not have adequate fire walls or sprinkler systems so the fire is allowed to rapidly spread throughout the entire building, endangering many lives in a short period of time. Older apartments and buildings may not have properly working or installed smoke alarms. Many buildings do not have the necessary escape routes or equipment to assist or help tenants with disabilities out of the burning building.

Many times, hotels, apartment buildings, high rises, cruise ships, and schools have blocked or locked emergency exits or poor evacuation routes. In addition, there may be not enough fire extinguishers or they were not maintained and do not work when needed. Older buildings have escape ladders that are either locked or frozen in the up position, or rusted and do not work at all. All of those problems cause victims to become trapped in a burning building. Out of fear, some of those trapped in a burning building take the risk and jump from the building, leading to spinal cord injuries or broken backs, traumatic brain injuries, fractured bones, and even death.

Continue reading "The Older They Are, The Faster They Burn – Especially After a Large Snow Storm" »

A spinning coaster roller coaster ride with revolving cars resulted in the catastrophic fatal fall and death of a 34-year old man. According to news sources, the roller coaster ride occurred at Tokio Dome City attractions. The spinning roller coaster reaches a speed of 39.6 kph as it cruises a 305 meter long track. The victim was believed to have fallen from a height of 7 to 8 meters. This is the third major amusement park accident to hit the park in three months.

In another catastrophic amusement park accident, a 26-year old female worker lost three fingers while checking wires and motors at the top of the popular Tower Hacker amusement attraction. The Tower Hacker is an 80 meter tall tower that lifts riders to the top and lets them free fall vertically at almost a 100 kph.

In another roller coaster accident in December, parts from the Thunder Dolphin roller coaster injured a small girl on the ground.

As an experienced amusement park accident lawyer, unfortunately I am all too familiar with the fact that seemingly safe rides are often unknowingly dangerous forms of entertainment for families. Amusement park owners always advertise the newest thrill ride or adventure ride to increase popularity and revenue and many times the new thrill rides are not safe and cause many deaths as well as catastrophic injuries including broken bones, broken noses, broken legs, whiplash, brain hemorrhage , paralysis, quadriplegia, and death. Most times, amusement park owners will aggressively fight these claims and it is important to consult with an experienced amusement park accident and death lawyer. The amusement park accident firm of Reiff & Bily as of January 1, 2011 has joined forces with the Beasley Firm and together have been awarded over $2 billion dollars on behalf of their clients with scores of multi-million dollar awards. For a free, no obligation consultation, contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.

We all know that exercise is good for us but sometimes too much of a good thing can lead to catastrophic injuries. In Iowa, 13 college football players remain hospitalized after suffering from rhabdomyolysis after a team workout. Rhabdomyolysis occurs when there is a rapid breakdown of muscle and it causes the muscle fibers or myoglobin to be released into the blood stream. The quick release of those fibers can cause a blockage in the blood flow leading to the kidneys and cause acute tubular necrosis or permanent kidney damage.

The Iowa football team were not the only athletes to become seriously injured during a team practice. In August 2010, nineteen McMinnville High School football players developed elevated blood levels of creatine kinase (CK), which is an enzyme released from muscles that are damaged. High levels of CK circulating in the blood stream can also lead to kidney damage and the need for dialysis. In addition to the 19 students that had the elevated CK levels, 2 players developed compartment syndrome in their tricep muscles and had to undergo surgery to release the fluid pressure in their arms.

In addition to rhabdomyolysis, kidney damage, elevated creatine levels and compartment syndrome, student athletes have also suffered from severe dehydration with electrolyte, or potassium, imbalances that led to heart arrythmias, seizures, and even sudden cardiac death during a vigorous team practice.

Continue reading "When You Get Too Much Of A Good Thing – The Over-Worked Athlete" »

There is no better way to enjoy a fresh new snow fall than on a snowmobile. Sadly though, since the New Year began, there have been numerous catastrophic injuries and deaths due to snowmobile accidents. In just one week, there has been at least five snowmobile related deaths.

On Friday night, a 44-year-old Methuen man suffered massive internal injuries and was killed when his snowmobile fell on top of him as he was trying to ride up a 12-foot-embankment along the Merrimack River. The same day, in the Village of Nunda, Anna Masters suffered a traumatic brain injury after being thrown from her snowmobile, and 41-year-old Kelly Strohmeier was ejected from her snowmobile after it hit a rut, killing her.

Last weekend a 62-year-old Concord, New Hampshire man was killed in a snowmobile crash in Gilford. On Monday, Ryan D. Anderson, 32, of Hall Road, Cassadaga, hit a snow bank, causing his snowmobile to go airborne and throwing Anderson from the snowmobile into a tree.

Even the most experienced snowmobile drivers are not safe from catastrophic injuries or death. Many times, while on a snowmobile trail, the operator will encounter deadly obstacles if the trail was not properly maintained. Drivers can quickly come up on fallen tree branches, debris, gloves, hats, scarves and other items on the designated trails that cause the driver to have to quickly turn to avoid the debris or have the debris jam the snowmobile, causing a sudden stop, and ejecting the driver. If the trail was not properly maintained, the driver can hit a rut, causing a loss of control of the snowmobile and ejecting the driver causing serious injuries. Some drivers can be ejected into a nearby lake or stream causing hypothermia or drowning. Some snowmobile trails do not have a fence or barrier up to protect drivers that had to veer off the trail due to debris and the driver plunges down a mountain or steep hill causing catastrophic injuries or even death.

In addition to the obstacles on the snowmobile trails, experienced snowmobile drivers have also become victims of product defects or faulty equipment. Many injuries are due to defects in the helmet design, head lamp failures, glove failures, mechanical failures, break failures, power failures, goggle failures or product recalls. Despite wearing all of the appropriate protective gear, they still sustain traumatic brain injuries, spine fractures, paralysis, face injuries, broken necks, severe snow burns, hypothermia, and even death due to design defects.

Since 1979, the experienced Philadelphia wrongful death, product liability, premises liability, and negligence law firm of Reiff & Bily has aggressively represented clients and their families who have been injured or killed in snowmobile related accidents. Effective January 1, 2011 the Reiff & Bily law firm has joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm in Philadelphia who since 1958 has been awarded over $2 billion dollars on behalf of their clients and have hundreds of millions and multi-million dollar verdicts, settlements, and awards to their credit. Please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com for a free, no obligation consultation.

The Northeastern part of the United States and particularly the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia region is forecasted to be hit yet again with more snow and ice this week. But with snow and ice still on streets and sidewalks in Philadelphia, this experienced Philadelphia premises liability and slip and fall lawyer advises be prepared. It has been several days after the snow storm of last week and many sidewalks and parking lots have not yet been shoveled or salted. Philadelphia hospital emergency rooms and orthopaedists are on overdrive tracking cases of fractures and more severe injuries.

The Philadelphia premises liability and slip and fall lawyers of Reiff & Bily know that it is the duty of all property owners to keep their property safe for people. The owner of the property must properly remove ice and snow and salt or place down a non-abrasive surface to all entrances, pathways, and parking lots. Obviously it is unrealistic to remove snow consistently throughout a snow storm. However if a day or two passes, the owner is reasonably expected to salt and/or sand and shovel to prevent injuries to innocent passersby. Slip and falls on snow and ice often leads to spinal injuries, broken bones, closed head injuries, herniated discs, spinal fusions, and brain injuries which can have a drastic impact on the victim’s ability to work. Many times medical expenses can skyrocket into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Our experienced Philadelphia slip and fall lawyers have recovered millions of dollars for victims of slip and fall accidents caused by snow and ice and the failure of the property owner to provide a safe passage and environment.

If you have been injured in a slip and fall on ice or snow, please contact one of our experienced Philadelphia premises liability lawyers to carefully investigate your situation to determine if there is a cause of action as icy and snowy conditions are some of the most common causes of slip and fall accidents. Reiff & Bily has now joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm and has successfully evaluated cases for clients who have suffered catastrophic injuries as the result of a slip and fall on ice or snow. Since 1958, both firms have been awarded in excess of $2 billion dollars for injured victims and their families. For a free, no obligation consultation, please contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595. Always remember our no recovery, zero fee guarantee.

Philadelphia and the surrounding areas have been experiencing multiple large snow falls over the past few years. The percentage of people using snow blowers or snow throwers to remove the snow is on the rise. Obviously, snow blowers can make snow removal quicker and easier, but they can also cause catastrophic injury and even death.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), estimates that each year more than 5,700 patients are evaluated in emergency rooms for snow blower related accidents or injuries. Approximately 600 patients per year are seen for finger amputations and since 1992, there has been 19 deaths related to snow blower accidents. Snow blowers are the fourth leading cause of finger amputations.

Injuries from snow blowers can be caused by defects in the plastic rims of the tire, carburetor leaks, fuel tank joint and O-ring leaks, auger and discharge chute defects, clutch malfunctions and carbon monoxide poisoning. In addition, when a snow blower is turned off, there still may be enough torque built up to cause a devastating or deadly injury.

The Reiff & Bily law firm has now joined forces with the legendary Beasley product liability and design defect law firm and have successfully evaluated cases for clients who have suffered amputations, burns, lacerations, carbon monoxide poisoning, wrongful death, and other unfortunate incidents as a result of faulty or unsafe snow blowers. We believe that the manufacturers of the snow blowers should be held accountable for their mistakes. All of our product liability and design defect lawyers have been deemed as Pennsylvania Super Lawyers and have received the highest ratings by Martindale Hubbell. For a free, no obligation consultation, contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595. Always remember our no recovery, zero fee guarantee.

Okay, I admit it, I use to be an amusement park and water park junkie and am a water sports freak. However, after practicing catastrophic injury law since 1979 and handling my fair share of amusement park and water park accident cases, I have become a “scaredy cat”. As amusement parks and water parks continue to increase rides that are higher, faster, and more creative than anything you can imagine, the introduction of slicker composite materials and accelerants like water jets and linear induction motors creates outstanding thrills but often at the expense of the safety of unsuspecting thrill seekers. In the last two weeks, we have been contacted by at least a half a dozen individuals who sustained fairly severe and catastrophic injuries which most likely will have permanent consequences. In fact, at one of the water attractions at Six Flags Great Adventure Hurricane Harbor water park, an individual climbed five flights of stairs and then launched into a water ride only to end the ride in severe excruciating pain, completely disabled, and requiring a stretcher and emergency transport to a hospital where he was diagnosed with a spinal fracture and other significant injuries.

Unfortunately new technology and ride designers push the safety envelope in an attempt to deliver what the consumer demands as the ultimate thrill ride. However, in the United States, there is no official source which keeps a complete national record of theme park accidents and in many U.S. states, including Florida, theme parks are not legally required to report accidents involving injury to anyone. In the case at hand, our client did not have medical insurance and the amusement park operator told him that he is responsible for his own medical treatment.

The amusement park accident and water park accident attorneys at Reiff & Bily believe that there should be stricter regulation concerning amusement water park safety and that operators of amusement and theme parks who put profits over safety should be held accountable for the injuries that occur at their theme parks. The experienced Philadelphia amusement park and water park accident attorneys of Reiff & Bily offer a free no obligation consultation have successfully represented thousands of personal injury clients with a successful track record since 1979 recovering hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Let our aggressive legal team bring the wrongdoers to justice and achieve the best result for your family. For a free, no obligation consultation, please contact us at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of 7-year old Emily Midgley who was killed at 7:00 p.m. on Halloween when she was run over while exiting a Halloween hay ride. Unfortunately the experienced defective trailer and Halloween hay ride injury lawyers of Reiff & Bily are all too familiar with these types of tragic incidents.

Recently we were litigating a Halloween hay ride trailer accident case involving a young boy and his mother who were run over during a holiday hay ride. The insurance company representing the hay ride operator attempted to desecrate the mother of our client who was run over, as well as the innocent child himself, despite the fact that the operator of the hay ride was not licensed nor took proper safety precautions.

Unfortunately, many operators view Halloween hay rides as a way to make a quick buck and do not pay proper attention to safety and regulations concerning the riders. The family of Emily Midgley would be well advised to seek the services of an experienced amusement park attorney and defective hay ride attorney to investigate this claim and insure that they recover proper compensation for this tragic loss.

If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of a hay ride accident, please contact one of our experienced hayride injury and defective trailer lawyers for a free consultation at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of 23-year old Mary Katherine Ladany who was struck and killed by a large tree branch while jogging in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, PA on the evening of August 5th. According to news sources, it appears that Ms. Ladany was listening to her iPod while jogging and may not have heard a 30-foot long branch fall from a tulip tree, also known as Poplar.

In 1980, I handled one of my first significant injury and damage cases involving a decayed tree on a Philadelphia residential property that fell and crushed a center city real estate agent. Cases dealing with the liability of property owners for damages caused by falling trees can be quite complicated. The Restatement 2nd of Torts notes “a possessor of land in an urban area is subject to liability related to persons using a public highway for physical harm resulting from his or her failure to exercise reasonable care to prevent an unreasonable risk of harm arising from a condition of trees on the land near the highway.” The results of the proposition that holds that a land owner or property owner may be liable if he has actual or constructive notice that the tree is in a decayed condition or in fact, there is an alteration to a natural condition that creates a hazard to innocent persons or passersby on adjacent property. In general, the owner of the land located in or adjacent to an urban residential area has a duty of reasonable care to prevent defective trees from posing a hazard and resulting catastrophic injury or wrongful death to others on adjacent land. Therefore, it follows that the possessor or owner of the urban residential land who has actual or constructive notice of the defective tree has an affirmative duty to take corrective action to protect the plaintiff on the adjacent land.

Continue reading "Philly Jogger Killed By Falling Tree Branch - Who May Be Responsible For This Tragedy" »

According to a report filed by The Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 440 wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits are pending against Yamaha. They further report that Yamaha has settled many other cases. Most of the Yamaha Rhino rollover stem from rollovers in which drivers or passengers were flung through the open door space to the ground and smashed by an 11,000 pound vehicle.

On March 31, 2009. under pressure from The Consumer Products Safety Commission, Yamaha announced a “free repair program” to improve the Rhino’s handling and stability - seemingly a recall in everything but name. Reports revealed that Yamaha began investigating the use of leg protection on the Rhino by early 2006 but did not offer the half doors until August 2007 and a retrofit offer covered 2004 to 2007 Rhinos. Doors are now standard on the 2008 model. In deposition testimony, senior Yamaha engineers stated that they had considered using doors in the first place - then gave a surprising explanation for deciding not to. Doors would create such a feeling of safety, they said, that riders might not wear helmets or seat belts. In a deposition in May 2008, Takanori Suzuki, formerly a project leader for the Rhino, stated even now the only reason to include doors is that “occupants are intentionally sticking their legs out in situations involving aggressive driving and abrupt maneuvers”.

Continue reading "Yamaha Rhino Rollovers Continue to Kill Many Innocent Riders " »

According to sources and news reports, the Philadelphia V.A. Medical Center gave incorrect radiation doses to 92 veterans treating for prostate cancer during a six year period at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia. The incorrect cancer treatment cases involve brachytherapy which involves implantation of radioactive seeds used to kill cancer cells. Most of the veterans received significantly less of the prescribed dose while others received excessive radiation to nearby tissues and organs causing catastrophic injuries or wrongful death. The New York Times characterized the Center as “a rogue cancer unit “.

The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that treatment errors occurred in 92 out of 114 cases. The Philadelphia V.A. Medical Center has taken all steps to prevent the terrible incidents of medical malpractice from occurring again.

Our hearts and thoughts go out to the unfortunate victims of medical malpractice and negligence that occurred at the Philadelphia V.A. Medical Center. The victims and their families would be well informed to seek the services of an experienced medical malpractice lawyer to investigate and evaluate their claims.

Reiff & Bily are experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers who offer a no-obligation, free consultation concerning victims rights and potential remedies. Please feel free to call us at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

On June 16, 2009, the Food and Drug Administration told the manufacturers of one of the country’s most popular cold medications, Zicam, to stop selling its nasal spray and swabs. In the last 10 years, approximately 130 consumers have filed complaints stating that they permanently lost their sense of smell after using Zicam.

The manufacturers of Zicam, Matrixx Initiatives, has suspended shipments of the products and they claim that the warning is not supported by scientific evidence and is asking the FDA for review. According to the New York Times, the company paid $12 million dollars to settle 340 lawsuits from Zicam users who claim that their product destroyed their sense of smell in 2006 and hundreds more lawsuits have been filed.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the company will be required to receive FDA approval if it wants to market the products in the future. The L.A. Times also reported that the company may have received 800 reports “of anosmia... associated with the use of the products from doctors and consumers, but has failed to report such reports to the FDA.

If you or a loved one has been using Zicam and have experienced any medical problems or have lost your sense of smell, you would be well advised to seek the services of an experienced medical malpractice or products liability lawyer to evaluate your condition and explore your legal options. Reiff & Bily are experienced product liability lawyers who are committed to promoting consumer safety. For a free no obligation consultation, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

It is an unfortunate fact that as the summer season comes, so do water and pool-related injuries and deaths. Approximately 10 water-related deaths per day are related to drowning. Additionally, 700 people die each year in boating-related accidents. According to the CDC more than 1 in 4 fatal drowning victims are children aged 14 and younger. For every child who drowns, another 4 receive emergency treatment for non-fatal submersion and brain injury. Non-fatal drownings often cause brain damage resulting in long-term disabilities including memory problems, learning disabilities and a permanent loss of basic functioning. The CDC determined that the major risk factors for swimming pool accidents and/or drowning are lack of barriers and supervision. Almost all young children who drown in pools were last since in the home, had been out of sight less than 5 minutes and were in the care of one or both parents at the time. All pools should have pool fencing which can help prevent children from getting access to the pool area without care giver awareness. With adult or adolescent deaths there is generally a ratio of alcohol use with a drowning or pool injury. Alcohol influences balance, coordination and judgment and its effects are often heightened by sun exposure and heat.

The experienced Philadelphia swimming pool accident and injury lawyers of Reiff & Bily recommend that you take the following steps to help prevent pool or water related drowning or injuries.

1. Designate a responsible adult to watch young children while swimming or playing in or around water. Adults should not be involved in any other distracting activity such as reading, playing cards, talking on the phone or mowing the lawn while supervising children.

2. Always swim with a buddy.

Continue reading "Protect The Ones You Love From Drowning" »

Last month, two women were raped and assaulted in a prominent Boston hotel and additionally, two women were tied up in another New England hotel by an assailant dubbed “The Craiglist Killer”. A USA Today story reported an experienced hotel manager of a Northbrook Illinois hotel was followed into a room by a man and was tied up and choked.
With the downturn in the economy and the recession also comes increased security concerns at a hotel. A greater likelihood of more criminal activity. According to a story published in USA Today, Philip Farina, CEO of Enterprising Securities, a San Antonio company that links security programs for hotels, notes “We are absolutely seeing an increase in crimes at hotels”. Farina also notes that hard economic times are especially driving up incidents of theft including the amount perpetrated by hotel staff. Not so surprisingly, as hotels attempt to stay profitable they are cutting back on necessary security.

The experienced Philadelphia hotel security and inadequate security law firm of Reiff & Bily has been handling hotel assault cases and premise liability assault cases involving hotels since 1979. We believe and the law recognizes that the safety and privacy of hotel/motel resort and cruise ship guests should be the top priority for all owners and operators of the hospitality industry; however, this is often not the case.

Continue reading "Hotel Crime and Security Concerns An Increasing Issue In Recession" »

According to news sources, a two year old boy was struck and killed by a roller coaster as he slipped away from his parents and ran onto the tracks in an amusement park in London. An official affiliated with the amusement park stated “There would have been a barrier surrounding the roller coaster but he must have found a way around it.” I have written on a number of occasions that amusement parks and carnivals are a child’s playground and a favorite for families but an often unknowingly dangerous form of entertainment for families and young people. I personally have experienced and witnessed a few catastrophic amusement park accidents and had a close call with my own family when two people were killed as a result of an amusement malfunction in Ocean City, Maryland once again on a kiddie roller coaster.

Amusement parks and carnivals operate under a serious loophole in the Consumer Product Safety Act of 1981 prohibiting the CPSC from regulating the safety of rides fixed to a specific site. Unfortunately, regulation and inspection of “fixed site” amusement rides are left up to state or local municipalities and as a result every site varies from good to none and there is no official source who keeps an official record of amusement park accidents.

Accident data for most amusement parks is a well guarded secret and we only hear about the catastrophic incidences. The amusement park industry is highly unregulated and there is not a uniform system for reporting injuries, creating a serious danger when amusement parks police their own accidents. Many times, innocent customers and consumers are left in the dark about which amusement park is safe to visit and which rides are safe for their families, creating real dangers for families and their precious children. Unfortunately with the downturn of the economy, many parks have cut corners on safety and no longer staff the load and unload positions of rides and leave maintenance and supervision many times to high school and college students working on a temporary basis who are entrusted to operate these rides with minimal training. Many times amusement park personnel, including operators, are not paying attention to the precious cargo on the ride.

Continue reading "Roller Coaster Killing Illustrates Amusement Park Dangers" »

According to a report released by the administrative office of Pennsylvania court system, there was a 54% decrease in filing medical malpractice claims in Philadelphia in 2008. The abrupt decline in medical malpractice cases throughout Pennsylvania first occurred in 2003 when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court adopted procedural changes to reduce malpractice cases. Now all medical malpractice cases must be filed in the county where medical treatment occurred and must be certified by a medical expert. An attorney must obtain a certificate of merit from a medical professional to establish that the case fell below medical standards before bringing a lawsuit to court.

The experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers at Reiff & Bily still maintain that egregious medical malpractice cases can still be tried or settled with much success. An experienced medical malpractice attorney should determine at the outset whether or not liability is clear and damages are serious enough to warrant successful prosecution. Surprisingly, although the medical community has argued about excessive insurance rates, and despite a decline in the number of cases filed, Pennsylvania still remains one of the most costly states in the country to secure medical malpractice insurance for a physician. Doctors have long protested that high premiums for medical malpractice insurance will reduce the amount of business and limit plaintiff’s access to care. This lawyer is of the opinion that much of the medical malpractice “crisis” was based on selective misinformation and scare tactics utilized by the insurance industry who still continue to profit when physicians pay significant premiums unrelated to the realities of the situation.

Continue reading "The Amount of Medical Malpractice Claims Filed In Pennsylvania And Philadelphia Drops Noticeably - Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyer Weighs In" »

According to news sources, a small amusement type train carrying visitors to the Louisville Zoo fell off the tracks Monday June 1, 2009 sending 22 people to local hospitals, including one child who was critically injured. According to news sources, a small engine was pulling a train that circled the Louisville Zoo when three cars and the engine fell off the rails near the gorilla exhibit. The ages of the injured passengers were from 2 months old to senior citizens. Obviously, amusement parks and zoos are a great place for families and kids to unwind and be entertained. As the unfortunate accident at the Louisville Zoo indicates, even the most innocent looking amusement rides can be dangerous and lead to catastrophic injury and fatalities if they are not operated or maintained in a proper fashion.

One likes to assume that every amusement ride or zoo ride is safe. However, in actuality this is often far from the case. The experienced amusement park injury and accident lawyers at Reiff & Bily find that in most cases where injuries or fatalities occur on an amusement ride there is generally improper maintenance or inadequate supervision. The victims who were injured by this derailment at the Louisville Zoo may have claims not only against the operators of the ride who may have failed to properly maintain or supervise the ride but also potentially against the manufacturer of the ride for making an allegedly defective and dangerous product. The injured victims would be well advised to retain the services of a reputable amusement park accident attorney who has experience dealing with amusement park and product liability injury cases.

If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of an amusement park accident, please contact one of our experienced amusement park accident attorneys at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

The experienced Philadelphia motorcycle accident attorneys of Reiff & Bily call your attention to a fact that all too often goes unnoticed by all too many motorcycle riders. Motorcycle tires, like any other tire, deteriorates over time. Environmental factors such as heat, ultraviolet light, oxygen and other factors cause tires to harden as they get older. Many times cracks develop. Older and harder tires also may not conform to the road as well as a newer, softer tire and this affects the traction or grip creating a dangerous situation particularly on slick or wet highways.

A condition known as dry rot in the tires generally occurs with older tires and bikes that have been left outdoors in the elements and not used or covered during extended periods of storage. Though motorcycle tires are relatively expensive, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that they are the most critically important element to safety on a motorcycle. As motorcycle season gets into full swing, it is important to have your tires examined or inspected by a qualified mechanic or expert. It is also important to perform your own self inspection regarding the tread. If your tread is less than one milimeter deep, the tires should be replaced. If your tire is bald or has minimal tread, there is a good chance that trouble lies ahead when you are operating on a slick highway or executing a turn or accident avoidance maneuver. It is also important that the tires of your motorcycle be properly inflated and not overloaded as it increases the risk of tire failure which most likely will result in serious and catastrophic personal injury or fatality, not to mention property damage. Many times a tire failure is noticeable to the rider of the motorcycle by a vibration, bump or irregular wear. If you find yourself driving on a motorcycle that has a blowout or sudden tire failure, experts recommend that you slowly decrease the amount of throttle, hold the handlebars firm and steer to maintain your lane position. Gently apply your brakes and pull over to a spot where you can safely stop the motorcycle. It is always important to follow the tire manufacturer and motorcycle manufacturer’s recommended air pressure and maintenance and inspection schedule for both motorcycle tires. As an experienced motorcycle rider, I check my pressure before every motorcycle ride.

Continue reading "Microscopic Cracks In Motorcycle Tires - A Hidden But Well Known Cause Of Tire Failure Often Resulting in Catastrophic Injuries" »

In 2008, over 300,000,000 people visited United States Amusement Parks and Water Slide Parks and it is estimated that they enjoyed over 1.8 billion rides. An informal fixed site amusement ride injury survey estimated that there were 1,309 ride-related injuries in 2007 with only 35 of these injuries reported as serious. While the amusement park and attraction industry is in the business of creating fun, unfortunately the accuracy of reporting ride injury statistics is debatable. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that over 5,000 serious accidents occur at fixed amusement park facilities. It is important to note that the ability to gather accurate information regarding amusement park injuries is seriously hampered by a loophole in the Consumer Product Safety Act of 1981 known as the “roller coaster loophole”. This loophole prohibits the CPSC from regulating the safety of rides that are fixed to a specific site. Although multiple attempts have been made to introduce legislation regarding amusement park safety on amusement park rides, they have failed to become law. The majority of regulation and inspection of amusement rides is left up to state or local municipalities and therefore, the reality of this situation is that the oversight varies from good to none. Due to the seriousness of the lack of regulation and lack of legislation with “teeth”, many theme parks unfortunately present hidden dangers to unsuspecting visitors.

At the experienced Philadelphia personal injury amusement park accident law firm of Reiff & Bily, we understand that families and children enjoy visiting amusement parks and hope that each one of the owners and operators of these amusement parks takes all steps necessary to protect their guests from any undue risk or negligence to make sure that their visit is safe. When Injuries happen at amusement parks many conflicts and complexities of law arise requiring experience and technical expertise. There is most likely a combination of common negligence, product liability, and premise liability law to be explored and prosecuted against the wrongdoer by an experienced amusement park accident lawyer.

Continue reading "Amusement Park and Water Park Safety Should Be A Top Priority" »

On Monday, May 3, 2009 the Atlanta Journal Constitution featured an article noting that medical mistakes create unhappy realities. In the article, the following mistakes were highlighted: A surgical team at Northside Hospital was supposed to remove one of the patient’s breasts; however, performed a double mastectomy because of a mistake. At an Atlanta medical center, a surgeon drilled on the wrong side of a patient’s head before discovering the error. It also noted that at several Georgia Hospital’s doctors circumcised the wrong baby and doctors mistakenly operated on the wrong hand, knee, hip, leg and other body parts.

At the Philadelphia medical malpractice law firm of Reiff & Bily, we have noted that despite protocols and initiatives by a number of medical groups, we receive many calls to investigate and prosecute claims for wrong site surgeries, surgical sponges left inside individuals, as well as removal of body parts that were not intended to be removed. We have seen many cases where the doctor simply admits to the patient that he made an error but in many cases we see medical “cover-ups”. How often these incidences occur in hospitals in Pennsylvania and hospitals throughout the country is a well kept secret.

Last year there were 76 reports of wrong site incidences filed with statewide watchdogs in Pennsylvania. To the credit of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and as a result of the efforts of trial lawyers, an organization was formed focusing, collecting, analyzing and informing the public about patient safety issues. They suggested that patients take an active role to prevent medical errors and some tips to protect yourself are as follows:

1. Talk with doctors - Make sure you, your doctor and surgeon agree on what is to be done.

2. Read paperwork - When signing consent forms and working with schedulers make sure that they all have the correct information about the surgery, including which side is to be operated on.

Continue reading "Doctors Make Mistakes Increasingly Resulting In Unhappy Reality For Patients" »

It is not uncommon for the experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers at Reiff & Bily to receive inquiries from victims of medical and hospital errors ranging from infection to leaving surgical instruments inside a patient which were easily preventable medical errors if proper checks and balances were followed. Worse yet, hospitals and doctors continue to bill and charge patients for the cost of treating these medical mistakes.

Presently, a bill has cleared the New Jersey State Senate and has been forwarded to the assembly which would prevent hospitals from charging anyone for serious medical errors. This legislation would also require states to make public individual hospital errors while currently hospitals are only required to report preventable life-threatening mistakes and the state only releases total numbers and not for individual hospitals. Under the current bill, the state would have to publish how often certain errors occur at each hospital. While the field of medicine is never without mistakes, it is important to increase transparency and require hospitals and physicians to assume the costs of preventable errors. According to statistics, 98,000 Americans die every year from preventable medical mistakes, which is almost 2,000 people per week.

Continue reading "Who Pays For Preventable Medical Errors" »

Philadelphia bicycle accident lawyers at Reiff & Bily want to remind all of our clients and readers that the Central Bucks Bicycle Club invites them to participate in the Ride of Silence Bike Rally starting at 6:30 p.m. on May 20, 2009 at Central Bucks West High School, 375 West Court Street, Doylestown, PA. This is a worldwide event determined to not only raise awareness of bicycle safety but also to demonstrate a public display of mourning in funeral procession style for the cyclists who have been killed in collisions with motor vehicles. Last year, The Ride of Silence events were held in more than 300 locations throughout the United States and 18 countries.

Bicycle ridership is on the upswing in the United States and particularly in Philadelphia and so are the serious injuries and fatalities. Each year fatalities result from bike rides due to the fact that many motorists are simply not paying attention and more importantly, many motorists do not possess adequate insurance to protect the rider in the event of a catastrophic injury. Most bike accidents are severe if not fatal.

The experienced bicycle accident law firm of Reiff & Bily has had extensive experience working with bicycle accident cases and assist injured bikers in assessing and protecting their legal rights. We strongly urge all of our bicyclists, readers and clients to participate in this no fee event on May 20, 2009 which will be a silent slow pace 6 mile ride through the Borough of Doylestown escorted by the Doylestown Police Department.

For more information on this event, please contact the Central Bucks County Bicycle Club or the experienced Philadelphia bicycle accident law firm of Reiff & Bily at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

In Philadelphia, spring is upon us and so is the increase of motorcycle ridership on our streets and highways. Like clockwork every spring, the experienced Philadelphia motorcycle accident law firm of Reiff & Bily receives phone calls from motorcyclists who are seriously injured and unfortunately, from the families of some individuals who were killed as a result of a motorcycle accident.

Statistics reveal that motorcyclists are about 16 times more likely than those in passenger vehicles to die in a motor vehicle crash and about 3 to 4 times as likely to be injured. This morning I had the occasion to meet with a client who was driving his motorcycle rightfully down a street in Philadelphia when another vehicle negligently ran a stop sign and crashed into him causing a catastrophic injury. Yesterday, I was made aware of another situation involving the death of a motorcyclist who had only been on a motorcycle a few times.

Many factors contribute to motorcycle crashes and one of the most common factors can be operator inexperience and the operator’s failure to appreciate the limitations of the bike. Statistics reveal that over 1/3 of multi-vehicle motorcycle crashes result from another motorist turning into the path of the motorcycle. Recently, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed a bill repealing the state’s motorcycle helmet law. Senate Bill 259 repeals a helmet law for riders over age 21 with two years of riding experience or a rider education course while riders under age 21 are still required to wear a motorcycle helmet. Motorcycle helmet laws are highly political and hot topics of debate throughout the United States and Pennsylvania emergency physicians and hospitals have asked the State Legislature to reenact the state’s mandatory motorcycle helmet law.

Continue reading "Motorcycle Drivers Beware Of How Awful People Drive Everyday" »

As a Philadelphia bicycle accident attorney and an active bicyclist for the last 45 years, I have been the victim of quite a few bike accidents and have represented many individuals who have been catastrophically injured as the result of a bicycle accident. Every year, injuries and fatalities from bike rides increase due to the fact that many motorists are not paying attention.

For many years when I rode my bike I never wore a helmet, enjoying the freedom. However, every year approximately 135 children die from bicycle-related injuries and more than 267,000 non-fatal bicycle accidents occur. It is a well known statistic that helmets can reduce the risk of head trauma and severe brain injury by 88%. However, studies indicate that only 15 to 25% of children 14 and under wear a bicycle helmet. Many states and municipalities are now requiring all bicycle riders to wear helmets at all times when riding a bicycle.

When selecting a helmet, one should purchase one that meets standards set by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. I suggest purchasing a helmet from a store specializing in bikes who understand that safety comes first. Of course, a helmet is of no great value unless it is properly fitted and put on correctly. Straps must always be buckled and the helmet should be positioned correctly on the head. For more information about bicycle safety, call 937-641-3385 or visit www.usa.safekids.org.

Continue reading "Bicycle Season Is In Full Swing - Make Sure You Wear A Helmet" »

Philadelphia product liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily inform our clients and readers that the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported on May 5, 2009 that Jardine Enterprises is recalling cribs. The cribs are being recalled due to a potential strangulation hazard. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission provided “The wooden slats can break, creating a gap, which can pose an entrapment and strangulation hazard to infants and toddlers”.

This is the third recall that Jardine Enterprises has announced for its wooden cribs. The second recall came early this year in January of 2009 in which three potential models of the crib were cited as being a child safety hazard due the potential for strangulation. The U.S. Consumer and Product Safety Commission has requested that consumers stop using the cribs immediately and contact Jardine Enterprises to obtain instructions on how to receive full credit towards the purchase of a new crib.

The Philadelphia product liability law firm of Reiff & Bily has been representing clients in Pennsylvania who were harmed by defective products. Consumers have the right to expect that the products they purchase are safe for use or consumption. Faulty or dangerous products such as those recalled can cause serious injuries or kill innocent victims.

If you or a loved one was injured by a defective product, Reiff & Bily can investigate what caused your injuries and which parties were responsible under Pennsylvania law. Call the experienced product liability lawyers at Reiff & Bily at 1-800-421-9595 or contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com to schedule a free consultation with one of our experienced defective product lawyers.

The Philadelphia catastrophic personal injury law firm of Reiff & Bily is pleased to announce that Andrew A. Solomon has recently joined our firm. Mr. Solomon has extensive experience representing plaintiffs in complex medical/professional negligence, products liability, civil rights and complex personal injury matters throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1976. His practice has associated him with Marshall Bernstein, Esquire, Lawrence Evans Grant, Esquire, Thomas B. Rutter, Esquire, Andrew E. DiPiero, Esquire, John Dodig, Past President of The Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association.

Mr. Solomon has tried numerous complex personal injury cases to significant verdict.

For many months, I have been blogging about the dangers of defective trailer hitches and the lack of safety posed to otherwise innocent and unsuspecting victims by many trailers being pulled by vehicles. According to NHTSA statistics, every week in the United States there are 418 injuries, 8 deaths and 775 incidents of property damage caused by vehicles towing trailers. One of the unsung heroes of the defective trailer crisis in an individual known as Ron Melancon who maintains a website at his own expense known as dangeroustrailers.org. Ron maintains a daily vigil on trailer accidents occurring throughout the United States and the world and has tirelessly worked on behalf of those injured by these vehicles to lobby the government and industry to mandate safer standards, guidelines and quality control.

Recently an incident occurred in Oregon where a trailer being pulled by an RV came loose while transiting thorough a tunnel causing another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction to crash head on into the trailer. It is important to recognize that the utility trailer industry has continued to stop any attempts to improve trailer safety. It is continuously important to recognize that trailers under the weight of 3,000 lbs. are unregulated in most states in this country. State codes in most of our states are silent as to any design or construction specification for those vehicles or for towing chains and hitches. The utility trailer industry maintains a strong lobby to stop any attempts to improve this class of vehicle in all 50 states by not requiring a federal standard on trailer hitches since 1972.

The defective trailer hitch attorneys at Reiff & Bily join Ron Melancon and other committed consumer safety advocates to bring a new national standard to implement, improve, reduce and eliminate deaths and catastrophic injuries due to defective trailer hitches and defective trailer manufacturer. If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident resulting from a defective trailer or caused by a trailer being towed by another vehicle, please contact the defective trailer and defective trailer hitch attorneys at Reiff & Bily at 1-800-421-9595 or contact us online for a free no obligation consultation at www.reiffandbily.com.

The experienced lawyers at Reiff & Bily have been handling thousands of catastrophic injury cases and fatalities since 1979 and are committed to promoting safety on our roads and highways.

A young man and his sister were playing at a playground inside a Burger King Restaurant in August 2005 when the young boy fell injuring his lungs and sustained a traumatic brain injury and closed head trauma. The playground structure at Burger King included a fireman’s pole and monkey bars and had no rubber matting beneath it, just tile. Not so surprisingly, the defendant’s allegedly claimed that the responsibility for watching the children was with the father; however, the father and his family maintained in the lawsuit that there is an expectation of safety inherent in these types of situations. Furthermore, they alleged that warning signs were not posted at the particular restaurant where the young man fell even though other restaurants in the Burger King chain had posted warning signs. Injuries to the young man resulted in hospitalization for four months and today he is still undergoing rehabilitation for significant brain damage.

When an individual enters a restaurant such as Burger King or any other business for that matter, the owner and operator of that premises owes you the highest duty of care. In Pennsylvania, a person harmed by an unsafe condition on another’s property may have a case for monetary compensation. Premises liability accidents such as this often produce catastrophic and extremely painful injuries such as spinal cord damage, broken bones, dislocated joints, as well as traumatic brain injuries. Another common premise liability claim also involves inadequate security or failure to warn of a dangerous condition or defect.

The premises liability lawyers at Reiff & Bily are committed to protecting the rights of individuals injured when on the premises of another. Reiff & Bily provides free online evaluation for all premise liability claims. You may contact us for a free no obligation consultation at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com. We are also involved with swimming accidents, casino accidents, hotel accidents and cruise line accidents.

The Philadelphia SUV rollover and 15-passenger van rollover lawyers of Reiff & Bily have been blogging for months about the unsafe qualities of the Yamaha Rhino. The Yamaha Rhino has been prone to rollover from the first day it was sold.

We have learned today that the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Yamaha has finally issued a recall for thousands of Rhino 450 and 660 off-road vehicles. Yamaha has stopped selling the vehicles until they can repair them and has officially informed owners that they should stop using them until they can be repaired. The CPSC has investigated more than 50 incidents, including 46 deaths, involving the two models in rollover unbelted incidents. We have consistently stated that the Yamaha Rhino is one of the most dangerous vehicles manufactured and in use. We are grateful that the probe by the Consumer Products Safety Commission resulted in this definitive action which will hopefully save many more lives and avoid many more catastrophic injuries. We are well aware of many accidents which indicated that the design of the Yamaha Rhino poses a substantial risk of injury and death to unknowing consumers. According to many complaints filed and expert opinions, the Yamaha Rhino is prone to rollover even while operating on slow speeds and flat surfaces due to its high center of gravity and narrow wheel base combined with powerful engine and small turning radius.

The Philadelphia product liability lawyers at Reiff & Bily has achieved a national reputation in the area of product liability and rollover accidents and in recognition of their accomplishments, Jeffrey Reiff and Raymond Bily have been named Superlawyers for six consecutive years by Law and Politics Magazine and Philadelphia Magazine. If you have any questions or concerns regarding a Yamaha Rhino rollover, you can contact an experienced Philadelphia rollover attorney at Reiff & Bily by calling toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or by submitting the firm’s online free case consultation form at www.reiffandbily.com.

A recent recall notes that approximately 29,000 baby necessities pacifiers manufactured in China and imported by OKK Trading of Los Angeles, California has been recalled because they failed Federal safety tests. The nipples can separate from the base and pose a choking hazard to infants. Although no incidents have been reported, these pacifiers which sold at dollar and discount stores around the United States between August 2007 and January 2009. More details are available by phone at 877-655-8697 and on the web at http://www.okktrading.com or http://www.cpsc.gov.

If you or a loved one has been injured due to a defective product, please contact the Philadelphia product liability lawyers at the law firm of Reiff & Bily at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

The Pennsylvania product liability lawyers at Reiff & Bily alert you in conjunction with the United States Consumer Products Safety Commission in cooperation with Fisher-Price that a voluntary recall has been made of 3-in-1 high chairs manufactured by Fisher-Price. The product is 3-in-1 highchairs. Approximately 24,000 units are involved in the recall. The importer is Fisher-Price of East Aurora, New York. The noted hazard is that the seat can fall backwards from the highchair frame if the booster seat release is unlatched while the child is in the product. Also, the seat back can detach if not fully snapped in place posing a fall hazard and risk to young children. Reports of seat back detachment and child falling out resulted in a skull fracture according to sources. This product was sold exclusively at Target department stores nationwide from December 8, 2008 through March, 2009 for approximately $100. Consumers should stop using the recalled high chairs immediately and contact Fisher-Price for instructions and a free repair kit at 1-800-432-5437 anytime or visit the firm’s Web site at http://service.mattel.com/us.

If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of a defective product, please contact one of our Philadelphia product liability lawyers at the law firm of Reiff & Bily for a free evaluation of your case at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

The experienced amusement park lawyers of the Philadelphia law firm of Reiff & Bily are all too familiar with carnival, midway and amusement park accidents. A report was recently released concerning the serious injuries of dozens of people caused when a “Yo-Yo” amusement collapsed at a California state fair. The owner of the amusement was labeled in the report as “incompetent”.

The report noted that the carnival ride was “in a physical state of disrepair; this attraction had not been properly maintained.” According to news reports, the accident occurred because of the failure of a lock washer. The report further noted that sweeps of the Yo-Yo collapsed because of a spider bearing assembly slipping off of a cylinder ride thus losing the power to pull the sweeps top end. The chairs the riders were sitting in plummeted to the ground and were dragged. The report blasted the owner of the amusement for failure to insure that the ride was safe to operate and also noted that the owner of the ride did not have all of the required inspection certifications and documents in place to insure its safe operation.

Unfortunately, as the economy continues to worsen, we have found that many theme parks, carnivals and midways have cut corners on safety. Many times ride operators do not pay attention to the precious cargo on the ride.

The accomplished Philadelphia amusement park accident attorneys at Reiff & Bily have successfully represented thousands of personal injury clients for catastrophic injuries since 1979. If you have been injured in an amusement park accident, please contact the experienced catastrophic injury lawyers at Reiff & Bily at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com so that we can begin investigating and protecting your rights.

How many of you remember looking forward to going to the supermarket or shopping at the mall with your Mom and Dad and getting on the horse ride or car ride which in my day was 10 cents but probably now a dollar as I have watched prices escalate for a sheer three minutes of pleasure.

Unfortunately a recent story surfaced which noted a 12-month old boy struck his head riding an electric train amusement ride at a shopping center. Paramedics were called and when they arrived they found the mother hysterical carrying her unconscious toddler. CPR was performed according to news sources and the child was air lifted to the hospital.

Although this was a train ride evidently designed to amuse children and bring people to the mall and although inspectors may find that the train ride was mechanically and structurally sound and is in compliance with local standards, parents and the operators of these rides recognize that there should be minimum supervisory and physical requirements that are mandatory for safety reasons. These rides are designed to provide amusement thrills and not to cause errors but accidents still happen under the best of circumstances.

Unfortunately, many amusement rides which look safe are unknowingly dangerous forms of entertainment for families and young people. I have written in my blogs in the past about numerous amusement park and carnival accidents and serious loopholes that exist in the Consumer Product Safety Act of 1981 regulating the safety of rides fixed to a specific site. There is no official source which keeps a complete record of amusement park accidents.

The accomplished amusement park injury lawyers at Reiff & Bily have successfully represented personal injury clients for catastrophic injuries since 1979 recovering hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. If you or a loved one has been injured in an amusement park or on a hayride, please contact the amusement park injury lawyers at Reiff & Bily immediately at 1-800-421-9595 so that we can commence an intensive examination of your claim and begin protecting your legal rights to the maximum of our abilities.

The Philadelphia defective truck and trailer accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily have unfortunately become aware of another situation involving the wrongful death of a 34-year old woman on Wednesday, March 11, 2009. The case not so dissimilar from many others, the woman was pinned between a car and a trailer that had detached from a moving van resulting in blunt force trauma to her chest and abdomen resulting in fatality.

This unfortunate fatal result occurred in the initial stages of a family vacation where the woman, her husband and two children were planning to travel to Florida in a van that was towing a trailer which ultimately became detached and caused her death.

We have noted many times on our blog every week in the United States there are 418 injuries, 8 deaths and 775 incidents of property damage caused by passenger vehicles towing trailers. According to The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has estimated the number of serious injuries has risen dramatically involving the use of defective trailers.

If you or a family member has suffered an injury as a result of a defective truck or trailer accident, there are some important questions that you and your attorney will have to explore in order to determine if you have a case and who is responsible. We have an experienced team of investigators, experts and reconstructionists who will determine how the accident occurred and who is liable. You may be entitled to compensatory and punitive damages.

The accomplished defective trailer and car accident lawyers at Reiff & Bily have successfully represented thousands of personal injury clients for catastrophic injuries and fatalities since 1979 and have recovered in excess of $150 million dollars in damages. For a free consultation, please contact the experienced truck and defective trailer lawyers at Reiff & Bily at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com immediately for a free consultation so that we can begin protecting your legal rights.

A recent study by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions has indicated that diagnostic misadventures represent a much larger source of preventable health problems and deaths than many of the more popular targets. If fact, David Newman-Toker, M.D., Ph.D. and Peter Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D. reported that misdiagnosis accounts for an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 deaths per year and that legal claims for diagnostic errors defined as diagnoses that are missed, wrong or delayed are nearly twice as common as claims for medication errors. (news article)

Placing the focus on reducing diagnostic errors will emphasize the reduction of larger "system" failures that affect medical practices overall. What this means is that increased focus will move away from the model that chastises the malpractice for individual physicians to one that focuses on improving the medical system as a whole which should in the long run improve diagnostic accuracy, as well as the cost effectiveness of care.

The Philadelphia medical malpractice law firm of Reiff & Bily believe that a systematic approach and solutions adopted by hospitals and doctors requiring physicians to follow a procedural check list that emphasizes proper diagnosis will result in a decrease of catastrophic injuries and deaths.

Continue reading "Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyer Notes That The New Focus Of Patient Safety Experts Is On Diagnostic Errors" »

According to a report in the Green Bay Press Gazette, a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a 16-year old girl who fell 50 feet to her death in a 2007 amusement park swing accident was settled for $1 million dollars the maximum amount of policy limits.

It is also sad to note and report that Brandon Zucker, a young boy who was badly hurt in a “Roger Rabbit” amusement accident in Disneyland died January 26, 2009. According to news sources, Brandon Zucker, an Anaheim, California boy, suffered brain damage after being trapped under the car of a Disneyland Park ride in September 2000. At age 4, the young boy was badly injured when he fell from a Roger Rabbit Disneyland ride and was dragged about 10 feet, trapped underneath another car and suffered serious internal injuries including torn diaphragm, liver and spleen. The boy’s body was crushed by the ride, and he went into cardiac arrest suffering brain damage and was unable to walk or talk after the accident. Brandon’s mother, Victoria Zucker, stated that Brandon fought hard for the past 8 years. Our hearts and prayers go out to Brandon’s family.

Continue reading "Amusement Park Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit In 2007 Death of A Girl Who Fell 50 Feet To Her Death At An Amusement Park Swing Chair Accident - Young Man Injured On Roger Rabbit Amusement Dies" »

According to news sources, a deadly crash occurred on Route 19 in North Strabane, Pennsylvania when a trailer broke loose from a pickup truck striking a car and killing a woman. A utility trailer broke loose from a pickup truck as it was headed south on Route 19 causing the trailer to bounce over the medial strip landing on a car in the passing lane headed north. The car then caught fire and two woman who were in the front seat were killed and a young girl, 3 or 4 years old, was in the back seat. (news article)

Michelle Kott, 36, of Ellsworth was killed.

Many crashes involving trailers stem from basic mistakes such as failing to engage a locking device when hitching a trailer and often operators and drivers neglect a series of precautions any one of which might have prevented such a deadly, catastrophic tragedy.

A Master lock company which makes hitches and other towing equipment surveyed more than 300 trailer owners in 2006 and found that most were lacking in knowledge of basic safety and proper towing procedures and few have had any real training or instruction. Fewer than half properly attach their trailer safety chains the survey found. Adding to the risk is the growing number of trailers on the road. The number of light duty trailers registered in the United States rose from 10.6 million in 1990 to 15.9 million in 2005 according to the Federal Highway Administration. In all 50 states one only need a basic driver’s license in order to tow a small to medium size trailer. Basically, there is no law enforcement program that requires a person towing a trailer to have any special training. The result is a lot of ignorance, carelessness and catastrophic injuries and deaths.

Continue reading "Defective Trailer Breaks Loose From Pickup Truck and Kills Pennsylvania Woman" »

Traumatic brain injury and closed head traumas are all to common in catastrophic car accidents. The Philadelphia car accident lawyers at Reiff & Bily recently received a call from a client whose mother sustained a closed head trauma and an acquired brain injury as a result of being a passenger in a serious car accident. When a catastrophic brain injury occurs, it does not affect individuals, it affects families. Many times brain injuries are an invisible disability and it is easy for the condition to be unnoticed, undiagnosed and unsupported and many doctors will state that no two brain injuries are alike. One of the main causes of brain injuries in the United States are car accidents. Most individuals who sustain a brain injury do not even realize that they have one. In our case, the victim began to display irregular and abnormal behavior patterns to her husband and daughter.

If you have been involved in a car accident or other catastrophic accident and suffer any one of the following symptoms, you may have suffered a brain injury:

loss of short term/long term memory
dizziness
agitation
blurred vision
loss of coordination
paresthesia
pins and needles in the limbs
weakness in the extremities
seizures
difficulty hearing
nausea/vomiting
irregular eye movement
loss of smell
loss of taste
affectation of cognitive thought process
convulsions

Continue reading "Invisible Brain Injury From Car Accidents A Hidden Danger That Can Destroy Families If Not Diagnosed" »

The Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit filed against the Pennsylvania agency and the bus driver over an accident that killed an Erie surgeon in 2005. The 36 year old surgeon, David Sanders, was riding his bicycle when the bus collided with him. He was pronounced dead at the scene. This bus was making a left hand turn at the time of the accident. There is no question that this is a huge tragedy for Dr. Sanders’ family and friends and the local community and we offer our heartfelt sympathies to everyone who knew and loved him. (news article)

Bicycle ridership is on the upswing in Pennsylvania and so are the injuries and fatalities. The Philadelphia bicycle accident and catastrophic injury lawyers at the Philadelphia personal injury law firm of Reiff & Bily have been successfully representing injured bicyclists since 1979. Approximately 11% of all traffic fatalities involve bicycles. I have worked hard as a Philadelphia bicycle accident attorney for the past 30 years to help injured cyclists and the families of cyclists who have been died as the result of the negligence of other drivers. As more and more individuals turn to bicycles as a viable means of transportation, as well as to relieve the stress of our increasingly complicated society, bicycle accidents will no doubt continuously be on the rise.

The Philadelphia bicycle accident law firm of Reiff & Bily has extensive experience working with bicycle accident cases and can assist you in assessing and protecting your legal rights. If you or a loved one has been involved in a bicycle accident and need advice of your legal rights and you are not at fault, please contact one of the experienced lawyers at the Philadelphia bicycle accident and personal injury law firm of Reiff & Bily. We will fully evaluate liability fault, legal compensation for pain and suffering, medical compensation and make sure that you are fully compensated for your injuries.

Bicycles share the same laws as motor vehicle and motor vehicle operators owe a duty to be attentive to bicycle riders. If you are in need of legal advice or services and wish to speak to an experienced Philadelphia bicycle accident attorney, please contact one of our experienced lawyers at the Philadelphia catastrophic injury firm of Reiff & Bily for a no cost, no obligation case evaluation and pre-litigation consultation at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

A catastrophic trucking accident took the life of an eastern Pennsylvania woman after her vehicle collided with a cargo container which was knocked off of a flatbed trailer truck that struck an overpass on Route 22 in Lehigh County. Sadly, 42-year old Michele Lamaze of Whitehall Township was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash this past Tuesday. The truck driver, a 29-year old Ohio resident, was not injured. According to a State Police investigation no charges have been filed.

Although many, including the newspaper, has called this a “freak” accident, unfortunately the situation is not so unusual. Full details and photographs of this deadly crash are available on the following link. (news article)

The experienced truck and trailer accident lawyers at the Philadelphia law firm of Reiff & Bily offer their deepest condolences to the family of Michele Lamaze who died in this tragic and unfortunate accident. Obviously, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was the victim of someone’s negligence.

Unfortunately, freeway debris and containers falling from trucks is not so infrequent on Pennsylvania highways. In Pennsylvania a motorist can be fined and held liable for dropping anything from their vehicle onto the roadway which causes an accident to occur. In addition to fines, they can be held civilly and criminally responsible for the consequences of the debris on the highways. Reiff & Bily has successfully handled many major injury and fatality cases caused by highway debris and objects falling from trucks and trailers. A person injured in an car accident caused by highway debris and falling objects has the right to be compensated for their injuries not only from the person who drops the debris on the highway but also from their own uninsured and underinsured motorist provision of their automobile policy. An experienced Pennsylvania personal injury attorney will tell the family of the injured or deceased how their Pennsylvania motor vehicle policy would apply to a roadway debris or trailer debris accident. I sincerely urge the family of Michele Lamaze to consult with an experienced Pennsylvania truck accident or automobile accident attorney who would help and hold the negligent parties responsible and help secure them the compensation they are rightfully deserve and are owed under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

If you would or a loved one has been catastrophically injured in an automobile accident and would like a free consultation with an experienced Philadelphia auto accident attorney, please contact one of the lawyers at Reiff & Bily at 1-800-431-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

For many years, the 15-passenger van accident and SUV rollover lawyers at Reiff & Bily have been representing passengers that have been catastrophically injured or killed while being transported in 15 passenger vans that have flipped over. The rollover risk posed by 15 passenger vans, including those predominantly used by church groups, school groups and other unsuspecting individuals, is the most dangerous on the road today. 15 passenger vans started out as cargo utility vehicles in the early 1970's and is still essentially a cargo van with modifications made to accommodate passengers. If a 15 passenger van is fully loaded it is 6 to 7 times more likely to flip over than a van containing only a driver. As a matter of fact, NHTSA has noted that fully loaded 15 passenger vans are more likely to rollover than any other passenger type of vehicle, including cars, mini vans, SUVs and pickup trucks.

Internal documents by the major automotive manufacturers, including but not limited to Ford, Chrysler and GM, revealed that the companies were and still are well aware of safety and deficiencies with the 15-passenger van. However, the manufacturing of these passenger vehicles and the transition from cargo to passenger vans became too profitable and the automobile manufacturers have made a consistent effort to place profitability over consumer safety. Documentation of testing data indicates that the engineers who designed these cars knew they were unsafe and suggested necessary fixes to protect innocent and unsuspecting consumers. Initially in April 2001, NHTSA issued a report on the rollover propensity of 15-passenger vans. It is significant that NHTSA had never done this for any other vehicle and during that time period there had been approximately 800 fatalities.

Continue reading "The Vehicle Most Likely to Rollover, Injure And Kill Innocent Children and Churchgoers Is The 15-Passenger Van - 15- Passenger Van Lawyer Warns Consumers" »

I was recently contacted by Patrick James who lost his 10-year old daughter, Alexis James, on July 17, 2007 in a 15-passenger van rollover in South Carolina. Unfortunately, according to the investigation, the accident resulted from the failure of the left rear tire. When the tire failed, the van rolled over and beautiful Alexis James was ejected from the vehicle though she was wearing her seat belt. It was only a lap seat belt. Three point lap/shoulder belts were not required in this van when it was manufactured in 1994. Patrick James founded the American Center for Van and Tire Safety. I urge all of you to review Patrick’s website at www.acfvats.org. Patrick’s story is an all to familiar story to members of the 15 passenger van rollover law firm of Reiff & Bily.

Unfortunately, our lawyers have handled too many cases similar to the loss of Alexis James and have shared the pain of losses of all too many parents and children. We applaud Patrick James’ efforts to inform unknowing consumers of the danger of these death machines and salute the his effort to keep the public continuously informed. Every time I learn of another one of these tragic cases, I think of the senseless loss of lives and wrongful death of the innocent and unknowing occupants of these vans.

Continue reading "Philadelphia 15-Passenger Van Attorney Salutes Efforts of American Center For Van and Tire Safety" »

Government Investigates "Rhino Rollover” Virus

Yamaha promises its Rhino goes "almost anywhere" referring to its new breed of Utility Terrain Vehicle or U.T.V.'s. What the ad fails to mention is that federal safety regulators are investigating the safety of this vehicle following reports of approximately 30 deaths including two young girls last month. Yamaha Rhino Rollovers

According to a recently published article in The Wall Street Journal on November 4, 2008 Yamaha currently faces more than 200 lawsuits in State and Federal courts alleging that Rhino design is unsafe. (Wall Street Journal article)

Due to their unique design, Rhinos are not subject to the safety standards of all terrain vehicle (ATV's) or even more stringent car safety standards. The Yamaha Rhino ATV is alleged to be unstable during normal operating maneuvers at low to moderate speeds and turning on level ground.

Characteristically, low speed turns lead to sudden rollovers causing the occupants' arms and legs to be crushed by the roll cage as the vehicle slams to the ground.

The Philadelphia SUV rollover firm of Reiff & Bily has represented individuals across the United States who have suffered injuries in SUV and ATV rollovers. If you or anyone you know has been injured in a Yamaha Rhino accident, please contact the ATV and SUV rollover firm of Reiff & Bily for a free consultation at 1- 800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com and we will promptly review your case and assist you in recovering damages for pain and suffering along with both future and past medical expenses without fee or obligation to you.

Philadelphia Amusement and Hayride Accident Lawyers of Reiff & Bily Salute Ron Melancon and dangeroustrailers.org

Ron has been a step ahead of government officials and many lawyers. Ron has recognized that many trailers used for hayrides and other utilities are under 3,000 lbs. and fall below federal guidelines. These trailers do not need to be inspected. You can build one on your own and use it yourself or sell it. As Ron has recognized, there is very little regulation addressed with trailers under 3,000 lbs. Most state laws are silent regarding design or construction specification for utility trailers used in hayrides or for towing hitches. Obviously, a potentially dangerous situation exists using these trailers for hayrides or even on the roads of the Commonwealth. In many cases, we find trailers have obvious violations of safety codes that related to lighting, braking and inspection requirements.

The unregulation of the hayride and trailer obviously allows profit hungry operators to cut corners on safety, often leading to preventable catastrophic injuries of innocent children.

We urge you to link to Ron’s website at www.dangeroustrailers.org. We salute Ron’s efforts to become a crusader for public safety and in his attempts to keep the public informed of the dangerous situations of unregulated trailers and hayrides in the United States and abroad. Consumer advocacy is what change in laws and regulations is all about.

Continue reading "The Dangerous Trailer and Hayride Injury Lawyers of Reiff & Bily Proudly Salute the Efforts of Ron J. Melancon of Richmond, Virginia" »

Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, a 15-passenger Ford Econoline van took the life of an innocent man and injured ten others Saturday, November 10, 2008 when the van lost control causing it to go sideways, eventually resulting in a multiple roll on Interstate 90. There was not alcohol use detected. According to the accident reports, the driver was driving westbound on Interstate 90 when he lost control of the 15-passenger van. Our hearts and prayers go out to the individuals in this van who were probably not aware of the dangers of 15-passenger vans and their tendency to rollover and cause catastrophic injury and fatality. (news article)

NTHSA’s research and the research of the automotive manufacturers indicate that there is significant risk of rollover in 15-passenger vans when fully loaded. Often times, 15-passenger van rollover crashes are due to defective tires and inexperienced and untrained drivers.
The experienced 15-passenger van attorneys at Reiff & Bily believe that the victims of this unfortunate accident should contact an experienced 15-passenger van and rollover attorney to investigate this accident and get them proper compensation that they rightfully deserve from the manufacturers of these knowingly defective vans. If you or a loved one has been injured in a 15-passenger van accident, please contact us for a free consultation at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

According to an article published by The Lancaster Intelligencer Journal on October 30, 2008, Sarah Timblin, 23, of Lancaster County was sentenced to 18 years in state prison for being intoxicated when she drove her SUV the wrong way on a two lane highway in Manheim Township, Pennsylvania. Her SUV struck a Honda Civic head on, killing all three people inside the vehicle. Three York, Pennsylvania men traveling to work were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Ironically, the date of Sarah Timblin’s sentencing was the birthday of one of the deceased workers. Tests revealed that Ms. Timblin’s blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was more than three times the level at which a person is considered legally drunk in Pennsylvania. Sarah Timblin’s sentence rightfully reflects the gravity and severity of her negligent act, an act that ultimately contributed to three senseless and untimely deaths. Lancaster County President Judge, Louis Ferina, sentenced Sarah Timblin to the mandatory 9 year prison term for three felony counts of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence. The judge also ordered Ms. Timblin to 6 years probation after her release from prison. (news article)

The catastrophic injury lawyers at Reiff & Bily salute Judge Louis Ferina for setting an excellent example to deter other DUI fatalities from occurring in Pennsylvania. I offer my heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased for their irreparable losses. 23 year old Sarah Timblin should be held criminally and civilly responsible for this accident and the deaths of these working men. She had no regard for the law, traffic rules and most of all for the life of other human beings. In 2007 there were 1,491 fatal traffic accidents in Pennsylvania as a result of driving under the influence. The families of the victims deserve to be rightfully compensated for this tremendous loss. Anyone in this situation would be well advised to contact a reputed, experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney to file a wrongful death claim on their behalf and fight for their rights. The driver of the vehicle that struck them was uninsured and did not have enough insurance. The injured individuals or the families of the deceased individuals would be able to seek compensation through their own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.

If you or someone you love has been seriously injured in a car accident, please contact the experienced Philadelphia car accidents lawyers at Reiff & Bily at 1-800 421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com to discuss your case.

Yet another tragic story came across the wires reporting that a Pennsylvania woman was accused of drunk driving. The 25 year old woman was charged with vehicular homicide while driving under the influence along with related crimes of death. According to news sources on September 1, 2007, 25 year old, Heather Renee Werner, of Hyndman, Pa. was speeding when she lost control of her vehicle and struck an embankment before rolling over repeatedly. Susan Fleegle, a 48 year old passenger in the car was ejected from the car and died. Steven Huffman, another passenger in the car sustained severe injuries from the accident. Police records indicate that Ms. Werner’s blood alcohol level was 0.115% above the legal limit of 0.08%. We at Reiff & Bily offer our heartfelt condolences to the family of Susan Fleegle for their loss and extend our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Mr. Huffman. (news article)

Indeed, Heather Werner should be held criminally and civilly responsible for this devastating accident that resulted in death to one passenger and inflicted injuries to the other. Driving with a blood alcohol level 0.115% above the legal limit is indicative of the fact that Ms. Werner has little respect for the law, traffic rules and most importantly herself and the safety of her passengers. The families of Susan Fleegle and Steven Hoffman deserve to be rightfully compensated for their tremendous loss. They would be well advised to contact a reputed Pennsylvania personal injury accident attorney who would file a wrongful death claim on their behalf and fight for their rights. If the driver of the vehicle is uninsured and does not have sufficient insurance, it would be appropriate to look at the underinsured or uninsured policies maintain by Susan Fleegle or her family, as well as the uninsured or underinsured insurance policies maintained by passenger, Steven Huffman.

Continue reading "Pennsylvania Woman Charged With DUI and Vehicular Homicide in Mother’s Crash Death" »

According to investigators, an unidentified man was driving south on Island Avenue in southwest Philadelphia when his Chevy Avalanche SUV struck a raised trolley stop platform at the Buist Avenue intersection. The SUV flipped and the driver sustained massive head injuries in the crash. He was pronounced dead later that morning. This represents yet another single vehicle SUV rollover in what seems to be an epidemic in Philadelphia and nationally.

At the Philadelphia law firm of Reiff & Bily we would be interested to see the results of the investigation of this crash. Most likely, there was a roof crush, which is common for General Motors Company SUVs. The injuries and resulting fatality was most likely caused by the collapsing roof or seat belt failure. The victim’s family would be well served by consulting one of many excellent auto defect firms in the nation that are truly experienced in handling General Motors SUV litigation. When hiring an SUV rollover accident attorney, ask the attorney how many similar cases they have completed and how many they have in progress. You might also want to know how many auto defect cases in total they have successfully completed. More than 40,000 people die is SUV rollover accident in the United States each year. Many of these rollover accident fatalities involve SUVs.

Continue reading "New Jersey Man Was Killed in Philadelphia When His SUV Crashed into a Trolley Platform and Flipped Over" »

Yet another 15-passenger van carrying 12 passengers with the notation “Christian Faith Fellowship Ministry” on its side rolled over after a tire blew out while traveling on the roadway of a Phoenix suburb. 15-passenger vans have been made the travel vehicle of choice by large groups of people and their cargo. Unfortunately, these unsafe and unstable motor vehicles are often used for transporting church groups.

The Philadelphia15-passenger van rollover law firm of Reiff & Bily has been investigating, testing and researching defective design components of 15-passenger vans and 15-passenger van rollover cases across the United States for many years. The incident that occurred in Arizona is almost identical to a case that the 15-passenger van rollover firm of Reiff & Bily handled a few years ago, also involving 14 church goers traveling to a church outing resulting in multiple deaths and catastrophic injury.

The 15-passenger van is extraordinarily easy to tip over when loaded because they have a higher center of gravity and design defects that create unsafe conditions and instability in an accident avoidance maneuver or if a tire problem occurs. Our extensive research has revealed that the manufacturers knew about these defects, which was evidenced in internal documents. Yet they continue to sell these defective vehicles due to their high profit margin, despite a minimal expenditure to fix the defect that they knew about even when their own test drivers and experts were being injured during testing procedures. Because these vehicles carry a large number of people and weight and the drivers are not required to have a special commercial driver’s license, they were once the smart choice for transporting millions of school children and church groups across the United States until reports of rollover deaths in 15-passenger vans began rolling in.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an SUV rollover accident, you have a legal right to hold the manufacturer responsible for your physical and financial injuries and make them admit in court what they have known all along - that these vehicles are simply not safe. Our hearts and prayers go out to these folks whose injuries and deaths could have been easily prevented.

If you or someone you care about has been injured or killed in a rollover accident, contact the experienced 15-passenger van rollover lawyers at the Philadelphia law firm of Reiff & Bily today for a free legal consultation. Contact us at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

One year old Zoe Montgomery was killed last week when she was run over during a Halloween hayride at the Orr Family Farm, at an Oklahoma farm themed amusement park. The toddler fell under the wheels of the trailer during the hayride. According to news reports, the incident occurred when Zoe’s mother, Carie Montgomery, attempted to get Zoe off the back of a trailer. The mother tried to get her child off of the ride when the trailer jerked suddenly, sending Zoe flying to the ground near the wheels. Carie Montgomery, 24, threw herself at her daughter in an attempt to save her. The toddler was air lifted to OU Medical Center where doctors pronounced her dead. (news article)

Tragically, Zoe Montgomery’s story is not unique. The experienced lawyers at the Pennsylvania catastrophic injury law firm of Reiff & Bily are currently involved in a very similar claim for catastrophic injuries where a young student on a school trip was trapped and pulled under a Halloween hayride in Bucks County, Pennsylvania one year ago and was mangled due to inadequate supervision or training of the ride operators and inadequate site and safety crowd control. Simply put, similar to the situation that occurred with Zoe’s unfortunate death, the operators of the hayride had inadequate safety controls in effect to prevent an easily avoidable accident, particularly in an area that was noisy and frequently visited by young children. Many of the hayrides and other amusement park accidents are simply accidents waiting to happen when proper control mechanisms are not in place. When amusement park and hayride injuries occur, the injuries are quite significant because of the number of people involved and the size and weight of the equipment. These rides have the ability to crush, pin and eject riders causing catastrophic injuries. We express our heartfelt condolences to the family of Zoe Montgomery and sincerely hope that state officials and investigators do a thorough job in investigating this horrific and catastrophic accident.

Continue reading "Halloween Hayride Kills Toddler" »

In yet another horrifying Halloween hayride accident, an Ohio woman was transported to Ohio State University Medical Center after she fell off the side of a Halloween hayride and was pinned underneath the wheels. The individual identified by news sources as Tonya Reynolds suffered a broken arm and her legs were crushed by the ride according to officials. (news article)

In a separate situation, a 7 year old New Jersey boy was left in critical condition after falling from a hayride and striking his head. According to the news report, Jacob George was a passenger on a haunted hayride at the Shrine of St. Joseph Church on Long Hill Road in Stirling, NJ on Friday, October 24th, when he fell off the trailer he was riding on and suffered head injuries. He was transported to Morristown Memorial Hospital where he remained in critical condition. Members of the Morris County, New Jersey Sheriff’s Office Accident Reconstruction Team assisted with the investigation and shut down the ride. (news article )

It is with great sadness that I read about these easily preventable and tragic incidents. As a catastrophic injury attorney in Pennsylvania, I have spent a good portion of the last year working on an almost identical hayride case where a six year old boy on a class outing was also run over by a Halloween hayride, as his mother also instinctively threw herself at her son in an attempt to save him. All of these accidents certainly indicate the necessity of improving safety, supervision, maintenance and warning requirements when dealing with amusement rides and Halloween hayrides where the lives of unsuspecting and innocent children are so frequently involved. My deepest and heartfelt sympathies go out to these families.

Continue reading "Halloween Hayride Crushes Bones of Innocent Rider" »

Two Pennsylvania residents were killed following a single rollover crash that occurred on Interstate 80 when their sport utility vehicle went out of control and rolled over. The driver was identified as 75 year old Jack Kelly and his passenger was 73 year old Lois Kelly, both of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, died in the crash.

Almost one third of all fatalities from vehicle accidents in the United States occur as a result of a rollover of a sport utility vehicle or 15-passenger van. You should also know that 70% of deaths in sport utility vehicles occur as a result of a rollover. Most SUVs lack proper roof support or rollbars that are necessary to provide vehicle occupants with the proper protection during a rollover accident.

At the Pennsylvania SUV rollover law firm of Reiff & Bily, we have been investigating, researching, and litigating SUV rollover and 15-passenger van rollover cases for many years with successful outcomes. The SUV has a high center of gravity and is noted to be one the most unstable vehicles on the highway. The press and the automotive manufacturers are quick to blame the driver who is simply taking an evasive action to avoid an emergency situation. The chief hazard in operating an SUV occurs when the driver takes an emergency action, steering the vehicle in one direction and rapidly correcting in the opposite direction, resulting in the rollover of the unstable vehicle. If you watch television advertisements or read the newspaper advertisements, one would think that SUVs are built for strength and safety and designed to be driven off the road. Yet very few of them have rollbars and very few meet minimal National Highway Safety Administration roof safety standards for automobiles. SUV rollovers are the most common cause of spinal cord injury and paralysis due to roof collapse.

Continue reading "Two Pennsylvania Residents Are Dead Following Single Vehicle SUV Rollover Crash" »

According to an article placed in The Daily Times, a suburban Philadelphia man has surrendered in the hit and run death of a high school honor student. Faith Sinclair, a 16 year old honor student, was struck on August 3rd as she was crossing a busy highway in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania. On August 7th, a 2000 black Mercedes was seized from the garage of the alleged defendant by investors. According to reports, the Delaware County District Attorney, G. Michael Green, claim that the defendant called his boss after the accident to inform him he would not be in to work due to the fact that he had been in a fatal accident involving a young girl. The defendant was 27 years old on the day he surrendered to the authorities. He was charged with leaving the scene of a deadly accident, a felony that carries a one year mandatory minimum prison sentence and tampering with evidence. Under current Pennsylvania law, the penalty for leaving the scene of a fatal accident is a year in jail. But if the same driver stays at the scene to render assistance and is found to be under the influence of alcohol or an intoxicating substance, the penalty can be much stiffer, as much as five years. (Daily Times news article)

In my law practice at the Philadelphia personal injury law firm of Reiff & Bily, I have all too often dealt with hit and run cases and it is apparent that the current hit and run law of Pennsylvania rewards drivers who are under the influence that flee the scene of accidents. For more information on Pennsylvania laws concerning leaving the scene of an accident link to Pennsylvania Vehicle Code, Chapter 37, Subchapter C at www.dmv.state.pa.us)

Continue reading "ANOTHER DEADLY PHILADELPHIA HIT AND RUN ACCIDENT RESULTS IN THE LOSS OF LIFE OF A 16 YEAR OLD HIGH SCHOOL HONOR STUDENT - TIME TO CLOSE LOOPHOLES IN LAW" »

As an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney, I am confronted with clients who come into my office after a catastrophic automobile accident and they tell me that they have full automobile insurance coverage. Unfortunately, many times there is a car accident resulting in a fatality and the family is left without funds to pay for a proper funeral and when they look at their insurance policy, they learn that they are not covered for death benefits. Approximately once a week I am visited by clients involved in a Philadelphia car accident who believe that they have full coverage, including but not limited to full tort insurance coverage. Most of the time, these individuals were sold minimal policies by insurance agents that contain anything but full coverage.

Recently, an unfortunate story came across the wires involving the Mullen family in Athens, Pennsylvania who found out the hard way that their insurance did not cover them for death benefits. In that case, Missy Mullen’s daughter, Stephanie Mullen, was killed in a car accident on State Route 4014 in Smithville Township, Pennsylvania approximately one month ago. Missy Mullen learned that Stephanie’s Pennsylvania auto insurance policy did not have death benefits. The $5,000 cost for Stephanie’s funeral was paid by family and friends. Stephanie was cremated and now her ashes lay in a box on her bed at home and her family is in need of an additional $2,500 for the burial. Missy Mullen stated that she wanted more people to be aware of their insurance coverage so they would not have to go through something like this. (news article)

In most states, car insurance policies contain death benefits. However, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania only liability medical is required. We urge all of you to carefully examine your policies and if you have any questions regarding coverage, please do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation.

If you or a loved one has been catastrophically injured in an accident, please contact us at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Pennsylvania Rep. Jim Wansacz ,D-114; Karen Boback, R-117; Frank Andrews Shimkus, D-113; and Ken Smith, D-112, sponsored various new bills aimed at preventing neglect of the elderly by individuals responsible for their care. The bills would toughen penalties for care givers when the neglect of individuals in their care results in death, setting new reporting requirements for neglect cases, requiring physicians to disclose any financial ownership in a long term care facility, as well as requiring the facility provide advance notice as residents are relocated.

As an experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyer practicing elder law abuse and nursing home abuse, I have been astounded by the preponderance of the declining quality of care at nursing homes and its direct relationship to the economic and insurance crisis. Nursing home and elder abuse has come to the attention of many government agencies and many lax laws and financial webs created by private investment companies who have ownership interest in nursing homes have made it very difficult for plaintiffs who have suffered harm to succeed in court and for regulators to levy chain-wide fines due to the creation of complex corporate structures that obscured who controlled the homes. A recent report issued by Health and Human Services has found that nearly all nursing homes in the United States have received citations for health and safety violations in 2007.

When placing a loved one in a nursing home one expects, and is the right of the resident, to live in a clean, healthy, attractive and safe environment, to receive proper medical care, nursing care and rehabilitative and restorative therapy, and personal hygiene. Also, the residents have a right to be informed of his or her medical condition unless the physician indicates in the medical records that it is not in the best interest of the patient to be told. Nursing home and elder abuse is a crime against the sick, elderly and helpless. Although many cases of nursing home abuse exist, many law firms are afraid to go after the mighty Wall Street investment firms that have so cleverly created corporate webs to protect their investments.

Continue reading "PENNSYLVANIA ELDER ABUSE LAWYERS Reiff & Bily SALUTE PENNSYLVANIA LAWMAKERS IN THEIR EFFORTS TO REVIVE BILLS TO PREVENT ELDER ABUSE IN PENNSYLVANIA" »

According to a recent article published by the New York Times on Sunday, October 26, 2008, so many members of the armed forces have been dying on motorcycles and sports bikes like the Ninja that the Navy and Marines have made special training mandatory. In just one weekend in September, the Navy lost four men in sport bike accidents.

As I have noted before in my blog, you can go out and purchase a motorcycle from a showroom floor without even having a motorcycle license to buy it or without having any special training. Some of the Ninja bikes will attain speeds of almost 200 mph. In the last 12 months, 50 of 58 sailors and marines killed on motorcycles were operating on such said sports bikes which are much faster than their cruiser counterparts. The Army also lost 36 soldiers on sport bike accidents in the same time period.

In just the last month in our law practice, which specializes in catastrophic personal injury accidents with an emphasis on motorcycle accidents, we noticed a tremendous amount of accidents with people under age 30 who are first time purchasers and have limited experience riding motorcycles. According to Tracy Martin who runs a private riding program aimed at high performance motorcycles, Air Force safety officials predict the military person most likely to die next is a male under the age of 25, working in maintenance, who has a sport bike and owns it less than a month. A direct correlation with those individuals represented by our law firm over the past 25 years. (New York Times article)

Continue reading "US MILITARY FORCES MAKE SPECIAL TRAINING MANDATORY FOR MOTORCYCLE RIDERS - PHILADELPHIA MOTORCYCLE LAWYER, JEFFREY REIFF, SALUTES THESE EFFORTS" »

A PHILADELPHIA PRODUCTS LIABILITY LAWYER SAYS THAT THE PUBLIC WILL PAY A PRICE

On November 3, 2008, the pharmaceutical giant Wyeth will take its case to the United States Supreme Court to argue that FDA approval of a drug supercedes state law challenging safety, efficacy and labeling. The drugmaker and the FDA will argue that preemption by maintaining the FDA’s actions are the final word on safety and effectiveness. This Court decision is extremely important and being closely watched by drug manufacturers and plaintiffs’ attorneys on behalf of their affected clients because the ruling will determine whether patients can sue drugmakers through state law when a product has already been approved by the FDA. In a press release, the drugmaker Wyeth argued that preemption protects everyone; “The Constitutional preemption is not new; the patients and physicians need to be able to rely on a single Federal standard and guidelines with the risks, benefits and uses of medicines - the FDA-approved labeling, and upholding preemption will leave America’s courthouse doors open to injured patients.”

This case stems from an instance where Vermont musician Diana Levine was given a Wyeth nausea medication called Phenergan during a visit to a hospital emergency room. However, the drug was administered improperly, causing her to lose her right arm below the elbow. She successfully argued that even though the labeling complied with the FDA requirements, the adequacy of the warning still wasn’t established for a particular method of administering the drug. She further contended that Wyeth wasn’t prevented from adding or strengthening the warning on the label even though the FDA rejected a proposed change. In the lower courts, Levine was awarded more than $6 million dollars. In spite of appeals, the Vermont Supreme Court sided with her. But Wyeth appealed again. No surprise the White House backs Wyeth on their preemption position. (New York Times article)

This case has been referred to as the mother of all preemption cases. If the Court accepts the position set forth by Wyeth and the FDA, the result will be an unprecedented elimination of remedies available to consumers injured by drugs. Many large corporations supported by the Bush administration have vigorously pursued the preemption argument to block the roadways to courts and prevent many injured plaintiffs from full ability to exercise their Constitutional rights. Preemption is a legal doctrine based on the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution which states that when Federal and State law are at odds, Federal law will take precedent. Its application to state tort litigation represents a radical extension of its original meaning.

Continue reading "UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT TO HEAR IMPORTANT PREEMPTION CASE ON NOVEMBER 3, 2008; COURT’S DECISION WILL DETERMINE WHETHER PATIENTS CAN SUE A DRUGMAKER THROUGH STATE LAW WHEN A PRODUCT HAS ALREADY BEEN APPROVED BY THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA)" »

I have been a lawyer since 1979, aggressively protecting the rights of catastrophically injured individuals. Yes, I am a greedy trial lawyer. I am greedy for justice. As I listen to politicians, including presidential candidates, conveniently noting that lawyers are like bottom feeders or the “scum of the earth” or where I hear ignorant people telling me that trial lawyers are greedy, I can only think to myself that had it not been for trial lawyers, the greed of corporate America and Wall Street would certainly doom us all. When one thinks of greed, we think intuitively that greed is bad. We think of a self-serving, selfish individual who cares about nothing but accumulating wealth. Until lately, we did not hear much about greedy banks, greedy insurance companies or greedy Wall Street investment firms. What we did hear about most is greedy trial lawyers. Today the individual taxpayers are left holding the bag for the most massive bailout of greed in the history of developed nations. It is only when we feel the pain individually that we have the tendency to catagorize something or someone as greedy. Anyone living in today’s world knows that trial lawyers have been under attack and many of the rules applicable to injured and innocent victims have been changed or legislated away to give big corporations more and more power. The most contentious area of tort reform, and the area in which tort reform advocates focus, is on personal injury and the greed of the trial lawyer.

I am fortunate to live and practice law in the United States where juries decide cases and where compensatory and punitive damages are available to injured plaintiffs and to assist in policing the system of corporate greed. Tort reform has become a contentious political issue particularly because of the alleged high cost of compensating injured victims. It is my feeling that lawyers are the silent policemen of society. We protect the hopes and the value of hope of innocent victims. How do you know if your household products or automobiles are defective and could be causing a potential injury to you or your family? How do you know if your medicines are doing more harm than good? How do you know if the toys you purchase are safe for your children? Under current law, many defective and hazardous products remain on store shelves and in medicine cabinets and are in the houses of millions of Americans and you never know they are dangerous. Government and big corporations get away with keeping this information from us. They seal public records in court cases and try to keep everything a secret, even when victims are successful in holding corporations accountable for defective and hazardous products. They are forced to enter into secrecy agreements which prevent them from informing other consumers of the injuries they defend. The practice of secrecy in tort reform is an example of how corporations can legally put profits over people. Politicians claim that lawsuit abuse destroys jobs, forces doctors out of business, and forces companies into bankruptcy. They want to deprive innocent and injured clients of the hope of the judicial system and the access to the courts dictated by the founding fathers of the United States Constitution. Corporations have and will continue to place profits over safety unless policed by trial lawyers and the court system.

Continue reading "I AM A GREEDY TRIAL LAWYER" »

Children’s product maker, Delta Enterprise Corporation, recalls 1.59 million cribs linked to infant deaths according to an article published in the Wall Street Journal on October 21, 2008. A spokesman for Delta Enterprise Corporation, a New York based company, stated that they are recalling 1.59 million cribs and the recall stems from two different types of problematic hardware used on the cribs sold from 1995 through 2005. The hardware, which includes safety pegs for one set of cribs and spring pegs for another, can create a hazard if not properly installed. The drop side of the cribs can fall and disengage creating a gap that can entrap and suffocate infants. The recall by Delta is the biggest in a series of crib investigations and recalls urged by The Consumer Product Safety Commission. In mid-September, the agency also announced a recall of 600,000 Simplicity Inc. drop side cribs involving hardware problems. A month earlier, 900,000 Simplicity convertible bassinets were recalled after Federal regulators linked the products to infant deaths from strangulation. In that case, metal bars were spaced too far apart to prevent infants from slipping through. The company has set up a website at www.cribrecallcenter.com for consumers. The site should be online by Tuesday, October 21st. Consumers may also call 1-800-876-5304. The Consumer Product Safety Commission will announce details of the recall on October 21, 2008. For more information on recalls, please see my blog article dated September 30, 2008.

Products can be purchased at many retail stores, wholesalers, supermarkets or even speciality outlets and they are all manufactured with the implicit guarantee that the purchased product is not defective. Products that are either defective or dangerous can cause injury or even death to thousands of people in Pennsylvania every year. Under the protection of product liability in Pennsylvania, consumers are often able to recover monetary damages stemming from or relating to injuries. Under Pennsylvania law, products must meet certain consumer safety requirements when being used in a lawful and normal manner.

The experienced product liability lawyers at Reiff & Bily specialize in severe and catastrophic injuries caused by defective products. We have almost thirty years of experience handling product liability cases throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and in other states across the nation. We are available to answer any of your questions regarding product liability. We offer no obligation and confidential evaluations by telephone or through our website. Please contact us today at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com if you have any questions or concerns.

CATASTROPHIC INJURY ATTORNEY, JEFFREY REIFF, WEIGHS IN

Another four people, including a 13 month old girl, died when a medical rescue helicopter crashed in Illinois early last week. The helicopter was headed for Children’s Hospital in Chicago. Authorities state that there was no distress call made from the pilots and believe that the helicopter may have hit a radio wire before it crashed. (news article)

Just prior to this, on September 30, 2008, a helicopter operated by the Maryland State Police crashed killing four people. An investigation revealed that the rescue helicopter was not equipped with a terrain awareness system that could have warned the pilot that he was flying dangerously close to a grove of trees, according the National Transportation Safety Board. (news article)

In the last 30 years of practicing catastrophic injury law, we are all too familiar with evacuations and rescues by helicopters from serious accidents. Many of our clients have recollected that the helicopter rides have been scarier than the actual accident. In the case of the Maryland accident, according to news sources, Stephanie Younger, the mother of one of the crash victims that died, stated that her teenage daughter was well enough to call her on her cell phone after the car accident and had no obvious injuries, just pains in her chest. It should be noted that the weather at the time of the crash was rain and fog, and the helicopter was flying at night. Mrs. Younger was quoted as asking “If the weather is already bad, why would you put a child by herself and without a parent in a helicopter?” On June 8th another helicopter crash in Texas killed a patient and three crew members.

Continue reading "NINTH FATAL HELICOPTER CRASH OF THE YEAR OCCURS PROMPTING THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD TO CALL FOR AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCREASE OF MEDICAL HELICOPTER CRASHES" »

Long term care insurance refers to the insurance for care taking and services beyond medical care and is used by people who have a disability or chronic illness or plainly just in their “golden years”. People are living longer these days and, unfortunately, normal health insurance policies and Medicare do not pay for long term care expenses. Long term care insurance typically covers the cost of health in your home with daily activities like bathing, dressing, eating, cleaning, adult daycare, visiting nurses, care in a nursing home or assisted living programs and services that are provided in a special residential setting other than in your home which services may include meals, health monitoring and help with daily activities.

Approximately ten years ago, a persuasive insurance agent convinced me that it was necessary to purchase long term care insurance for myself, as well as my aging parents. As any individual who has reviewed a newspaper within the past month can determine, many of the insurance companies in America are in deep financial crisis. It appears that there is much more trouble on the horizon for the beleaguered insurance industry. Recently, benefits for some 164,000 long term care policyholders at Conseco Senior Health Insurance Company may be in danger as they are moved to an independent trust. For more information on this, please see my blog article dated October 13, 2008.

Since 1979, I have exclusively devoted my legal practice to handling catastrophic injury and insurance claims cases. In the process, I have developed a fairly intimate knowledge of the insurance industry as I have worked with many experts including but not limited to actuaries, economists, lobbyists, product developers and insurance industry executives. As a financial investor, I have carefully studied trends and balance sheets of insurance companies. I have even been asked to participate in the start up of a few insurance companies. The field of long term care insurance is a fairly young industry and has been largely in the premium collection mode (to date) from the baby boomers who are now aging or have parents who are entering the “golden years” period of life. The financial weakness of the markets is starting to reveal its effect on even the major insurance industry players as they face declining sales and an aging population. Claims are being denied or delayed and premiums being increased in a more than harsh fashion in what this writer perceives as an attempt to negate or cancel policies for non-payment.

Continue reading "LONG TERM CARE INSURANCE - A CRISIS ON THE HORIZON" »

As a Pennsylvania insurance claims attorney, with a 30 year history of representing catastrophically injured plaintiffs and disputes against insurance carriers solely on a contingent fee basis (we don’t get paid until we win), obviously the financial concerns of the insurance companies and their ability to pay claims is on the front burner in our law firm. In the past few weeks, AIG has been front and center in the headlines. This was followed by an incident with Conseco which was written about in my blog of October 13, 2008.

On October 1, 2008, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid emerged from a luncheon on Capitol Hill and after speaking briefly to reporters about the financial crisis, mentioned that another insurance company was in danger of following AIG into failure. He mentioned “one of the individuals in the caucus today talked about a major insurance company, with a name that everyone knows, that’s on the verge of going bankrupt.” The Senator stopped short of identifying the insurance company. However, the stock market acting in a nervous fashion revealed that shares of Prudential, Hartford Financial Services and MetLife decreased in value on the following days and have been struggling to recover. The rumor mill continues to circulate rumors and facts, non-facts and supposed facts about various individual companies, solvency of insurance companies, and general doom and gloom predictions. Shares of stock in insurance companies fluctuated wildly on the New York Stock Exchange. Prudential Financial warned last week that it would miss third quarter forecasts due to a series of hefty charges on negative results of investments. MetLife recently raised an additional $2 billion dollars in capital by selling 75 million shares at a discount, while Hartford Insurance Company received a $2.5 billion capital injection from German financial services company, Allianz. To make matters worse, many insureds can no longer afford rising rates.

Continue reading "SPECULATING ABOUT THE FINANCIAL HEALTH OF INSURANCE COMPANIES OTHER THAN AIG IN PENNSYLVANIA AND HOW IT AFFECTS CLAIMANTS" »

PHILADELPHIA BUS ACCIDENT LAWYER, JEFFREY REIFF, SPEAKS OUT!

Eight people were killed and another 45 injured on Sunday, October 5, 2008 when a charter bus bound for a casino flipped over and rolled off into a ditch on a two lane highway north of Sacramento, California. Among the injured was the bus driver, Quintin Watts, 52 years old, who was hospitalized in critical condition and was also arrested the following Monday, October 6, 2008 on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. According to news sources, Robert Kays, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol noted that the driver was observed to be operating the vehicle in an erratic fashion prior to the collision. Mr. Kays also noted that California records revealed that the driver DID NOT have a valid certificate to transport passengers in a chartered vehicle. The Associated Press, quoting the mother of the driver on October 6th, stated that he had wrestled with drug and alcohol problems and had been jailed several times on drug charges and smashed his car into a tree a few years ago. In addition, the news agency stated that records showed that the driver had been cited for speeding and other violations that resulted in the loss of his driver’s license for nearly two years and he regained his driving privileges in January. Officials also noted that the bus had an invalid Texas license plate and an invalid registration serial number and was operated by Cobb Transportation, whose owner, Daniel E. Cobb, Sr., was among those killed. According to witnesses, the bus drifted into the oncoming lane of traffic soon before the crash and stayed there for approximately one half mile before it began swerving and over corrected at least three times when it finally rolled over, ejecting some passengers before landing in a ditch. (news article)

I have written a number of articles or blogs spotlighting the lack of proper safety regulation and concern for passengers. Notably bus passenger usage is on the increase in the United States and so too are the number of bus accidents that are causing personal injury and death. Surprisingly, most of these accidents are preventable. I am outraged when I review the facts of an accident such as the one that took place in California this week. Common carriers, which include but are not limited to commercial bus companies, owe a extraordinarily high duty of care to their fare-paying passengers. Such safety sensitive jobs or occupations mandate testing for drugs, alcohol, sleep disorders as well as careful background checks of operators. Fatalities from accidents such as above are on the rise. As more and more accidents are occurring, it is important that the bus companies, drivers and other employees be held accountable for negligence and gross negligence which contributes to such bus accidents. It is equally as important for the State and Federal government agencies to implement tighter safety standards and regulations for common carriers and the manufacturers of buses that transport precious cargo.

Continue reading "ANOTHER PREVENTABLE BUS ACCIDENT KILLS INNOCENT VICTIMS - DEJA VU " »

The Virginia based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute determined that 13 booster seats failed to properly position and protect children during a crash.

The Institute which conducts crash studies of new vehicles did not recommend the following seats:

Compass B505
Compass B510
Cosco/Dorel Traveler
Evenflo Big Kid Confidence
Safety Angel Ride Ryte
Cosco/Dorel Alpha Omega
Cosco/Dorel (Eddie Bauer) Summit
Cosco Highback Booster
Dorel/Safety 1st (Eddie Bauer) Prospect
Evenflo Chase Comfort Touch
Evenflo Generations
Graco CarGo Zephyr
Safety 1st/Dorel Intera

IIHS President, Adrian Lund, said that the 13 boosters “may increase restraint use by making children more comfortable but they don’t position belts for optimal protection”. Evenflo released a statement stating that it conducts extensive tests and that IIHS study was “misleading as it fails to consider the real world use and performance of seats tested”. Evenflo further remarked that they had sold more than 4 million units of the seats studied by the Institute and “we are not aware of a single incident in which a child was injured as the result of improper fit”. Other child seat manufacturers noted that their products meet or exceeded Federal regulations. Dorel Juvenile Group stated “it welcomes the opportunity to review the evaluation conducted by the IIHS”. Graco Children’s Products stated in a statement that “safety is always a top priority and nothing is more important than the well being of the children that use their products”.

Continue reading "13 CHILD BOOSTER SEATS RECEIVE A POOR RATING ACCORDING TO REVIEW BY THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY AND RESEARCHERS - PHILADELPHIA DEFECTIVE CHILD SEAT ATTORNEY, JEFFREY REIFF, WEIGHS IN" »

PENNSYLVANIA HOTEL LIABILITY LAWYER, PENNSYLVANIA HOTEL LIABILITY LAWYER, JEFFREY REIFF, WEIGHS IN

According to a story published on September 28, 2008 by the Sunday News in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, inspectors for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, responding to consumer complaints at the Holiday Inn in Lancaster County, were surprised when they found a laundry list of offenses. According to the article, when the hotel’s walk-in refrigerator failed, hotel employees moved the contents to a guest room for cooling. The room’s air conditioner was turned all the way down to 65 degrees, 25 degrees higher than the maximum temperature allowed by Pennsylvania State Health guidelines. On the same day of the food inspection, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement Officers searched the hotel and found that it was selling liquor without a license and had been doing so for over a year when the ownership changed hands and new owners never sought to renew the liquor license. It is reported that Treasury officials claim that the hotel had failed to pay taxes since July 21st and it is impossible to determine how much the hotel owes due to the fact that the figures come from the hotel’s monthly reports which are not accurate or complete either (according to the report). According to records, the State Department of Revenue placed a lien on the property for $29,259.28 in unpaid sales taxes for November and December 2007. Employees of the hotel paint and even grimmer picture for this Lancaster County Holiday Inn. They state that paychecks have been late, have been bounced and they have been paying insurance premiums out of their paychecks, yet, this hotel is not actually carrying insurance, according to reports.

One employee found this out the hard way when he went in for surgery and was told he did not have insurance, even though he had been paying for it through his employer. It was further reported that housekeeping employees have been instructed to rinse out and reuse disposable supplies in guest rooms. This included refilling used shampoo bottles and rinsing out and reusing trash bags. It was further reported that utilities and cable have been shut off at the hotel for failure to pay bills and that the building has failed fire code inspections as well.

Continue reading "HOLIDAY INN IN LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA DOESN’T PLAY BY THE RULES - ARE THEY PUTTING THEIR CUSTOMERS AT RISK?" »

PHILADELPHIA NURSING HOME ABUSE ATTORNEY, JEFFREY REIFF, WEIGHS IN

According to a study referred to by Robert Pear in the New York Times on Monday, September 29, 2008, more than 90% of nursing homes were cited for violations of Federal Health and Safety standards last year, and for profit homes more likely have problems than other types of nursing homes, Federal investigators stated in a report issued Monday, September 29, 2008. According to the article, about 17% of nursing homes had deficiencies that caused “actual harm or immediate jeopardy” to patients according to a report by Dr. Daniel R. Levinson, the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. (New York Times article).

Problems included bed sores, medication mixups, poor nutrition and abuse and neglect of patients. Inspectors received 37,150 complaints about conditions in nursing homes last year and this substantiated 39% of them the report said. About 1/5 of the complaints verified by Federal and State authorities involved the abuse or neglect of patients.

About 2/3 of nursing homes are owned by for profit companies, while 27% are owned by non-profit organizations and 6% by government entities according to the report. The Inspector General noted that 94% of for profit nursing homes were cited for deficiencies last year, compared with 88% of non-profit homes and 91% of government homes.

“For profit nursing homes have a higher average number of deficiencies than other types of nursing homes,” Mr. Levinson said. “In 2007, for profit nursing homes averages 7.6% deficiencies per home, while non-profit and government homes averaged 5.7 and 6.3% respectively”. On Monday, Mr. Levinson issued a compliance guide for nursing homes that says some homes have “systematically failed to provide staff in sufficient numbers with appropriate clinical expertise to serve their residents”.

Continue reading "94% OF NURSING HOMES WERE CITED FOR VIOLATIONS OF FEDERAL HEALTH AND SAFETY STANDARDS LAST YEAR - FOR PROFIT HOMES MORE LIKELY TO HAVE PROBLEMS THAN OTHER TYPES OF NURSING HOMES CLAIM FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS " »

PHILADELPHIA CATASTROPHIC INJURY LAWYER CALLS FOR MORE REGULATIONS AND OVERSIGHT BY GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY AS THESE INCIDENTS BECOME MORE PREVALENT WITH SEVERE CONSEQUENCES

Just over a week following the catastrophic commuter rail collision in Los Angeles that killed 25 people involving the operator/engineer text messaging another preventable accident occurred in Ocala, Florida when a truck driver rear-ended a school bus on Tuesday, September 23rd, killing a 13 year old and injuring other students while he was on his cell phone just before impact. Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer, Jeffrey Reiff, has been an advocate of limiting cell phone usage by vehicle operators for many years.

A Florida highway patrol report indicates that Reinaldo A. Gonzales, age 30, of Orlando, Florida told investigators that he had been on the phone just before the 1991 Freight Liner he was operating slammed into the stopped school bus. The police report indicated driver distraction, careless driving, and possible faulty brakes as contributing factors of the crash on U.S. 301 south of Citra, Florida. Surprisingly, Gonzales, the operator, was not charged and not in police custody. Investigators were also investigating other factors that may have contributed to the crash, including Gonzales’ driving log to learn how long he had been behind the wheel and the Department of Transportation records indicating that his rig had been sidelined for 12 ½ hours before the crash for faulty brakes. An early report of the crash also revealed that Gonzales’ truck was inspected at a weigh station on Interstate 95 and was taken out of service for brake problems. The Florida Department of Transportation rules require that when a truck is taken out of service, the problem must be fixed before the vehicle is allowed to continue. Also, it is noteworthy that on April 12, 2007 transportation officials sidelined the Gonzales truck for having a broken headlight and having three tires with minimal tread, according to DOT records. Failing to fix a safety problem after a truck is taken out of service can relate to a $2,500 fine and loss of the driver’s commercial driver’s license. Witnesses at the scene of this accident said there was no indication that Gonzales tried to stop before crashing into the bus. Gonzales, who was the owner/operator of the rig, told another truck driver that he did not see the school bus. Gonzales had a history of additional DOT safety infractions since getting his license to drive commercial tractor/trailers in 2005 but none were serious enough to sideline him. (video)

Continue reading "CELL PHONE USAGE BY OPERATOR CAUSES TWO MAJOR CATASTROPHIC INCIDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES IN SEPTEMBER 2008" »

Physically unharmed plaintiffs may still collect emotional distress damages in strict product liability cases the Pennsylvania Superior has ruled in a case of first impression. A three judge panel voted 2 to 1, with Judge Orie Melvin concurring and dissenting, to uphold a $4.5 million dollar jury verdict in favor of two people, one of whom was killed and the other was seriously injured by a flying fire hose and to three close relatives who witnessed the accident but sustained no physical injury. Defendants argued that Pennsylvania law does not recognize awards for emotional distress under a theory of strict liability and also argued that under Pennsylvania law negligent concepts are “distinct from the product liability doctrine”.

A majority in Schmidt v. Boardman, led by Judge Cheryl Allan, called those arguments meritless. “We conclude that in Pennsylvania, a bystander-plaintiff who witnesses injury to a close relative can recover emotional distress damages when the injured person’s underlying cause of action is based on strict product liability rather than negligence” wrote Judge Cheryl Allan. Judge Allan was joined by John T. Bender. Attorney Arnd N. von Waldow of Reed, Smith in Pittsburgh, who was handling the appeal for defendant-manufacturer, said that he and his clients were planning to appeal the ruling and that this decision will not be the last word. For information on this case and the ruling, please see Schmidt v. Boardman Company, 2008 PA Super 203 (Pa.Super.CT. 9/2/2008). (opinion)

Continue reading "EMOTIONAL DISTRESS DAMAGES OKAYED IN PRODUCTS LIABILITY CASES SAYS THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE SUPERIOR COURT IN A CASE OF FIRST IMPRESSION" »

According the Wall Street Journal, Federal Regulators have turned to retailers to conduct two huge recalls of potentially dangerous cribs and bassinets. This is an unusual request highlighting gaps in a recall system based on voluntary action by manufacturers and has lead all marked stores and other retailers to get tough with a Reading, Pennsylvania company. According the Wall Street Journal, recalls of the Simplicity brand of children products from last month of 900,000 convertible bassinets and another on Wednesday of 600,000 cribs have saddled retailers with headaches and expenses and halting product sales and issuing customer refunds. Many retailers are seeking compensation from the new owner of the Simplicity brand, SFCA, Inc. of Reading, PA, which bought the assets and brand of Simplicity Inc. at a public auction in April, after the company went out of business the month before. SFCA says it is not liable for products made before the acquisition and has refused to conduct a recall of the defective goods which have been linked to several infant deaths. SFCA still argues that although it is not liable for the recalled products, it says “it values its good relationship with its retail customers” and is “working in close cooperation with retailers to help facilitate all aspects of the recall”. Initially after removing all Simplicity bassinets from its 3,500 stores and its website, WalMart said it has returned to its store shelves the models deemed safe and still carries Simplicity products that are made by the defunct manufacturer. For more information on this story, please link to the Wall Street Journal article. (Wall Street Journal article)

Continue reading "FEDERAL REGULATORS HAVE TURNED TO RETAILERS TO CONDUCT TWO HUGE RECALLS OF POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS CRIBS AND BASSINETS - RETAILERS ARE SEEKING COMPENSATION FROM A READING, PA COMPANY - PHILADELPHIA PRODUCTS LIABILITY LAWYER, JEFFREY REIFF, EXPLORES LOOPHOLE" »

PA PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY, JEFFREY REIFF, SPEAKS OUT ABOUT THIS BELIEVE IT OR NOT STORY

According to a report issued by the Associated Press on September 24, 2008, two pilots for Hawaii’s Go! Airlines, who slept through their flight’s landing procedure, were suspended for careless and reckless operation of an aircraft according to the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday, September 23rd. Captain Scott Oltman, 54, was cited for failing to maintain radio communications and had his license suspended for 60 days and First Officer Dillon Shepley, 24, was suspended for 45 days. No action was taken against Go! Airlines because accordingly, “they did nothing wrong and provided the pilots with a 15 hour break before their shift, nearly double what the FAA requires”. The National Transportation Safety Board had determined that the two pilots fell asleep on a February 13th flight from Honolulu to Hilo. Captain Scott Oltman was later diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea which causes people to stop breathing repeatedly, preventing a restful night of sleep. It is still unclear how both pilots fell asleep on a brief morning flight which was carrying 40 passengers. No problems were found after examining the aircraft’s pressurization and carbon monoxide level. The pilots failed to respond to nearly a dozen calls from air traffic controllers over a span of 17 minutes. In recordings obtained by the Associated Press, the controller was heard repeatedly trying to contact the pilots and talks to the pilot on another Go! flight in hopes of reaching Flight 1002. According to the AP report, finally after 44 minutes into what is normally a 45 minute flight, the controller was able to establish radio contact with the pilots. By that time, the plane had passed the airport at Hilo by 15 miles. The controller ordered the flight crew to return. (news article)

As I review this article, I am astounded, however not really so, as I think about the many cases we have handled involving commercial vehicles, including bus drivers and truck drivers and railroad workers where sleep apnea of “falling asleep at the wheel” was diagnosed as a major cause of fatal accidents. As noted in my September 5, 2008 blog, Federal regulations in the near future will mandate truck and bus drivers in safety sensitive positions to be tested for sleep disorders to decrease crash rates and fatalities. It was determined that many truck drivers, bus drivers and railroad workers suffered from a disorder known as obstructive sleep apnea, which was diagnosed as a major cause of excessive daytime sleepiness, leading people to fall asleep while sitting, reading and even driving. According to yearly statistics, more than 13,000 fatalities and 70,000 injuries were directly caused by drowsy driving. Surprisingly, 53% of Americans report driving while drowsy and another 19% have reported nodding off while behind the wheel, and another 23% of American drivers claim to personally know of someone who has crashed due to drowsy driving.

Continue reading "FALLING ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL NOT JUST LIMITED TO TRUCK DRIVERS, BUS DRIVERS OR OTHER COMMON CARRIERS - SURPRISINGLY AND SHOCKINGLY - 2 AIRLINE PILOTS WERE SUSPENDED FROM SERVICE DUE TO RECKLESS AND CARELESS OPERATION OF A COMMERCIAL PASSENGER AIRCRAFT" »

PHILADELPHIA DEFECTIVE CHILD SEAT ATTORNEY ADVISES PARENTS ON OTHER POTENTIAL SEAT DEFECTS AND HOW TO FURTHER PROTECT YOUR CHILD.

Over an 8 year period from 1999 to 2007 researchers noted that overall child restraint use increased from 51% to 81% in children younger than 9. During the same period, age appropriate restraint use, including booster seats among children 4 to 8 years old quadrupled from 15% in 1999 to 63% in 2007. Research indicates that for 4 to 8 year-olds booster seat and proper child seat usage reduces the risk of injury in a crash by 59%. Booster seats elevate a child’s small body to insure proper seat belt fit, better protecting them in the case of a crash. Kristy Arbogast, Ph.D., the Director of Engineering at The CHOP Center for Injury Research and Prevention where a long-term study was conducted stated “Along with the increase we see in the number of kids riding in child restraints, we can also see changes in the types of restraints they are using now versus 10 years ago. More 4 and 5-year olds are riding in booster seats now, rather than car seats with built in harnesses, with slightly more of them in high back booster seats than backless. But among the 6 through 8 year olds, backless booster seats are far more prevalent than high back booster seats”.

When you place your child or infant in a safety seat, you expect and trust the manufacturer has designed a safe seat that will protect your child in the case of an accident. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Once again, often we find that many manufacturers place profits over safety and design child safety seats according to Federal standards, which are really minimum standards. Often there are design defects that are not revealed during testing and many times, testing is not done or when it is done is done under real world conditions testing of the seats. Effectively designed child seats have lead to many injuries and deaths which were easily preventable. When the child’s seat does not operate properly, its ineffectiveness can be more dangerous than failing to use the seat itself in that it can cause additional injuries for the child or fail to protect the child from serious harm or death.

Continue reading "CHILD BOOSTER SEAT AND RESTRAINT USE IN THE UNITED STATES IS HIGHER THAN EVER ACCORDING TO A REPORT RELEASED ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2008 BY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA (CHOP) AND THE ASSOCIATION FOR AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURERS (AIAM)" »

PENNSYLVANIA INSURANCE CLAIMS AND PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER, JEFFREY REIFF, REITERATES HIS ADVICE TO CLIENTS - REMAIN CALM - DO NOT PANIC - THE STATE INSURANCE COMMISSION HAS THE SITUATION UNDER CONTROL WITH AIG

Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, Joel Ario, informed AIG Policyholders in Pennsylvania that the Insurance Commission’s most recent examination of AIG Companies indicate that they are financially sound and their insurance policies are safe. “Making sure that insurance companies are financially stable is a top priority with the Rendell administration”, stated Commissioner Ario. Ario further stated “I want to insure Pennsylvania policyholders that AIG Insurance Companies doing business in our Commonwealth are solid and have the assets needed to pay present and projected claims”.

As my previous blogs have noted, we have received calls of concern from AIG insureds or from plaintiffs who have claims against AIG insureds and we have told them not to panic, that all will be fine.

While it is understandable that many consumers are concerned and have questions concerning their claims or their policies, the state has financial safeguards in place as outlined in my blog of September 22, 2008. On a national level, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has established a working group to oversee AIG’s insurance interests and coordinate with federal regulators as needed. Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, Ario, serves as a Vice Chairman of this Committee.

Continue reading "AIG UPDATE - UPDATE FOR CONCERNED PENNSYLVANIA INSUREDS AND CLAIMANTS" »

Kamar Jackson, age 29, was killed in a hit and run accident last Saturday. The suspect, Carlos Rodriguez, turned himself in a day after the accident after the Jackson family pleaded for the driver to so. According to news sources, Rodriguez eventually admitted to being in a strip club and getting behind the wheel of his SUV while drunk. (news article)

On September 16th, I noted in my blog that Pennsylvania legislature Rep. David Reed was looking to change provisions in Pennsylvania law to close a loophole that some say actually encourages people who are under the influence to leave the scene of an accident, as was the case with Carlos Rodriguez.

The Philadelphia hit and run lawyers at the Philadelphia personal injury and hit and run accident law firm of Reiff & Bily salute Representative David Reed and all like-minded legislators who sponsor legislation that was heard in the State House Judiciary Committee earlier in September.

Continue reading "YET ANOTHER HIT AND RUN ACCIDENT BY A DRUNK DRIVER CLAIMS THE LIFE OF EAGLES’ STAR JAMAAL JACKSON’S BROTHER" »

Although many states define a motorcycle as a motor vehicle, motorcycles by their design offer many safety issues with the driver. Motorcycles offer very little protection to riders in the event of a crash or collision, often leading to severe injuries and fatalities. Many safety devices are available for purchase from motorcycle manufacturers or after market. It is important to consider such safety devices that (1) increase the visibility of motorcycles to other traffic such as activation of headlights; (2) installation of crash bars to help reduce lower leg injuries; and (3) the installation of ABS braking systems to enhance the motorcycle’s breaking performance in stopping situations. Most importantly is the knowledge that operating a motorcycle safely in traffic requires special skills and knowledge.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania maintains a motorcycle safety program which teaches the operator the basic skills necessary to operate a motorcycle. All Pennsylvania drivers should take advantage of the opportunity to read the motorcycle operator’s manual published by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as take the Pennsylvania motorcycle safety program. Additionally, while riding the motorcycle, one should wear proper protective clothing and head gear, ride within your limits, obey the law and “share the road” with other highway users. You should always wear a helmet designed to meet DOT and State standards. Helmets with a label from Snell Memorial Foundation gives you an added assurance of quality. Make sure that the helmet fits snugly all the way around and has no obvious defects such as cracks, loose padding or frayed straps. Whatever helmet you choose to wear, make sure it is securely fastened on your head when you ride.

Since 1979 the Pennsylvania motorcycle accident lawyers and the Philadelphia personal injury lawyers at Reiff & Bily have represented many motorcyclists who have been seriously injured or killed in motorcycle accidents in Pennsylvania and throughout the country.

Continue reading "PHILADELPHIA MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT LAWYER, JEFFREY REIFF, OFFERS TIPS ON HOW TO REDUCE YOUR CHANCE OF INJURY OR DEATH WHILE OPERATING A MOTORCYCLE" »

A press release issued by Mercury Insurance Group on September 16, 2008 presents five excellent safety tips for parents faced with the challenge of choosing the first car for their teens. The suggestion from the Mercury Insurance Group focus on safety, which also helps to lower the cost of auto insurance. The personal injury and automotive safety and vehicle defect lawyers at the Pennsylvania personal injury law firm of Reiff & Bily salute Mercury Insurance Company for their suggestions and promulgation of automobile safety.

According to the Mercury Insurance Group press release, new teens spend countless hours dreaming of owning their first car. A fast sports car conjures exciting images, while an SUV has ample room for all of their friends and both vehicles have one thing in common, neither is a good choice for teens.

Mercury suggests setting ground rules that may ease the polarized view points shared by parents and their teens.

Tip 1: Watch the speed. Driving fast cars with turbo chargers and high horse power continue significant risk. Since car accidents are the leading cause of death among 15 to 20 year olds, 1/3 of those accidents are attributable to speeding. Any fast car is an unwise choice. A good choice is a vehicle with a 4 cylinder engine and an average horsepower which costs less to insure and may save lives.

Continue reading "THE MERCURY INSURANCE GROUP PROMULGATES FIVE TIPS DESIGNED TO PROTECT YOUNG DRIVERS TO FOCUS ON SAFETY ALSO HELPS TO LOWER THE COST OF AUTO INSURANCE" »

On September 15, 2008, the beleaguered insurance company, American International Insurance Group, one of the nation’s and world’s largest insurers is struggling for survival. I received an email and call from an agent at one of the nation’s largest insurance brokers telling me that many clients are “in a panic” and asking me for my “take” on this situation. According to sources, AIG is getting help from the Insurance Commissioners of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, as well as the Federal Government, in raising cash while swapping its subsidiaries liquid assets for those that are difficult to convert into cash by the parent company. As an experienced insurance claims attorney for almost 30 years, let me share my thoughts and attempt to calm your fears. (www.reiffandbily.com).

If you have a policy with AIG Insurance Company, “they are solvent and have the ability to pay claims”, said Sandy Praeger, President of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in a press release on September 16, 2008. “Our job is to ensure they continue to have the ability to pay”. The New York State and Pennsylvania Insurance Departments are working with AIG to review transactions involving turning illiquid assets into liquid ones. Praeger stated “State insurance regulators will only approve this type of action if there are assured that it is part of a total resolution of liquidity at the parent company and fairly compensates its insurance company subsidies”. AIG’s New York and Pennsylvania companies have approximately $120 billion dollars in total assets, about half of which is Class 1 bonds. The regulators must issue that any assets being exchanged or at least of equal quality or the financial strength of the insurers will be negatively affected. The Pennsylvania Insurance Commission is closely moderating the fate of AIG and its impact on the citizens in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to an Associated Press story on September 17, 2008, the United States Government will infuse taxpayer funds into the company, granting the U.S. Government an 80% stake in the giant insurer and the right to remove senior management. According to sources, the AIG affiliated automobile insurance companies remain on solid footing. The auto insurance unit is well capitalized. Roger Schmelzer, President of the National Conference of Insurance Guarantee Funds in Indianapolis states “that the holding company is at issue right now”. The holding company could go bankrupt and for policyholders it would just be business as usual. We emphasize that AIG insured’s should not panic. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a Guarantee Association in place to protect policyholders in the event of an insurance company failure. Insurance industry analysts and government officials advise that there is little for policyholders to worry about. There are safeguards in place, similar to FDIC insurance that backs up bank deposits. AIG has 11 insurance units in Pennsylvania regulated carefully by the state.

Continue reading "FINANCIAL CRISIS AT AIG HAS LARGE AND CONFUSING IMPACT ON PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY AUTOMOBILE OWNERS INSURED WITH AIG - PHILADELPHIA PERSONAL INJURY AND INSURANCE CLAIMS LAWYER JEFFREY REIFF ADVISES HIS CLIENTS NOT TO PANIC - SAFEGUARDS IN PLACE." »

Imagine this scenario, you go to a restaurant or franchise later in the evening to enjoy a meal and you are assaulted, stabbed or shot by one of the restaurant’s employees. Imagine another scenario, you are at your home, order takeout, and the delivery man comes and assaults or kills you or a loved one.

In the last few months, Philadelphia personal injury attorney, Jeffrey Reiff, was contacted by individuals who had each suffered a separate and catastrophic incident as mentioned above.

Many restauranteurs employ security systems, attend conferences, hire the best security consultants and set forth rules to insure a safe, crime free workplace and the safety of their customers and employees. But despite the focus on security, horrible crimes are defeating the best systems in place. According to an article published in Nations Restaurant News (www.nrn.com) since 2003, 341 restaurant employees and an unknown number of guests have been murdered on restaurant properties according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although the number of deaths fell more than 25% between 2003 and 2004, the number is headed north again, jumping nearly 21% from 73 deaths in 2005 to 88 deaths in 2006.

The NRN article quotes Chris McGoey, head of Crime Doctors, a security consulting firm with offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles, “All the studies I’ve seen say that late night retail and your businesses (restaurants) are the leading sites of employee homicides in the United States and the number one place for male fatalities in the workplace”. Mr. McGoey goes on to state “As more chains open 24 hours, we will experience more workplace violence, serious injuries and death in the restaurant business because I don’t think your industry gets it”.

Continue reading "AS THE ECONOMY CONTINUES TO WORSEN, RESTAURANTS EXPOSE THEMSELVES TO LIABILITY AND OTHERS TO HARM WITH INCREASED LATE NIGHT HOURS, INADEQUATE SECURITY AND IMPROPER BACKGROUND CHECKS ON EMPLOYEES - A PHILADELPHIA INADEQUATE SECURITY LAWYER WEIGHS IN." »

Some Pennsylvania legislators are looking to close a loophole in state law that some believe actually encourages people who may be under the influence to leave the scene of an accident. Under the current Pennsylvania law, the penalty for leaving the scene of a fatal accident is a year in jail. But, if the same driver stays at the scene to render assistance and is found to be under the influence, the penalty can be much stiffer, as much as five years. Rep. David Reed, R-Indiana, is looking to change that provision.

Representative David Reed, an Indiana county Republican, is the sponsor of legislation that got a hearing before the State House Judiciary Committee this past week. Basically, the loophole that exists in Commonwealth law states that if you are involved in a hit and run accident involving a fatality, this would actually encourage someone to leave the scene of an accident as opposed to stopping and rendering aid. Representative Reed correctly noted that currently under Pennsylvania law, the penalty for a fatal hit and run is a year in prison. So for a driver under the influence that flees the scene of a mandatory fatal accident and is apprehended later after sobering up, it is a mandatory one year sentence but if that same driver stops to offer assistance and is found to be legally intoxicated, it is a mandatory three years in jail. Reed’s bill would raise the minimum sentence for fleeing the scene of a fatal accident from one year to five years. For more information on Pennsylvania laws concerning leaving the scene of an accident link to the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code CH. 37; scroll to Subchapter C. www.dmv.state.pa.us

Continue reading "PENNSYLVANIA HIT AND RUN LAWYER SALUTES PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATOR LOOKING TO CLOSE LOOPHOLE IN STATE LAW THAT SOME BELIEVE ACTUALLY ENCOURAGES PEOPLE WHO MAY BE UNDER THE INFLUENCE TO LEAVE THE SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT - A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION" »

The National Auto Safety Group is calling on the States to raise the minimum driving age to 17 or 18 years old. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, raising the driving age will save lives. Vehicle accidents are the largest cause of death among teenagers.

In 2006, 3,490 drivers age 15 to 20 died in automobile crashes. High school teens, ages 15 to 17, were involved in 974,000 crashes nationwide and 406,427 of those teenager accidents involved injuries and the resulting economic impact of those accidents was over $40 billion dollars. According to a study performed by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the State Farm Insurance Company, one teenage passenger with a teen driver doubles the risk of a fatal crash. The risk is 5 times higher with two or more teen passengers. Many states in the nation that have raised the legal driving age limits or commenced a graduated licensing program have seen a noticeable drop in teen crash death rates over the past few years.

When this writer was 16 years of age, I narrowly escaped a catastrophic death or injury by being in the wrong place at the right time. On a warm August evening, I was asked to go on a ride with four other friends and due to other plans made by my parents, was unable to meet my friends at the scheduled time for pickup. The next morning, I received a call that three of my dear friends were killed when their speeding car went out of control on Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia, PA and struck a tree. Nothing has impacted my life more than this thought which creeps into my mind with all too frequent occasion as I litigate catastrophic teenage driving accident cases. (www.reiffandbily.com)

Graduated licensing, which has become the standard across the United States in the past 15 years, requires teenagers to spend more time driving with a parent or other responsible adult before they go solo.

Continue reading "INSURANCE COMPANIES STEP UP THEIR EFFORTS TO INCREASE THE MINIMUM DRIVING AGE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES; PHILADELPHIA PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER APPLAUDS THEIR EFFORTS" »

On Monday, September 8, 2008, a 74 year old grandmother of six was on her way to buy lotto tickets and chat with friends over coffee when she was struck by a SEPTA bus at Broad Street and Oregon Avenue and rushed to Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, PA with severe trauma. Unfortunately, the grandmother died at 4:00 p.m. on September 10, 2008, just three hours after Philadelphia police indicated that a SEPTA bus struck and injured another man in a wheelchair at 8th Street and Girard Avenue in Philadelphia, PA. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, SEPTA officials noted one similarity with both incidents; both victims had the right-of-way when they were hit. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, SEPTA spokesman, William Maloney, stated that the grandmother, who was struck by SEPTA bus, was “well within the crosswalk, we just don’t know what occurred”.

In the other separate incident, Philadelphia police stated that the Route 47 bus turned onto 8th Street from Girard Avenue about 1:00 p.m. on September 10, 2008, just as a man in his 40's rolled his wheelchair into the crosswalk, where he had the right-of-way. According to the Philadelphia Daily News article, the footrest of the chair caught under the bus’s left front tire and dragged him 5 to 10 feet. Police said he was treated for a fractured foot at Hahnemann University Hospital. SEPTA officials stated that neither the driver or the victim saw each other because of trucks parked near the corner. (Philadelphia Daily News Article)

I have written much on my blog about bus accidents and the increase of fatalities and deaths as a result of careless driving and other faults. To this writer, it is unacceptable and causes extraordinary concern that two innocent pedestrians, who clearly had the right-of-way, were hit in one day by SEPTA drivers in two separate accidents. (www.reiffandbily.com)

Continue reading "IN TWO SEPARATE ACCIDENTS ON THE SAME DAY, SEPTA BUSES STRIKE AND KILL ONE PHILADELPHIA GRANDMOTHER WHO HAD THE RIGHT-OF-WAY AND SEVERELY INJURED ANOTHER HANDICAPPED VICTIM IN A WHEELCHAIR." »

BMW A.G. has recalled 200,000 vehicles due to the fact that they are concerned that the front passenger airbags may not deploy in a crash. The German automaker noted that the recall involves a 2006 3-Series, the 2004-2006 5-Series and 2004-2006 X3 sport utility vehicle in the U.S. The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration stated in a posting on its website that small cracks could develop in the seat detection mat and deactivate the front passenger airbags. It is further advised that the airbag warning lamp and the passenger airbag “on-off lamp” would remain on. BMW advised that there were no accidents or injuries reported due to this alleged recall defect.

NHTSA opened an investigation into the issue in September 2007 and upgraded its probe in January. In addition to the vehicle under the above recall, the ongoing investigation also includes the 2004-2006 Z4, 2006 X5, 2006-6 Series and some 2004-2006 7-Series vehicles. NHTSA has stated that BMW received 23,739 RT claims over the airbag system by early January. To respond to this problem, BMW said it will extend its warranty to 10 years without any mileage limit for the following vehicles: 2006 6-Series, 2006 3-Series with standard seats, 2004-2005 Z4, 2004-2006 7-Series, 2006 X5, and 2004-2006 5-Series with comfort seats. BMW stated that under the extended warranty program, the detection mat in the vehicle with the airbag system problems would be replaced at no charge to the customer. For more information, owners are asked to contact the manufacturer at 1-800-525-7417 or NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236.

The Pennsylvania airbag defect and SUV rollover law firm of Reiff & Bily has been representing victims (in Pennsylvania and throughout the United States) who have been injured as a result of a defective airbag deployment or non-deployment. Airbags when properly designed prevent death and catastrophic injury. Unfortunately, many airbag systems were designed poorly, resulting in thousands of injuries and fatalities. An individual should assume that an airbag will provide an extra level of protection for drivers and passengers of motor vehicles. Many times defective airbags fail to deploy all together or deploy with too much force, causing injuries such as paralysis, severed brain stems, broken necks, blinding, brain hemorrhages, temporomandibular joint syndrome, facial bone fractures, disfigurement, burst hearts, and other serious injuries or fatalities. Surprisingly, even a low impact or low speed collision can cause an overly aggressive airbags to deploy with too much force, causing an injury that would not have occurred had this defectively designed airbag not been involved.

Continue reading "PHILADELPHIA AIRBAG DEFECT AND SUV ROLLOVER ATTORNEY SALUTES BMW USA IN THEIR RECALL OF 200,000 CARS AND SMALL SUVs FOR AIRBAG DEFECT - A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR CONSUMER SAFETY." »

In the past, I have written much on my blog about the duties owed by common carriers, including but not limited to commercial bus companies and their drivers and trucking companies and their drivers, to the public to make sure that such safety sensitive positions require testing for drugs, alcohol and common sleep disorders.

It has been determined that many truck drivers, bus drivers and railroad workers suffer from a disorder known as obstructive sleep apnea that is a major cause of excessive daytime sleepiness that leads people to fall asleep while sitting, reading, and even driving. According to yearly statistics, more than 13,000 fatalities and 70,000 injuries are directly caused by drowsy driving. Surprisingly, 53% of Americans report driving while drowsy and another 19% have reported nodding off while behind the wheel. Another 23% of American drivers claim to personally know of someone who has crashed due to drowsy driving.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has taken positive action. This government organization has established a medical expert panel on sleep apnea to determine the prevalence and effect of sleep apnea on commercial truck drivers. A nationally known sleep expert, Dr. Mark Mahowald, Director of The Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center and past President of The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, states that it is absolutely indefensible that Federal Highway Safety officials do not have commercial truck and bus drivers screened for sleep disorders. “This is a major safety issue. There is no reason not to enact guidelines to check drivers.”

The Philadelphia truck accident law firm of Reiff & Bily has been representing clients injured by semi-trucks, tractor trailers, 18 wheeler trucks, delivery trucks and common carriers in Pennsylvania since 1979.

Continue reading "FEDERAL REGULATIONS IN THE NEAR FUTURE WILL MANDATE TRUCK AND BUS DRIVERS IN SAFETY SENSITIVE POSITIONS TO BE TESTED FOR SLEEP DISORDERS TO DECREASE CRASH RATES AND FATALITIES" »

According to the Bucks County Courier Times, an Upper Makefield woman and her daughter were injured on Monday, August 26, 2008 after their SUV flipped over on Route 1 Superhighway in Middletown, PA. The cause of the accident initially was indicated to be a wicker chair flying off the back of a pickup truck, landing on the highway, causing the Upper Makefield woman to make an emergency accident avoidance maneuver, swerving around the chair, causing her black Suburban to overturn. The driver of the SUV was listed in critical condition at St. Marys Hospital in Middletown, PA and her daughter was flown to Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. The mother was ejected from the vehicle.

At the Pennsylvania SUV rollover firm of Reiff & Bily, we have been investigating, researching and litigating SUV rollover and 15 passenger van rollover cases for many years. These vehicles all have a high center of gravity and are noted to be the most unstable vehicles on the roadways. Almost always, the press and the automotive manufacturers are quick to blame the driver who was simply taking an evasive action to avoid an emergency situation, such as the one mentioned in the Bucks County case. A chief hazard in operating SUVs occurs when the driver takes an emergency action, steering in one direction and then rapidly correcting in the opposite direction, resulting in the rollover of the unstable vehicle. If you watch the television advertisements or read the newspaper advertisements, one would think that sport utility vehicles are built for strength and safety and designed to be driven off the road. Yet very few of them have roll bars and, worse yet, very few meet the National Highway Safety Administration roof safety standards for automobiles. Even though those standards are minimal.

In the last 10 years, sport utility vehicles have taken over America’s roads. One of every six new vehicles sold in the United States is an SUV and now there are over 20 million of them in the nation’s garages. Auto makers defend SUV rollover cases vigorously and do not want consumers to know about their abysmal safety record. When people spend upwards of $35,000 for upscale SUVs, they assume that they are purchasing the safety and stability of vehicles used in off road experiences and in the case with the Hummer, the stability of a vehicle used in combat.

SUV rollovers are the most common cause of spinal cord injury and paralysis due to roof collapse. Most of the SUVs lack an adequate roof strength to withstand a rollover accident. When the car rolls over, the roof generally collapses on the head of the occupant causing crushed necks and spines leading to paralysis. As the roof collapses, the windows are caused to break, setting the stage for an ejection from the vehicle. Most of the American made SUVs do not have roll bars and the older models lack electronic stability control, which was placed in newer models, and has been fairly effective in preventing more serious injuries. Not only does the SUV have a higher center of gravity, making them top heavy and prone to rollover, the distance between left and right tires and the middle of the vehicle reveals a very narrow wheel base, causing the vehicle to easily tip over in an accident avoidance maneuver. Since SUVs and 15 passenger vans are top heavy, any quick turning of the steering wheel in an accident avoidance maneuver can cause the SUV to flip over.

Continue reading "ANOTHER PENNSYLVANIA SUV DRIVER ACCIDENT AVOIDANCE MANEUVER CAUSES YET ANOTHER SUV TO FLIP OVER SERIOUSLY INJURING A MOTHER AND DAUGHTER IN BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA" »

As gas prices continue to rise in Pennsylvania and the rest of the nation, bus and school bus transportation is at an all time high. As a direct consequence of this rise in bus passenger usage is the increase in the number of bus accidents that cause personal injuries and death.

Several million individuals will board public transportation and school buses this year. As public transportation by bus becomes a more popular mode of travel, more individuals will be at risk of being involved in a bus accident and accident induced injuries. Studies indicate that ridership has increased significantly in the past five years with fatalities and injuries from accidents also on the rise. There are over 500,000,000 bus drivers registered in the United States, with this number continuously on the rise. As more accidents occur, it is important that bus companies, their drivers, and other employees be held accountable for the negligence that contributes to such bus accidents. It is equally as important for the state and federal government agencies to implement tighter safety standards and regulations for common carriers and the manufacturers of buses that transport precious cargo.

In the last two weeks of August 2008 alone, an accident occurred involving two tour buses in Northwest New Jersey, sending dozens of Pennsylvania and New Jersey citizens to hospitals. According to the State Police, one of the buses was braking for traffic and changed lanes, hitting the rear of a second bus. The second bus was caused to move into the median, quickly dipping down about 50 feet, causing the bus to turn over on its side according to Sgt. Robert Billings of the New Jersey State Police. There were nearly 100 people on board both buses. On August 26, 2008, another bus accident occurred where a pedestrian was struck by a New Jersey Transit bus in Camden County. Earlier this summer, 50 teens, including 7 New Jerseyites were on a tour bus when it crashed and burned during a cross-country summer trip. That crash occurred when a tour bus driver missed a curve, causing the vehicle to go off a state highway while the youths were on a tour to Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah. The tour bus landed upside down in a creek bed and caught fire and burst into flames. 47 teenagers and a half dozen chaperones were onboard according to the Highway Patrol.

At the Philadelphia personal injury law firm of Reiff & Bily, we have been researching, investigating and litigating bus accident cases for almost 30 years.

Continue reading "PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY BUS ACCIDENTS SPOTLIGHTS THE LACK OF PROPER SAFETY REGULATIONS AND CONCERN FOR PASSENGERS" »

On January 19, 2002, Benetta Buell-Wilson of San Diego, California was driving her 1997 Ford Explorer on an interstate highway when she swerved to avoid a metal object in the road and the SUV went out of control. The vehicle skidded across the highway and rolled more than 4 ½ times when the Explorer came to rest on its roof. The accident left the 49 year old woman crushed and paralyzed. A California jury awarded Buell-Wilson and her husband $369,000,000, including $246,000,000 in punitive damages. The state courts of California reduced the amount of the verdict. However, the California Court of Appeals approved an $82.6 million dollar settlement, including $55 million in punitive damages.

The experienced Philadelphia motor vehicle accident and personal injury lawyers at the law firm of Reiff & Bily have been handling SUV Explorer rollover and 15 passenger van rollover cases in Pennsylvania and other states in the nation with a successful track record. The Explorer and other SUV’s are flawed because they have a higher center of gravity and are prone to rollover. Also, research indicates that the Explorer roofs are inadequate to protect occupants in a rollover accident and Ford was aware of knowledge of these designs flaws but failed to fix them. Ford has consistently argued that the verdicts against them are unjust because the design of the vehicles meets minimal federal safety standards.

On February 8, 2008, the Ford Motor Company paid $6.5 million dollars to a 41 year old man left brain damaged in a 2004 rollover accident involving an Explorer sport utility vehicle that a Texas jury ordered them to pay. In that claim, Ruben Camora lost control of his 1993 Explorer when a tire lost its tread and he was ejected from the vehicle as it rolled over. His mother, who sued on his behalf, noted that the tread separation set off vibrations on the rear of the vehicle that caused it to skate sideways because of a defect in the SUV’s suspension.

Continue reading "PENNSYLVANIA SUV ROLLOVER LAWYER WEIGHS IN ON DESIGN DEFECTS INHERENT TO SUVs AND I5 PASSENGER VANS IN PENNSYLVANIA AND THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES" »

Another young individual was killed while sending a text message moments before an auto crash.

On Sunday, August 17, 2008, Fox News reported that in Highland, California, a 16 year old girl died after losing control of her car while texting on her phone moments before the accident. The report not only indicated that Kayla Preuss of Highland, California, was driving on Interstate 10 when she lost control of her car, it also noted that she was drunk and had been speeding.

On April 7, 2008, I noted on my blog a case where the distracted driver of another vehicle in Pennsylvania was texting his girlfriend a message while his close friend and passenger innocently sat in the backseat of the vehicle. That vehicle driver lost control of the SUV he was in, causing it to rollover and causing the innocent passengers to be ejected out of the vehicle resulting in permanent and catastrophic injuries that could have easily been prevented. I am consistently amazed at how many people are driving while having a conversation on a cell phone or text messaging, even though it is against the law. Any “plain fool” can recognize that a person with a cell phone or PDA in one hand and driving with the other hand, will not have their complete attention paid to the road and hence, will not have their vehicle in complete control if an emergency situation arises. The distracted driver is a major cause of car accidents and rollovers.

The experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyers at the Pennsylvania motor vehicle accident law firm of Reiff & Bily have over 30 years experience handling of motor vehicle rollover and catastrophic loss cases.

Continue reading "USAGE OF CELL PHONE WHILE DRIVING TAKES ANOTHER TEEN’S LIFE" »

On August 14, 2008, the National Highway and Transportation Safety Authority (www.NHTSA.gov) noted in their study that the overall number of traffic fatalities in 2007 reached its lowest level since 1994.

The 2007 annual assessment of motor vehicle crash fatalities of people injured revealed a 3.9% decline in people killed in the United States from 42,708 in 2006 to 41,059 in 2007. This reduction in fatalities is the largest in terms of number and percentage since 1992. Although passenger car occupant fatalities declined for the 5th consecutive year and light truck occupant fatalities dropped for the 2nd consecutive year, it is noteworthy that motorcycle fatalities continued their 10 year increase, reaching 5,154 in 2007, the highest level since NHTSA started collecting fatality crash data in 1975.

Motorcycle fatalities now account for 13% of all total fatalities. In Pennsylvania, the number of fatalities dropped to 1,491 in 2007 from 1,525 in 2006, a change of -2.2%. Internet users may access these crash statistics and other general information on traffic safety at www.nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/CATS/index.aspx.

Continue reading "2007 TRAFFIC ANNUAL ASSESSMENT HIGHLIGHTS" »

Many years ago, one of my law partners, John Morrissey, was catastrophically killed when his vehicle collided with the rear-end of a truck parked on the side of the road in the dark of evening. This is known as a truck rear underride accident. Unfortunately, underride accidents are a common cause of death and catastrophic injuries. An underride occurs when a passenger's vehicle collides with the rear-end or side end of a truck, trailer or other large commercial vehicle, does not equip with a defective underride guards or bumpers, without an underride rail, lower bumper or guard, the vehicle underrides the trucks rear or side frame by traveling beneath the chassis of the larger vehicle. The impact between the heavy frame of a truck, whether in the rear or on the side, is equally devastating to the occupants to the car or vehicle. The roof support or roof pillars of the vehicle are not engineered to withstand the tremendous forces of such a crash and can collapse as a result of the wedge effect of the deadly impact forces.

For almost 30 years, the Pennsylvania motor vehicle lawyers at Reiff & Bily have handled thousands of motor vehicle accident cases involving trucks, buses and automobiles.

In January 1996, NTHSA issued two new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSSs) that were designed to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities resulting from the collision of passenger vehicles with the rear-ends of heavy trailers and semi-trailers. The first standard, FMVSS number 223, "where impact guards" specifies the performance or requirements the rear impact guards must meet. The second standard, FMVSS number 224 "rear impact protection" requires that most new trailers and semi-trailers with a GVWR of 10,000 pounds or more be equipped with a rear impact guard that meets the requirements of FMVSS number 223. The requirement of these FMVSSs became effective in January 1998. NTHSA had been studying the issue of rear underride cases for many years and proposed solutions to the problems as early as 1981. The agency had taken two approaches to the problem. The first deals with increasing the conspicuity of large vehicles in an effort to prevent rear impact crashes. FMVSS number 108, "lamps, reflective devices and associated equipment" requires retro reflective materials on the sides and rear of all trailers of 80 or more inches width and with a gross vehicle GVWR of 10,000 pounds or more. That standard became effective in December 1993 and has been proven to be very effective in reducing incidents or rear and side impacts into trailers and semi-trailers. Even with the existing and new legislation, rear underrides are going to still occur due to the large number of older trailers, buses and other large scale commercial vehicles on the roads of the United States.

Continue reading "CATASTROPHIC UNDERRIDE TRUCK ACCIDENTS A LEADING AND PREVENTABLE CAUSE OF DEATH" »

ONE LAWYER’S OPINION ON CRASH-WORTHINESS

As the price of gas continues to rise, manufacturers make increasing promises stressing fuel efficiency. The Smart Car, which has been operating for an extensive period of time on the streets of European capitals, is now making a presence in Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles and other major metropolitan areas. It is said that the Smart Car is supposed to get 40 miles per gallon and the manufacturer claims that the Smart Car is also smartly safe. Statistics are of it being 8.8 feet long and slightly wider and taller than 5 feet, the Smart Car is one of the smallest cars on any road in any country, weighing in at about 700 pounds versus the weight of a standard SUV of 4,000 pounds.

The United States “ForTwo" version has a three cylinder, 700 cc engine, which is smaller than the engine of a motorcycle that I used to operate before becoming involved in defective automotive product liability and safety. The previous model, the Smart for City coupe was tested in 2000 and it received a three star out of five star rating. Most cars received a four or five star safety rating, so three stars is low, stated Euro Ncap spokeswoman Cordelia Wilson. The Smart Car is approximately three feet shorter and 700 pounds lighter than the Mini Cooper. The President of The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, Adrian Lund noted “all things being equal in safety, bigger and heavier is always better, but among the smallest cars, the engineers among the Smart Car did their homework and designed a high level of safety in a very small package”. Many will argue that the Smart Car has a crash-worthy design for its size when equipped with the latest safety gear, which is important to such a small car. The standard equipment on this car includes seat mounted combination airbags designed to protect the heads and chests of both the driver and passenger and also electronic stability control or ESC. ESC is important not only in a Smart Car, but in all cars as it enables drivers to maintain control during accident avoidance or emergency maneuvers or on slippery roads.

Of significant concern to this writer is that the Smart Car lacks a sufficient front-end crush zone, which is a key component in reducing injury risks in serious frontal crashes. Research indicates that a stiff side structure and standard side airbags contribute to good smart ratings and a side test which replicates a crash with a pickup truck or SUV. However, it is important to note that the driver’s door unlatched during the crash. This confirmed a finding noted by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s side test of a Smart Car released last month. The Institute downgraded the Smart Car’s structural rating from good to acceptable. It is important that doors not unlatch in crashes because it could allow a complete or partial occupant ejection which could lead to catastrophic injuries. Statistics indicate that the risk of death is much higher in crashes of much smaller and lighter vehicles.

Continue reading "WITH GAS PRICES RISING, IS BUYING THE NEW SMART CAR A SMART DECISION WHEN IT COMES TO SAFETY ?" »