Philadelphia Injury Attorney Blog

In my home, I was often yelled at by my wife or kids for failing to turn off the burner on our stovetop. This has happened unfortunately on more than one occasion. What I recently learned is that I wasn’t always as forgetful as I seemed.

Recently, a number of electronic ranges were recalled for fire and burn hazards after discovery that the burners on the top of the range can fail to turn off after being placed in the off position and that the temperature can also increase unexpectedly during use.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and LG Electronics have voluntarily recalled approximately 161,000 LG electric ranges for burns and fire hazards that the allegedly defective product poses. The recall announcement of November 8, 2012 indicates that the burners on the electric range can fail to turn off after being placed in the off position.

Continue reading "During the Holiday Season or Any Other Day for that Matter, Make Sure Your Stovetop or Oven Does Not Fail to Turn Off as There Was Just a Significant Product Defect Recall" »

A 28-year-old man rented a Bobcat Skid Steer Loader to clear an area of his parent’s property. When he was operating the tractor in a wooded area, a branch became lodged under the loader’s bucket and entered the cab below the safety bar that restrains the operator. The branch struck the operator in the lower abdomen and lifted his body towards the roof in the rear of the cabin crushing him to death.

His Estate sued the manufacturer and distributor of the machine alleging design defects and failure to warn claims contending that the manufacturer and distributor was aware that the machine was going into the rental market where it might be used by people outside the construction trade with knowledge of the dangers of front end cab penetration.

Continue reading "Design Defect and Failure to Warn Allegations Made by Claimant against Manufacturers and Distributors of Bobcat Skid Steer Loader Resulting in Verdict for Victim" »

I have been a scuba diver since I was 13-years old, egged on by one of my favorite early TV heroes Mike Nelson in the TV show “Sea Hunt”. I could not wait to get my first double hosed regulator which today seems primitive if you are a scuba diver.

Recently, I learned of the potential for diving hose rupture which poses a serious drowning hazard as it reduces the air supply to divers beneath the surface. Approximately 17, 000 Miflex High Pressure scuba diving hoses distributed and imported by XS Scuba, Inc. of Santa Ana, California and manufactured by Miflex 2, Villasanta, Italy have been voluntarily recalled by the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in cooperation with the Miflex firm. Any consumers or divers should stop using the Miflex High Pressure diving hoses due to a potential drowning hazard.

According to news sources, XS Scuba has received reports of approximately 189 hose failures and a high pressure hose is used to monitor cylinder pressure for the air supply tanks in scuba diving tanks. The hoses have a retail price of $44 to $60 dollars and were sold between May 2009 and April 2012 as replacement gage hoses and cascade hoses for the following models. The Deluxe Cylinder Equalizer with Miflex HP hose, P/N AC366, Miflex Two-Gage Console, HL300/HL300M, Miflex Rebreather kits MRB-EVO-LG, MRB-EVO-MD, and MRB-ISP-POST-LG.

The Pennsylvania product liability, swimming accident, and drowning accident law firm of Reiff & Bily is committed to protecting the public and consumers from injury or death associated with the use of consumer products.

As an experienced scuba diver with an advanced open water certification, I advise anyone using this scuba high pressure hose to immediately cease using the same. If you or a loved one has suffered an injury due to defectively designed or manufactured diving or scuba gear, contact our Philadelphia defective product attorneys for a free no obligation consultation 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.