March 20, 2019 Kurt Niland Personal Injury

Chili’s Restaurant Employee Falls into Vat of Scalding Water

A Florida Chili’s restaurant worker was badly burned after falling into a vat of scalding hot water and now the restaurant faces more than $62,000 in penalties for workplace safety violations that may have contributed to the accident. According to documents published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), on Oct. 2, 2018, an employee of a Miami-area Chili’s restaurant was working on an elevated platform above a Frymaser Rethermalizer full of 185-degree water. The appliance is an industrial kitchen machine used to heat frozen and chilled pre-packaged foods. OSHA doesn’t describe the employee’s injuries in detail, but it’s ... Read More

March 20, 2019 Kurt Niland Personal Injury

‘LA’s Finest’ Stunt Accident Seriously Injures Show Producer

An accident on the set of the television series LA’s Finest that injured two of the show’s executives last month has resulted in a partial leg amputation. According to Deadline Hollywood, executive co-producer Brandon Sonnier and co-showrunner Brandon Margolis were rushed to Los Angeles area hospitals after a stunt being filmed for a car crash scene in San Pedro, California, resulted in a real crash. A source told Deadline that a stunt car crashed into a cargo crate, which sent the container and the car hurtling into the area behind the crate where the producers and director were watching the ... Read More

March 20, 2019 Kurt Niland Consumer Fraud

Veterans Sue 3M for Defective Combat Earplugs

Department of Defense contractor 3M faces a series of lawsuits representing hundreds of veterans who allege the company provided U.S. armed forces with defective combat earplugs that failed to work as intended and led to hearing loss and tinnitus as a result. The lawsuits, filed in multiple states including Maryland, Texas, South Carolina and Florida, follow a $9.1 million settlement between 3M and the U.S. government over the same dual-ended Combat Arms Earplugs, Version 2. That agreement resolved allegations that Aearo Technologies, a company that 3M later bought, violated the False Claims Act by selling the U.S. defective combat earplugs ... Read More

March 19, 2019 Kurt Niland Personal Injury

Families of Lion Air Victims Take Boeing to Court in US

The families of some of the Lion Air passengers who died when their flight crashed in Indonesia Oct. 29 are suing Boeing Co. in Seattle Municipal Court in Washington, alleging the aircraft manufacturer is partially to blame for the deadly crash. The lawsuit, which has grown to include about 21 family members, alleges that faulty equipment on the brand-new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft contributed to the crash. Specifically, the plaintiffs claim that faulty sensor readings informed the autopilot system, causing the airplane to make several anti-stall maneuvers that weren’t needed and put the aircraft in danger. The erroneous readings ... Read More

March 19, 2019 Kurt Niland Personal Injury

FMCSA Rolls Back Some Truck Driver-Trainee Requirements

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is relaxing training requirements for Class B commercial truck drivers seeking to upgrade to a Class A commercial driver’s license (CDL) by eliminating redundant classroom instruction. The rule change, published by the FMCSA in the Federal Register on March 14, is actually a rollback of driver training regulations published in December 2016. Under that rule, truck drivers upgrading to a Class A CDL from a Class B CDL must undergo the same level of “theory training” as individuals obtaining a CDL for the first time. In addition to restricting the types of heavy ... Read More

March 19, 2019 Kurt Niland Food, Product Liability

Nearly A Fifth of Avocados Test Positive for Listeria, FDA Finds

Avocados are one of nature’s superfoods, but if you don’t take a minute to wash your avocado before eating it, you could become seriously ill, results of federal food safety tests indicate. Nearly 18 percent of avocados tested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2014 were positive for Listeria monocytogenes on the outer skin. While the outer skin is inedible, cutting into an unwashed avocado can transfer the germs to the inside of the fruit, potentially leading the consumer to develop listeriosis, a form of food poisoning that can be very serious, even deadly, to some. The ... Read More

March 18, 2019 Kurt Niland Personal Injury

Ethiopian Airlines Jet Experienced Problems Similar to Lion Air Flight

The Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed March 10 began experiencing harrowing problems within a minute of takeoff from Addis Ababa, entering into dangerous flight patterns that were similar to those experienced by the Lion Air flight that crashed five months earlier in Indonesia. Citing information shared by an unidentified source involved in the investigation, the New York Times reported that upon takeoff, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 accelerated to dangerous speeds before oscillating up and down by hundreds of feet. The motions of the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft suggest its autopilot system repeatedly entered anti-stall maneuvers that the pilots couldn’t ... Read More

March 18, 2019 Kurt Niland Personal Injury

Paint Fumes Triggered Texas Apartment Explosion, Investigators Say

A Fort Worth, Texas, man was severely burned on much of his upper torso when paint fumes that had accumulated to dangerous levels inside his apartment exploded. The explosion happened just before 5 a.m. March 12, inside the man’s apartment, Fort Worth Firefighter Mike Drivdahl told WBAP. He added that the injured man and another person were in the apartment painting when something ignited the paint fumes that had built up inside. The man is in serious condition and is being treated at the burn unit at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The other ... Read More

March 18, 2019 Kurt Niland Consumer Products, Personal Injury

HP Expands Lithium-Ion Battery Recall Over Fire, Burn Risks

HP has expanded a recall of the lithium-ion batteries used in some of its notebook computers and mobile workstations after receiving several reports of overheating and fire-related incidents, including one burn injury. The recall covers about 78,500 lithium-ion battery packs installed in some computers or sold separately as accessories. The batteries were shipped with or sold as accessories for the following HP products: HP ProBooks (64x G2 and G3 series, 65x G2 and G3 series, 4xx G4 series) HPx360 (310 G2) HP Pavilion x360 11-inch Notebook PC HP 11 Notebook PC HP ZBook (17 G3, and Studio G3) mobile workstations ... Read More

March 17, 2019 Kurt Niland Personal Injury

Two Workers Suffer Burns, Electrocution in Omaha Construction Accident

Two construction workers suffered serious burn injuries and other trauma at a construction site near downtown Omaha, Nebraska, when the bucket lift they were in made contact with power lines. Omaha’s WOWT 6 News said a police report on the March 11 accident listed the men as employees of Ronco Construction, an Omaha-based company that carries out construction projects throughout the Midwest. A witness told investigators at the scene that the boom truck made contact with a power line as the men were in the raised bucket. One of the men was ejected from the bucket and fell four stories ... Read More

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