San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog

4-Year-Old Kayley Ishii of Mission Viejo, California was killed at her home after she climbed into a front loading washing machine which was then turned on by her 1-year-old brother. Kayley Ishii was inside the water filled washing machine for approximately 2 minutes before she was found by her mother. She was taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center but later died from her injuries.

It is unbelievable that a 1-year-old could turn on a washing machine without any assistance from an adult. However, the power button for the machine was located less than 20 inches above the ground and within easy reach of the toddler. That would seem to be a very reckless and negligent design defect for this product. Combined with the fact that children could easily climb inside it and you have a combination of tragically poor design defects.

If the product design is defective, California law requires that the manufacturer be "strictly liable" (meaning that they can be held responsible even though the manufacturer acted reasonably) for Kayley Ishii's death.

The Jurewitz Law Group sends it prayers and thoughts to the Ishii family. Nothing is more tragic than losing a child, particularly under such tragic circumstances.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission and Playland International of Carrollton, Georgia, announced a voluntary recall of Arch Swing Sets commonly used in San Diego County playgrounds. The recall notice is here.

The reason for the recall is that the metal around the welds on the top of the set frame can fail and cause the top bar to fall injuring children and bystanders.

The Arch Swing Sets were sold between September 2001 through May 2006 and are constructed of 3.5 inch metal frames that come in a variety of colors. Illustrative pictures are here:

If you are concerned that you, a neighbor, or a public park are using the Arch Swing Set after the recall, please let them know about it right away. If you want any more information or you have been injured by a defective Arch Swing Set, please contact the experienced defective product attorneys at the Jurewitz Law Group at 888-233-5020.

San Diego residents suffering from food poisoning due to salmonella in their peanut butter products appear to be the victim of a Texas processing plant that went unlicensed and uninspected for years.

The Plainview, Texas plant for Peanut Corporation of America was never inspected until it came under investigation by the FDA.

Inspectors have not found any trace of salmonella at the plant but have determined that the plant had been operating without a license and without inspection for years.

Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence. The company's sister plant in Blakely, Georgia revealed roaches, mold, and numerous positive tests for salmonella.

The Jurewitz Law Group hopes that federal and state health inspectors do their job now that this outbreak has spread nationwide and shut these plants and Peanut Corporation of America down. If you have been exposed to salmonella food poisoning, please immediately go see a doctor and receive urgent health care. Our office is available at anytime after you've received health care. Please call us at 888-233-5020 and speak to a lawyer about your food poisoning injury.

On Thursday, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled that a seatbelt manufactured by Takata Corp. of Japan was safe and met federal safety standards. The ruling ended a lawsuit brought by car owners who had claimed that the TK-52 seatbelt--installed in approximately 4 million cars in California--was improperly tested and subject to its' buckle opening during collisions.

Lawyers for the car owners vowed to appeal.

None of the car owners claimed that any of the seatbelts were actually defective. Nor did they claim that they had been injured by the seatbelts. The allegation was that the seatbelt would fail in the future.

Other class-action lawsuits against Takata had been previously dismissed in other lawsuits.

Federal preemption of state laws is a dry subject. It puts lawyers and law students asleep.

However, the consequences of preemption can be both real and significant.

The Supreme Court recently in Riegel v. Medtronic decided that a state tort injury actions for defective medical devices are barred when the FDA grants the device premarket approval through the federal Medical Devices Act.

With such a technical ruling, the national media has largely ignored the far-reaching significance of this ruling. However, MSNBC's Keith Olberman recently took on the federal preemption issue in Riegel--and took the opportunity to bash Bush (shocker!)--in his usual one-sided presentation of facts.

Like Ronald Miller of the Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, who drew our attention to the video, I'm not a big fan of Olberman. In fact, I'd probably agree to any derogatory term used to describe him and he hasn't been funny or clever since his time on ESPN. But he deserves some credit for taking notice of this ruling.

Earlier this year, the United States Supreme Court held in Riegel v. Medtronic that lawsuits based upon state tort law were preempted (barred) by federal law IF the FDA had granted the alleged defective product "pre-market approval" as a medical device.

The protections given to medical device manufacturers in Riegel may be extended to pharmaceutical drug manufacturers when the Supreme Court hears Wyeth v. Levine later this year.

However, Congress is looking at legislatively reversing the Supreme Court's ruling. Beginning tomorrow, hearings will be held in the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to discuss the effect of the Riegel decision and the effect an extension in Wyeth may have.

Write your Congressman and Senators and tell them that legislative reform is needed to provide protections to victims of defectively designed medical devices. If a medical product is defective, a manufacturer should not escape liability simply because the FDA signed off on it--perhaps before the actual defect is discovered after long-term human use.