Chinese drywall was apparently used in more than 600 New Orleans homes built by nonprofits, such as Habitat for Humanity, following Hurricane Katrina. That tally includes about half of the 72 single-family homes and fives duplexes in the "Musician's Village," one of Habitat's most successful post-Katrina rebuilding projects.
Hurricane Katrina was a major factor in the development of the Chinese drywall crisis. Te massive rebuilding that followed the 2005 storm, along with the housing boom that led to the large-scale importation of Chinese wallboard. Of the 2,702 Chinese drywall that complaints made to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), more than 500 originated with Louisiana homeowners. Many of the homes in the state rebuilt after Katrina, especially in and around New Orleans, contain Chinese drywall.
According to a report on HeraldTribune.com, Habitat for Humanity and charities it supplied built as many as 600 homes using wallboard made by Taishan Gypsum Co., a company controlled by the Chinese government. In fact, starting in early 2007, a stockpile of Taishan drywall - 120,000 sheets - became Habitat's main source of wallboard, and the organization even continued using the Taishan product until last month. It only stopped after it received a form letter from the CPSC in November stating that Chinese drywall not to be moved or sold without prior notification to the federal government.
Taishan has been accused of being a major culprit in the Chinese drywall disaster. In fact, lawsuits against Taishan will be among the first to go to trial next month in the Chinese drywall multi-district litigation issued a default judgement against Taishan for failing to respond to lawsuits.
Officials with Habitat in New Orleans insist that the Taishan drywall it used has not caused any problems, and told HeraldTribune.com that tests it conducted in March proved the wallboard did not contain any of the sulfur compounds linked to corrosion and other problems. But according to the HeraldTribune.com report, Habitat only tested a few indoor air samples, not the actual drywall, to reach that conclusion. The CPSC and other government agencies investigating the drywall problems have already said that such tests likely won't detect tainted wallboard.
A New Orleans Habitat official told HeralTribune.com that the organization has only received 2 complaints about drywall problems, but neither checked out. One home was built too early, and did not contain Taishan drywall, while the other did not have a common problems. The official said that if the Taishan drywall was causing problems in homes, "we think we would have heard something from our families by now." Unfortunately, it is well known that corrosion, odors and other problems with Chinese drywall often don't show up until 12 to 24, so its really too early to say that all homes built with Habitat's Taishan drywall are safe.
Despite the fact that it stopped using the Taishan drywall, Habitats official in New Orleans still maintain the organization's stockpile was safe. According to HeraldTribune.com, Habitat has not conducted any targeted inspections of the homes it built to look for corrosion, and has no contingency plan in place should any corrosion problems surface.
This article was provided by NewsInferno.com
http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/17743#more-17743
Defective products are millions of people a year and cause millions of dollars of damage. In New Orleans, there is a growing trend of property damage and health concerns caused by a batch of contaminated drywall used to build and repair homes after Hurricane Katrina. If someone you know has been affected by a defective product of some kind, please don't hesitate to call Murphy Law Firm at 225-928-8800 or visit our website below concerning defective products.
http://www.batonrougeinjuryaccidentattorney.com/defective%20products.html
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Boat driver: Coast Guard vessel sped before crash
SAN DIEGO(AP) - Alan Deweese's lights were on, he says, when a U.S. Coast Guard boat rammed his 26-foot Sea Ray, killing his 8-year-old son and injuring five others aboard.
The lights are just one reason witnesses and survivors are struggling to understand why the Coast Guard boat crashed into the packed recreational boat Sunday night at the 38th annual San Diego Bay Parade of Lights, a popular showcase for boats decked in Christmas lights.
DeWeese had borrowed his father's boat and invited two other families to watch the parade on its 5-mile route past downtown skyscrapers and the famed Coronado Bridge. The 33-foot Coast Guard patrol boat, meanwhile, was responding to a report of a grounded vessel.
"It seems like it was going full speed when it hit," said Barbara Maloney, who watched from her 6th-floor hotel room. "We didn't notice them slow down at all. I assume they didn't see it."
The Coast Guard has not yet provided answers. It expressed condolences to the DeWeese family Monday and said three probes were under way. The National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to San Diego, and the Coast Guard and San Diego harbor Police also are investigating.
"We look forward to discovering what the facts were," Capt. Thomas Farris, commander of the Coast Guard's San Diego sector, told reports Monday.
There were 13 people aboard the DeWeese boat Sunday, Anthony Cole DeWeese, 8, died in the crash. Two other children were injured and taken to Rady Children's Hospital, and three adults were transported to University of California, San Diego Medical Center, Fire Department spokesman Maurice Luque said.
None of the five people on the Coast Guard boat were injured.
Bob Furry was watching from his hotel room when he said he saw a boat blaze across the bay with a flashing blue light.
"We said, 'Jeez, it's going really fast.' We thought it was some kind of hot-dogger," he said.
Alan DeWeese turned around, but it was too late. He estimates the Coast Guard boat was traveling 35 mph to 45 mph and that he was moving no faster than 3 1/2 mph.
"I thought, why is he going to fast? I figured he was going to turn at same point but he kept coming at us," DeWeese, 44, told The Associated Press on Monday.
He came up so fast I didn't have time to react," DeWeese said.
Roger DeWeese said his deceased grandson had been an ice hockey goalie.
"He was a spark plug," said DeWees, who was not on the boat during the crash. "He liked just about everything."
The boy's father, also a hockey player, said his son enjoyed life to the fullest.
During the parade in San Diego Sunday, boaters festooned the decks with Christmas lights. In keeping with this year's theme, "Christmas at the Zoo," some participants dressed up as giraffes and pandas.
There were about 80 boats in this year's parade, from a 12-foot canoe to a 157-foot yacht.
The parade drew about 80,000 people on Dec. 13 and again Sunday, said Ron Sheehan, vice chairman.
This article was written by Elliot Spaga of The Associated Press with the help of Greg Risling of The Associated Press in Los Angles.
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/other/1110/12-22-2009/20091222010507_06.html
If you have been involved in an accident while on a boat, please contact Murphy Law Firm at 225-928-8800.
The lights are just one reason witnesses and survivors are struggling to understand why the Coast Guard boat crashed into the packed recreational boat Sunday night at the 38th annual San Diego Bay Parade of Lights, a popular showcase for boats decked in Christmas lights.
DeWeese had borrowed his father's boat and invited two other families to watch the parade on its 5-mile route past downtown skyscrapers and the famed Coronado Bridge. The 33-foot Coast Guard patrol boat, meanwhile, was responding to a report of a grounded vessel.
"It seems like it was going full speed when it hit," said Barbara Maloney, who watched from her 6th-floor hotel room. "We didn't notice them slow down at all. I assume they didn't see it."
The Coast Guard has not yet provided answers. It expressed condolences to the DeWeese family Monday and said three probes were under way. The National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to San Diego, and the Coast Guard and San Diego harbor Police also are investigating.
"We look forward to discovering what the facts were," Capt. Thomas Farris, commander of the Coast Guard's San Diego sector, told reports Monday.
There were 13 people aboard the DeWeese boat Sunday, Anthony Cole DeWeese, 8, died in the crash. Two other children were injured and taken to Rady Children's Hospital, and three adults were transported to University of California, San Diego Medical Center, Fire Department spokesman Maurice Luque said.
None of the five people on the Coast Guard boat were injured.
Bob Furry was watching from his hotel room when he said he saw a boat blaze across the bay with a flashing blue light.
"We said, 'Jeez, it's going really fast.' We thought it was some kind of hot-dogger," he said.
Alan DeWeese turned around, but it was too late. He estimates the Coast Guard boat was traveling 35 mph to 45 mph and that he was moving no faster than 3 1/2 mph.
"I thought, why is he going to fast? I figured he was going to turn at same point but he kept coming at us," DeWeese, 44, told The Associated Press on Monday.
He came up so fast I didn't have time to react," DeWeese said.
Roger DeWeese said his deceased grandson had been an ice hockey goalie.
"He was a spark plug," said DeWees, who was not on the boat during the crash. "He liked just about everything."
The boy's father, also a hockey player, said his son enjoyed life to the fullest.
During the parade in San Diego Sunday, boaters festooned the decks with Christmas lights. In keeping with this year's theme, "Christmas at the Zoo," some participants dressed up as giraffes and pandas.
There were about 80 boats in this year's parade, from a 12-foot canoe to a 157-foot yacht.
The parade drew about 80,000 people on Dec. 13 and again Sunday, said Ron Sheehan, vice chairman.
This article was written by Elliot Spaga of The Associated Press with the help of Greg Risling of The Associated Press in Los Angles.
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/other/1110/12-22-2009/20091222010507_06.html
If you have been involved in an accident while on a boat, please contact Murphy Law Firm at 225-928-8800.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Recall of 2.1 million is biggest for cribs yet: Regulators get reports of four infant suffocations
WASHINGTON - The head of the Consumer Product Safety Commision conceded Tuesday the agency "hasn't been acting as quickly as it should" on crib safety problems.
Interviewed on morning news shows in the wake of the largest-ever recall of cribs, Chairman Inez Tenenbaum pledged that the CPSC would "firmly but fairly" enforce a law Congress passed last year giving regulators greater authority to police the industry.
More than 2.1 million drop-side cribs by Stork Craft Manufacturing of Canada are being recalled following the reports of four infant suffocations. The CPSC said the recall involves 1.2 million cribs in the United States and almost 1 million in Canada, where Stork Craft is based. Sales of the cribs being recalled go back to 1993 and nearly 150,000 of the cribs carry the Fisher-Price logo.
The agency said the drop-side cribs have a side that moves up and down to allow parents to lift children from the cribs more easily. It also said there have been 110 incidents of drop-sides detaching form the cribs,
Asked Tuesday whether people should abandon such cribs, Tenenbaum said she recommends that. And she said consumers also could order plastic kits from the manufacturer to immobilize crib sides.
"The commission will write regulations in the next few months and we will look at this issue about drop-sides," Tenenbaum said. "But I don't think the drop-sides will be part of cribs in the future."
The Stork Craft cribs have had problems with their hardware, which can break, deform or become missing after years. CPSC said there can also be problems with assembly mistakes by the crib owner. These problems can cause the drop-sides to detach, creating a dangerous space between the drop-side and the crib mattress, where the child can become trapped.
The cribs, which were manufactured and distributed between January 1993 and October 2009, were sold at major retailers including BJ's Wholesale Club, Sears and Wal-Mart stores and online through Target and Costco. They sold for between $100 and $400, and were made in Canada, China and Indonesia.
Calls to Stork Craft were not immediately returned.
This is the second big recall this year for the company. It recalled about 500,000 cribs in January because of problems with the metal brackets that supports the mattress. Some of the models in the earlier recall were also part of Monday's announcement, CPSC said.
Tenenbaum was asked why federal regulators hadn't stepped in sooner.
"We have just not been acting as quickly as we should have at the Consumer Product Safety Commission on these types of incidents," she replied. "I have just been appointed a few months ago to chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and this case came in front of me just a few weeks ago."
Consumer advocates have complained for years about the drop-side cribs. More than 5 million of them have been recalled over the past two years alone - recalls that were associated with the deaths of a dozen young children.
ASTM International, an organization that sets voluntary industry safety standards for everything from toys to the steel used in commercial building, approved a new standard last week that requires four immovable, or fixed, sides for full-size cribs - essentially eliminating the manufacture of drop-side cribs.
CPSC is also considering new rules for making cribs safer and could adopt the ASTM voluntary standard as a mandatory one, outright banning the cribs.
Nancy Cowles, executive director of Chicago-based Kids In Danger, said the agency must include more rigorous testing for crib durability. "Parents should be able to trust that their child is safe in their crib," said Cowles.
Toys"R"Us started phasing out drop-side cribs earlier this year and will no longer carry them next month
In the Stork Craft recall, the manufacture date, model number, crib name, country of origin, and the firm's name, address and contact information are located on the assembly instruction sheet attached to the mattress support board. The firm's insignia "storkcraft baby" or "storkling" is inscribed on the drop-side teething rail of some cribs.
This article was written by Jennifer C. Kerr of the Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/6736037.html
Defective products harm millions of people each year. Manufacturers should be held responsible for design detects, improper safety devices and manufacturing defects. If you or someone you know have been injuried as a result of defective product, please don't hesitate to call our office at 225-928-8800. Don't Be A Victim Twice.
http://www.batonrougeinjuryaccidentattorney.com/defective%20products.html
Interviewed on morning news shows in the wake of the largest-ever recall of cribs, Chairman Inez Tenenbaum pledged that the CPSC would "firmly but fairly" enforce a law Congress passed last year giving regulators greater authority to police the industry.
More than 2.1 million drop-side cribs by Stork Craft Manufacturing of Canada are being recalled following the reports of four infant suffocations. The CPSC said the recall involves 1.2 million cribs in the United States and almost 1 million in Canada, where Stork Craft is based. Sales of the cribs being recalled go back to 1993 and nearly 150,000 of the cribs carry the Fisher-Price logo.
The agency said the drop-side cribs have a side that moves up and down to allow parents to lift children from the cribs more easily. It also said there have been 110 incidents of drop-sides detaching form the cribs,
Asked Tuesday whether people should abandon such cribs, Tenenbaum said she recommends that. And she said consumers also could order plastic kits from the manufacturer to immobilize crib sides.
"The commission will write regulations in the next few months and we will look at this issue about drop-sides," Tenenbaum said. "But I don't think the drop-sides will be part of cribs in the future."
The Stork Craft cribs have had problems with their hardware, which can break, deform or become missing after years. CPSC said there can also be problems with assembly mistakes by the crib owner. These problems can cause the drop-sides to detach, creating a dangerous space between the drop-side and the crib mattress, where the child can become trapped.
The cribs, which were manufactured and distributed between January 1993 and October 2009, were sold at major retailers including BJ's Wholesale Club, Sears and Wal-Mart stores and online through Target and Costco. They sold for between $100 and $400, and were made in Canada, China and Indonesia.
Calls to Stork Craft were not immediately returned.
This is the second big recall this year for the company. It recalled about 500,000 cribs in January because of problems with the metal brackets that supports the mattress. Some of the models in the earlier recall were also part of Monday's announcement, CPSC said.
Tenenbaum was asked why federal regulators hadn't stepped in sooner.
"We have just not been acting as quickly as we should have at the Consumer Product Safety Commission on these types of incidents," she replied. "I have just been appointed a few months ago to chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and this case came in front of me just a few weeks ago."
Consumer advocates have complained for years about the drop-side cribs. More than 5 million of them have been recalled over the past two years alone - recalls that were associated with the deaths of a dozen young children.
ASTM International, an organization that sets voluntary industry safety standards for everything from toys to the steel used in commercial building, approved a new standard last week that requires four immovable, or fixed, sides for full-size cribs - essentially eliminating the manufacture of drop-side cribs.
CPSC is also considering new rules for making cribs safer and could adopt the ASTM voluntary standard as a mandatory one, outright banning the cribs.
Nancy Cowles, executive director of Chicago-based Kids In Danger, said the agency must include more rigorous testing for crib durability. "Parents should be able to trust that their child is safe in their crib," said Cowles.
Toys"R"Us started phasing out drop-side cribs earlier this year and will no longer carry them next month
In the Stork Craft recall, the manufacture date, model number, crib name, country of origin, and the firm's name, address and contact information are located on the assembly instruction sheet attached to the mattress support board. The firm's insignia "storkcraft baby" or "storkling" is inscribed on the drop-side teething rail of some cribs.
This article was written by Jennifer C. Kerr of the Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/6736037.html
Defective products harm millions of people each year. Manufacturers should be held responsible for design detects, improper safety devices and manufacturing defects. If you or someone you know have been injuried as a result of defective product, please don't hesitate to call our office at 225-928-8800. Don't Be A Victim Twice.
http://www.batonrougeinjuryaccidentattorney.com/defective%20products.html
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Pfizer told to pay $28 mln damages in Prempro case
NEW YORK, Nov 23 (Reuters) - A Philadelphia jury on Monday ordered Pfizer Inc to pay $28 million in punitive damages to a breast cancer survivor who had used the company;s hormone replacement drugs for 11 years.
That followed a $6.3 million award the jury ordered Pfizer to pay in compensatory damages on Friday after deciding that the drugs Premarin, Prempro, and Provera contributed to her cancer, and that the drugmakers failed to adequately warn about the risks associated with the medicines.
Pfizer inherited hundreds of personal injury lawsuits involving Premarin and Prepro, which are used to counter the effects of menopause, with its recent $67 billion acquisition of Wyeth. Provera is sold by Pharmacia & Upjohn, which Pfizer acquired in 2003.
Pfizer, the world's biggest drugmaker, said it would challenge the latest verdict and another earlier verdict that went against Wyeth.
The punitive damages in the earlier case, which were unsealed on Monday was $75 million on top of a nearly $4 million compensatory award.
After rendering its verdict along with the $6.3 million award on Friday, the 12-member jury in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas decided that the drugmakers' actions or inactions equaled reckless disregard for plaintiff Donna Kendall's health and came back with the larger punitive damages figure.
"Today signals a resounding victory for not only Donna Kendall, but for all women who suffered breast cancers at the hands of Wyeth and Upjohn," Kendall's attorney Tobi Millrood said.
"This jury sent Wyeth and (Pharmacia &) Upjohn a message loud and clear that their actions were reckless and they should not be conducting themselves in a way that puts greed in front of health," Millrood added.
Pfizer said it was disappointed by the verdicts in this and the earlier case.
"The company believes that neither the awards of punitive damages nor the liability verdicts were supported by the evidence or the law. We plan to challenge both decisions in post-trial motions and, if necessary, though an appeal," Pfizer spokesman Chris Loder said in a statement.
"The company stands by its belief that its subsidiaries acted responsibly by providing proper and accurate warnings regarding the hormone therapy medicines' risks," Loder added.
Kendall, 66, of Decatur, Illinois, had been taking Prempro as well as Provera for a total of 11 years when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002.
Wyeth and Pharmacia & Upjohn have argued at trial that the drugs were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and that known risks have long been included on the drugs' labels.
This article was written Bill Berkrot of Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2326825420091123
If you have experienced advise effects from a defective drug or medicine, please do not hesitate to call our office at 225-928-8800 or visit our website below.
http://www.batonrougeinjuryaccidentattorney.com/defective%20drugs.html
That followed a $6.3 million award the jury ordered Pfizer to pay in compensatory damages on Friday after deciding that the drugs Premarin, Prempro, and Provera contributed to her cancer, and that the drugmakers failed to adequately warn about the risks associated with the medicines.
Pfizer inherited hundreds of personal injury lawsuits involving Premarin and Prepro, which are used to counter the effects of menopause, with its recent $67 billion acquisition of Wyeth. Provera is sold by Pharmacia & Upjohn, which Pfizer acquired in 2003.
Pfizer, the world's biggest drugmaker, said it would challenge the latest verdict and another earlier verdict that went against Wyeth.
The punitive damages in the earlier case, which were unsealed on Monday was $75 million on top of a nearly $4 million compensatory award.
After rendering its verdict along with the $6.3 million award on Friday, the 12-member jury in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas decided that the drugmakers' actions or inactions equaled reckless disregard for plaintiff Donna Kendall's health and came back with the larger punitive damages figure.
"Today signals a resounding victory for not only Donna Kendall, but for all women who suffered breast cancers at the hands of Wyeth and Upjohn," Kendall's attorney Tobi Millrood said.
"This jury sent Wyeth and (Pharmacia &) Upjohn a message loud and clear that their actions were reckless and they should not be conducting themselves in a way that puts greed in front of health," Millrood added.
Pfizer said it was disappointed by the verdicts in this and the earlier case.
"The company believes that neither the awards of punitive damages nor the liability verdicts were supported by the evidence or the law. We plan to challenge both decisions in post-trial motions and, if necessary, though an appeal," Pfizer spokesman Chris Loder said in a statement.
"The company stands by its belief that its subsidiaries acted responsibly by providing proper and accurate warnings regarding the hormone therapy medicines' risks," Loder added.
Kendall, 66, of Decatur, Illinois, had been taking Prempro as well as Provera for a total of 11 years when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002.
Wyeth and Pharmacia & Upjohn have argued at trial that the drugs were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and that known risks have long been included on the drugs' labels.
This article was written Bill Berkrot of Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2326825420091123
If you have experienced advise effects from a defective drug or medicine, please do not hesitate to call our office at 225-928-8800 or visit our website below.
http://www.batonrougeinjuryaccidentattorney.com/defective%20drugs.html
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