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In a recent decision, the United States Supreme Court decided that a railway owned and operated by the government of Austria cannot be sued in the United States for an accident that occurred at one of the railway’s stations in Austria. The plaintiff in the case, a resident of California, sued the state-owned railway for injuries she suffered after falling onto the tracks while boarding a train at the railway’s Innsbruck, Austria station. When she fell, the train ran over her legs, requiring that both legs be amputated above the knee.

Under federal law, foreign governments cannot be sued for damages in U.S. courts except under limited circumstances. This protection is known as sovereign immunity, and it was codified by Congress in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act includes several limited exceptions, one of which permits a lawsuit against a foreign government when an injury is based upon commercial activity conducted in the United States. In her lawsuit, the injured American alleged that this exception applied in her case — and thus that her suit for damages should proceed — because her injuries were based upon the purchase of a train pass that occurred in the United States.

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Contracting a foodborne illness is an absolute nightmare, and it can often lead to debilitating illnesses and even hospitalization. Since there are so many individuals involved in the food preparation chain, a wide variety of persons or businesses may be liable for your injuries. To make things even more complicated, each potential defendant may be liable under a different theory of recovery, including product liability, negligence, or strict liability.

To recover damages in a food contamination case, the plaintiff must typically prove that the defendant grew or sold the contaminated food, that the plaintiff consumed the food and suffered an illness, and that the defendant caused the contamination or failed to exercise reasonable care in preventing the contamination.

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Drivers today are faced with too many distractions. Not so long ago, pay phones were more common than cell phones, and billboards were bland and often went unnoticed. Cars had a stereo, but it was usually limited to a radio and single CD player.

These days, cell phones are essentially portable computers, and some drivers not only talk on the phone while driving, but they also text and email as if they aren’t even behind the wheel of a car. In addition, billboards are full of eye-catching innuendoes and pictures, often flashing from one image to another. One minute they tell drivers which suspects are most wanted by the FBI, the next which airline offers the cheapest seats to pictured Caribbean beaches.

Of course, not all drivers are distracted by these factors while driving. In fact, many make a point of not talking or texting at all while they drive, or they will only communicate with a hands-free device. But with so many drivers rushing between work and home to meet all of their obligations, even the most cautious of drivers, at some point or another, gets distracted while driving. When this happens, and an accident results, the driver may be liable for negligence.

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When it comes to owning and operating a vehicle, one of the biggest nightmares you can experience is a recall, which indicates that something is wrong with a significant number of a manufacturer’s vehicles. In 2014 alone, there were over 500 vehicle recalls that encompassed over 50 million automobiles. This is an overwhelming amount of information and can seem daunting to many vehicle owners.

Although some recalls are relatively harmless, in many cases these recalls can affect critical components of a vehicle, including the brakes, steering wheel, and engine components. Earlier this year, Japanese auto parts maker Takata found itself in hot water when major defects were discovered in its air bag devices, leading to a massive recall. While some recalls are minor and can be fixed easily at a local car dealer, others are far more extensive and can lead to severe injuries or even death.

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Cuando se trata de poseer y operar un carro, una de las mayores pesadillas que puede experimentar es un retiro, lo que indica que algo anda mal con un número de vehículos. Sólo en 2014, hubo más de 500 retiros de vehículos que abarcaban más de 50 millones de automóviles. Se trata de una enorme cantidad de información y puede parecer desalentador para muchos dueños de coches.

Aunque algunos retiros son relativamente inofensivos, en muchos casos estos retiros pueden afectar a los componentes críticos de un vehículo, incluidos los frenos, volante, y los componentes del motor. A principios de este año, el fabricante Japonés de piezas de automóviles Takata se encontró en agua caliente cuando defectos principales fueron descubiertos en sus bolsas de aire, lo que lleva a una retirada masiva. Mientras que algunos retiros son menores y pueden fijarse fácilmente en un distribuidor local de automóviles, otros son mucho más extensas y pueden dar lugar a lesiones graves o incluso la muerte. Continue reading →

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Tractor trailers are essential to the U.S. economy. They haul goods from factories, warehouses, ports, rail yards, and farms to destinations all over the country. Without them, the economy would surely buckle.

One of the few downsides to tractor trailers, however, is that they are an added danger to America’s already crowded roads and highways. They make it difficult for drivers to see other cars and trucks on the road, and the trucks themselves are difficult to maneuver, even for the most skilled and experienced drivers. On top of that, truck drivers are often tasked with driving long distances in short timeframes, and despite federal regulations capping the number of hours they can drive without a rest, they are often tired and rushing to reach their destination.

Not surprisingly, accidents involving tractor trailers are a common occurrence. Traffic reports and the news media regularly report long backups because of overturned tractor trailers, and just about every driver has been caught in a seemingly endless traffic jam caused by a tractor trailer accident. By some estimates, there are 500,000 trucking accidents each year in the United States.

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Earlier this month, a California jury awarded nearly $10 million in compensatory damages and a staggering $70 million in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary company Ethicon, stemming from alleged defects in the subsidiary’s hemorrhoid stapler device. The plaintiff was a former police officer who suffered injuries when medical professionals accidentally stapled the officer’s anus shut during a hemorrhoid operation. As a result of these complications, the plaintiff suffers from internal and external scars and a deformed bowel, and she has required the use of a colostomy bag for four years.

In her complaint, the plaintiff alleged that the surgeon who performed the operation was unable to fire the stapling gun properly because the device contained a defect. The plaintiff also alleged that this same defect could be found in roughly one-third of all Ethicon hemorrhoid stapler devices. The surgeon fired the stapler gun once and was unable to remove it without firing it a second time, resulting in the closure of the plaintiff’s anal canal.

The jury concluded that the force required to fire the stapler was more than what was provided in its specifications, and it was the result of a defective manufacturing process that minimized the amount of lubrication provided in the device. Instead of modifying the design and processes used to manufacture the device, the jury concluded that Ethicon pointed the blame at the surgeons who reported experiencing problems when using the stapler devices, despite the fact that Ethicon knew about the devices’ issues.

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It isn’t surprising that when sports fans think of concussion-related injuries, they think of football. Football is a game of hard hits, and even with helmets, head injuries occur. During the course of a game, it is not uncommon to see a player carted off the field with a head injury.

The recent movie, Concussion, starring Will Smith, highlights the dangers of concussions in football. Sports fans may also link concussions with football because of a highly publicized class action lawsuit that former players filed against the National Football League (NFL) for brain-related injuries. A settlement in that case is on hold pending appeal.

Because of all the attention the NFL has received surrounding concussions, other sports, including hockey and soccer, have received far less fanfare despite the dangerous nature of their games. With soccer, it is understandable that the risk of brain injury is often overlooked, since the game is primarily played with the ball on the ground. But soccer is also a sport where players routinely head the ball after it has traveled high and far in the air, and mid-air head collisions can and do occur between players jostling for a head ball.

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Xarelto, a drug commonly used to treat strokes and to prevent blood clots, has come under fire for the severe risks it poses to patients. Although there has not been a recall of the drug, a number of plaintiffs have filed lawsuits alleging that they experienced severe complications as a result of taking Xarelto.

According to the plaintiffs’ complaints, Xarelto caused uncontrollable bleeding to occur. The medication is designed to disrupt blood clotting patterns to prevent strokes from occurring, but it lacks an antidote to prevent any incidences of bleeding from becoming life-threatening. The plaintiffs alleged that the manufacturer did not properly warn against the dangerous risk of bleeding episodes and the inability to stop them once they start.

Instead, the manufacturer advertised Xarelto as being safe and providing a more convenient solution than wafarin, another drug prescribed to combat blood clots and strokes. Unlike Xarelto, however, wafarin has a known antidote that doctors can use to stop bleeding episodes. In reality, Xarelto has been associated with a number of devastating and life-threatening conditions, including gastrointestinal bleeding, brain hemorrhages, strokes, and death.

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With so many cars and trucks on the road these days, it is easy to forget how important passenger and freight trains still are in America. Commuters and travelers often talk about cheap flights or the price of gas, but rarely does the discussion turn to the cost of a train ticket.

But Illinois is a natural hub for the railroads. For passengers traveling from east to west, Chicago acts as a gateway to all that lies beyond Lake Michigan. For freight carriers, Chicago is a logical transfer point to other modes of transportation. Goods from Canada, Mexico, and ports on both coasts arrive in Illinois by rail but often set out for deliveries on tractor trailers.

Much of the produce in supermarkets is transported by rail. If a train carrying produce is involved in an accident, there is little harm except to any cars or pedestrians that may have been hit by the train. However, freight trains often carry goods that are toxic in nature, like oil and other hazardous chemicals, and an accident involving one of these trains can have much broader, and potentially more serious, consequences.

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