Accident and Injury Lawyer Blog

Mars Food has recalled two date codes of Uncles Ben's Whole Grain White Rice Garden Vegetable, due to an undeclared milk allergen. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products.

The recall, affecting ONLY the Whole Grain White Rice Garden Vegetable, affects the 4.7 oz. (133 g) boxes with the following:

• UPC code of 54800 40778
• Best before: 08/12
• Code dates: 133BA4RP06 and 133BB4RP06

An ingredient supplier improperly included an undeclared milk ingredient in the seasoning mix used for this product. As such, consumers with milk allergies are advised not to eat the product, and consumers should return the product to the store where it was purchased for a full refund.

This product was distributed through retail stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Mars Food US has not received any reports of illness or other consumer complaints related to this matter. No other flavors of Uncle Ben's Whole Grain White Rice or any other Uncle Ben's products are affected.

Front Row is recalling its 10oz pint and 10lb bulk grape tomatoes. The tomatoes, supplied by Rio Queen Citrus of of Texas have been recalled because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

The recalled grape tomatoes were distributed throughout Missouri and Illinois to foodservice distributors and retail stores.

The product for retail sale is packaged in a 10-ounce, clear plastic package marked with a Front Row Produce “Grape Tomatoes” label on the top of the package. Currently, the lot number does not appear on the clear plastic package but it does appear on the case label. The lot numbers on the cases containing the 10-oz. packages are 2310802, 2310405, or 2510401. The 10lb bulk grape tomatoes are packaged for wholesale in a plain brown cardboard box labeled only with lot # 2310801.

As of 12/1/2011, all shipments of Front Row Produce Grape Tomatoes packaged in clear 10-oz. plastic packages sold in retail stores will now have a green lot number sticker placed on the bottom side of each package. The lot number will consist of a 7-digit number used to aid in identifying specific shipments of product. Any packages that do not contain this green sticker should be considered suspect and under recall.

No illnesses have been reported, but production of the product has been suspended while the FDA and Front Row continue their investigation as to the source of the problem.

• Smuckers Peanut Butter Recalled
• Pine Nuts Recalled for Salmonella Concerns
• Salmonella Contamination Prompts Recall
• Frozen Egg Product Recalled

The J.M. Smucker Company has announced a limited recall on 16 oz. Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter Chunky, as it has been determined that it may be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

The affected Peanut Butter is packaged in 16oz jars, and is marked as follows:

• UPC: 5150001701 (located on the side of the jar's label below the bar code)
• Production Codes: 1307004 and 1308004
• Best-If-Used-By dates: August 3, 2012 and August 4, 2012
• Chunky product only (not creamy)
• Impacted product would have been purchased between November 8 - 17, 2011

This product was distributed in: Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

No other products of The J.M. Smucker Company are affected by this recall.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with Fenwal, Inc of Illinois, has announced a recall of their Blood Component Infusion Set, as Fenwal has identified a labeling issue with Product 4C2223.

It has been determined that the package label for the Blood Component Infusion Set incorrectly states 80 Micron filter, when the actual filter size is a standard blood filter of 170-260 micron in size.

Fenwal is recommending that customers immediately discontinue the use of this product and return the product to Fenwal.

• 2011 Biologics Recalls
• 2010 Biologics Recalls
• 2009 Biologics Recalls
• 2008 Biologics Recalls
• 2007 Biologics Recalls

Kroger Co., the nation's largest grocery store operator, is recalling a specific lot of "Extreme Moose Tracks" ice cream sold in 10 states, as it may contain peanuts not mentioned on the label.

The recall involves only their 16-ounce pints of the product, ones that list a sell-by date of June 18, 2012, and contain the UPC code 11110 52909.

The ice cream was sold at Kroger stores in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee, as well as the company's Jay C, Food 4 Less, Owen's, Pay Less and Scott's stores in Illinois and Indiana. Kroger says shoppers should return the product to supermarkets for a refund or replacement. If 1% of the people who bought the ice cream do this, I would be shocked. It is like a "can I help?" when you know the person you are asking is going to say no. Still, the offer is the right thing to do, of course. (If they didn't, I would be complaining about that, too, so I realize they can't win. Then again, don't put peanuts in your product without telling us and you won't be in the situation in the first place.)

Last month, an E. coli outbreak prompted a ground beef recall by Tyson Fresh Meats, which involved certain Kroger-brand ground beef.

The City of Chicago has reached a $1.3 million settlement in a lawsuit filed over the death of a man who swallowed a bag of drugs during an arrest.

Cue the tort reformers narrative: man swallows drugs on purpose and sues the city. You can hear it already. But all people, including those who are taking drugs, are human beings. Video surveillance shows the man in obvious distress and the police officers just completely ignored him. Because they have drugs, apparently, someone can suffer right in front of you and die without catching your attention. That is just beyond awful and the City of Chicago did the right thing by acknowledging this and settling this case.

Cucumbers have been recalled after reports of a potential bacterial contamination. L&M Companies the recall for its whole cucumber product after the FDA informed the company that at least some of their cucumbers Salmonella.

Do you have cucumbers in your fridge subject to this recall? The recalled cucumbers have been distributed in different areas, namely: New York, Nebraska, Indiana, Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, Wyoming, and Florida (where the problem was found).

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed after a 3-year-old boy fell from a roller coaster. The child was riding on the Python Pit roller coaster at Go Bananas amusement park in Norridge, Illinois and came out of the restraints and fell below the cars. The negligence claim is one we can all easily image: the operator could have stopped the ride faster and didn't.

To be polite, let's say the quality of roller coaster operators varies. Anyone who has taken their kid to the amusement park can imagine this.

I'm always running these crazy scenarios through my head, finding only solace in the idea that I'm crazy and I have nothing to worry about. Stories like this don't sooth.

There is a recall of over 6,000 Touch Point oscillating ceramic heaters. The recall stems from a problem with the oscillating mechanism in these small, low priced heaters. It is shorting out which causes a potential fire hazard. There have been a few accidents resulting in property damage but no injuries.

This recall involves Touch Point PTC oscillating ceramic heaters with model number PTC-902 and serial numbers between 35005-43008. They were sold in Meijer stores in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio from October 2009 through October 2010 for about $25.

There has been a 61% decrease in medical malpractice insurance payouts in Pennsylvania over the last 7 years, according to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.

According to the governor, this has lead to an 18% decrease in malpractice premiums. I'm trying to figure out why a 61% drop in payouts leads to an 18% decrease in premiums. Where is all of the money going? In any event, we still have a doctor shortage in much of Pennsylvania.

Why aren't doctors fleeing to Pennsylvania? If they are not going to Pennsylvania, where do they go? The top 5 highest paying jobs in the United States are doctors? Are they quitting medicine and becoming real estate agents? Have you ever met a doctor that just stopped practicing medicine and took up something else?

Look, doctors can retire early and work less hours. I'm oversimplifying a bit. But the "doctors are fleeing because of malpractice premiums" proponents seem to me to be the man with a hammer. Everything is a nail.

Ted Frank at Point of Law, an interesting blog I read regularly, suggested in a recent post that doctors are fleeing Illinois because the Illinois high court struck down caps on noneconomic damages in Illinois malpractice cases.

The link Mr. Frank provides underscores this point:

One way to retain new doctors is to help them find jobs in Illinois. The state has a healthy physician job market, but many new graduates don’t know where to look.

Oops. That is saying that they don't know how to find jobs. This is a little different than fleeing to avoid uncapped noneconomic damages. "A healthy physician job market." It sounds like the better answer to this crisis is Monster.com.

There is zero evidence in the article summarizing the study (the link to the study itself is broken) that malpractice premiums caused by the removal of caps on noneconomic damages has caused a single doctor to leave Illinois. I can't even find anything to indicate the premiums have risen.

Moreover, who exactly are these doctors who are packing their bags to leave because of a theoretical possibility that malpractice premiums may increase? How much do they earn now? I have to tell you, I'm not so sure I want a doctor that came to Maryland because he is fleeing another jurisdiction because he does not like the litigation environment. This is probably not a doctor who is swimming with prior client referrals.

There is no question that medical malpractice premiums in Illinois are higher than in other states. I bet you will also find that doctors in Illinois make more money than doctors in surrounding states. Some states are going to have higher insurance premiums than other states. Illinois is a relatively densely populated state. What city in the country do you think has the most family physicians, for example? Chicago, Illinois. If doctors start fleeing Chicago to go somewhere else, this might not be all together a bad thing for the country.

Illinois Supreme Court struck down their $500,000.00 cap on non-economic damages. I'll be writing more about Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital tomorrow. But this is a big win for Plaintiffs.

• Full Analysis of Lebron Opinion
(which includes the court's full opinion)
• Opposing View from Walter Olson on Point of Law

An Illinois jury awarded $22.3 million to the parents of a boy whose leg was amputated soon after birth at a Chicago area hospital. According to the medical malpractice lawsuit against the hosptial, the injury was caused by the hospital's doctors failing to meet the standard of care in treating a congenital heart problem that required a shunt procedure. In addition to the loss of his leg, the boy suffers from cognitive deficiencies and developmental delays.

In a case I blogged about back in February, an Illinois woman involved in a lawsuit over the alleged wrongful death of an 89-year-old Alzheimer’s patient has pleaded guilty to criminal neglect, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The victim died of hypothermia earlier this year after wandering out of the Arbor of Itasca nursing home in freezing temperatures. The nursing assistant in charge did not respond when Plaintiff triggered an alarm. A nursing home wrongful death lawsuit is currently pending against the Arbor of Itasca nursing home.

If you need a nursing home lawyer in Maryland or Illinois, call 800-553-8082 or click here for a free consultation.

A Jury Verdict Research found that the median money damages award for personal injury lawsuits that go to trial in Illinois is $26,624. Plaintiffs receive damages in 51 percent of cases that go to trial. These are the statistics from 2002-2008.

Unlike average jury verdict statistics, median jury verdict data blunts larger cases, including the approximately 8% of jury verdicts in Illinois that were over $1 million.

• How to Determine the Value of a Personal Injury Case
• More on Illinois Accident Verdicts (data from 2002-2007)

A study by Jury Verdict Research found that the median (as opposed to average) verdict in Illinois in personal injury lawsuits that go to trial is $27,220. Plaintiffs receive damages in 51% of Illinois personal injury lawsuits cases that go to trial. Putting these numbers in context, they are in the neighborhood of the rest of the country; the nationwide median personal injury verdict is $34,550, and the nationwide plaintiff recovery probability in personal injury lawsuits is 52%. The most common injuries were back and neck strains (20%), spinal nerve injuries (11%) and head injuries (10%).

A Chicago nursing home tried to cover up the sexual assault of a 69-year-old resident by another mentally ill resident, a lawsuit filed by family members claims. According to the lawsuit, the Elgin, Illinois nursing home failed to properly monitor young and potentially dangerous residents and tried to pass off the alleged assault as consensual sex. A nursing home lawyer for the family called the incident the most egregious case of nursing home negligence he had seen.

Nursing Home Negligent in Death, Lawsuit Claims

The Chicago Tribune has a story of a lawsuit involving the death of an 89-year-old nursing home resident. In the nursing home neglect lawsuit, the family of woman alleges that staff members at the Arbor of Itasca nursing home failed to investigate when the patient triggered an alarm as she apparently wandered into a courtyard during freezing weather. Suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, she was later found frozen to death.

Nursing home lawyers tend to shy away from cases where the patient is almost 90 years-old. But this case has jury appeal because the facts are so extreme.

The Chicago Tribute reports that Provena Mercy Medical Center in Illinois has agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle a medical malpractice lawsuit filed on behalf of a boy who allegedly suffered brain injury during birth. In the malpractice lawsuit, Plaintiffs' attorneys argued that doctors and staff at failed to respond to the child's reaction to the drug Pitocin.

An Illinois appellate court has upheld about $9 million award in the wrongful death a 12 year-old boy who died during a 1999 surgical procedure. The boy died after receiving an antibiotic that triggered an allergic reaction and breathing problems. Jurors two years ago found that the doctor who ordered the antibiotic and the attending anesthesiologist were negligent in the death.

The Chicago Times reports on a $9.8 medical malpractice settment on behalf of the family of a 27-year-old mother of nine who died in Stroger Hospital three years ago after bleeding during a pregnancy. According to the medical malpractice lawsuit filed by the family's lawyer, doctors at the hospital failed to give Dickerson blood-clotting products in a timely fashion after she began bleeding and collapsed in August 2005 while 31 weeks' pregnant. Thankfully, her baby survived.