A crane about 100-feet in height collapsed on its side at a construction site behind the Galleria mall Tuesday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale at 900 NE 26th. A driver was pulled from the cab with serious injuries, and the accident itself is being investigated.
Matt Little of Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue said that the victim was transported to nearby Broward General Medical Center .
Read More About Crane Topples Over At Construction Site...
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The cost of long-term care for the elderly is as much as 11 percent higher in Florida than the national average, according to a new report from Genworth Financial.
The cost of long-term care over the past five years increased as much as 28 percent in parts of Florida compared to 17 percent nationwide, according to Genworth's 2008 cost of care survey.
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About Long-term care costs higher in Florida...
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WASHINGTON -- Patients hoping to get into nursing homes increasingly are signing away their rights to sue over poor care.
That's a problem, a number of lawmakers say, and they're pushing legislation to make such agreements unenforceable.
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About Patients signing away right to sue nursing homes...
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A seven-car crash on West Flagler Street killed an 80-year-old man on Sunday afternoon, according to Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue.
Francisco A. Huetas of Miami was driving west in the center lane of West Flagler when he struck four vehicles stopped at the light at Southwest 79th Avenue, said Lt. Pat Santangelo, spokesman with the Florida Highway Patrol.
For more information, follow the link below.
Read More About Man killed in crash was Miamian, 80...
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MIAMI (AP) Rescue crews amputated a man's leg on a Miami highway after he was crushed between two vehicles.
According to Florida Highway Patrol, the man was checking the damage to his car Friday after being hit from behind by a sport utility vehicle in the center lane of SR-836. Another car then crashed into the SUV, pinning the man.
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About Rescue crews amputate man's leg on highway...
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MIAMI (AP) — The arm of a mobile construction crane came loose Monday in Miami, injuring at least one worker and leading to the partial evacuation of a nearby hotel as a precaution.
The accident happened shortly before 3 p.m., with the arm swinging into the machine's vertical base, Miami Fire Rescue spokesman Ignatius Carroll said. The crane did not collapse or fall, but a worker who was midway up the 212-foot machine was hospitalized with severe injuries to his right arm.
For more information, follow the link below.Read More About Crane accident in Miami injures 1 worker...
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Prosperity, S.C. police have arrested nursing home owner Roy Bowers and charged him with neglect of a vulnerable adult resulting in death.” His health care administration license was suspended by the state.
The arrest came days after William Sealy, a 1-year resident of Southside Residential Care Facility ,was taken to Newberry County Memorial Hospital after suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, pressure sores, bed-bug infestation and black, swollen toes. After examining Sealy, hospital medical personnel contacted police.
Sealy was put on a ventilator at the hospital. Three weeks later, he died of pneumonia and severe infection. It was reported he had suffered from schizophrenia.
Prosperity, S.C. Police Chief Craig Nelson told WLTX-TV, the CBS affiliate in Columbia it was, “one of the toughest cases I’ve been involved in. It was definitely the most heartbreaking.” At the hospital, Nelson watched nurses treat Sealy. "After pulling off his socks that he had had on his feet for sometime, it pulled off portions of his skin. His feet were also covered in bed bugs,” the chief said.
When brought to the hospital ER, Sealy weighed 94 pounds, 70 pounds below the average weight for a man his age, medical officials said. Sealy’s ears were packed with fluid and one of his toes had blackened. Attending personnel at the hospital said Sealy had not been bathed in over one week
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control reported Southside’s most recent inspection was in January 2007, when officials found documentation errors. DHEC said Southside’s staff members were meeting training requirements and resident care plans were properly updated.
Read More About Former S.C. Nursing Home Resident Dies of Malnutrition...
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What a difference a day makes.
That’s the irony the Wiggins family of Williamsburg, Va. is dealing with after the death of its’ 84-year-old mother.
Lorina Wiggins, 84 had been a resident of the Ruxton Health nursing facility before being transported to Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, after nursing home staff reported she had numerous Stage IV pressure sores. Upon arrival at the hospital, doctors there said the sores were untreatable. Wiggins died a week later, according to the Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg. The sores on Wiggins’ legs ranged in size from 2-by-1 inches to 7-by-3 inches.
One son, Mike, said Ruxton had telephoned him a week before the transfer saying his mother was in good condition. Then the very next day, Ruxton staff called back to ask his permission to amputate his mother’s leg. Another son, Bob, visited his mother at Ruxton and asked staff to transport his mother immediately to the hospital. However, Ruxton staff said his mother’s case was a non-emergency matter, said the Gazette.
Williamsburg Police requested the medical records of Wiggins. Manuals and standard operating procedures for the care of bedsores and open wounds have also been requested by police. Meantime, Williamsburg-James City County Commonwealth Attorney Nate Green said “We have been concerned about a number of patients where issues have been raised,” Green said, relating to the Ruxton home. “We are investigating both the care provided and illegalities there.”
Green went on to say the nursing home, not any one individual would face possible charges.” At this time we don’t believe that one person is responsible. We are looking into whether the entire facility acted criminally,” the Gazette confirmed.
The Department of Health & Human Services Administration on Aging defines elder abuse as, “any knowing, intentional or negligent act by a caregiver that causes harm or serious risk of harm to a vulnerable adult,” the Gazette reported.
Read More About Virginia Nursing Home Could Face Charges in Death of Resident...
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A 19-year-old construction worker at the Emerald Forest Apartments was killed April 7 while he was attempting to remove a staircase from a deck.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating. Fire department officials said Lopez was from Honduras and had been working in the United States for one year. He was supporting a family in Central America.
Authorities said the apartment complex in Mableton is undergoing a remodeling. Workers were tearing down the stairwells when the weight of one section came loose and crushed Lopez to death. Officials said Lopez died of severe head trauma, according to WSB-TV in Atlanta.
"They're doing construction on all these back porches and staircases,” said Denell Boyd with the Cobb County Fire Department. “They're old metal stairs, and they're remodeling and adding wood steps. Lopez was checking the stability of one when it fell down and hit him in the head.”
At the scene, most of the black iron staircases remained attached to the facing of the building while one lay crumpled on the ground. Bystanders, many of them Hispanic, wiped away tears as firefighters taped off the debris-strewn accident scene.
Read More About Teen Construction Worker Killed During Staircase Demolition...
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Ten days after a similar accident killed seven in New York City, another construction crane fell – this one at a Miami condominium project -- killing two and injuring five on Biscayne Bay, ABC News reported.
This crane fell 30 floors, damaging parts of the condo and a nearby Spanish-tiled roof building the construction contractor used for storage. One construction worker died in the supply house and another died later at the hospital.
Pipe fitter David Martinez was eating lunch on the construction site when the crane started to fall. "It was like a small earthquake," he said. "We looked outside, and we couldn't even see. It took several minutes for the dust to clear.”
Mary Costello of Bovis Lend Lease Holdings Inc. -- management firm of the construction project -- said a subcontractor was raising the crane when a section came loose and fell.
"Our hearts are heavy at this moment for the two deceased individuals, including one of our own employees and the additional injured workers," she said in a statement.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating. Darlene Fossum, an area director for OSHA, said Bovis Lend Lease was a company with an excellent record in safety precaution. OSHA issued five violations against subcontractor Morrow Equipment Co. nine years ago involving problems with digging but not crane operation.
Currently, Florida does not license or regulate construction crane operators but there is legislation in both houses of the state legislature that would change the law. After a fatal crane accident two years ago in Miami, state government officials worked with building industry representatives to draft stricter safety measures for construction crane operators. Those measures go into effect this week.
Read More About Miami Crane Accident Kills Two Workers...
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The Naples (Fla.) News decided to examine why the Florida Department of Education (FDE) found the Lee school district had the second-highest number of accidents involving a bus – 109 -- of any school district in the state. Orange County led the way with 118 bus accidents during the 2006-07 school year.
The answer may be a simple one.
In the Lee school district, there is a school choice program, one of only three in the state. It allows students who live outside geographic school boundaries to attend classes in Lee district. Thus, many of Lee’s students spend more time on buses than students in other Florida school districts.
In Lee, 700 school buses travel 75,000 miles a day or 13.5 million miles annually, the Naples News reported. School buses in Broward County -- which has three times the students than Lee -- travel a similar number of miles.
This arrangement makes Lee’s per-student transportation cost one of the most expensive in the state, said the FDE. Lee spends $200 more per student than the average Florida school district student, according to the FDE.
Lee School District Communications Director Joe Donzelli said just because his district’s buses travel more miles, that doesn’t mean the ride is unsafe. “When you look at the overall safety record of buses getting to and from school, yes there may be more incidents, but what kind of incidents are they?” He went on to say that some accidents involve buses clipping mirrors or being rear-ended. Of the 109 accidents listed in the state accident report, the point of impact for 38 was on the rear-end side, according to the FDE.
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http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/mar/17/lee-ranks-2nd-collier-15th-among-counties-most-bus/
Read More About Students with Longer Bus Rides Face Higher Accident Potential...
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The Naples (Fla.) News decided to examine why the Florida Department of Education (FDE) found the Lee school district had the second-highest number of accidents involving a bus – 109 -- of any school district in the state. Orange County led the way with 118 bus accidents during the 2006-07 school year.
The answer may be a simple one.
In the Lee school district, there is a school choice program, one of only three in the state. It allows students who live outside geographic school boundaries to attend classes in Lee district. Thus, many of Lee’s students spend more time on buses than students in other Florida school districts.
In Lee, 700 school buses travel 75,000 miles a day or 13.5 million miles annually, the Naples News reported. School buses in Broward County -- which has three times the students than Lee -- travel a similar number of miles.
This arrangement makes Lee’s per-student transportation cost one of the most expensive in the state, said the FDE. Lee spends $200 more per student than the average Florida school district student, according to the FDE.
Lee School District Communications Director Joe Donzelli said just because his district’s buses travel more miles, that doesn’t mean the ride is unsafe. “When you look at the overall safety record of buses getting to and from school, yes there may be more incidents, but what kind of incidents are they?” He went on to say that some accidents involve buses clipping mirrors or being rear-ended. Of the 109 accidents listed in the state accident report, the point of impact for 38 was on the rear-end side, according to the FDE.
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<p>A repeated offense for “inadequate fall-prevention equipment” cost the BC Construction company the life of one of its laborers and a fine from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).</p>
<p>OSHA fined the company $22,400 and cited the construction firm for numerous "serious" violations in connection with the death of Benedelso N. Ovalle, 21, who fell 20 feet from a roof in Lynn last summer, according to The Salem News in Massachusetts. BC was renovating a home that was to become a new Baptist church in Salem at the time of the fatal accident.</p>
<p>The News reported the worker fell after hoisting a bundle of shingles to the roof, police said. "It appears he turned around to adjust the ladder and, as he did, he toppled over," a police spokesman said.</p>
<p>After its investigation, OSHA cited BC for a lack of "fall protection" equipment for its roofers, a defective ladder, improper safety harnesses and a lack of training to work on a roof. OSHA found BC workers wearing rock climber's harnesses instead of the standard full-body harnesses, the agency said.</p>
<p>Ovalle was conscious after falling but complained of stomach pain, the News said. He died before a medical helicopter could reach him for hospital transport. Police said Ovalle was not wearing a harness and only three of the five workers on the roof had fall-protection equipment.</p>
<p>In January 2007, BC was cited for inadequate fall-protection equipment in an accident in Peabody, OSHA reported.<p>
Read More About OSHA FInes Construction Firm in Death of Laborer...
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<p>Safety officials have slept on the issue and now issued a recall of 24,000 baby cribs from Indonesia.</p>
<p>Imported by Munire Furniture Inc., the cribs contain brackets that prohibit its’ mattresses from fully being lowered. Officials say this could allow children to crawl over the railing and fall, reported the Associated Press in Washington.</p>
<p>Thus far, no injuries or fatalities have been reported.</p>
<p>Parents should be alerted if they own a Majestic Curved Top, Majestic Flat Top, Essex, Brighton/Sussex or Captiva crib. The cribs were sold between November 2005 and November 2007.</p>
<p>The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reported from 2002 to 2004, 241 children under age 5 died in incidents involving nursery products. Forty percent of the deaths involved cribs where soft bedding was the leading contributor, the CPSC said. The federal agency said many children suffocated when lying face down on pillows or bedding.</p>
<p>"Less is more when you're talking about the crib," CPSC spokeswoman Julie Vallese said, She said adult pillows, blankets, stuffed animals and infant quilts should remain outside the crib.</p>
<p>The CPSC instructs parents and those in the day-care profession to place babies on their backs in a crib that meets safety standards. The agency said this would help prevent suffocation and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).</p>
<p>Babies can become trapped while lying on a mattress that does not properly fit the crib structure, the CPSC said. As a rule, parents never should have a gap larger than two fingers anywhere between the sides of the crib and the mattress, the agency advised.</p>
<p>In 2006, the CPSC reported 66,400 emergency injuries linked with nursery products among children under age 5. Infant carriers and car seats, excluding motor vehicle accidents, accounted for 14,200 injuries and cribs and mattresses accounted for 11,300.</p>
Read More About Company Recalls 24,000 Baby Cribs...
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<p>One of the lowest forms of physical abuse has forced four Hillsborough (Fla.) County deputy sheriffs from the jobs without pay.</p>
<p>The Orlando Sentinel reported Brian Sterner was brought to the police station on a traffic violation. A quadriplegic bound to a wheelchair, Sterner was asked by one deputy to “stand up.” When he told Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones he could not, she became agitated and wheeled him a few feet before ”dumping” him on the floor, similar to how one would dump the contents of a wheelbarrow. Jones has been with the department since 1986, according to Fox.news.com.</p>
<p>The incident was taped by surveillance cameras, prompting disciplinary action by the Tampa police department.</p>
<p>According to Sterner, Marshall-Jones "was irked that I wasn't complying with what she was told me to do," he told The Tampa Tribune. "It didn't register with her that she was asking me to do something I can't do."</p>
<p>Jones has been suspended without pay, while Sgt. Gary Hinson, Cpl. Steven Dickey, and Cpl. Decondra Williams have been placed on administrative leave according to the sheriff's department. "The actions are indefensible at every level," Chief Deputy Jose Docobo said. "Based on what I saw, anything short of dismissal would be inappropriate."</p>
<p>Sterner was arrested at home Jan. 29 after attempting to elude a police officer, records show. He posted $2,000 bail and was released Feb. 3. A warrant for Sterner's arrest was issued after an Oct. 25 incident in which Tampa police stopped him in Ybor City. Police stopped Sterner, who was driving a vehicle fitted with hand pedals.</p>
<p>"My client was stopped that night and was given a traffic citation, so how could he be fleeing and eluding?" said Sterner's lawyer, John Trevena. "We're very skeptical about the basis for the charge." His client had no prior arrests.</p>
<p>The St. Petersburg Times reported Sterner suffered a spinal cord injury at 18 during a wrestling accident. Sterner said he's never had to prove to someone he is disabled. "I made it clear in plain language that I was a quadriplegic," he said. Sterner said his callused hands are proof he lives his life in a chair. "I push every day," he said.</p>
<p>"I'm not really into lawyers," Sterner said. "But I do believe in responsibility and I'm very glad there were cameras because what she did to me is wrong. There's no debating it - just plain wrong."</p>
Read More About Deputy Sheriff "Dumps" Quadriplegic Out of His Wheelchair...
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<p>An 86-year-old man driving to his neighborhood school to vote in the presidential primary lost control of his sport utility vehicle, drove across a lawn and jumped a sidewalk before striking a young schoolchild. It happened at the main entrance to Elizabeth Lyons Elementary School in Randolph, Mass., the Boston Globe reported.</p>
<p>Police identified the victim as second grader Brittany Noel, who was admitted to Boston Medical Center with “serious” injuries, according to hospital officials. "We heard she’s that in the pediatric intensive care unit and in stable condition," said Randolph School Superintendent Richard Silverman. "It was an unfortunate accident."</p>
<p>Lyons School Principal Leo Flanagan said students witnessed the entire event while others had to run from the oncoming vehicle. "Counselors from the district have come here to help the kids process it," he said.</p>
<p>William Geisler, the driver, was taken to Milton Hospital and soon released. His wife, Ruth, who was not in the vehicle at the time of the crash, was reached at home by the Globe. "He's not up for talking to anyone right now," she said. "We've called our insurance."</p>
<p>Ten counselors talked to Lyons Elementary students about the incident at their school. Ann Holleran said children had many questions. "Children who witnessed it were upset," she said. "They asked us questions like, 'Why do accidents happen?' We told them, ‘Sometimes accidents just happen.’"</p>
<p>Stacey Kelsey arrived at the Lyons School at 12:45 p.m. to pick up her cousin's son. She told the Globe that parents know not to drive in the round driveway directly in front of the school (where the accident occurred). "When I heard that, it all fit," she said, after learning details of the crash. "It's devastating. It's sad all around."</p>
Read More About SUV Jumps Sidewalk, Strikes Second-Grader at Mass. School...
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It was a sight one Austin, Texas schoolteacher will never forget.
Searching for a 7-year-old boy who had excused himself from a school assembly to use the rest room, the teacher discovered the boy hanging on a hook and unconscious, with his pants pulled down but underwear on. Listed in critical condition when he arrived at the hospital, the boy died the next day, the Associated Press reported.
KXAN-TV, the NBC affiliate in Austin, said the boy may have suffered a heart attack. Police said the boy was in cardiac arrest from a lack of oxygen when paramedics arrived at Magnolia McCullough Elementary School.
The APD ruled out sexual assault or bullying. Police said the boy wore loose pants which may have fallen down on their own.
"We have concerns," said Jeff Hampton with the APD Child Abuse Unit, "not just as far as the criminal investigation, but also concerns with how the school operates, which is not under our domain to dictate what should or should not be done, but the schools should be a safe environment for our children," KXAN reported.
The hooks on the wall in the boys’ gym locker room bathroom were “low” enough where the boy’s shirt collar could have gotten stuck, police said.
There was no surveillance camera in the rest room where the boy was found. Police are interviewing students and staff members at the charter school, which offers pre-kindergarten through third grade.
Thus far, there is no evidence the boy was bullied at school, but it's possible he was attacked, Spangler said. Even if police find another student responsible, Texas criminal law doesn't apply to children under 10 years of age, said LaRu Woody, Travis County assistant prosecutor.
Read More About Seven-Year-Old Boy Found Hanging on School Rest Room Hook Dies...
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Prince George’s County officials aren’t waiting for Maryland state administrators to make up their minds.
Although Del. Barbara A, Frush (D-Dist 21) of Beltsville said a state bill for installing speed cameras on school grounds is likely to pass during this year’s state General Assembly session, the county has a back-up plan.
If the bill fails, Del. Justin D. Ross (D-Dist. 22) of Greenbelt and Sen. Paul G. Pinsky (D-Dist. 22) of University Park are sponsoring a bill to have cameras installed within a half-mile of schools in the county. Motorists traveling 10 mph or more over the speed limit would be fined $40, according to the gazette.net.
Heavily-trafficked Allentown Road is the epicenter of concern. Tayac Elementary, Isaac J. Gourdine Middle and Friendly High schools — with a combined total of more than 2,600 students — are located within a 2-mile radius of Allentown Road in Fort Washington. More than 60,000 motorists use Allentown Road every day and 14 people have died on that road since 2000, said the Prince George’s County Police Department.
Four year ago, Taura Lloyd and her 8-year-old daughter were hit as they crossed Allentown Road in front of Gourdine. The woman died at the scene after she was hit by one car and hit again by a second car traveling in the opposite direction, according to police. Her 8-year-old daughter, a Tayac student, suffered a broken arm and broken leg.
Del. Jay Walker (D-Dist. 26) of Fort Washington said the area along Allentown Road is dangerous. ‘‘You have a road where in a less-than-2-mile radius, thousands of children are threatened by speeding motorists,” he said. “You’ve got to have those cameras installed.”
Tia Stephens, president of Gourdine’s parent, teacher, student association, supports speed cameras. ‘‘I’m concerned about speeding,” she said. ‘‘Especially with the winter months and icy conditions, we are more concerned than ever.”
Read More About Maryland County Pushing for School Traffic Cameras...
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Was it fog or smoke from a fire?
That’s what fire department officials want to know as they investigate the wreckage from a 70-vehicle pileup which killed four motorists and injured 38 others January 9 in Polk City, near Tampa. The nearby fire began as a controlled burn, but burned out of control and scorched 400 acres near the interstate, according to the Miami Herald. Visibility was reduced to zero, the Tampa Tribune said.
Highway department officials closed 14 miles of I-4 to clean up debris. I-4 is the main artery connecting Tampa and Orlando. The Tribune calls it one of the “commuter lifelines” in the Bay Area. Fires from burning trucks in the accident blackened the highway asphalt. A day later, encroaching fog continued to hamper clean-up efforts. Twenty tractor-trailers and at least one tanker were involved in the crash. Six of the semis were destroyed and the tanker was set ablaze, the Tribune reported.
”Please don't even try to come here,' Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told CNN.
Families of the deceased met with medical examiner to identify the dead, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Larry Coggins said. In addition to the fatalities, five motorists were seriously injured. Their conditions were unknown Jan. 10.
Robert Ellison was driving on I-4 when he barely avoided a collision. "Everything came to a halt," he said. "You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face."
The Tribune interviewed Polk City resident Dick White, who heard crashing sounds. "We woke up to the sound of muffled explosions,” he said. “It sounded like bombs going off. You didn’t hear tires squealing, just ‘boom, boom, boom,’" he said. "Apparently, drivers didn’t see each other or have time to hit the brakes."
The Florida Department of Agriculture is investigating the brush fire, the Tribune reported.
Read More About Fog, Smoke Envelop Interstate, Killing Four Motorists...
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A semi that failed to slow its speed in a construction zone on a rural divided highway in western Illinois rammed two vehicles and killed at least three people days before the year ended, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Illinois State Police said a tractor trailer carrying potatoes kept its speed when it merged from two lanes into one as it approached the construction zone. The semi rear-ended one car, sending it into the median. The semi then plowed into a car, which hit a fourth vehicle that burst into flames. The semi also caught fire and spilled 45,000 pounds of the crop it was hauling. Three other vehicles, including a second semi, were involved in the chain-reaction crash. Seven vehicles were involved in the accident.
Dead in the pile-up on Route 39 in La Salle County were Donald and Faye Rautio of Minnesota, who were traveling to their winter home in Florida, according to their son, Eric Rautio, 38. The couple’s dog survived the crash, Star-Tribune.
State police still have not charged the driver of the truck
Eric Rautio said his parents were "young and healthy and had one grandson." His father played in softball leagues near their retirement home in the Villages, Fla., and his mother was involved with the League of Women Voters.
Donald had been a principal at Adams and Morris Bye elementary schools in the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota. Faye helped establish an early childhood education programs in the Robbinsdale School District.
The son said a memorial service is being planned at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church after New Year's, and another service likely will be held in Florida.
Read More About Tractor Trailer Starts Chain-Reaction Crash; Three Killed...
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An expert in product safety and liability says “plain old” consumer awareness may be driving the latest surge in product recalls.
Michael Brown, former executive director of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), said heightened consumer concerns about product safety are due to increased consumer awareness, rather than a greater number of unsafe products, according to insurancenewsnet.com.
“We generally have safer consumer products now than we did 20 years ago," said Brown, now an executive with Brown & Gidding, PC. "Thanks to the Internet and other forms of communications, we have greater awareness among consumers with safety violations."
But Brown is wary of product and manufacturing globalization. He said outsourcing limits government’s and manufacturers’ control over quality control. "The CPSC is woefully depleted, and needs additional staff and training to address these concerns," said Brown. "At the same time, many of the large multinational companies involved in high-profile product recalls had safety standards and policies in place, but assumed their suppliers and contract manufacturers halfway around the globe had the same understanding to adhere to those standards."
Insurancenewsnet.com reported Thomson, West, a legal information services provider, found product liability lawsuits filed in federal courts have doubled in the last five years. A record was reached in 2006 with 28,274 cases filed in federal courts. Pharmaceutical companies accounted for half (47%) of those suits since 2002, followed by industrial manufacturing (14.5%), health care (5%), chemicals (5%), construction (4%) and retail (4%).
Read More About Ex-Consumer Product Chief Says "Awareness" is Driving Recalls...
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A three-year old boy playing in a 6,000-square-foot inflatable playground during a birthday party was killed with two adults playing “King of the Hill” fell onto the boy’s head and caused severe head trauma.
Jacob Pierce of Longview, Wash. was jumping on the inflatable toy at Hoppin’ Houses in Castle Rock, Wash., when the accident occurred. Witnesses said Pierce was hit in the head by an adult’s elbow, knee or shoulder.
Paramedics found Jacob bleeding from the nose and mouth. The boy suffered traumatic head injuries and was pronounced dead at St. John's Medical Center in Longview. The Cowlitz County coroner informed the family the boy died at the scene and did not suffer when an elbow or knee crushed his skull.
"The men shouldn't have been in there,” Rebecca Pierce, the boy’s mother, said. “You need to have more supervision there than just an 18-year-old sitting at the counter," reported KOMORadio.com in Seattle.
However, the mother is the one with the guilt. "I'm in charge of that child," she said. "I was supposed to watch that child."
A cousin of the boy visited Hoppin’ Houses later that day and discovered the restaurant was open for business and hosting another birthday party. According to the Pierce family, patrons had covered her son's blood with a mat before hosting the next party. The family who held that party claimed they were not told of the fatal accident.
NWCN.com reported Pierce signed a waiver liability release before the party., which is standard business practice according to he web site. Hoppin’ Houses did not have a permit to operate as an amusement facility and has been closed, NWCN.com added.
Read More About Tumbling Adults Fall Onto and Kill Boy at Inflatable Playground...
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A construction worker and father of four children fell to his death at a Home Depot construction site in Pelham, N.Y., according to lohud.com
Forty-eight-year-old George Leak apparently lost his footing on a beam and fell 25 feet onto a concrete platform. It was the first day on the job for the resident of Jamaica, N.Y., employed by Leading Edge Contracting in Oldwick, N.J.
New York City firefighter administered CPR to Leak, who never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate.
"He died doing what he loved," said Leak’s sister, Leatric. Her older brother had been in the construction business 24 years. His children range in age from 23 years to 17 months.
Read More About N.Y. Man's First Day on Job Results in Fatal Fall...
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For the third time in four months, there has been a construction accident at the Fontainebleu Hotel and Casino construction site on the Las Vegas strip. In two instances, a construction worker died. A total of three workers have died on the project this year.
In the latest incident, four iron workers fell while working on a retaining wall that gave way. The $2.8 billion Fontainebleau project has been shut down by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). The Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Enforcement (NOSHE) will assist the federal safety agency with the investigation.
The iron workers were wearing harnesses but one broke, causing a worker to free fall 30 feet into a 10-foot-deep hole. During the fall, he barely missed exposed iron reinforcement bar. “There was “rebar” everywhere,” said Scott Allison of the Clark County Fire Department. “I have no idea how on earth he missed the “rebar.” Had he hit it, he would have been impaled."
When fellow workers pulled the victim from the trench, he was unresponsive. CPR was performed on the scene before the victim, described as a 26-year-old man, was taken by paramedics to Sunrise Hospital.
Read More About Third Worker Dies at Fontainebleau Construction Site in Las Vegas...
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The Plant City, Fla. Christmas parade ended tragically Dec. 7 when a 9-year-old boy was run over and killed by a pickup truck pulling a float, according to TBO.com., a website covering news in Tampa.
Jordan Hayes had been passing beads and candy out to the crowd along the parade route. When he went back to the moving truck to get more treats, his foot became caught under a truck tire and he was pulled underneath the vehicle. When the crowd yelled at the driver to back up, he did so, running over the boy a second time. The driver, Jerry Bridges, was Hayes’ cousin.
Hayes and Bridges were part of The Greater Heights Family Worship Center’s float in the parade. Hayes was in Plant City to visit his brother Joshua Miller, said Bridges, his only comment.
"This is a tragedy that defies words," Plant City Police Chief Billy McDaniel said. “This was supposed to be a time of celebration and joy, but it has turned into a terrible tragedy.”
Paramedics transported Hayes to South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City where he died from his injuries, police said.<./p>
"This is a horrific, freak accident," said Plant City Mayor Rick Lott, who was seen consoling Bridges and other family members at the scene. "This puts a shadow over Christmas." Lott spoke with Hayes' parents -- Jerry and Connie -- who drove to Plant City from Inverness when they heard the news about their son. Lott said the scene at the hospital was too emotional for words. "Everyone's in shock," he said. "It's a tragic, tragic scene.’
This was the first-ever tragedy in the parade’s 24-year history.
Read More About Boy Caught Under Truck Tire in Parade Dies from Injuries...
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A 38-year old construction worker was killed when he became trapped between a boulder and retaining wall on the site of a new home in Austin, Texas, reported CBS affiliate KEYE. The station said sometimes boulders are purposefully used to retard landslides.
Investigators say the man, Armando Santoya Cruz was digging a trench when he was crushed to death by several large boulders. Roger Wade with the Travis County Sheriff’s Department said investigators “Are trying to figure out how the rocks fell on him, what support was being built and how that all lays out."
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will conduct its own investigation into construction practices at the job site in West Lake Hills. “At this point, we really don’t know how those rocks shifted," said Wade.
Read More About Man Killed When Rocks Shift at Texas Construction Site...
a name="News3599">
Forget dodge ball, bullying or birth-control pills on school grounds. The most serious issue could be “tug of war,” commonly played in physical education class.
In Parker, Colorado last week, two high school students nearly had their hands severed when one side suddenly released the rope.
Students were playing the game during a pep rally in the school gymnasium as part of Homecoming week. The school’s football game was cancelled.
"The rope was wrapped around his hand and in essence was like a noose,” said Dr. Lewis Oster of Hand Surgery Associates in Denver, according to WRC.com, the NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C.
Henry Barrett and Mitch Helfer underwent micro surgery to reattach their hands. The 16-year-old Barrett -- in surgery 10 hours -- remained hospitalized in serious condition the day of the accident.
Barrett's doctor told Denver television station KMGH the 16-year-old wrapped the rope around the palm of his right hand for a better grip. "…a bunch of the kids let go, creating an imbalance in the tugging and it pulled his hand off,” said the surgeon.
Dr. Oster repaired the bones in Barrett’s hand with titanium plates. Then the surgeon reattached muscles, microscopic veins and arteries. The doctor anticipates his patient will play the flute again "and I anticipate it'll be in the next few months," according to United Press International.
"Based on the condition of the tissue, I'll think he'll have a fully functional hand," Dr. Oster said. The doctor said 40 percent of such injuries (avulsion) are successfully repaired. Barrett’s mother shared part of a poem her son composed from his hospital bed: "I may have been injured, but my eyes have been opened. The future has a mind of its own."
Helfer's family declined interview requests at Denver Health Hospital.
Read More About Two Students Have Hands Torn from Wrists During Tug of War...
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J.C. Penney is recalling 70,000 toys made in China, Taiwan and Vietnam after laboratory tests showed lead may be present in the paint on the toys’ plastic, reports the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in Washington, D.C.
Amid the recalled units were Winnie the Pooh play sets and art kits. The Winnie the Pooh set in question is made of 23 pieces including a white or black baby doll with diaper bag, blanket, playpen, highchair, swing, stroller and carrying bags. It was sold in the United States from August 2005 through August 2007. The art set consists of a wooden box with pull-out trays containing 177 different items, including paints and brushes. It was sold September 2005 through August 2007.
Lead is toxic chemical element that, if ingested by young children, can cause nerve damage. Regulations state children's products with greater than 0.06 percent lead that could be accessible to users are subject to recall.
Over 20,000 Chinese-made toys were recalled by other companies, according to the CPSC. Miniature Jeff Gordon NASCAR helmets by Riddell Inc., bendable dinosaur toys by Kipp Brothers and magnetic art kits by Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores were recalled due to lead-contamination.
According to Wikipedia, lead turns gray after exposure to air. A heavy metal, lead accumulates in a human’s soft tissues and bone over time. Like mercury, lead is a neurotoxin, meaning the contaminant attacks a body’s nerve cells. Lead also can cause brain and blood disorders.
Read More About J.C. Penney Recalls 70,000 Toys Amid Lead Fear...
a name="News3487">
So much for releasing a minor into the custody of their parents.
Hours after a 12-year-old, unidentified female in Houston was sent home from school after allegedly pointing a gun at teachers, she returned to campus. This time, she pointed a gun at three teachers and a maintenance worker in the Dean Middle School gymnasium. Harris County Police intervened at gunpoint and apprehended the girl.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Department said the girl now could be charged as an adult. She faces two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
Earlier that day, Sept. 28, the girl was sent to the principal’s office for starting a fight and threatening to kill a teacher and students. The girl wasn’t deterred by a school suspension. The sheriff’s department was ready to charge her but the district attorney for Harris County declined.
"At that point, charges were refused on the basis of “no imminent threat," said Chief Larry Shiflet with the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office.
No students were injured but plenty frightened during the lockdown. "She just pulls out the gun. Everybody -- they just started screaming, 'Lock down, lock down, lock down,'" a student at the school said.
Three beef-eaters in 12 states, including Florida were sickened with the E. coli bacteria, prompting voluntary recall of 21.7 million pounds of frozen hamburger patties from The Topps Meat Co. in Elizabeth, NJ, the Associated Press reported. Earlier in the week, 332,000 pounds of ground beef from the same company was recalled from retail grocery stores. Twenty-two other consumers became ill, though a cause of their sickness hasn’t been determined.
The recall includes beef with a “sell by date” or “best used if sold by date” of Sept. 25, 2007 – Sept. 25, 2008. All recalled products contain the USDA establishment number of 9748, located on the back of the package. It was the first-ever recall by Topps in its 67-year history.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended the grinding of raw products at the Topps plant after inspectors there found faulty safety measures it would not detail. “Because the health and safety of our consumers is our top priority, we are taking these expansive measures,” said Geoffrey Livermore, vice president of operations for the Topps Co.
The USDA confirmed three people contracted the E. Coli bacteria from Topps products, with 22 other cases under investigation. Besides Florida, cases were located in Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Samantha Safranek, 15, of Pembroke Pines, became ill after eating a Topps hamburger on Aug. 17, was hospitalized on Aug. 23, and underwent dialysis before recovering, according to the New York Times.
E. coli causes temporary intestinal illness in adults but is deadly for infants, the elderly and people with deficient immune systems. Symptoms are stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and sometimes, kidney failure.
The mother said it was the shoes. The shoemaker says it was the escalator. Fault has not been determined but one thing’s for sure, four-year-old Rory McDermott had his big toenail ripped off August 31st, when one of his Crocs was sucked into an escalator in Mclean, Virginia.
It happened at the Galleria Mall at Tysons Corner Shopping Center. Said the mother, Jodi McDermott, "He was standing still. His foot wasn't near this edge. It was the left side of the shoe, so it pulled and twisted the shoe in. It pulled the big toe over and it essentially ripped the toenail off except for one little corner."
Fairfax County EMTs took the boy to a hospital for treatment. The emergency room doctor confirmed the boy's big toenail had been ripped off almost completely.
"When we got to the hospital, they said this is actually a common occurrence with Crocs," the mother said. She went on to says the makers of Crocs should issue a warning about the potential dangers of wearing them on an escalator.
Crocs maintains its shoes are safe. They blame the escalator for the accident. On its website, Crocs Inc. lists “top” reasons to have their product: 1) the are really soft, super comfortable, molds to your feet, 2) they are barely there, weighing only 6 ounces and 3) they are vented so air passes through, keeping feet cool.
The site then gives “added” reasons to own a pair: 4) they have non-marking, slip-resistant soles; 5) they are bacteria and odor resistant, 6) they have ultra-hip Italian styling, 7) they have port holes which allow water and sand to pass through, 8) they can be sterilized in water and bleach, 9) they are easy to maintain, and 10) they have an Orthotic-molded foot bed for ultimate comfort and support.
The company was founded in Boulder, Colorado in 2003. Its customer service department can be reached at 866.306.3179. Online, the company can be accessed at Crocs.com.
http://www.nbc4.com/news/14026136/detail.html?dl=headlineclick a name="News3264">On August 22nd, 2007 it was reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Progressive Insurance Company has been sued for an invasion of privacy.One of their insureds made an underinsured motorist claim. Progressive planted two undercover investigators in a support group led by their insured's church. The group discussions were secretly recorded. Not only was the insured's privacy violated but other church members and the minister's privacy was violated. The moral of this story is never trust the insurance companies to do the right thing when you are injured!
a name="News2972"> In an article in the July 2007 Journal of American Association For Justice David J. Berardinelli sets out the history of how from 1995 to 2007 Allstate has gone from "Good Hands to Boxing Gloves."
An insurer in the grip of greed
By redesigning Allstate’s claims-handling system, a consulting firm realigned the insurer’s goals to satisfy shareholders at policyholders’ expense. Here’s an inside look at how the company abandoned its obligations to its customers.
David J. Berardinelli
On June 1, 2006, Allstate Corp. Chairman and CEO Ed Liddy made a financial presentation at the annual Sanford Bernstein & Co. Strategic Decisions Conference. Speaking to an audience packed with CEOs and executives from many of the world’s largest companies, Liddy proudly extolled Allstate’s phenomenal financial performance since 1995, when it installed a new claims-handling system called “Claims Core Process Redesign” (CCPR).
This leap in profitability was all the more remarkable as it occurred during an unmatched parade of natural catastrophes that should have sent Allstate’s profits plummeting. The CCPR system Liddy bragged about was designed by a company that many in his audience would agree was the world’s most powerful corporate consultant—McKinsey & Co.
One of Liddy’s presentation slides, entitled “Building a Competitive Advantage through Claims,” perfectly summed up McKinsey’s design philosophy for CCPR. As the system’s biggest beneficiary, Liddy could personally testify to the effectiveness of McKinsey’s plan to build profits through claims. Liddy was chief financial officer of Sears when it spun off Allstate in 1994. He went with Allstate then and quickly ascended to become its CEO in 1999. According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Liddy also amassed a personal fortune of over $150 million in stock, options, and incentive bonuses—all as a direct benefit of McKinsey’s redesign of the insurer’s claim system.
But calling in McKinsey to redesign Allstate’s claim system was not Liddy’s idea. It was the brainchild of Jerry Choate, the company’s first CEO following its spin-off. As president of Allstate’s important PP&C (personal property and casualty) business division in 1992, Choate hired McKinsey to help guide Allstate through the transition from a Sears subsidiary into a superstar performer in the insurance industry.
Choate took a hands-on approach to guiding the progress of McKinsey’s redesign project at Allstate, personally approving each phase, presentation, and proposal as it moved forward. For Choate, the benefit of McKinsey’s system was big and fast. Less than four years after CCPR was rolled out in 1995, he retired with a personal fortune in stock, options, and incentive bonuses estimated to be worth at least $53 million.
Under traditional principles of insurance law, insurers are supposed to give as much consideration to the interests of their policyholders as they do to their profits. McKinsey deliberately set out to introduce a new ethical paradigm.
In the mid-1990s, McKinsey partners were writing articles, books, and essays heavily promoting a new model for its corporate clients. According to McKinsey partners, the best example of this new corporate standard was its long-time client Enron. In the 1990s, McKinsey was a key architect of the strategic thinking that made Enron a Wall Street darling—and set it on the path to its own destruction.
A new model
Under McKinsey’s model, corporate performance and ethical conduct were both measured by only one standard—the interest of the shareholder. McKinsey preached to its clients that business systems and business rules that did not promote shareholder interests were bad and needed to be changed.
A series of more than 12,000 PowerPoint presentation slides that McKinsey created for a presentation to Allstate executives—which Allstate later produced under a temporary protective order in litigation1—show how McKinsey encouraged the insurer to secretly adopt a business strategy promoting the interests of its shareholders at the direct expense of its policyholders. In its initial CCPR presentation, McKinsey told Allstate’s senior managers what would be required of them for its CCPR system to succeed: “The senior management team views the [profit] improvement program as a top priority, with unanimity in their belief that change needs to occur. . . . They are willing to make fundamental changes in people, procedures, management systems, structure, etc., to ‘do whatever it takes’ [to increase profits and shareholder value].”2
McKinsey’s paradigm is alive and thriving at Allstate today. Its “shareholder first” business philosophy is probably best expressed in Allstate’s 2006 proxy statement:
Stock ownership requirement: Because we believe strongly in linking the interests of management with those of our shareholders, we first instituted stock ownership goals in 1996 for executives at the vice president level and above. These goals were increased in 2004 to require these executives to own, within five years of the date the executive position is assumed, common stock worth a multiple of base salary.3
Here is the ultimate example of McKinsey’s paradigm at work. Allstate CEOs are required to own company stock worth seven times their annual salary. Senior management executives are required to own Allstate stock worth four times their annual salary.
What’s wrong with McKinsey’s plan for the casualty insurance industry? The answer is: everything. Insurers are in business to make profits, but the fiduciary nature of the insurance contract prohibits insurers from “linking the interests of management with those of . . . shareholders”4 since the shareholders’ only interest is increasing profits—even at the direct expense of policyholders.
McKinsey’s introduction of its business paradigm into the casualty insurance industry was fundamentally wrong. This wrong was probably best expressed almost 30 years ago by the California Supreme Court in one of the nation’s landmark insurance cases:
The insurer’s obligations are . . . rooted in their status as purveyors of a vital service labeled quasi-public in nature. Suppliers of services affected with a public interest must take the public’s interest seriously, where necessary placing it before their interest in maximizing gains and limiting disbursements. . . . [A]s a supplier of a public service rather than a manufactured product, the obligations of insurers go beyond meeting reasonable expectations of coverage. The obligations of good faith and fair dealing encompass qualities of decency and humanity inherent in the responsibilities of a fiduciary. Insurers hold themselves out as fiduciaries, and with the public’s trust must go private responsibility consonant with that trust.5
Illicit profits through claims
In 2006, Liddy had good reason to extol Allstate’s post-CCPR financial performance. The company’s financial improvement was just as dramatic as his own rise in personal fortune. Allstate’s financial filings show that its total pretax operating income (excluding investment income) for the 10-year period before CCPR became fully operational (1986-1995) was $820 million—an average pretax operating income of $82 million a year.
In comparison, Allstate’s total pretax operating income for the 11 post-CCPR years (1996-2006) was $27.4 billion—an average pretax operating income of $2.5 billion per year. Compared with its pre-CCPR total operating income of $820 million, that’s an almost 3,335 percent increase in total operating income in the 11 years after implementing CCPR. That’s more than phenomenal—it’s downright unbelievable.
Putting this change into sports terms (on a much smaller percentage scale): It would be like a 10-year veteran of Major League Baseball who’d never hit more than 40 home runs a year suddenly putting on 30 pounds of muscle and hitting 80 home runs in the 11th year of his career. This just doesn’t happen—not unless there’s been some serious cheating with banned substances. It’s the same for the insurance industry. Operating income increases like the ones Allstate has experienced don’t just happen—not unless there’s been some serious cheating with unfair claims practices. McKinsey’s PowerPoint slides explain how and why the cheating occurred.
There’s really only one way McKinsey could manage such a miraculous turnaround—by dramatically reducing claim payments while keeping premiums at the same or higher levels. The McKinsey slides describe this process as the foundation of CCPR, calling it the “Zero-Sum Economic Game.”
McKinsey was blunt in stating the intent behind its CCPR design: “Our change goal is to redefine the game . . . to . . . radically alter our whole approach to the business of claims. . . .”6 Instead of basing CCPR on the traditional principles that restrained Allstate from solely promoting its shareholders’ interest, McKinsey substituted zero-sum game theory to allow Allstate to aggressively pursue increased profits at the direct expense of its policyholders.
This approach converted claims handling at Allstate into an economics game, a direct competition between Allstate and its policyholders. As one McKinsey slide puts it: “Improving Allstate’s casualty economics will have a negative economic impact on some medical providers, plaintiff attorneys, and claimants. . . . Zero-sum economic game—Allstate gains—Others must lose.”7
According to estimates in the McKinsey slides, the zero-sum game was intended to reduce claim payments by an average of 15 percent to 20 percent. Allstate’s annual reports confirm that its phenomenal growth in pretax operating income was driven by a dramatic decrease in average claim payments.
For example, McKinsey concentrated most heavily on private auto policies in designing CCPR (although it eventually applied CCPR across the board to all casualty coverages, including homeowner’s policies). In 1994, the year before CCPR was implemented, Allstate was paying out about 69 cents on claims for every premium dollar collected.8 According to the Wall Street Journal, Allstate’s claim payments for private passenger auto claims plunged to about 51.7 cents out of every premium dollar collected by 1998.9
According to the Consumer Federation of America, during the first three quarters of 2006, Allstate’s overall claim payments plunged to just 43.5 cents of every premium dollar collected—the lowest since 1987.10 That’s an additional 26.5 cents per premium dollar in “extra” profits for Allstate. As noted in the same article, Allstate’s substantial reduction in claim payments should have resulted in a substantial reduction in premiums, which are based on projected payments.11 But it hasn’t.
It is clear from the slides that both McKinsey and Allstate knew that designing a claims-handling system around a zero-sum game theory would violate existing insurance laws and constitute institutional bad faith. Hence, McKinsey repeatedly refers to the need to “modify bad-faith laws” and “modify the rules and regulations [governing insurance]” for CCPR to be effective.12
Abuse of the civil justice system
Although the protective order shielding the McKinsey slides has expired and Allstate has been ordered to turn the slides over to plaintiff counsel in bad-faith litigation, the company has refused to do so. (See sidebar on page 36.) It’s not surprising that Allstate would willingly commit contempt of court rather than produce these slides for public dissemination—especially considering the firestorm of litigation the company provoked after denying claims made by victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Aside from the public relations disaster that would result, there’s another reason Allstate isn’t likely to produce the McKinsey slides without a protective order that prevents public dissemination. The slides would explain to juries—particularly in Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi—why Allstate is deliberately forcing thousands of innocent policyholders to litigate their legitimate homeowner claims rather than settling with them.
One of the most remarkable slides describes McKinsey’s “Good Hands or Boxing Gloves” strategy—and this may be the most damning CCPR slide McKinsey created.13 It illustrates how McKinsey applied its business paradigm to the handling of casualty insurance claims.
Under traditional insurance law, casualty insurers are required to pay legitimate claims promptly and fairly because they are bound to give equal consideration to the interests of the policyholder when handling claims. However, McKinsey’s paradigm required placing shareholder interests first, and paying legitimate claims promptly and fairly would likely increase loss payouts at the direct expense of shareholders. Thus, CCPR could not be designed to pay legitimate claims both promptly and fairly. To win the zero-sum economic game, McKinsey designed CCPR to pay legitimate claims promptly or fairly, but not both.
The “Good Hands or Boxing Gloves” slide shows how McKinsey intended to win the claims economic game in two phases that deliberately and illegally exploited the economic pressures placed on a policyholder suffering from financial loss. The first phase (Good Hands) required Allstate to change how it evaluated and negotiated claims; the second phase (Boxing Gloves) required it to change how it litigated claims.
The first phase involved arbitrarily lowering Allstate’s claims evaluations by using a computer program called Colossus, which was calibrated to produce evaluations at least 20 percent lower on average than Allstate’s pre-CCPR claim evaluations. Allstate would require its adjusters to make nonnegotiable, take-it-or-leave-it settlement offers based on these artificially low settlement evaluations.
McKinsey estimated that, when confronted with the threat of a substantial delay in getting any benefits at all, 90 percent of policyholders would succumb within six months to the economic pressures caused by their loss and give up without a fight, accepting the low offers. These policyholders would get “prompt” payment—the Good Hands treatment.
The second, Boxing Gloves, phase involved a plan to deliberately abuse the civil justice system as a weapon of attrition against the estimated 10 percent of policyholders who would refuse to accept Allstate’s reduced benefits. These policyholders would be driven into the “kill box”14 of McKinsey’s zero-sum economic game—the American civil justice system.
In designing CCPR, McKinsey understood from its work with other insurance companies like State Farm that “aggressive litigation yields positive results.”15 One of McKinsey’s major findings was that “Allstate doesn’t aggressively use litigation to drive down values in the market.”16 Thus, a key part of McKinsey’s Boxing Gloves strategy would be to actively incite “significantly higher levels of litigation.”17
In other words, a key part of Allstate’s CCPR system involved deliberately inciting the filing of thousands of frivolous lawsuits—frivolous because they would arise not out of a legitimate dispute over claim values but because of a tactical strategy designed to encourage needless litigation. Allstate’s goal: to delay or diminish payment of full value for legitimate claims.
The Boxing Gloves strategy aimed to make litigating claims against Allstate so time-consuming and expensive that any victory by the policyholder would be purely Pyrrhic. McKinsey believed that most policyholders and their attorneys would refuse to endure the expense and delay of litigation if they knew that Allstate had made an institutional decision to try every disputed claim to verdict—no matter the amount in controversy and regardless of the cost to Allstate of doing so.
Fewer policyholders and lawyers are now willing to litigate against Allstate. Their only other choice is to accept about 40 cents on the dollar for legitimate claims. The result: Allstate’s shareholders win and policyholders lose. That’s what “building a competitive advantage through claims” is all about.
David J. Berardinelli, author of From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves (Trial Guides 2006), practices law in Santa Fe, New Mexico. © 2007, David J. Berardinelli
Tell your families, friends, staff and clients about this valuable new state program - the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has instituted an emergency contact information system that allows anyone with a valid Florida Driver's License or Florida Identification Card to post emergency contact information online that will then be available to law enforcement personnel, giving them immediate access to the information and potentially saving crucial time if ever it becomes necessary to contact family members or other loved ones in case of an emergency. Individuals can post emergency contact information online at: http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/.
The site allows posting of information for a primary and a secondary emergency contact, and includes fields for each contact's name, address, relationship, and three phone numbers (work, home and cell). As with other personal information related to an individual's driver's license, the information is subject to the Driver Privacy Protection Act. Thanks to AFTL Past President Wayne Hogan for bringing this new program to our attention.
JANE IZQUIERDO,
Appellant,
v.
GYROSCOPE, INC., etc.,
Appellee.
No. 4D05-4599
[January 10, 2007]
WARNER, J.
After the jury returned a verdict finding no negligence on the part of a restaurant in the appellant’s action for damages for a slip and fall, the appellant sought a new trial. She claimed that the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence. The trial court denied the motion. Because the uncontroverted evidence shows at least some negligence on the part of the restaurant, we conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion and reverse.
The appellant, Jane Izquierdo, filed a personal injury action alleging negligence by the defendant, Gyroscope, Inc., which owned and operated Giorgio’s Grill. She alleges that she slipped and fell on a wet napkin, breaking her leg. The defendant denied any negligence.
At trial, the jury learned that Giorgio’s was a restaurant which became a night club after certain hours. It had a tradition of both the wait staff and customers throwing paper napkins into the air as the music played throughout the evening. The napkins would land on the floor of the restaurant. No one would pick them up, although when they became too deep, customers would push them to the side. Because drinks were occasionally spilled, sometimes the napkins would be wet.
Both Izquierdo and her fiancé testified that they went to the restaurant to meet a friend around midnight on the night of the incident. They had been to Giorgio’s about five or six times before and knew that it became a night club after certain hours. They also knew of the napkin-throwing tradition and never thought it could be dangerous.
Upon arriving, they sat down at one of the tables in the back of the club. The restaurant was relatively crowded. Izquierdo had one drink and then went to the restroom. On the way back from the restroom she slipped and fell, breaking her leg in the process. After she was on the ground, she observed that the floor was wet and napkins were on her shoes. Her fiancé heard her scream, came running, and also observed the wet napkins on her shoes. While she did not know exactly how she slipped, she knew she slipped on something, and assumed that she slipped on the napkins. Her clothes were wet from being on the ground.
Izquierdo was in great pain and had to be carried out of the restaurant where she waited for an ambulance. She was transported to the hospital and had surgery the next day to repair her broken leg. She relied on a wheelchair for three months and continued to have pain and limitations afterward.
The manager of Giorgio’s also testified, although he was not present at the time of the incident. He was well aware of the custom of throwing napkins in the air and agreed that leaving wet napkins on the floor was a hazardous condition. He admitted that no one cleans up the napkins until after closing, and in the meantime the napkins are simply pushed out of the way. In all the years the napkin-throwing tradition has existed, no one has ever fallen on them before Izquierdo’s fall.
In closing argument, the defendant’s attorney made two points regarding the restaurant’s liability. First, he noted that Izquierdo did not know exactly how she fell. Second, he argued comparative negligence, noting that both Izquierdo and her fiancé knew about the napkin-throwing tradition and had visited the restaurant on many occasions.
The jury returned a verdict for the defendant, finding that there was no negligence on its part. The court entered final judgment, and Izquierdo moved for a new trial, claiming that the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence. The trial court denied the motion, and Izquierdo appeals, claiming that the court erred by denying her motion for new trial.
The appropriate standard of review applied to a trial court’s denial of a motion for a new trial is whether the trial court abused its discretion. See Brown v. Estate of Stuckey, 749 So. 2d 490 (Fla. 1999). Brown articulates the test for determining whether the trial judge committed an abuse of discretion and provides that:
[A]n appellate court must recognize the broad discretionary authority of the trial judge and apply the reasonableness test to determine whether the trial judge committed an abuse of discretion. If an appellate court determines that reasonable persons could differ as to the propriety of the action taken by the trial court, there can be no finding of an abuse of discretion.
Id. at 497-98. Furthermore, in Dewitt v. Maruhachi Ceramics of America, Inc., 770 So. 2d 709, 711 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000), the Fifth District explained that:
The question for an appellate court is not whether or not the evidence was contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence presented below. Indeed that is the question addressed to the trial court on motion for a new trial. Rather, the appellate court is limited to considering whether or not the trial court abused its discretion in denying a new trial. In order for [the appellate court] to reach that conclusion, the evidence must be clear and obvious, and not conflicting . . . .
(citations and footnote omitted). See also K-Mart Corp. v. Collins, 707 So. 2d 753, 755 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (recognizing that where there is conflicting evidence, the weight to be given that evidence is within the province of the jury).
Despite this deferential standard, “an appellate court should reverse a jury verdict when there is no rational basis in the evidence to support the verdict of the jury.” Sifford v. Trans Air, Inc., 492 So. 2d 407, 408 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986). “[W]here the testimony on the pivotal issues of fact is not contradicted or impeached in any respect, and no conflicting evidence is introduced, these statements of fact can not be wholly disregarded or arbitrarily rejected.” Merrill Stevens Dry Dock Co. v. G & J Invs. Corp., Inc., 506 So. 2d 30, 32 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987).
We conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion for new trial as the verdict finding no negligence on the part of the defendant is contrary to the undisputed evidence in the case. The testimony regarding negligence from both Izquierdo and her fiancé was not conflicting nor was it impeached. More importantly, the manager of the restaurant admitted that permitting the wet napkins to remain on the floor was a hazardous condition. Although the defendant argued in closing that Izquierdo did not know how she fell, the circumstantial evidence included her testimony that she slipped, went down on a wet floor, and found napkins on her shoes. The inference that the wet napkins on the floor caused her fall clearly was the only reasonable inference which could be drawn from the facts presented. The defendant offered no contrary interpretation consistent with the facts proved.
We are further persuaded that the evidence of the defendant’s negligence was clear and obvious by a reading of section 768.0710(1), Florida Statutes (2004), which provides:
The person or entity in possession or control of business premises owes a duty of reasonable care to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition for the safety of business invitees on the premises, which includes reasonable efforts to keep the premises free from transitory foreign objects or substances that might foreseeably give rise to loss, injury, or damage.
This statute was enacted after Owens v. Publix Supermarkets, Inc., 802 So. 2d 315, 331 (Fla. 2001), in which our supreme court held “that the existence of a foreign substance on the floor of a business premises that causes a customer to fall and be injured is not a safe condition . . . .” Thus, both the supreme court and the legislature agree that a business owner owes a duty to its invitees to make reasonable efforts to keep transitory foreign substances off the floor, which would include napkins. Failure to do so would be negligence.
Further, although Giorgio’s claimed that the napkin-throwing was known by Izquierdo and the existence of napkins on the floor was obvious, this would merely discharge the landowner’s duty to warn. It does not discharge the landowner’s duty to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition. Thus, whether the danger was open and obvious is an issue of comparative negligence. See Fenster v. Publix Supermarkets, Inc., 785 So. 2d 737, 739 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001) (“A plaintiff’s knowledge of a dangerous condition does not negate a defendant’s potential liability for negligently permitting the dangerous condition to exist; it simply raises the issue of comparative negligence and precludes summary judgment.”).
We are also guided by our decision in Christiana v. White, 346 So. 2d 1036 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977), which involved an intersectional automobile collision where the defendant made a left turn after the left turn arrow had turned red. The plaintiff traveling in the opposite direction swerved to miss the defendant but managed to run into a concrete box. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant. Our court reversed the denial of the motion for new trial, stating:
[T]his case was tried on comparative negligence. By its verdict for the defendant-appellee herein, the jury necessarily concluded that defendant was without negligence which was a legal cause of the accident and that plaintiff was 100% at fault.
The record in the instant cause clearly shows some negligence on the part of appellee. We find that this jury verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence and that the trial judge abused his discretion in denying appellant’s motion for a new trial.
Id. at 1037. Likewise, the record in the present case shows at least some negligence on the part of the defendant, even though a jury could find that Izquierdo was negligent herself. The jury’s verdict finding no negligence on the defendant’s part is contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence, and the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion for new trial. We therefore reverse and remand for a new trial.
STEVENSON, C.J., and TAYLOR, J., concur.
A report by the Insurance Information Institute says the property/casualty industry's profits during the first nine months of 2006 increased by 50.1 percent over the same period in 2005, from $29.7 billion to $44.9 billion. See Robert P. Hartwig, CPCU, "2006 - First Nine Months Results," http://www.iii.org/industry/financials/2006firstninemonths. The report also concludes that the insurance industry's profitability during that period, if maintained, would lead insurers to their best financial performance in nearly 20 years.
a name="News2941"> PRODUCTS LIABILITY
United States District Court Denies Class Certification in Multidistrict Vioxx Litigation
Jeremy Taylor - Senior Attorney
Merck & Company ("Merck") recalled its prescription pain reliever Vioxx from the market on September 30, 2004, when data from a clinical trial indicated a strong correlation between the use of Vioxx and an increased risk of cardiovascular thrombotic events, such as myocardial infarctions and ischemic strokes. Vioxx had been manufactured and sold in the United States by Merck from the date of its approval by the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") in May 1999, until its withdrawal from the market. It has been estimated that 105 million prescriptions for Vioxx were written during the period of the drug's sale in the United States. Based upon this statistic, it has been concluded that approximately 20 million people took Vioxx in this country.
Following Merck's withdrawal of the drug, thousands of individual lawsuits, and numerous class actions, have been filed against Merck in state and federal courts across the nation. In February 2005, the Judic