Mobile, Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer Blog | Long & Waite

On Tuesday night about 10 pm, there was an explosion on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. It is about 52 miles southeast of Venice, FL and the smoke and fire are still visible. It was on a rig called the MODU Deepwater Horizon which is owned by Transocean, Ltd., in Houston.

At first, eleven people were missing, of the 126 people believed to be on the rig. The others had escaped safely, according to a Coast Guard spokesman. The eleven missing people have now been found and brought to safety, according to Billy Nungesser, the Plaquemines Parish President.* Seven people were injured and were airlifted to Belle Chasse and then taken by ambulance to West Jefferson Hospital.

A hospital spokeswoman states that three of the injured people have been treated and released and one is still being treated. News reports do not mention the other three. There is a hotline set up for rig workers’ family members – it is 832-587-8554.

At the time of the explosion, the rig was drilling but not in production. It is under contract to BP and a BP spokesman, one Darren Beaubo, says that all BP personnel are safe, although he does not know how many BP workers had been on the rig at the time of the explosion.

The rig was constructed by Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard in South Korea. It is 396 feet by 256 feet and the site it is working on is 5,000 feet deep and called the Macondo prospect. The rig can operate in water up to 8,000 feet deep and can hold a crew of 130 people.

The Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service will be investigating together as to possible causes of the explosion.

• "It's still too early to tell the cause," said Greg Panagos, Transocean spokesman. "Our focus right now is on taking care of the people."

Maritime workers are covered for injuries either by the Merchant Marine Act (called the Jones Act) or by the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. Like railroad workers, maritime workers do not have to meet all the federal Workers’ Compensation requirements.

Each situation is different and if you have a loved one who was injured while employed as a maritime worker, it is important that you consult an experienced maritime lawyer. You would not want to forfeit any of your rights.

* Later news reports say that the missing people have not all been found.

In June 2009, there was an explosion at a ConAgra Foods plant in Garner, North Carolina which sent 38 workers to local hospitals. Four were admitted in critical condition and the others were treated and released. Injuries were typical of an explosion -- burns, bruises, cuts, broken bones – because the building collapsed. The four in critical condition were suffering from severe burns reportedly over half or more of their bodies and all subsequently died.

Extensive Investigation Conducted

This particular plant primarily makes Slim Jim beef jerky products. A lot of investigators and federal officials converged on the site shortly after the explosion, from ConAgra’s headquarters in Nebraska, the EPA, the State Division of Air Quality, the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the federal Chemical Safety Board, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' National Response Team and of course, local police.

Search-and-Rescue workers courageously crawled around in small and dangerous spaces looking for survivors and they worked around the clock until all workers were accounted for.

News helicopters circled around and some of their footage showed holes in the plant’s roof and eight cars crushed beneath a part of the building that been blown outwards. There was an ammonia leak and following its emergency plan, ConAgra emptied the ammonia pipes into a settling pond.

This plant had 350 employees present when the explosion occurred. It is 425,000 sq. ft. in size. It had last been inspected for safety by state and federal regulators in July 2008 and no problems had been found. In similar inspections during 2006 and 2007, regulators had found violations and in 2001, ConAgra had paid a small fine of $12,100 for a few violations. So it would seem that overall this was a safe plant to work at.

Natural Gas Leak Found

Investigators found that the explosion had been caused by a natural gas leak. It had been contained within the room which housed vacuum pumps for sealing the finished snacks. It was evidently ignited by an electrical component in part of that equipment, but since the room was destroyed, there is no way of pinpointing exactly which part. It was determined to have been an accidental explosion.

Now a lawsuit has been filed by about 24 of the plant’s workers accusing about twelve design, manufacturing, and installation companies of negligence. The suit also accuses the town of Garner of not properly overseeing installation of a commercial water heater which had been in progress at the time. However, this lawsuit does not include ConAgra Foods itself and neither did a suit filed in the summer of 2009.

If you have lost a loved one because of another person’s negligence, you may have a valid wrongful death claim. Please contact our law office today for a free case evaluation.

The widow of one Alan Olson sued her deceased husband’s employer, the Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH), for not giving its employees adequate protection from, or information about, asbestos. PATH provides commuter trains between New York and New Jersey.

Alan Olson was a smoker for 31 years and died of lung cancer. However, his widow is claiming that his cancer was caused by asbestos in his work environment. Asbestos does indeed cause a type of lung cancer called mesothelioma, but this was evidently not the type of cancer Olson died from.

Asbestos can also interact with tobacco smoke to cause the more typical lung cancer – either small cell lung carcinoma or non-small cell lung carcinoma, and Olsen appears to have had one of these two types.

PATH’s defense attorneys argued that his lung cancer was caused by his decades of smoking and that PATH does indeed provide protection for its workers from asbestos, and information about its danger.

Juror Reversed His Vote

The case went to trial and its jury delivered a verdict on March 16. They deliberated for ten hours and were divided, with six members convinced that Olsen’s cancer was caused by his smoking and two wanting to blame PATH. New Jersey law requires agreement in five sixths of a civil jury. After ten hours, one juror changed his vote to make it seven against the plaintiff. He felt that if he did not do that, “we would’ve never gotten out of there”.

A week after the trial finished, this juror sent an email to the plaintiff’s law firm admitting what he had done and apologizing, as he did think asbestos played a role as well as the 31 years of smoking.

Now the plaintiff’s attorneys are asking the Hudson County Superior Court for a new trial on the grounds that the jury did not keep its oath to base its decision on the facts of the case. Plaintiff lawyer Gregory Shaffer stated in his brief:

• “On its face, this juror is stating that he had decided for the plaintiff. He is stating that asbestos/fumes had its role in a strict comparative case. Yet, he is stating that he did not fulfill his sworn duty to vote on the case based upon his determination of the facts. Rather, he wanted to get out of there."

Apparently, New Jersey has not before had a scenario where a juror changed his or her vote to hurry the proceedings along, then felt remorse and sent an email. Nor does case law look kindly on a losing attorney looking into the jury’s deliberations.

PATH attorneys are due to file a response on April 20 and the case will unfold further.

Mesothelioma is on the rise and you can read more about it at Mesothelioma Attorneys – Detection and Diagnosis. Asbestos lodged for years in the body can cause different types of mesothelioma – in the abdominal cavity and the heart, where there are membranes enclosing those structures similar to the membrane around the lungs.

Please see our page on Asbestos Exposure for more about products containing asbestos.

If you have been harmed by another person’s negligence and would like to know more about your legal situation, please contact our Mobile, Alabama office for a free case evaluation.

Zyprexa is a drug approved by the FDA for treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in adults. It is one of the atypical anti-psychotics, used after the regular anti-psychotics have failed to be effective. It is made by Eli Lilly & Co.

Louisana has been one of 13 states that have sued Eli Lilly for inappropriate marketing of Zyprexa. Eli Lilly had been promoting Zyprexa for its “off-label” uses to treat children, and to treat depression, sleeping problems, attention deficit disorder, and mood swings in adults.

Off-label use is quite legal and any doctor can make a judgment call in an individual case where he or she thinks that a drug would be useful. However, drug companies may not market their drugs for off-label use.

In January, 2009, Eli Lilly paid $1.4 million as a settlement amount to the federal government. Louisiana has now settled its lawsuit with Eli Lilly for $20 million. Louisana Attorney General, James Caldwell, says that about $17 million will go into the general fund and about $3 million will go to reimburse Louisiana’s Medicaid fund which has paid Zyprexa costs for unapproved use.

None of the $20 million will be used to pay attorney fees for Louisiana’s attorneys in this case – Eli Lilly will be paying those amounts, which are undisclosed.

Of the 13 states who sued Eli Lilly, Louisana is the eleventh to settle. Others have been Connecticut, Alaska, Idaho, West Virginia, Utah, South Carolina, Montana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Arkansas. Minnesota and Pennsylvania still have pending lawsuits.

Defective Drugs is a type of lawsuit filed when a drug has not been properly tested by the FDA, or turns out to have unexpected and harmful side effects, or has been marketed with inadequate labeling information and warnings. In this case, Zyprexa has not been found defective; it was the company’s marketing efforts that were attacked as improper.

Zyprexa has had a lot of bad publicity for a few years now because it can cause weight gain, diabetes and even death if taken for long enough. Prescription drug cases can be filed without the drug being recalled from the market. The FDA has limited power to order a product off the market and usually, if a product is found to be defective, the manufacturing company will pull it from the market until problems are corrected. Please see our page on The Role of the FDA in Drug Recalls for more details.

If you or a loved one has been harmed by a drug’s side effects and would like to know more about your legal position, please contact our law office for a free case evaluation.

Last week, a nine-year-old boy and his friend were riding their bicycles in Disney World, Florida. It was a busy time of day, with a lot of schools closed for the Easter break and families therefore visiting Disney World and other places. A bus was driving along the same road as the two children in the same direction when the boy’s bike veered from the pavement to the road (there was no curb).

The child and his bike hit the side of the bus and he was thrown under its front rear wheel. According to Sgt. Kim Montes of the Florida Highway Patrol, there was no evidence that the bus driver had been negligent or reckless. Investigation is not complete, but Montes did not expect any criminal charges to be filed. The girl riding with the boy was not hurt.

Other Recent Accidents at Disney World

On March 23, a Disney World bus rear-ended a tour bus and in this case, the Disney World driver was cited for careless driving. Seven of his passengers and he himself were injured although not seriously. The tour bus had been “improperly stopped” on the road, which contributed to the accident.

Earlier in March, two of Disney World’s monorail trains collided, killing one of the operators. After investigation was complete, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined Disney World $35,200 for workplace violations.

Bus accidents can be far more damaging than car accidents in that buses carry so many more passengers. If a car overturns in an ordinary car accident, it can certainly be a disaster, but not on the scale of a full bus overturning. A busload of hurt people cannot all be treated at once in the same emergency room; therefore several ambulances are needed to take people to multiple hospitals. The ensuing chaos at the scene of the accident can also be more dangerous, with a damaged bus blocking the road and more traffic backup.

If you or a loved one have been injured in a bus accident and would like to know more about your legal situation, please contact our Mobile, Alabama office today for a free case evaluation.

In October 2008, two Mississippi girls aged eleven were killed when their Yamaha Rhino ATV overturned. They were driving it around neighborhood streets and authorities determined that it flipped when it ran off the pavement. One girl was killed immediately and the other died later in a hospital emergency room. There were no witnesses.

Now the two families have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Yamaha claiming that the ATV had many design and engineering defects. According to news reports, this lawsuit is not seeking any specific dollar amount.

Previous Yamaha ATV Lawsuits

This is not the first claim brought against Yamaha Rhinos. These are very popular ATVs in both the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S., about 60 people have been killed and several hundred injured in Rhino accidents. Many of the deaths have been of children. ATV rollover accidents often injury the legs or feet, sometimes leading to amputations.

In general, the lawsuits claim that the ATV has a top-heavy design, a high center of gravity, a narrow track width, defective doors, inadequate seatbelts, and a dangerous roll cage. The roll cage is unpadded steel and has evidently caused some of the child fatalities when a child has been ejected from the ATV which has then overturned on top of them.

ATVs Not For Children

Yamaha has issued statements several times emphasizing that these ATVs are not designed for children. They are designed for people 16 or older with drivers’ licenses. Yamaha statements urge people to operate the ATVs safely and appropriately, for off-road use only.

One has to wonder why two eleven-year-old girls were allowed to operate one of these vehicles unsupervised. But there is no law as to what minimum age a Rhino driver must be – just Yamaha’s recommendations. Even if there were such a law, there is no way to legislate universally sensible behavior or to outlaw accidents.

Life is unsafe and some people love risky activities like skiing, motorcycle riding, and bungee jumping. There will always be accidents and mishaps and a society where risky fun is forbidden would be Kafkaesque – a repressive scenario for horror movies and nightmares.

That is not to say that losing a loved one in an accident is not enormously painful and surely parents would never stop grieving over the sudden loss of a beloved child – especially if it was caused by someone else’s negligence. Full and fair compensation would help but would not heal the grief.

However, if you have lost a loved one through another person’s negligence, you may have a valid wrongful death case and if so, we will argue your case to a jury if necessary. Please contact our Mobile, Alabama office if you would like to schedule a free case evaluation.