Alabama Injury Attorneys Blog

The family of twenty year-old, Jessica Morales, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. after her untimely death on September 9, 2010. Morales and seven other victims were killed in the natural gas explosion accident that rocked the San Bruno community.

Around 6:00 p.m. on the night of September 9, 2010, a 30 inch gas line exploded in the residential community of San Bruno, California destroying homes and everything in its path. Reports estimate that over 50 people were injured after the pipeline exploded and some 37 homes were completely destroyed with dozens more damaged in one way or another.

Morales was visiting her boyfriend, Joseph Ruigomez, on the night of the explosion, when flames rushed into Ruigomez's house. Panicked, Morales tried to flee the burning house and ran towards a neighboring house. Ruigomez was severely burned in the explosion attempting to rescue her.

Morales' burned body was later discovered the next morning in a neighbor's shed.

The lawsuit alleges that the pipeline explosion could have been prevented and that PG& E had knowledge of the pipeline's defective condition. The lawsuit also points to the fact that Pacific Gas & Electric Co. failed to act on a long list of PG& E incidents and safety lapses.

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The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in cooperation with Family Dollar Stores, Inc. has announced a voluntary recall of all remote controlled Toy Tank Cars, called the Authentic Heroes Target Practice Tank play set.

The CPSC announced the recall on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 and goes into effect immediately. There were about 67,000 toy cars sold to Family Dollar Stores nationwide. According to reports, the remote control has a propensity to overheat and melt, posing a burn threat to children. No burn injuries have been reported yet, but Family Dollar has received five reports of overheating.

The children's toys were sold exclusively at Family Dollar stores in Alabama and across the U.S. from September 2010 through December 2010. The toy tanks retail for about $5. The UPSC recommends discontinuing using the toy immediately to prevent any potential child burn injury and return the toy to a Family Dollar Store in Alabama or nationwide for a refund.

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Quinzy Fraser, a former University of Maryland football player, was heading home after a day of drinking when he hit and killed cyclist Stanton Miller this past June.

Fraser reportedly had been drinking since noon, when after eight beers he decided to drive to home. Driving approximately 69 miles per hour, Fraser accidentally dropped his cell phone and bent down to get in when he hit Miller.

With a blood alcohol level of .19 (almost three times the legal limit), Fraser claims he "heard a bang" then realized he hit someone.

According the prosecutors, the impact shattered Miller's leg and sent his "head snapped back into the A-bar of the SUV" that Fraser was driving and ultimately threw Miller's body 100 feet in the air.

After hours of agonizing testimony from the friends and family of both men, a Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge sentenced Quinzy Fraser to 8 years in jail and 5 months of unsupervised probation for the drunk driving accident that caused the death of Stanton Miller.

Continue reading "Fatal Auto Accident Kills One and Ruins the Life of Another" »

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a recall last week of the White-Rodgers Home Heating and Cooling Thermostats for potential fire hazards. There are roughly 180,000 thermostats in the United States that are affected by this recall, and over 8,000 in Canada. According to the CPSC, the programmable thermostats constantly charge the backup batteries used to power the thermostats clock and therefore can cause the batteries to leak resulting in a potential fire hazard.

There are no injuries reported at this time.

The recall affects the following model numbers: 1F88-XXX and 1F85RF-275.
It also affects thermostat models with date codes beginning with 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 and 1001 thorough 1039.

The units retail for about $150 and are sold to consumers nationwide. According to the company, consumers should immediately remove the back-up batteries and contact White-Rodgers for a free repair kit.

For more information on the Thermostat recall, please contact White-Rodgers through the Firm's Recall Hotline: (888) 624-1901.

Continue reading "Home Heating and Cooling Thermostats Recalled For Fire Hazard" »

Doris S. Levinson filed a wrongful death case after the death of her son, Andrew W. Therrien of Riverside. Therrien died last August in the California 200 desert off-road race after a pick-up truck ran off the track into the crowd killing him and seven other victims.

Levinson filed the personal injury lawsuit against the promoter and the driver of the pick-up truck who caused the accident. Therrien leaves behind a 3 ½ year old daughter, who he pushed out of the way to avoid being hit in the crash.

A wrongful death case was filed after Laura Elizabeth Pullam, a 29-year-old from of Lowndesboro, Alabama, was killed in a horrific traffic accident on the 15th of December.

Pullam, a trained Emergency Medical Technician, EMT, had arrived on the scene of a two car crash on Interstate 65 South around 9:00 am Wednesday morning. While Pullam was trying to administer medical aid at the scene of the car accident (located around mile marker 161 near Hope Hull, Alabama) a 2006 Chevrolet pick-up truck ran off the road and stuck her. Pullam was immediately rushed to near by Baptist South Hospital where she later died from injuries sustained in the crash.

The driver of the pick-up truck, Robert Cumbie, was apparently traveling at an excess speed and trying to pass other motorists who had slowed due to the icy road conditions and EMT response at the accident scene. Cumbie sustained no injuries in the car accident.

According to Alabama State Troopers who investigated the fatal car crash said Cumbie, 42, was speeding with hazardous road conditions. Sgt Steve Jarrett with the Alabama State Troopers said they are conducting a traffic homicide investigation- all fatal crashes where the prime contributing vehicle survives falls under investigation from The Department of Public Safety's Traffic Homicide Unit.

Pullam leaves behind an 11-month old daughter, Belle, and her husband, Shane. The wrongful death lawsuit was filed by Pullam mother, Mary Smith, on behalf of Pullam's daughter.

Continue reading "Alabama Wrongful Death Case Filed in Montgomery" »

David Travis was awarded an $11.7 million jury verdict from injuries he sustained on a job site. Travis, an elevator mechanic, was injured in 2007 while working at the Extended Stay Hotel in Marin County California. The verdict is said to be the largest jury verdict in the county's history.

The trial lasted six weeks, and took the jury three days to deliberate before returning a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. The personal injury attorney for the plaintiff alleged that Bison Builders, the general contractor on site, failed to provide a safe and injury free work environment. For example, Travis, who is 6-foot-one, was forced to carry heavy tools and parts under low lying scaffolding with a clearance of about 5 feet, 7 inches. The scaffolding falls more than a foot below state height regulations.

The injury attorney representing Travis also claimed that the construction area was dark and strewn with litter and very dangerous. Travis reported the conditions to the contractors on several occasions but nothing was done to improve the construction site.

Travis, although wearing a hard hat, reportedly hit his head on the cross-bracing and suffered a herniated disc over the course of two months. The herniated disc compressed into his spinal cord causing near paralysis that was later corrected with surgery.

Travis, 38-years-old, currently suffers from neurological injuries and will probably end up in a wheelchair. Due to his injury, he can no longer perform normal physical tasks and is forced to wear a diaper.

Travis, a father of two, was earning about $150,000 a year prior to the injury. The personal injury attorney representing Travis was quoted after the trial saying, "One thing about money- it does give you power over your life. We're going to make sure that the money is invested so that his kids have trust accounts. They will have an education. And he will have a place to live."

The jury found Bison Builders liable for 75% of the damages. They also found Kenyon Plastering, a co-defendant in the case, not liable for the injuries.

Continue reading "Injured Hotel Worker Awarded $11.7 Million" »