Legal Headlines

Product Liability

MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER | March 11, 2010

A Montgomery jury has ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay $2.75 million to the estate of a woman who was killed July 2007 when her 1999 Ford Explorer rolled over during a crash. The jury returned the judgment Friday after several hours of deliberation.




Product Liability

WSFA | March 10, 2010

A Montgomery County jury awarded the estate of Catherine Parker $2.75 million against Ford Motor Company today. Parker was killed in July 2007 when her 1999 Ford Explorer rolled over during a crash. Beasley Allen attorneys Benjamin E. Baker, J. Cole Portis and J. Greg Allen represented Parker's estate against defendant Ford Motor Company.




Environmental

KNOXNEWS.COM | February 24, 2010

Plaintiffs in three class action federal lawsuits over the giant Kingston coal ash spill have joined forces in litigation against the Tennessee Valley Authority and two of its consultants.

The amended complaint, filed late Thursday in U.S. District Court, is somewhat changed from the previous three complaints and redefines the class of potential plaintiffs - a number that could run into the hundreds. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, plus payment for medical monitoring for anyone who joins in the action.




Product Liability

CBS | February 23, 2010

Toyota customer complaints were ignored, documents suggest and victims' families will attest by attending the congressional hearing with Toyota executives. Beasley Allen's Graham Esdale represents this family.




Product Liability

FORBES.COM | February 5, 2010

The law firm that helped pry a $4.9 billion settlement out of Merck over its Vioxx painkiller and an Ohio lawyer best known for suing over airplane disasters and silicone breast implants have filed would-be class-actions against Toyota, upping the stakes facing the Japanese automaker over allegedly sticky gas pedals.




Product Liability

February 5, 2010

A new scientific report from Quality Control Systems Corp. finds that the proportion of consumer complaints related to vehicle speed control in some Toyota Camry, Tacoma, and Lexus ES vehicles is substantially higher in those models with electronic throttle control systems (Toyota's "ETCS-i") than it is for the same models without electronic throttle control. The report also finds the proportion of reported speed control failures among complaints in the non-recalled Toyota Camrys with electronic throttle control compared to the recalled Camrys with electronic throttle control particularly troubling.




Product Liability

February 4, 2010

Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C., has filed a complaint seeking class action status on behalf of over 5 million Toyota owners whose vehicles have been recalled by Toyota Motor Sales, USA Inc. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court Southern District of Florida against Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Sales, USA Inc.




Product Liability

LOS ANGELES TIMES | February 1, 2010

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday that it has a repair to stop one cause of unintended acceleration that has led to a recall of eight of its most popular vehicles.




Product Liability

LOS ANGELES TIMES | January 29, 2010

Toyota Motor Corp.'s decision to blame its widening sudden-acceleration problem on a gas pedal defect came under attack Friday, with the pedal manufacturer flatly denying that its products were at fault.Toyota Motor Corp.'s decision to blame its widening sudden-acceleration problem on a gas pedal defect came under attack Friday, with the pedal manufacturer flatly denying that its products were at fault.




Recalls

FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION | January 21, 2010

A counterfeit and potentially harmful version of the popular weight loss drug Alli has been found on the Internet, and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers and healthcare providers to be on the look out for it. The drug in question is Alli 60 mg capsules (120-count refill kit). This counterfeit version contains the controlled substance sibutramine and did not contain orlistat, the active ingredient in Alli. Sibutramine is a drug that should be used under physician supervision and should not be used among some individuals as it can interact in a harmful way with other medications.