Amusement Rides Are Scarier Than Clowns

People go to amusement parks and county fairs to experience harmless thrills in relative safety, but several recent news items have left me even less likely to want to go to the carnival the next time it rolls into town. These three high profile accidents make it seem that amusement rides are scarier than clowns, which is


Strict Product Liability

Arkansas has long followed the Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 402A (1965) which provides that in order for a plaintiff to recover for harm or injury caused by a defective product, the product must be sold “in a defective condition” and be unreasonably dangerous to a consumer. What this means is that as a consumer, you


Breach of Warranty

When a seller makes a promise to a buyer there are implications if the seller breaks that promise. Breach of warranty is a possible remedy for a buyer if a broken promise has caused them harm.


Marijuana Industry faces First Product Liability Lawsuit

There are no federal regulations on the use of pesticides on marijuana plants because it is still considered to be an illegal crop at the federal level; however Colorado authorities did release a list of approved treatments, with Eagle 20 not being on the approved list. Flores justified filing the suit by saying, “I want these companies to take a step back and look at what they are putting into their products. These warehouses are getting big and really sloppy. They are adding chemicals to make things more efficient and more potent.


CFPB to Propose Forced Arbitration Changes

The proposed regulation would not completely ban the practice in its entirety, but instead force to add a section that states that the arbitration procedures do not apply if a complaint has been certified by a judge for class-action litigation. Codrary said about the provision, “Under this proposed approach, consumers would again get their day in court to hold companies accountable for potential wrongdoing. We think that’s quite important.” The rule would also require companies to publicly post which claims have been brought to arbitration and the awards issued.


Volkswagen Internal Audit Focuses on Engineers as Lawsuits Mount over Emissions Scandal

he engines were set to be a revolutionary breakthrough, used not just for Volkswagen models, but also for the company’s premium brand Audi, and less costly offshoots Skoda and Seat, along with some light commercial vehicles. Although specifics remain sketchy, it appears that management from the engineering team instructed the use of the software, under pressure to market the “clean diesel” breakthrough. The internal audit discovered that engineers realized that the vehicles would not, at the very least, meet U.S. diesel emissions standards, which are more stringent than in Europe.


Seven More Automakers Questioned about Takata Airbag Recall

The companies include: Volkswagen, Tesla, Daimler’s Mercedes Benz division, Jaguar-Land Rover, Suzuki, Volvo Trucks, and Spartan Motors. Depending on the regulator’s findings, the manufacturers could add to the 11 companies and over 19.2 million vehicles within the U.S. implicated in the recall. Specifically, the NHTSA is asking the automakers whether or not their airbags contain ammonium nitrate, the propellant that can “potentially lead to overaggressive combustion or potentially cause the inflator to rupture,” spraying shrapnel into the driver’s cabin; which has been attributed to at least eight deaths and over 100 injuries.


Ralph Nader’s Tort Law Museum Opens in Connecticut

Nader is hoping that the museum will help to serve future generations in understanding the power of the consumer, the threats of the protections being removed as part of the conservative tort-reform agenda, which is an attempt to put caps on personal injury lawsuit awards. Nader said, “Tort law is being run into the ground, maligned, caricatured and slandered because it’s effective,” calling tort reform, “the cruelest movement I’ve ever encountered.”


Peanut Exec gets Record 28 Year Sentence for Deadly Food Poisoning Outbreak

Parnell was convicted on multiple charges including knowingly shipping peanut products that were tainted with salmonella to merchants throughout the country. An ensuing outbreak between 2008 and 2009 in 46 states contributed to over 700 illnesses and at least nine deaths. Judge Sands also sentenced Parnell’s brother, 56 year-old Michael Parnell, a peanut broker, to 20 years and the plant’s quality assurance manager Mary Wilkerson to five years. Stewart Parnell’s 28 year sentence is the longest ever given for a food poisoning-related offense.