In 2001, Lee Anne and Ben Barry began bike riding long distances to raise awareness about brain injuries. Lee Anne knew first-hand the difficulties associated with these injuries as she herself suffered a brain injury in a car accident when she was five years old.

The couple continued the tradition until 2007 when Lee Ann and another rider were killed after being hit by a car. But Ben and their son Christian have not given up hope.

On August 26 this year, Ben and Christian Barry embarked on a 5,449 mile ride to continue the tradition that Lee Anne started 9 years ago. Setting out from Orange County, Florida, the Barrys will spread the story of Lee Ann, a woman with a brain injury who defied expectations and “never gave up hope.” Throughout the ride, they will speak with other brain injury victims, encouraging them to live life to the fullest.

Car accidents and other forms of negligence often lead to serious injuries, and brain injuries are among the most traumatic. The Barry’s cross-country ride is designed to inform people throughout the nation about a problem that is often kept quiet. Many people are victims of brain injuries.

In fact, this year, the Barrys left for their ride with two others who had suffered brain injuries: mountain bicyclist Randy Profeta and Josh Lawrence. Josh and his father Harold previously held a long-distance walk to raise brain injury awareness in from Florida to North Carolina.

Source:
“Father, son ride 5,449 miles across country” (Orange County Register, August 26, 2010)

A sixty-seven year old preacher and his wife were killed in a car crash only a few blocks from their east Tampa residence on Thursday, September 4th. The intersection of 34th Street and Chelsea Street is regarded as a dangerous intersection by residents of the neighborhood. Over 100 people attended the scene of the crash with some complaining of the level of danger at the intersection.

Neighbors said views of oncoming traffic at the intersection are obstructed by a building on the northeast corner of Chelsea Street. The obstruction forces drivers to pull out beyond the traffic signs to observe oncoming vehicles.

Police said the other driver was heading south on 34th Street, and the car driven by the preacher was heading east on Chelsea Street. Traffic at the intersection is unregulated on 34th Street, and there is a two-way stop sign on Chelsea Street. The driver’s side of the couple’s car was crushed when the two cars collided. As of Thursday, investigators did not have a cause for the crash.
After working for years as a garbage collector for the City of Tampa, the minister took to his life’s calling – preaching. Often, he traveled out of state to spread his Christian message, and his wife worked at a nursing home close to their house.

According to the couple’s sister-in-law, the sixty-seven year old preacher typically drove his wife to work and picked her up at the end of the day. They rarely spent time apart.

“They loved one another so much,” added the sister-in-law, “and they died right there together.”

Source:
“Couple and Friend Killed in Tampa Crash Identified” (St. Petersburg Times/The Ledger, September 3, 2010)

Since parasailing’s inception 20 years ago, numerous people along Florida’s west coast have been killed or severely injured by the activity. Parasailing operations do not require a license, and no state or federal agency inspects or certifies equipment.
This past weekend a 27-year-old Georgia woman was severely injured when her tow line broke during bad weather. She remained in critical condition Tuesday at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.

The Georgia woman and her fiancé went for a parasailing ride Sunday afternoon. Winds began to blow when they were 50 feet in the air and one mile offshore.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, which is a part of the investigation team, the boat’s operator was in the process of pulling the couple in when the winch let loose and the couple flew to the end of line. Once fully extended, the line snapped.

Clearwater Police said, after removing himself from his harness, Ladd fell to the water as he tried to help White remove hers. White, still in the harness, was dragged to the ground hitting beach umbrellas and chairs before hitting a 4-by-4 post for a volleyball net.

The parasailing operator has not been charged, and an investigation is ongoing by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, according to Clearwater police, and the Coast Guard.

In 2005, the Coast Guard recommended that operators adopt guidelines of the self-regulated Professional Association of Parasail Operators. Clearwater has adopted those guidelines as requirements for all parasailing companies harbored at the city marina.

The guidelines require that no parasailing shall take place if a storm is approaching within 7 miles that has sustained winds above 20 mph, or if winds gusts appear dangerous. The captain has the duty to evaluate weather. This past Sunday, other captains decided to return to shore, but the captain of the couple’s boat decided to stay. It only took 12 minutes for winds to jump from 6 mph to gusts of near 35 mph.

Mark McCulloh of the National Parasail Safety Council believes greater oversight could prevent injuries, and the Coast Guard could easily expand to endorse licensing.

McCulloh is aware of only one captain who has lost his license because of a parasailing fatality. He said many are never charged.

Source:
“Despite numerous tragedies, parasailing industry still lacks oversight” (St. Petersburg Times, September 8, 2010)

A recent fatal accident at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill has raised a number of questions about whether other organizations that provide dormitory facilities should be held accountable for providing the safest possible facilities. In this case, an adult guest in a residence hall fell out of a lofted bed and sustained a fatal head injury.

Under the law of premises liability, owners and managers of property are generally responsible for taking all reasonable steps to prevent people from being injured on their property. One of the main questions in this case is whether the University should have provided safety bedrails.

On August 20, a 49-year-old woman was visiting her 19-year-old daughter on campus as she got ready to begin her first year at Chapel Hill. The young woman has cerebral palsy, and her mother was there to help her adjust to the physical realities of life in a dormitory. Tragically, the student’s mother seems to have fallen out of a raised bed during sleep, suffering a fatal head injury.

Should Students Have to Opt-In to Safety, Or Opt-Out?
Because it is assumed that no foul play was involved, UNC campus police decided not to conduct a formal investigation, so details about the tragedy are somewhat sparse.
University officials didn’t know exactly how high off the ground the bunk bed had been lofted, but university policy allows students to set their beds as high as 77 inches (nearly 6-1/2 feet) off the floor. According to campus housing director Larry Hicks, the beds were not elevated before the young woman moved in.

UNC dormitory beds do not come with safety rails, but the university says that it can provide them upon request.
According to safety consultant Mark Briggs, who oversaw premises liability and other risk management at the University of Illinois for 10 years, some other schools require safety rails on all beds but allow students to request them be removed, if they agree to sign a liability waiver.

“The students don’t like that because it looks childish,” said Briggs. “We can let intelligent adults make some of their own decisions.”

The basic question is “opt in or opt out?” Should the university should start with the assumption that most students won’t want embarrassing safety rails and only provide them upon request? Or should it presume it should provide the safest option and allow students to choose to remove it?

“We are in discussions on this topic as we speak,” Hicks said Thursday.

Before the wrongful death, UNC had already received 68 requests for bed rails, which is more than double the average for previous years.

“We think it may be because we had a bedrail installed on the lofted bed in the ‘show room’ that we set up for orientation,” Hicks said.
Since the accident, the university has received about 75 more requests for bed rails.

Source:
“Bedrail requests climb after fatal fall” (Charlotte News Observer, September 10, 2010)

Walt Disney World and SeaWorld are both facing wrongful death claims through the workers’ compensation system. In both cases, regulators cited the companies for serious worker safety violations that resulted in the workers’ deaths. But neither company is likely to end up paying a dime to the families of those workers.

This was the conclusion of a recent article in the Orlando Sun Sentinel. Why? Florida law provides employers with “near-ironclad protection from lawsuits sparked by on-the-job injuries and fatalities,” according to legal experts.

In a premises liability case for a non-worker injured at an amusement park, for example, the plaintiff has to prove the park was negligent. An injured worker has to prove much more: a company’s knowing concealment of a risk virtually certain to lead to injury or death.

In Order to Get Workers’ Compensation, Employee Has to Prove the Serious, Knowing Conduct by Employer
Walt Disney World is being sued by the mother of a monorail driver who was killed in a train collision in July of 2009. After that accident and several others involving the monorails, federal investigators cited Disney with a “serious” safety violation and noted multiple enforcement lapses in their stated monorail policies.

SeaWorld Orlando faces a potential claim from the husband of Dawn Brancheau, the SeaWorld killer-whale trainer who drowned in February. Regulators had already charged SeaWorld with “willful” safety violations and had recommended that trainers never be allowed unprotected contact with the killer whale that killed her.

However, even if the plaintiffs can prove that the parks knew they were engaging in conduct that was likely to get a worker hurt or killed, the plaintiffs aren’t likely to win their cases. That’s because, in Florida, the standard of proof required in a workers’ compensation case is much higher than in other cases.
Why Is the Law So Strict in Worker Injury and Wrongful Death Cases?

According to the Sun Sentinel, the law was changed under the Jeb Bush administration in 2003 after heavy lobbying by the business community. The change in the law “dramatically re-strengthened businesses’ lawsuit shield.”

The change was made after a 2000 Florida Supreme Court holding that injured workers could prevail if they could prove that a company knew or should have known that its actions were likely to lead to workers’ injuries or wrongful death.
The business community was outraged. One of Florida’s largest business trade groups, Associated Industries of Florida, charged that “the language the Supreme Court had put out could really and significantly erode the protections from tort liability that the employers are paying workers’ comp coverage to have.”

In a 182-page rewrite of Florida’s workers’ comp laws, lawmakers changed the rule from “knew or should have known” to essentially “knew or was virtually certain” that its conduct would lead to injury or death. Furthermore, employees now have to prove that the risk was not apparent and the employer deliberately concealed that risk.
Finally, the employee would have to prove those claims by “clear and convincing evidence,” which is a tougher standard than the “preponderance of the evidence” standard used in virtually all other civil lawsuits, such as premises liability and tourist accidentclaims.

Sarasota workers’ comp lawyer Matthew Noyes of Perenich, Caulfield, Avril & Noyes calls that standard “nearly impossible” to meet and “a horrible burden on the injured worker.”
“The practical effect,” he points out, “is that employers don’t feel the pressure to make their workplace as safe as possible for their workers.”

Source:
“Disney, SeaWorld accident lawsuits face tough odds” (Orlando Sun Sentinel, September 13, 2010)

German roller coaster manufacturer Maurer Sohne issued a safety bulletin on September 2 warning that stress testing of its “X-Car” ride vehicles — the trains used in Universal Studios’ Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster — may have a potentially serious safety flaw. The coupling bars used in the rides may crack under stress.

Universal Studios has announced that its year-old Rockit coaster is closed indefinitely, but says it is not due to product liability or premises liability concerns. No tourist accidentsrelated to cracked coupling bars on its Rockit ride have been reported publicly. The theme park says that the ride is closed for regular maintenance and that the coupling bar issue has already been addressed.

Rockit’s Manufacturer Urges All Theme Parks to Close the Rides
When it discovered the safety problem, Maurer Sohne urged all theme parks that have its “X-Car” rides to immediately shut them down and conduct metal fatigue and stress tests.

The ride manufacturer also told parks that had found any cracks in the rides’ coupling bars or coupling elements to keep the rides closed indefinitely “to prevent serious accidents posing a danger to health and life of persons.”

If visitors to a theme park were injured or killed on the ride because of defective parts, Maurer Sohne could face product liability claims, as could the theme park.

Universal Studios Claims Ride Shutdown Unrelated to Manufacturer Warning
The Rockit has been closed since September 15. Universal Orlando has not said when the roller coaster will reopen but told the media that the shutdown has nothing to do with Maurer Sohne’s warning.

Universal Orlando spokesman Tom Schroder says that since the ride is already closed, it has decided to keep it closed to perform scheduled annual maintenance.

“For us, it makes sense to take advantage of the fact that it is already closed for maintenance and perform additional annual maintenance work,” he said.

“We are obsessive about safety. We have aggressive inspection and safety programs in place for all our rides and attractions. Those programs meet or exceed all manufacturer guidelines. Anything in a September 2nd manufacturer’s advisory would have been dealt with weeks ago.”

Nevertheless, the Orlando Sentinel questioned why the ride was closed down before its scheduled annual maintenance if it wasn’t to address the safety warning. “Just why Rockit closed in the first place remains something of a mystery,” the Sentinel said.

Sources:
• “Maker of Universal coaster warns of safety issue” (Orlando Sentinel, September 20, 2010)
• “Universal’s Rip Ride Rockit coaster to remain closed indefinitely” (Orlando Sentinel, September 20, 2010)

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 10 reports of injuries to children, six of which required medical attention, prompted Fisher-Price to initiate a massive product recall. Due to product liability concerns, the toymaker is recalling more than 11 million tricycles, high chairs and toys.
Most of the children’s products and toys being recalled were sold in the United States, but around 400,000 were sold in Canada.

Although CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum praised Fisher-Price, a unit of Mattel, Inc., for “taking the right steps by agreeing to these recalls and offering consumers free repairs or replacement,” she said that manufacturers need to do more to prevent safety issues before products ever reach store shelves and product liability concerns arise.

Protruding Ignition Key on Tricycles Could Cause Injuries
The CPSC says that the tricycles and high chairs were the products that had reportedly caused injuries. About 7 million Fisher-Price Trikes and Tough Trikes toddler tricycles are being recalled. Some feature popular characters including Dora the Explorer and Barbie.

The affected trikes have a plastic ignition key near the seat that protrudes, which children could strike, sit on or fall on, causing injury. The CPSC specified that the injuries could include genital bleeding.

Storage Pegs on High Chairs Could Cause Serious Cuts
The high chairs being recalled include more than 1 million high chairs under the brands Healthy Care, Easy Clean and Close to Me. There have been 14 reports of problems, although not all resulted in injuries.

These high chairs have pegs on the back that can be used for storage. However, children may fall against the pegs and cut or injure themselves. Seven children were hurt by falling on the pegs and required stitches.

Other Fisher-Price Baby and Children’s Toys Recalled for Posing Choking Hazard
Although no injuries have yet been reported to the CPSC, Fisher-Price has also issued a product liability recall on other products after receiving reports of small parts coming off the toys, which poses a choking hazard.

Fisher-Price is recalling more than 2.8 million of the following toys because they contain an inflatable ball. The CPSC has received more than 50 reports of the valve of the ball coming loose, posing a choking hazard to small children:
• Baby Playzone Crawl & Cruise Playground
• Baby Playzone Crawl & Slide Arcade
• Baby Gymtastics Play Wall
• Ocean Wonders Kick & Crawl Aquarium
• 1-2-3 Tetherball
• Bat & Score Goal toys
Around 100,000 toys with cars are being recalled because the wheels on the purple and green cars can come off and pose a choking hazard:
• Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Stand ‘n Play Rampway toys
For specific information about dates of sale and model numbers for the recalled products, please visit the product recall page of Fisher-Price’s website.

Source:
“Fisher-Price recalls more than 11M kid products” (Associated Press, September 30, 2010)

Two commercial properties in Seminole County have been declared EPA Superfund sites because they are contaminated with hazardous waste. The EPA’s Atlanta office says toxic industrial chemicals have made their way underground and threaten the Floridan Aquifer — the region’s primary source of drinking water — but currently pose no immediate health risk.
If any area residents do become injured or sickened by the hazardous waste, the property owners could be held liable in court under a premises liability or product liability theory.

The EPA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection are working to identify the party responsible for one of the properties and attempting to get the other, General Dynamics Corp., to cooperate with cleanup requirements. In addition to being required to pay potentially millions of dollars for the cleanup, the property owners could face federal fines and other penalties.

Sanford Dry Cleaner and General Dynamics Property Near Longwood Contaminated
Central Florida now has nine Superfund Sites, out of 53 sites in the state. Beyond the newly designated sites in Sanford and Longwood, other Central Florida Superfund sites include one in Orlando, two in unincorporated Orange County, one in Volusia County, two in south Brevard County and one in south Lake County. Superfund sites are designated the nation’s most dangerously polluted property.

Between the 1940s and the early part of this decade, several dry-cleaning businesses operated at the Sanford site, which is on Palmetto Avenue several blocks south of Lake Monroe in a historic part of downtown. Sanford took ownership of part of the site through code-enforcement proceedings, and the other part belongs to Metro Orlando Affordable Housing.
The contamination on the site is from the cleaning solvents tetrachloroethylene, or PCE, and trichloroethylene, or TCE, both of which are known to cause cancer.

According to the Department of Environmental Protection, “The long period of operation and the multiple owners and operators make it difficult to identify a responsible party.”
The property near Longwood, which fronts U.S. Highways 17-92 between State Roads 434 and 419, was once used by General Dynamics Corp., which operated an industrial site there from the mid 60s to the early 80s. Other companies have also used the property. Solvents from an adjoining property have complicated the contamination on the property.
As with the Sanford property, the Longwood property is contaminated with TCE.

Tom Lubozynski, a state Department of Environmental Protection administrator for hazardous-waste cleanups in the Orlando region, said “[f]or General Dynamics Longwood, we turned that property over to EPA because the responsible party was not responsive to us.”

Further investigation needs to be completed before a final determination of responsibility and an estimate of the cleanup costs can be released. Any toxic exposure claims by individuals would be handled separately through product or premises liability lawsuits.

Source: Orlando Sentinel, “EPA flags 2 contaminated sites in Seminole County,” Kevin Spear, September 28, 2010

An Orlando woman was forced into a car accident by another driver who drove abruptly into her path and then fled the scene, police say. As she tried to avoid a collision, her SUV flipped and the woman was dealt life-threatening injuries.
The single-vehicle crash occurred on the westbound exit ramp from Interstate 4 to Sand Lake Road in Orlando. The 35-year-old woman was exiting the freeway in her Jeep Wrangler when another vehicle that had already passed the exit zone swerved onto the exit and cut in front of her.

According to Orlando police investigators, the other vehicle, which they believe was a white Toyota or Honda sedan-style car, had already crossed beyond the proper area to change lanes and exit the freeway. In order to exit, the vehicle crossed “through the safety gore and into the path of” the Orlando woman’s Jeep.

The woman took evasive action to try to avoid the car accident, but her Jeep struck a raised concrete barrier and flipped over. The Jeep landed in the outside lane of westbound I-4.
The woman was described by police as having life-threatening injuries. She was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Police have not been able to identify the driver of the white Honda or Toyota sedan. As they cannot identify a suspect, no charges are currently pending against the reckless driver.
Anyone with information about the driver who caused the SUV rollover accident on I-4 should contact Orlando police.

Source: Orlando Sentinel, “Police: Woman hospitalized after flipping SUV trying to avoid another vehicle,” Jeff Weiner, October 19, 2010

Four manufacturers of children’s products recalled their baby cribs and strollers this week due to product liability concerns: Graco Children’s Products Inc., Angel Line, Ethan Allen and Victory Land Heritage Collection. The product recalls include more than 40,000 cribs and about two million Graco strollers.
Graco Recalling Two Million Quattro Tour and MetroLite Strollers

The Graco stroller recall was announced on Wednesday. It was initiated voluntarily by the company because of multiple reports of injuries to children and four infant strangulation deaths.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), infants — particularly those under a year of age — can become wedged between the seat bottom and the stroller tray if they are not properly strapped in. Their heads and necks can become trapped by the tray, causing cuts and bruises or difficulty breathing.

The affected strollers were mostly between November 2000 and December 2007. Consumers can call Graco’s recall hotline at 877-828-4046 to check model numbers and request a free repair kit.

Nationwide 3-in-1 Crib Recall: Angel Line, Ethan Allen and Victory Land Cribs
Around 40,650 cribs sold by Ethan Allen, Angel Line and Victory Land Heritage Collection are being recalled due to product liability concerns brought about by six reports of child injuries, the CPSC announced today, October 22, 2010.
The 3-in-1 style cribs have drop-down sides that can detach, either because the hardware is faulty or due to wear and tear. This creates a gap where a young child could become trapped or suffocated. It could also allow the child to fall out of the crib.
Cribs with drop-down sides have been blamed for at least 32 deaths of infants and toddlers since 2000. More than 9 million drop-side cribs have been recalled in the past five years, and the CPSC has proposed rules to ban the manufacture, sale or resale of such cribs altogether.