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Carbon monoxide deaths from propane heaters
Mark Stageberg
Campers, anglers, and people who work outdoors rely on inexpensive, lightweight, portable heaters to keep warm in cold weather. What many of them don’t know is that using these heaters in an enclosed space can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. Litigation can force manufacturers to adopt safer designs and issue more clearly worded warnings.
Skimming the surface of safety
Lee Brown and Amanda Morse
Personal watercraft—like Jet Skis and WaveRunners—are the motorcycles of boating: small, sleek, and speedy. They’re also dangerous, with unpredictable steering mechanisms and poor safety features that have made them the second- largest cause of water deaths after drowning. Safer alternative designs have been around for over 20 years, but manufacturers have been slow to use them.
Mayhem on wheels
Larry Setchell
All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are rugged, off-road vehicles used
for both work and play. Unstable by design, they cause thousands
of injuries and hundreds of deaths each year—many to children
under 16. A consent decree between the government and the industry
expired in 1998, yet ATV makers have failed to incorporate new
safety devices and typically blame injuries on “reckless”
drivers. Here’s how to take them to task for playing fast
and loose with consumer safety. |
Features
Client conundrums
Sometimes you find yourself fighting—or at least negotiating with—not only defense counsel but also your own client. You may encounter a client who insists on taking the case in the wrong direction. Another may have a personality trait or emotional strain that stretches your people skills to the limit. Five lawyers recall times they had to stand their ground and show clients the way.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall
Susan Dennehy
Victims of a botched cosmetic surgery often find themselves
victimized all over again when they seek restitution in court.
Lawyers are often reluctant to take their cases, and jurors
tend to be unsympathetic. But there are good reasons to stand
up for these injury victims: Cosmetic surgery operates under
a shockingly loose set of regulations, and the practice area
is rife with false advertising, substandard facilities, and
doctors with dubious medical credentials. Use this information
to show a jury that nobody deserves to be harmed by bad surgery. |
News & Trends
Lawsuits cast votes against electronic
voting machines
Supreme Court to revisit punitive damages
Scrutiny of defibrillator defects grows
State confidentiality laws don’t
protect peer review records
Tobacco company can’t assert “unreasonable
use” defense, court says
Ruling on computer evidence animates Pennsylvania
high court
Departments
President’s page
Exposing stealth tort ‘reform’
Supreme Court review
A sensible emergency doctrine
ATLA Endowment: Donor profiles
Hearsay
ATLA in motion
Insurance ‘compact’ moves ahead
despite consumer objections
Republican Caucus sweeps into Washington
for recruitment, lobbying
New packets help with Taser litigation
and federal tort claims
Straight talk about hurricane insurance
Campaign brings results on Capitol Hill,
training to the states
New seminar teaches how people make decisions
Books
Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing
Courts Are Wrong for America
by Cass R. Sunstein
Preemption: A Knife That Cuts Both
Ways
by Alan M. Dershowitz
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